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Guttersnipe

Just a critter in the Gutter.

Default Setting

In writing about Watch Dogs, Samantha Allan discusses white male characters as a default setting in games: “Games released at the start of a console cycle (like Bungie’s Halo: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox) tend to push the technical characteristics of gaming forward, while trotting out the […]

RIP, H.R. Giger

Artist H. R. Giger has died. Rolling Stone, Swiss Info and The Guardian have obituaries. The Verge has a gallery of Giger’s paintings and sculpture. Factmag has a gallery of twenty Giger-designed album covers. Giger and Alejandro Jodorowsky discuss designs for Dune. Here’s an interview with Giger and […]

“Going Home” in China

At The New York Times, Dan Levin writes about Kenny G. and his song “Going Home” in China. “There are many things about modern China that defy easy explanation: parents posing their children next to live tigers, the sight of grown women wearing furry cat-ear headbands while shopping, […]

Bitter Coin

Generally I try to keep my columns from retreading old ground. There are so many great books, authors and ideas out there that it seems a waste to repeat any of them. But today I’m going to revisit Simone St. James. Because… damn. Shropshire isn’t the kind of […]