Cobra Kai is a startling depiction of how cults start, recruit followers, and become dangerous.
TV shows
Cobra Kai: After Fight Breaks Out at Strip Mall, Local Man Questions Whether White Men Without Guns are Dangerous
By Emilia Barrett SAN FERNANDO–After a fight broke out outside his bodega, DaSean Lopez found himself evaluating customers differently. “Before when a man came in looking all broken, buying domestic [beer] it wasn’t a thing. No one looked twice [at… Read More ›
A stilted and broken future full of stilted and broken people: UPLOAD on Amazon Prime
I have spent too much of my reading energy, of late, hunched over edits on a forthcoming title. When my eyes hurt, and my kid is asleep, and the house is mostly quiet, I may stop and try to recharge… Read More ›
Space Force is Still Looking for Space Legs
Certain brands of media have not aged well in the era of redcaps and coronavirus and the fracturing of reality, itself, around political ideas. “Parks and Recreation” was a charming little show, that began a bit stumbled and disoriented, but… Read More ›
The Warped Lens: A Review of Richard Kadrey’s The Getaway God and episode 1 of HBO’s Watchmen
Sometimes, being late to the party is a good thing. Those who know me know the last few months have been a struggle, and that struggle has created a longing for comfort; to return to familiar places and stories long… Read More ›
The Midnight Gospel is a Search for Truth and Spirituality at the edge of space
The podcast is a new art form for the digital age, and seemed fairly complete as it is. People talk into microphones, record the words, and provide them for download over the internet. They build a brand as a sort… Read More ›
The Strange Beauty of Simon Stalenhag’s Tales from the Loop and Amazon’s new series
The opening scenes of Amazon’s new sci-fi series, Tales from the Loop, are subtle, but the images will stick with you. Lampposts shaped like mechanical feet appear ready to stomp on workers filing into an industrial building on a cold… Read More ›
The Messiah in a Post-Truth World
In times that seem so distant now, cultures shared experiences and truth. To imagine the Bible, Shakespeare, and fireside chats as universal reference points, or even the days in which there was truly such a thing as must-watch local network… Read More ›
Breaking: Tom Brady Digs up Clone Corpses, Drops first Game of Season to Ravens
By Emilia Barrett Ben Franklin once said, “Early to be bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” In the case of Tom Brady, whose famously restrictive diet and lifestyle focuses on family and fitness first,… Read More ›