Joakim Karlén handed me the headset, such as it was. It was a reference design only; the hard plastic box lacked a headstrap, and had a utilitarian form factor only a dystopian sci-fi fan would love. However, it was also […]
Of all the words that could describe the island paradise that serves as backdrop for Monster Hunter World, the one that keeps coming back to me is “dense.” Electrified insects buzz around the trees while pterodactyl-like birds squabble and soar. […]
What even happened this past week? Sure, there was that brief, glorious moment when people cared about whether a sound clip said one word or the other. And yes, of course, who wasn’t fascinated by the news that President Trump […]
There will never be another movie like Avengers: Infinity War. Not because it’s a feat of filmmaking (though it is impressive), but because no other studio may ever have the patience to spend 10 years and billions of dollars building […]
Happy New Year, dear readers. It’s comforting—no, wait, what’s opposite of comforting?—to see that, despite still being able to laugh at Oregonians and gas problems and accidental movie reference mix-ups in news reports, 2018 actually got off to a terrifyingly […]
When Silicon Valley came back this season, viewers may not have known what to expect, but they certainly knew what not to expect. T.J. Miller's much-ballyhooed exit meant that the show would be without its most dependable (if incompetent) trickster. […]
Lil Uzi Vert once told me he wanted to be a rockstar. On a June day in 2016, under a slab of sapphire sky, I followed him from New Jersey into the thick of Manhattan. In our time together—I was […]
"What is real?" Dolores asks Arnold, in a flashback, at the beginning of Westworld's second season. He responds: "That which is real is irreplaceable." Season 2 of the HBO series has played with the nature of reality as if it […]
Three Tenets of Nerd: 1. A nerd must not harm another nerd, or through inaction allow a nerd to come to harm. 2. Nerds must cooperate with other nerds, except where such cooperation would violate the previous tenet. 3. Nerds […]
Consuming pop culture is my job. Well, writing about it is my job, but that makes keeping tabs on movies, television, podcasts, Twitter/Instagram feeds, and everything else a professional necessity. Yet, there's one high-protein item that always seems to be […]