Isn’t It Antitypical? Beyond Morissettian Irony
Stringer Bell on The Office, plus the past week’s less ironic events
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Overthinking Anime: Kawaii Culture, Superflat, and the Bomb in Paranoia Agent
Anime developed in Japan after World War II and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Coincidence? Satoshi Kon thinks not…
Blackmailing Your Boss: The Key to Wealth and Power
Two popular films released in the fall of 1999 contained minor subplots in which the protagonist blackmails his boss as a key to wealth and independence. These two films, Fight Club and American Beauty, live on opposite ends of White Male Angst Road.
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Systematic Street Fighters and Skilltesters
If you’ve been playing as much Street Fighter IV as I have (or any online at all), you should probably appreciate this. I claim no credit for it myself and have no idea who made it, but I thought the … Continued
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Open Thread for March 20, 2009
What’s what in the popular culture this week
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The Musical Talmud: Neon Knights
[The “Musical Talmud” is our ongoing series that finds the true meaning behind pop music lyrics. See also Part 1, “Don’t Stop Believing,” Part 2, “The KKK Took My Baby Away,” Part 3, “I Want It That Way,” Part 4, … Continued
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He Has Gone to His Father: The Big District Attorney in the Sky
It would be a cruel world indeed if the passing of Ron Silver were to go by without at least some comment from OTI.
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When is a rogue not a rogue? When he’s Jack Bauer.
Breaking the rules in a methodical and systematic sort of way.
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Bruce Springsteen’s Sequel to “The Wrestler”
Given his fixation with people/things that have only one of something (ponies and tricks, dogs and legs, men with arms, etc.), we figured it’d go something like this: (Lyrics by Belinkie, Fenzel, and Lee. Guitar, piano, and vocals by Lee.) … Continued
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Dr. Manhattan, Meet Dr. Bridge and Tunnel
There is no future. There is no past. do you see, bra?
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