America's Most Critical Journal since 1999
Within the few short weeks following the New York Times February 17th Science section revelation that DNA in non-African people comes from Neanderthals, the number of candidates for United States Congress and Senate seats has quintupled. Hundreds of previously... More »
When were bench seats in cars abandoned to prevent dangerous sliding in and out? The last sedan with a front bench seat was the 2012 Impala, designed before most people drove their offices instead of commuting to them. Bucket seats are now compulsory even th... More »
I think it started in 1992 with her line about not standing by her man, an allusion to that notoriously blasphemous song “Stand by Your Man” by that America-hating country singer Tammy Wynette. Because everyone knows that attacking the most popular... More »
By Boaz Dvir Going into 2016, I vowed to stop checking my social media sites on a daily – all right, hourly – basis and limit my visits to once a week. On paper, my New Year’s Resolution may have paled in comparison to my Facebook friends’, which inclu... More »
By Jason Half-Pillow Millions of years ago, maybe less, but still far, far back in the deepest recesses of our evolutionary past, man stumbled upon the rudimentary principles of agriculture. Growing food demands certain essential components that man, with hi... More »
Where are the witty reviewers of yore; the Alexander Woollcotts, the Dorothy Parkers, the Walter Kerrs, and the rest of an erudite and often acerbic cohort? Gone to the internet or simply gone, every one. Now it hardly matters if the item at hand is a film, a ... More »
One thing is clear: Christmas traditions differ in every country in which they are celebrated. The pre-Christian Germanic peoples centered their winter celebration, Yule (which is still mentioned in the same breath as Christmas) around the god of Odin. Odin wa... More »
Robin Williams photo credit: Dan Dion When I first encountered Set List: Stand-Up Without A Net, I felt the same satirical spirit I’ve experienced in my work as an improv student with Gary Austin, founder of the legendary Groundlings. In both settings, w... More »
Abstract This paper uses analogies to establish visualized connections between football and citation analysis as used to compute impact factor in academic publishing. Shaolin Soccer (2001), the comedy film written and directed by Stephen Chow was particularly ... More »
by David Comfort “Forget grammar and think about potatoes.” Gertrude Stein In 1918, Cornell professor, William Strunk, Jr., self-published The Elements of Style. In the introduction, his student, E.B. White, boasted that the 70-page primer fit “the rules... More »
By Dan Geddes If the recent leaks about the NSA’s surveillance of all worldwide electronic communications have left you upset or confused, then you may be experiencing one of the five stages of NSA surveillance grief. Much like Kuebler-Ross’ Five ... More »
By Dan Geddes Darkness. Rain. Punishing winds. Gray skies. “Oh God, when will it end?” These are some of the words that come to mind when thinking of Dutch winters. September, when the sun still occasionally shines in Holland, is a good moment to prepare y... More »