Coury Turczyn
My sister Cynthia is a first-generation Trekker and a longtime Berliner. Thus, she’s in a good position to help us understand Raumpatrouille: Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion, the first German...
Modes and Motors: an art deco introduction to GM’s Styling Section of 1938
“Out of the merger of art, science and industry have come new techniques that have within themselves the ability to create an entirely new pattern and setting for the life of the world.” –Modes and Motors...
One way to cheer yourself up: ‘Black Panther’ reaction videos
There’s not much to be happy about in this country today—but we do have the opening of Black Panther. To say it’s a watershed cultural event is putting it lightly. The ascension of superhero movies has often...
Reassessing: ‘Pineapple Express’ (2008) and the rise of the Apatowian comedy
In the golden age of R-rated comedies—roughly, roughly 1975 through 1984—there was much to gladden the hearts of 14-year-old boys: National Lampoon’s Animal House, Caddyshack, Used Cars, Stripes. Now considered classics...
Q&A: John Dykstra, the special effects pioneer who made us believe in ‘Star Wars’
When Star Wars unleashed the power of the (box office) force in 1977, the cast became instant celebrities and George Lucas was deemed a genius. But for hardcore movie geeks of the science fiction variety, another name...
Will my kid survive the endless chasm of ‘Minecraft’?
This is going to be one of those first-person parental posts about children and video games. Only it’s not going to include the usual self-reassuring conclusion about my parenting skills—I have no idea if I’ve made the...
The hidden musical (and sometimes spicy) world of “soundies”
In the early 1940s, the Soundies Distributing Corporation of America pursued a bold plan to introduce a new technology into the nation’s beer joints, bus stations, and arcades: visual jukeboxes. The Panoram...
Stereo Action: introducing the new world of music beyond mono
Imagine living in a world of mono sound—records, movies, radio—and then suddenly having the option to hear music with the three-dimensional depth and scale of stereo reproduction. Add to that the sound-quality benefits...
Maceo Parker, the ultimate funk sideman, steps out front
Originally published September 2008 Two and a half minutes into “Cold Sweat,” James Brown seems to be searching for something. His slow-burn vamp, recorded in 1967 at King Studios in Cincinnati, has been chugging along...
New adventures in hi-fi: the old-fashioned stereo makes a comeback
I’ve discovered the future of home entertainment: hi-fi stereo. It’s a system that involves playing pre-recorded music via gigantic metal boxes that send audio signals through cables (actual copper wire!) to two...
The cynical, beautiful (and bleakly humorous) comics art of 1920s German ‘notgeld’ money
In 1920s Germany, the post-World War I economy was in a disastrous shambles. The official Reichsbank note was all but worthless. By the end of 1923, one American dollar was worth 4,210,500,000,000 marks. Government...
Q&A: Mixmaster Mike’s beastly career as the ultimate turntabilist
Mixmaster Mike (aka, Michael Schwartz) is one of the most renowned turntablists in the DJ world. In 1992, he was the first West Coast scratch artist to win the New Music Seminar DJ Battle for World Supremacy in New York...
The race to preserve the earliest recordings of Robert Moog and his revolutionary “synthesizer”
Originally published May 2010 Tucked back from a sunny, blossom-draped lane in South Knoxville, Tenn. sits the ultimate garage-turned-mancave: Soundcurrent Mastering. The garage door has been replaced with a filled...
Reassessing: ‘Starship Troopers’ (1997), more of a video game hybrid than great social satire
For the past five years or so, director Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers has been undergoing a nonstop critical reevaluation, led by the Atlantic‘s 2013 declaration that it was “One of the Most...
Matthew Foltz-Gray: the last newspaper comic-strip artist
Comic strips as an art form have seen better days. As the fortunes of the newspaper industry have waned, so has the life force of comics: page space. Comics have shrunk along with ambition, with syndicates and editors...
The new Diet Cokes are not as horrifically bad as the old Diet Coke
I hate Diet Coke. So does everyone else. Yet we have all been drinking it for over 35 years. Why? Because the Coca-Cola Company told us to, claiming their infernal concoction had a “delicious, crisp taste”...
Reassessing: ‘Juno’ (2007), wherein Ellen Page marks her territory
The first clue that you may in fact be watching a quirky indie comedy arrives when Rainn Wilson appears in the opening scene as a convenience store clerk. Second clue: As the main character, a 16-year-old girl, ponders...
Q&A: Illustrator Tony Millionaire’s unlikely world of drunken crows and wayward sock monkeys
Tony Millionaire’s characters may look cute, but that initial impression won’t last long once you see them get drunk and bloodily lop each other’s heads off. Drawn in a detailed style reminiscent of classic Little...