Marc Weidenbaum
As contributor
As commenter
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Interstitial World
I've been pretty good at not watching commercials for a long time (I had a Western gunman's ability to mute, a skill later upgraded for TiVo-enabled fast-forward). MTV early on figured out a way to challenge me in that regard, to get me to blink ... -
Bed Head
The other day I was wondering when the first "unofficial summer song" would be not a commercial single but a cloud-based phenomenon (yeah, that inevitably spawns something buy-able, but still). You've reminded me it may already have happene ... -
The Fixed and the Indeterminate
Sure thing. I'll divide "video game music" into two categories, pre- and post- this milestone issue of fixed cultural artifacts. The "fixed" examples are albums and single-song servings of music from games. The other examples I wi ... -
For the Birds
There's one recent game in particular that I feel is demonstratively better without its music on: Angry Birds. In Angry Birds, the music fills in gaps that are, simply, better without music. Without music, you play at your pace, not the pace that ... -
Back Strokes in the Mote
The town-gown critic mote is interesting, especially, as you point out, how its contours and depth can be seen to vary depending on the given pop-culture subject (you list music, film, and TV, to which I'd add comics, video games, and sports, just fo ...