John Oliver: Enjoy the Abyss, America!
[Scott Thill, Morphizm] After losing the visionary Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show has been leaning heavily on scathing comedians like Jason Jones, Samantha Bee, John Hodgman and this UK import, […]
Terror and Terraformation
New York Times Bites My Walkaway Rhyme
[Scott Thill, Morphizm] Look, New York Times: You can pay me for my cultural and political insights. People already do. Seriously. Like when you posted that article today advising underwater […]
Alan Moore Is Ready For Post-Civilization
“I have largely, completely given up on the comics industry,” Moore said. “I really don’t believe it is going to do anything to address the modern world.”
Can Aspartame Kill You?
Well, let’s start wrapping up the stragglers from my year’s worth of content, shall we? Starting with this investigation of the sugar substitute aspartame, which can either kill you outright […]
Best Music of the Millennium (So Far)
What’s crazy is that few saw it coming.
Ten Ways to Screw the Screwers
From economic misery and political impotence to environmental waste and social catastrophe, American culture is overburdened by nightmares. I wrote an acidic but nevertheless educational rant for AlerNet on how […]
Attack of the Foreclosed Homeowners!
Hey, have you heard the one about the underwater homeowners who unsuccessfully tried to modify their home loans, but got even by tying two loan servicers to chairs and beating […]
Are Religious Birth Rates For Suckers?
I’ve got some great editors at AlterNet. They always keeps me on my toes with interesting topics. One of my favorite editors recently assigned me an analysis of birth rates, […]
Viggo Mortensen’s Apocalyptic Road
“Further devastation of the air, land and sea is obviously a very real possibility.”
10 Culture Turkeys That Put 2009 to Sleep
Happy Thanksgiving, Americans! You’ve got a lot to be thankful for. This is not that.
The Prisoner: An All-Star Appreciation
Its revolutionary mix of geopolitics, sci-fi and psychedelia has influenced not just television, but also music, comics, film and more.
Devo Returns, This Time With Rugs!
“De-evolution seems even more a part of our daily reality than ever. There is more misinformation, humans have overrun the planet, and it is not nuclear bombs we must fear, but the human mind. Or lack of it.”
Can We Call It a Depression Now?
I conceived this article before the Dow passed 10,000, and wrote it afterward. It went up on AlterNet right before the Dow fell from 10,000 and now I’m posting it […]
The Prisoner Inspires Dhani Harrison’s TheNewNo2 Experiment
“It’s kind of like opening up a massive can of worms.”
Margaret Atwood, Apocalyptic Optimist
When people first started writing this stuff, they didn’t call it science fiction.
Econopocalypse Derailed By Antimatter
I always love to interview the conceptual artist Jonathon Keats. His art consists in crafting up out-there propositions that make you think and laugh in equal measure. His latest is […]
Obama’s Bad Influence
[Naomi Klein, The Nation] Of all the explanations for Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, the one that rang truest came from French President Nicolas Sarkozy. “It sets the seal on […]
Step Aside McDonald’s, Subway’s Surging
Subway has managed to carve out a lucrative niche in a perfect storm of fast food and economic recession.
Cli-Fi: The Age Of Stupid Gets Smart
By the time The Age of Stupid‘s flashbacks are over and the viewer is stuck in a ravaged 2055, the urge to do something immediate is palpable and powerful.
Obama, Du Bois, Hitler: Silence Gives Consent
[Amy Bass, Morphizm] History is never about the past. It wasn’t then. It isn’t now. In the midst of a lot of people who don’t seem to understand this, Barney […]
What’s Thin-Film Solar? The Future Today
Last century, solar power struggled to enlighten the renewable resource community. This year, it’s downsizing to thin films you can put on your car and your body, shining the way […]
Mortgage Underwater? Just Walk Away
No one likes a bad investment, especially when everyone has been making them. The housing meltdown was built on a house of cards called securitization, and it ruined the global […]
McCartney to Israel: Give Peace a Chance
“I’m bringing a message of peace, and I Think that’s what the region needs.”
Cops Have Lost Their Minds With Tasers
Dude, I’m so happy to be done with my major piece on tasers, and the shock-happy cops that use them, for AlterNet. Talk about your endless bad news. Every day […]
Land and Water Grabs In The Age of Climate Change
The economic valuation of land and water has increased in concurrence with both price commodities and the ravages of climate change, whose droughts, wildfires and other extreme environmental events are quickly shrinking what’s left of the planet’s arable land and clean water