Monthly Archives: January 2012
Those Damn Girl Scouts
So buy an extra box of cookies this year! (link)
Korean History Mysteries
Last week I wrote an article for Slate to coincide with the theatrical release of Jang Hun’s muddy, macho Korean War movie, THE FRONT LINE. For a history nerd like me, one of the most entertaining things to watch over … Continue reading
The Kosher Shining
Two months ago, restauranteur Jeffrey Chodorow, opened his latest posh eatery in Tribeca, called Kutsher’s. Named after a Jewish Catskills resort, it’s been getting rave reviews for its modern take on retro Jewish comfort food. Last night, two friends of … Continue reading
Regretting Guiyu
Last year I sold a story called “The Bright and Shining Parasites of Guiyu” to Strange Horizons. It was all about the hard lives of electronic waste recyclers in Guiyu, China and for some reason I crossbred that background with … Continue reading
Happy Chinese New Year!
Chinese New Year starts this week! It’s the end of the Year of the Rabbit, and the beginning of the mighty Year of the Dragon! Goodbye bunny! Hello dragon! To help you celebrate, grab a fistful of Chinese films … Continue reading
HongKongaThon in Austin! Feb. 25!
On Saturday, February 25, I’m going to Austin, TX to host the Hong-Kong-a-Thon at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz. The festivities kick off at 10pm, and run until 8am the next morning (or thereabouts) and while I can’t tell you the … Continue reading
Best Horror Ficiton of 2011
This month, calls are starting to go out for people to submit to “Best of 2011″ anthologies. “Best Horror of 2011,” “Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2011″ and so on. But to my mind there’s only one winner for … Continue reading
And the Ugliest Book Cover of 2011 is…
Margaret Atwood’s book of essays about science fiction and fantasy, In Other Worlds, has what might be kindly described as the least attractive cover to (dis)grace a book in the past 12 months. Why is the model so sad? Why … Continue reading
God bless Amerika!
Newt Gingrich was right. The Soviet Union’s takeover of America wasn’t achieved through military force, it happened when the Soviets detonated four nuclear devices high in the ionosphere which generated an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that wiped out all electronics … Continue reading
A Magical Tour of Scary Chinese People
Racial stereotypes as a source of the funny has existed since different races first stumbled across each other. Of course, you’d have hoped that movies like THE HANGOVER 2 or shows like 2 Broke Girls would bring something new to … Continue reading
