I’d resisted watching Lost for a very long time. Television had become less important in my life, and other things demanded my time. Taking on another hour-long series just didn’t seem wise. I’d hear about it. And what I’d hear…
Tag: pop-culture-critique
Support Your Local Rock Star
As I’ve begun to have a go at making a living as a musician and artist, I’ve thought at times about how difficult it seems for people who try this. So many struggling artists, starving artists, nobodies trying to become…
Forcing the Balance, Or How I Learned to Stop Worshiping Star Wars and Understand Myself
This piece began in the Spring of 2002 as an essay that I thought would provide a compelling new understanding of the Star Wars films. After writing more than a dozen versions, I had yet to produce something that met…
The Aristocrats… with New Punchline
When the film The Aristocrats came out in 2005, the production company sponsored a contest in which people were to submit video recording of their own telling of The Aristocrats, the now-famous joke whose punchline never changed and which got…
The Incredibles Save… Themselves!
Ayn Rand made a pretty good living and quite a reputation convincing people to resent how the “common” masses resent the “special” few and then strive to cut those special people down to common size. Rand believed that special people…
“Green”-eyed Monsters
Following in the footsteps of Pixar’s previous full-length computer-generated successes, Monsters, Inc. provides eye-popping imagery, laugh-out-loud humor and three-dimensional characters — and I’m not just talking about the animation. Most significantly, though, like its predecessors, the film creates a complete…
“Isaac and Ishmael” and Ishmael
In response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, creator/writer Aaron Sorkin and the other minds behind NBC’s The West Wing decided to delay the official start of the series’ third season, quickly creating a new…
The Sad Meaning of A.I.
I used to idolize Steven Spielberg, feeling that he could do no cinematic wrong. Though I remain a devoted fan, I’ve become more realistic about his work. Spielberg is definitely not perfect. However, whether working at his peak (E.T. –…
Scopes, Galileo and the Dramatization of Conflict
This paper was written for “Science in Society,” a History course given by Dr. Timothy Alborn that was part of Mark’s customized curriculum in the City University of New York Graduate Center’s Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program. Read…
The Nature of Titanic: Film, Phenomenon and Inevitable Self-Betrayal
This paper was written for “Environmental Sociology,” a Sociology course given by Dr. Sharon Zukin that was part of Mark’s customized curriculum in the City University of New York Graduate Center’s Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program. It explores…