Feb 22
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“It’s like this though,” André Benjamin nervously shouted over the chorus of boos. “I’m tired of close-minded folks,…
Rien Fertel
rienfertel
Contributor, The A.V. Club. Rien is the author of three books, most recently, Drive-By Truckers' Southern Rock Opera.
Dec 16
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A certain amount of escapism through books would have been more than understandable in 2020. (And by “a certain…
Oct 19
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Over the past half-century, Don DeLillo has explored, in fiction that often feels presciently real, “the strangest,…
Aug 25
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There’s a scene in the first essay of Helen Macdonald’s Vesper Flights that should make any nature lover vibrate…
Jul 22
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In March 2019, when Alex Trebek shared his diagnosis of stage IV pancreatic cancer, it seemed the entire world…
Jul 7
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“If you’ve seen one pandemic,” epidemiologists like to joke, “you’ve seen... one pandemic.” Influenza strains and…
Jul 7
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The coronavirus pandemic and its attendant shutdown has had a way of warping one’s sense of time—alternately making…
May 5
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In Samanta Schweblin’s new novel, Little Eyes, kentukis are the year’s must-have smart device. “Nothing more than a…
Apr 6
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It’s no doubt hackneyed to wish that David Carr were still around, writing us through these strange and often…
Mar 23
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The modern alternative music scene began, most appropriately, at a house party on Valentine’s Day, 1977. The…
Feb 3 2020
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“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”
Oct 31 2019
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He plays a juror in the made-for-TV film The Trial Of The Incredible Hulk (1989) and a hot dog vendor in the…
Oct 7 2019
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Two men arrive in a village by foot. Though sometimes they arrive in a car, or a tank, or by air. They arrive at…
Sep 9 2019
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Heaven help us, Hell spare us, Hollywood save us, Sean Penn has penned another novel, a sequel to last year’s Bob…
Jul 22 2019
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You likely know the work, though you might not know the name: J. Michael Straczynski. A writer for hire in the…
May 6 2019
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Theodor Seuss Geisel, or Dr. Seuss as he was best known, published 60-plus children’s books in his lifetime—the…
Apr 29 2019
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If video killed the radio star, as The Buggles sang 40 years ago, it might be said that Pandora and its digital…
Mar 18 2019
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When Anthony Bourdain visited Houston in the summer of 2016 to tape an episode of Parts Unknown, he gave his…
Jan 15 2019
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“Every age gets the savior it deserves,” Sam Lipsyte writes late in his fourth novel, Hark. Born in 1968, Lipsyte…
Nov 12 2018
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“What is soul?” George Clinton asks in the song of the same name, the final track on Funkadelic’s eponymous 1970…