August Issue


This issue is all about food, but I'm the arts editor...so articles about dinner theater it is!

Live from New York
The local dinner theater has been in business for 34 years, and they let me in on the most cringe-worthy live theater moments: "The show had to go on during a production of Fiddler on the Roof in 1978—in the first building, before the stage was raised—when a disoriented patron walked into the middle of a musical number and asked Tevye for directions to the men’s room."

Beyond the Beyond
A handy guide to help parents pack up their soon-to-be college freshmen: "The problem is, a quick scan of the online checklist reveals that Bed, Bath & Beyond has deemed no less than 114 items to be college 'essentials'—like the old school-supply list on steroids—and that’s without including textbooks, pens, notebooks, or that little college-name sticker everyone places in the back windshields of their cars. Take it from two recent college grads: half of what you buy from that list will return to you in the exact same color-coded, name-taped, neatly packed condition you shipped them off in."

Culture, Etc.
Jean-Luc Godard, Bard Summerfest, DVD recommendations, and more.

September is my Fall Arts Preview package—and proofs look great—so stay tuned.

April Issue


The redesign of our magazine went live in April, and it couldn't look better. I placed these articles in the fresh-looking issue:

Oh What a Web We Need
A short list of our staff's we'd-die-without websites: "Who says that traditional media is afraid of the Web? Here at the magazine, we couldn’t live without the Internet (for work—honest)." (It's the fifth item down.)

Culture, Etc.
The B-52s, Ira Glass, Josh Ritter, and more.

In addition to writing the articles above, I assigned these meaty pieces:

X Saves Westchester
Our Subprime Crisis
Culture Shock

...And one last item of business:

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol. 5

In the midst of preparing the April issue, one PopMatters review wormed its way onto the site, too: "If you’ve watched Aqua Teen Hunger Force or the show’s first feature film, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, you know that everything about the show defies logic. Especially the film which, for a full-length film based on an 11-minute, late-night cartoon about talking food, managed to be released in 877 theaters its opening weekend. And that’s after a viral marketing campaign for the movie caused Boston officials to call the bomb squad."

Much more in May!

PopMatters: Comedy Edition

I'm a big fan of offbeat, improv-style comedy shows. See what I thought of some recent outings.

Human Giant

"The television incarnation of Human Giant came with its own built-in cred and a cult following of indie tastemakers already familiar with the comedians’ work.The best thing MTV could do to cultivate this fan base was stay out of the show’s way, and for the most part, it did."

Acceptable TV

"In the wake of Internet monsters like YouTube and MySpace, VH1’s Acceptable TV has come up with a trendy gimmick: it’s interactive. This premise sounds innovative and exciting in theory. In reality, the show is… acceptable."

Stella: Season One

"Stella—not a sketch comedy, not a sitcom, and certainly not the Marx Brothers—forges a brand of television comedy all its own."