Preview: 30XX Is the Mega Man Style Game I Always Wanted
Damn, 30XX is a great idea—I’m sorry I missed out on 20XX when it originally released. I’m already a huge fan of the classic Mega Man game formula: choose the […]
Review: Gensou SkyDrift Has Solid Kart Racing Hampered by Dated Visuals
Nostalgia in video games can be useful to connect with players. There’s an entire genre of platformers built to look like old school games and some of them are very […]
Review: Theatre in the Dark Creates Audio Theater Version of Melville’s Great White Whale
It begins with the familiar refrain, arguably the three most famous words in American literature. “Call me Ishmael.” But the voice of this Ishmael is different. The voice is unmistakably female […]
Review: Eximius: Seize the Frontline Is an Ambitious Hybrid
There was a time in my life where all I would play was first person shooters and the occasional real-time strategy game. The concept of a game that mixed first-person […]
Essay: The Sights and Sounds of Baseball, Fans Optional
Some guy on ESPN the other day was complaining again about men who bring a mitt to Major League Baseball games, and I just don’t get it. Maybe that’s because […]
Review: Lauren Gunderson’s The Catastrophist Dramatizes Viruses and a Scientist’s Life
The Catastrophist, by Lauren M. Gunderson, succeeds as a story that informs us about science and tears at our hearts about love, death and grieving. It soars from the scientific […]
Review: The Brutalities of War and Its Ramifications in Riveting, Heartbreaking Quo Vadis, Aida?
In the final months of the years-long Bosnian war (1992-1995), a conflict that pitted Bosnia and Herzegovina against factions backed by Croatia and Serbia, the brutally iconic events of July […]
Review: The Father Brings an Emotional and Stirring Story to Screen with Heartrending Results
It’s not always easy to adapt for the screen a work originally written for the stage, and the degree to which any such adaptation is successful relies on both the […]
Review: In The Human Voice, an English-Language Short Film, Spanish Filmaker Pedro Almodóvar Is as Bold and Captivating As Ever
The Academy Awards for short films are usually only of interest to die-hard Oscars fans, those of us paying attention to the filmmakers highlighted in this often-overlooked category in order […]
The Complete (Chicago) Beer Course: Dry Irish Stout
When COVID-19 closed taprooms and cancelled festivals, I looked for ways to still engage with Chicago’s craft beer scene. I therefore decided to finally work my way through The Complete Beer […]
Review: Bruce Willis Sleepwalks His Way Through the Low-Budget Sci-Fi Mess Cosmic Sin
I don’t pretend to understand the economics that have led Bruce Willis to make such a string of dreadful, forgettable movies in the latter part of his career. Without deliberately […]
Review: Simple Yet Smart, Come True Finds Its Chills Where Sci-Fi and Horror Intersect
The intersection of science fiction and horror is something of a sweet spot for me. Maybe it’s the combination of the high-brow (in theory) place science fiction holds in our […]