Nuclear Cinema: Ten Prescient Meltdowns
Fukushima and worse could have been avoided if the public and proper authorities would have just watched the following 10 destabilizing cinema and documentary meltdowns.
scott thill
Our Biggest Security Threat Is Global Warming’s Extreme Weather
If we don’t start seriously sweating the existential crisis of climate change and ignoring the small-time drama of terrorism and partisan sellouts, then we’re finished.
Futurama: The Sci-Fi Toon That Wouldn’t Die
Payback is a shiny metal ass, fully bitten.
Geek The Beatles: Paul McCartney Gets Technocultural With Digital Libraries, Wikileaks
The first part of my two-part Wired interview with the Beatles’ legend, solo dynamo and postmodern knight.
Geek The Beatles: Paul McCartney Brings Tomorrow Never Knows Back to the Future
Paul McCartney is working on a new project utilizing vintage gear he once used to make tape loops for The Beatles’ landmark track “Tomorrow Never Knows.”
Superman Defies America, God In 900th Issue
The genius of Superman is that he belongs to everyone, for the dual purposes of peace and protection. He’s above ephemeral geopolitics and nationalist concerns, a universal agent unlike any other found in pop culture.
Extra! Iconic American Superheroes Subjected to British Invasion!
Holy multinational vertigo, Batman! With the announcement of Tudors thespian Henry Cavill as cinema’s newest Superman, the British invasion of American superhero turf has reached a Kryptonite pitch.
Star Wars Director Dave Filoni Chronicles Life During Clone Wartime
One of pop culture’s most accessible entry points for understanding a War on Terror is a cartoon from George Lucas.
Peak Oil and Climate Change Suck. High-Speed Rail Can Help.
I recently revisited the War on Terra for AlterNet. This time, in a double-barreled breakdown of the national high-speed rail network gaining ground in America, which is still lamely to […]
Robot Chicken’s Final Star Wars Spoof
I talked to head Chickens about sympathizing the Star Wars biggest assholes Emperor Palpatine and Boba Fett, George Lucas’ evil chuckles, and more for Wired.
The Reboot’s the Thing: 10 Genre-Busting Shakespeare Remixes
Shakespeare transcends time and media, mostly because creatives can’t stop remixing his legendary language across time and media. Julie Taymor’s up next with The Tempest, starring the always captivating Helen […]
Cli-Fi: Happy Methane Apocalypse!
“At first we thought it was a hoax; sadly it’s not. The melting ice caps are the fuse. The trapped methane released into the atmosphere is the bomb.”
Daniel Clowes + Wilson + Death Ray = Hollywood Comics Smarts
At last Hollywood is turning back to Daniel Clowes, one of indie comics’ crossover titans.
Carly Fiorina = California Disaster
AlterNet asked me to heckle ex-HP CEO and itinerant ideologist Carly Fiorina before the November election, in hopes of shedding some light on why should we make California suck even […]
John Lennon, Working Class Mythmaker
Because he is unfairly lost to us now, all we have are mounting media replications to inform and console us.
Foreclosure House of Cards Implodes
I’ve been writing about the econopocalypse for years now, so news of robosigners executing thousands of baseless foreclosures on a conveyor belt to hell is not news to me. So […]
Chemical Catastrophe, Coming Right Up!
Responsibility for chemical security may be shared among federal, state and local governments, as well as the private sector. But right now they’re all epically failing us, which make us sitting ducks if there is a catastrophe.
Leave Wikileaks Alone!
Seriously. The world has been flying blind while geopolitical and economic machinations rob them of their futures and accounts. And we’re going to lose our minds when Wikileaks pulls back […]
Vertigo Comics Tackle Topical Geopolitics
DC Comics’ mature imprint Vertigo is happy to stray from the spandex in three consecutive releases I recently spotlit over at Wired. But can they hang with pillars of the […]
Google + Verizon = Bad News For Internet
As Google and Verizon made clear in their proposal, emboldening a publicly engineered alternative wireless Internet is going to be hard to do.
Autolux Is On Our Robot Overlord’s Playlist
“I’m not sure whether to view it as a disease or an evolution. I can’t imagine what the world is going to be like in 200 years.”
The Mattress Racket
So my excellent AlterNet editor and SoCal pal Jan Frel has been asking me to start muckraking rackets, and it’s been a hoot. I’ve already rooted out Red Bull and […]
Absolutely Essential 90s Band Reunions
From the Cocteau Twins to Bowery Electric to the late, great Gravediggaz, we could really use some bands that were either born or broken in the 90s.
The Red Bull Racket
Red Bull is a tiny can of caffeinated hope. It’s not the first subject I would pick for an AlterNet article, but that’s why they pay my editor Jan the […]
The Cell Phone Racket
If you’re not angry with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint — America’s four national wireless providers that reportedly control 90 percent of the market — then here’s some ridiculous news to raise your righteous ire.