I’m not here to write a eulogy for Scott Weiland, because I hate how when a musician dies—especially tragically—we roll through the same motions of platitudes and remembrances and nostalgia. Don’t get me wrong, I live my life looking backwards, but it seems cheap. At the same time, what else are you gonna do? I’m…
Bitter Friday: Love In The Time Of Space Jam – The 90s, Pt. 2
I was an innocent kid. I don’t mean that in the way everyone says it. I really had no idea what was up with sex, drugs, anything. Not even swearing. One time, in elementary school, I stole a book from a kid because he wasn’t going to read it and also he was an asshole.…
Bitter Friday: The Sweet, Weird Underbelly Of The 90s, Pt. 1
How did I end up writing about Counting Crows? Well, what happened today is I allowed myself to listen to them again for the first time in a while. It was good. There’s a lot there I would have hated to throw away. We had a falling out. It was one of those times when…
Bitter Friday: The Festering Garbagehole of U.S. Copyright Law aka We All Die Broke and Alone
A lot of people that I talk to about copyright law immediately declare that it’s too complex to think about and therefore beyond their ability to decipher. This is exactly what copyright holders want us to do. They’d rather us spin our wheels arguing at the water cooler over whether “Blurred Lines” sounds like a…
Bitter Friday: Why Aren’t We Talking About This?
I saw Run the Jewels this week. It was rad. “36” Chain” is the best beat the world has ever heard. I won’t repeat myself. I’m dealing with the same struggle I suppose everyone else is. I never quite know how to answer when someone asks how I’m doing. My friend Alan, however, has had…
Bitter Friday: Bye-Bye Boehner, Boehner Bye-Bye
Cool Pope is here and everybody’s losing their shit. I suppose that’s all right. He went to Congress and pleaded with them to accept immigrants. Do you know how stupid that sounds? Cool Pope doesn’t care. He’s gonna tell you the truth right to your face, America. *** I just got back from Austin the…
Bitter Friday: Girls To The Front
Hi. Welcome to Bitter Friday. I’m feeling a little somber today as I’ve been working on a story about online harassment, and the things people do under the cover of anonymity is atrocious. As an antidote to that, I’d like to take a minute to highlight some really good things—important work I’ve come across recently…
Bitter Friday: Riding The Post DragonCon Comedown
Sometimes, once in a while, mostly when you’re not ready for it, (or maybe I just operate in a constant state of unreadiness) something—it could be a book, or a film, or a particular shade of a particular color, or a sports car—will come along and kiss you on the forehead and make you feel…
Bitter Friday: Your Labor Day Cosplay Road Trip Extravaganza
Whooo boy, have I got some stuff for you this week. First, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, and by that I mean it’s Dragon*Con time. I’ve been going since 2010 and there really is nothing better than turning 50,000 nerds loose in Atlanta for four days of debauchery1 and the occasional A-list celebrity…
Bitter Friday: We Really Like You, Carly Rae Jepsen
This week’s Bitter Friday playlist is overloaded with Carly Rae Jepsen, because of course it is. Emotion is fantastic, and I’m sorry if I cause you any distress by getting “Boy Problems” stuck in your head. Unusually for such a record, even a great one, Emotion has already inspired some excellent writing: Notes on 21st-Century…