Wind, Water, Solar
Happy New Year, Earthlings. Swim with me a bit.
scott thill
Be The Birdgirl
Nearly two decades (and 40 million viewers) after signal boosts from early adopters like yours truly, Adult Swim reboots Harvey Birdman’s postmodern satire for an intersectional epoch.
Cli-Fi: Avatar Studios Awakens
Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra finally arrive at a compromise, from opposite coordinates.
The Beatles Let It Get Back
Enjoy this holiday sneak peek of The Beatles: Get Back, knowing its reprogramming is all we have left of The Beatles, as the original fades.
Between Utopia and Armageddon: Matthew Rankin’s Transgressive Twentieth Century
“I see this 21st Century malaise reaching its snapping point,” Rankin explained. “Last century saw the rise of innumerable idealistic movements. This traumatized world is the one we inherited.”
Korra, Uncensored
The most powerful woman on television is back on television, where she belongs. We need her, more than ever.
Goodbye, The Beatles (Again)
Fifty years ago, The Beatles tragically left us, after changing the world for almost a decade. And what they left us with, like much of what they made, sequenced the genes for the recombined culture to come.
Unhappy Anniversary, Deepwater Horizon
The bad news? A decade later, Deepwater Horizon remains one the worst environmental disasters in human history. The good news? A decade later, oil is dead.
Ten Years After: Earth Strikes Back
A decade ago, I wrote about the myriad ways our planet would refuse to put up with us. Today, I look back, during a global lockdown, as a zoonotic dystopia borne from our ceaseless invasion of Earth ravages so-called civilization.
Zoonosis: Climate Crisis and Coronavirus
Zoonoses are infectious diseases that fatally strike back after humanity extracts too deeply from their non-human environments, which are under repeated siege from capitalism and worse.
Cli-Fi: Merry Christmas, Peace On Earth
Harman’s animated anti-war masterpiece is both a harrowing and instructive climate fiction about what happens when humanity pushes itself and its planet (and that planet’s myriad species) to the brink of extinction.
The (Blessed) Return Of El-P
Correcting an historical injustice, El-P’s singular, relevant back catalogue will finally return to the land of material and digital reality.
DJ Shadow Chronicles Our Pathetic Age
Givng thanks on Thanksgiving for the letters DJ Shadow has been sending, explaining why and where and how the music from his latest, perhaps greatest effort, Our Pathetic Age, was born.
Ten Years After: Cli-Fi
A decade ago, I helped give birth to a movement. It doesn’t matter if anyone knows. All that matters is the movement.
Ten Years After: Extinction
Captivated by global warming and shortly before I called it cli-fi, I researched and reported the myriad ways life on Earth could die. Few were more terrifying than hydrogen sulfide.
Unhappy Earth Day: The Seas Still Rise
A decade ago, I talked to the Pacific Institute about their report predicting that the coastal metropolis of California, the world’s fifth largest economy, would be swallowed by global warming.
Birdboy’s Interconnected Pollution
Writing about animation provides me the opportunity to probe the minds of brave filmmakers working against stereotype and industry. That struggle found an apotheosis in the surreal fever dream of Birdboy.
Farmers Markets Come Under Presidential Fire
My latest investigation for Civil Eats is not so much alarming as predictable. The current presidential administration, already an international laughingstock, has targeted farmers markets for elimination. The punishment? Death by pointless cuts.
Animation Is Film, Said The Festival
It may not seem like we need to have a three-day festival in Hollywood celebrating animation as cinema with a capital C. But if that was the case, I would not have spent the weekend with my girls in Hollywood at the Animation Is Film festival.
Animating Hiroshima: An Interview With Sunao Katabuchi
This expressive war epic from the assistant director of Kiki’s Delivery Service handles the toughest of topics with art, skill and grace. I spoke with director Sunao Katabuchi for Cartoon Brew.
Chasing Ice And Coral, Running Out of Time
It is my honor to be writing for the Center for Biological Diversity’s shiny new publication, The Revelator. My first piece is an interview with the fearless Jeff Orlowski, director of Chasing Ice, and now, Chasing Coral.
Ron Finley Rewilds South Central
My latest piece for Civil Eats chronicles the victory of sanity over nonsense, Earth over concrete, regeneration over regression. It was an honor to write, and even more brilliant to witness in person.
Getting Civil About Sustainable Eats, Starting With California
I am honored to explore the entire University of California system’s sustainable food efforts for my first piece at Civil Eats. Greening these influential universities will upgrade our state’s profile and power, especially if we can reach full sustainability in the short term, which is no easy feat.
The National Parks
They called me into the office around dawn.
“We want you to clear out the National Parks.”
Pixies Return, Carrying Heads
Black Francis and crew have a new full-length effort out called Head Carrier.