Maybe, dear reader, you are one for only the most respectable of books, but for myself, I couldn’t help but pick up Butts: A Backstory for the author’s sheer audacity to write a butt book to begin with. Let’s start with a spoiler – no pictures. Now, moving on… The book is effectively a collection…
Read more
I have to start by admitting that I’m a huge Peter Pan fan. I have a collection of J.M. Barrie’s works from 1913. I have a tattoo of the Nevertree. When I studied abroad in London, I dragged a group of people I’d just met all over Kensington Gardens, so I could find the Peter…
Read more
Why the US ‘does not get to assume that it lasts forever’ (CNN, 7/4/2023) “As the United States marks its 247th birthday Tuesday, questions about how many more the nation will celebrate in its current form have become ominously relevant.” The President sits alone in the Oval Office, the soundproofed room eerily quiet. Once, you…
Read more
“Mysterious spiral” that looks like hazy, glowing galaxy seen hovering in Alaska’s northern lights (CBS News, 4/19/2023) Memo To: All Reali-Bridge employees From: Linda Sparring, CEO Subject: Successful Reality Bridge Test Congratulations Reali-Bridge team – we did it! Last week, we successfully deployed our latest six-dimensional reality bridge protocol and made contact with a parallel…
Read more
Mysterious flying objects shot down over North America likely not spy balloons, Biden says (USA Today, 2/17/23) How many train derailments have there been in the US in 2023? Frequent train derailments under scrutiny after an ecological disaster struck East Palestine, Ohio (The Independent, 2/17/2023) The murmur of the press corps settles as the President…
Read more
How nuns got squeezed out of the communion wafer business Altar bread was once made by hundreds of communities of nuns across the US. Now, a for-profit company controls nearly the entire market. (The Hustle 10/14/22) Monsignor Abrams adjusts his reading glasses, squinting at the rows of black numbers cascading down the page. He licks…
Read more
Luda I have to begin by admitting that I am buying what Grant Morrison is selling. I enjoy his mainstream comic book work (All-Star Superman, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, Doom Patrol, and so on…), and his forays into television like Happy! and Brave New World. But for me, the most Morrisonian…
Read more
Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World There are two aspects of Tara Isabella Burton’s Strange Rites that commend it to the reading list of anyone interested in modern religious studies or cultural movements in general. First is the author directly addresses a very real and often poorly approached trend. Across the globe, we…
Read more
U.S. Jet Shoots Down Flying Object Over Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he and President Biden had ordered the object violating Canadian airspace to be taken down, a day after another object was shot out of the sky near Alaska. (NY Times 2/11/23) Triggered by unseen relays at the edge of outer space, klaxons…
Read more
Behind many of our ‘cultural war’ issues, there’s a tension that doesn’t make much sense to me. Namely, the categorical difference between material human products and conceptual human products. This distinction has led to innumerable safety standards for nearly everything humans manufacture, grow, or otherwise produce. From food safety standards, building codes, and environmental protection…
Read more