My friend and colleague Chris Tillman and her husband Joe Losurdo, working under the name Regressive Films, have collaborated on a new documentary about the history of punk rock in Chicago. Titled You Weren’t There — A History Of Chicago Punk 1977-1984, the film will have its world premiere on Saturday, November 24 at the […]
Entries Tagged as 'Culture'
Coming in November: The History of Chicago Punk on Film
October 26th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Chicago, Culture, Film, History, Illinois, Music, New Wave, Peoria, Video
Tags:
No Backsies
October 24th, 2007 · 5 Comments · Books, Culture, Education, Fantasy, Fiction, Film, Human Rights, LGBT, Lit, Media, Politics, Science Fiction
I haven’t weighed in on the whole gay Dumbledore thing, partly because everyone is already talking about it, and I usually view OcPot as a place to post about things that deserve more attention than they seem to be getting. But Minnesota Malcolm brought it up in the comments to this post last night, and […]
Tags:
Of Dykes, Blankets, and Blockheads
October 23rd, 2007 · 2 Comments · Books, Comics, Culture, Fiction, Journal, LGBT, Lit
Via Roz, which Dyke to Watch Out for am I? Which Dyke to Watch Out For Are You?created with QuizFarm.com You scored as Mo You are Mo, a guilt-ridden, kindhearted liberal who doesn’t relax enough. You are ordered to buy a pint of non-organic, dairy ice cream and watch Comedy Central for a week. PBS […]
Tags:
The War on Halloween, Anderson Cooper, and Keith Olbermann’s O’Reilly Defense Initiative
October 22nd, 2007 · 8 Comments · Climate Change, Comedy, Culture, Journalism, Media, Politics, Video
Here’s a little video roundup to keep you entertained while I try to scrape together the time to post something more substantial. First off, Mr. Colbert points out the enormous black-and-orange elephant in the living room … the War on Halloween! That’s not going to be very popular in the candy corn belt. He really […]
Tags:
On My Reading List: Naomi Klein’s New Book, The Shock Doctrine
October 16th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Activism, Books, Climate Change, Culture, Film, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Infrastructure, Journalism, News, Politics, TV, Video
Daily Kos has a review up of Naomi Klein’s new book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Harper’s ran an excerpt from The Shock Doctrine in the October issue which was, as the DKos review says, riveting, and immediately put the book on my must-read list. I’m planning to pick up a copy […]
Tags:
The Bowie Video Vault: Live “‘Heroes,'” “My Death,” and “Fashion”
October 16th, 2007 · Comments Off on The Bowie Video Vault: Live “‘Heroes,'” “My Death,” and “Fashion” · Culture, Music, New Wave, Video
This is a gorgeous live version of Bowie’s “‘Heroes’” that gets better as it goes. A really nice contemporary-sounding take on the song (so good I don’t even miss the synth, which is saying something), and a very graceful performance of it by Mr. Jones. The YouTube page doesn’t say where it’s taken from — […]
Tags:
On The Christians and The Gays, and Keeping the Flock Together
October 15th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Activism, Blogs, Culture, Journal, LGBT, Music, Politics, Religion, Spirituality
So there was a new study written up this past week, supplying evidence that young people in America are rejecting Christianity because they see it as “hypocritical, judgmental, and anti-gay.” The vast majority of non-Christians — 91% — said Christianity had an anti-gay image, followed by 87% who said it was judgmental and 85% who […]
Tags:
The Golden Compass: Official Trailer and Featurette on Daemons
October 12th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Books, Culture, Fantasy, Fiction, Film, Lit, Music, News, Science Fiction, TV, Ursula K. Le Guin, Video
The official/final trailer for The Golden Compass is out, and the more I see of this film the better it looks. I am somewhere between guardedly optimistic and completely geeked out. Also, here’s a nice little featurette called “Defining Daemons,” which looks at the animal companion-spirits that accompany the characters on their journeys. […]
Tags:
Video of the Week
September 24th, 2007 · Comments Off on Video of the Week · Culture, Foreign Policy, History, Journalism, Media, News, Politics, TV, Video
In case you missed it, Keith Olbermann was on fire this week. His special comment was possibly the most powerful I’ve seen him deliver. And his ultimate point about the sacred dividing line between the civilian leadership and the military is one that needs to be heard more often — too many people don’t seem […]
Tags:
Nodilogue (and Blogscratching)
September 22nd, 2007 · 2 Comments · Blogs, Chicago, Culture, Fringe, Internet, Journal, Performance
I’m a little behind the times with this, but I wanted to offer some belated shoutings-out and linkback lurve to my fellow participants from The Nod this past Wednesday evening. Don Hall and Joe Janes did a great job of hosting the evening, making everyone feel welcome and creating the opportunity for the gaggle to […]
Tags:
Observations on the Recent and Continuing Unpleasantness
September 20th, 2007 · 5 Comments · Cats, Culture, Essays, Journal, Kiwi, Mr. Blue
Disturbing changes are taking place in the world, and we do not know what they signify. We are afraid that something terrible is going on, some fundamental destructive process that is entirely outside of our experience. You can read this in our wide-eyed stares, our defensive crouches, our tendency to go into hiding for longer […]
Tags:
Roundup: Swiftly Tilting Planet Edition
September 17th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Swiftly Tilting Planet Edition · Activism, Books, Chicago, Climate Change, Comics, Culture, Fantasy, Film, Foreign Policy, Hate Crimes, Health, History, HIV/AIDS, Infrastructure, Journalism, LGBT, Lit, Media, Nature, News, Peace, Politics, Public Transportation, Roundup, Science, Science Fiction, Tech
Eric Alterman has an outstanding column in The Nation on how the media’s mean girls (of all genders) develop the narratives they use to bring down the presidential candidates they take a dislike to. With examples of what they did to Gore in 2000, and what they’re doing to Obama and Edwards right now. Two […]
Tags: