AltWeeklies Wire
Funny Munnys: What is It About Vinyl Toys That Gets Everyone So Excited?new
Just about any artist can take the Munny, a chubby doll with an oversized head and cartoonish ears, and turn it into a unique character, a diminutive reflection of his tastes and sensibilities. What is surprising is the childhood glee that burns in the eyes of someone who has just opened a box containing one of these three-dimensional canvases.
Charleston City Paper |
Kevin Murphy |
08-20-2008 |
Art
Tags: visual arts
Where-Fi?: An underground scouting report on Lowcountry wi-fi hotspotsnew
How to find the best places to leech wi-fi.
Charleston City Paper |
Joshua Curry |
08-13-2008 |
Tech
Tags: computers & technology
The End of Deliberate Ugliness: How to reclaim the historic role of art in expressing spiritualitynew
Gail Sickel was searching in the 1970s, a dynamic period still roiling with the social and political upheavals of the decade before. The United States was still sunk in the quagmire of a foreign war. Coming of age amid this influence of anxiety, Sickel was part of a boom of young, idealistic Americans searching for new ways to express spirituality.
"I was looking for oneness," she says, reflecting on that time. "I was a seeker and eventually I found an experience that was heart-focused."
That experience was the Dances of Universal Peace.
Charleston City Paper |
John Stoehr |
08-13-2008 |
Performance
Tags: performance
The Case of the Golden Thong, and Other Baseball Superstitionsnew
According to George Gmelch, cultural anthropologist and author of the article "Baseball Magic," superstitious behaviors among ballplayers fall into two major categories -- rituals and taboos. Nomar Garciaparra's famed batting gyrations, that's a ritual. When he jumps over the base line to take his position in the infield, that is a taboo.
Charleston City Paper |
John Strubel |
08-06-2008 |
Sports
In the Wake of E3, Gaming's Big Three Move Towards Indistinguishabilitynew
Even as little as two years ago, the Big Three had distinct identities, market niches, and competitive advantages that set them apart: Sony had the mass appeal and the vast library of exclusive titles, Nintendo had the family gamers, and Microsoft catered to the hardcore online crowd. Funny how a little cutthroat competition over a few billion dollars changes the equation.
Charleston City Paper |
Aaron R. Conklin |
08-06-2008 |
Video Games
A Mini-opia: Susan Meyer's Installation is a Brave New World in Glass and Silvernew
Susan Meyer appears to long for the ideals of peace and harmony. Her new exhibit at Redux Contemporary Art Center (in Charleston, S.C.), called Together, uses photography, sculpture, video, and sound to create an alternate universe in which people communicate through silent gestures without moving. The inhabitants of this universe are miniature figures, all of them the size of pencil points, which Meyer has arranged in positions that suggest tranquility, love, and repose.
Charleston City Paper |
Kevin Murphy |
07-09-2008 |
Art
Tags: visual arts
Well, Well, Well: Will & Grace Star Leslie Jordan Walks Down the Pink Carpetnew
Leslie Jordan has made a long career playing short, eccentric, effeminate southerners, characters so popular that fans often fail to distinguish Jordan from, say, the Tammy Wynette-loving drag queen, Brother Boy, featured in the campy stage creation Sordid Lives. Fans often request, and continue to request, unheedingly, Brother Boy's timeless one-liner. "Can you see my pussy now?"
Charleston City Paper |
Greg Hambrick |
07-09-2008 |
Theater
Tags: theater
TV Ads Signal a Widening Divide in Video Game Marketingnew
Ads for Battlefield 2: Bad Company imply that games aren't just for geeks anymore.
Charleston City Paper |
Aaron R. Conklin |
07-09-2008 |
Video Games
Inside the Murky Legal World of Cyber-Snoopingnew
Law enforcement agencies have a number of legal tools at their disposal, recently broadened with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act amendment bill that lets telecoms off the hook. They have made so many requests of Comcast, in fact, that last year the company decided to distribute a document called Comcast Cable Law Enforcement Handbook, which details how the fuzz can get your stuff.
Charleston City Paper |
Joshua Curry |
06-25-2008 |
Tech
The Easy Button: What's the Point of Dumbing Down Gaming?new
Games, like Ninja Gaiden II, are getting easier. What's the reward?
Charleston City Paper |
Aaron R. Conklin |
06-19-2008 |
Video Games
Tags: video games, Ninja Gaiden II
Doctor Roadkill: The Natural Religion and X-Ray Art of a Medical Professornew
Roadkill is nature's way of getting intimate and a way for a professor at the Medical University of South Carolina to prove that "anatomy is beautiful."
Charleston City Paper |
Morrow Dowdle |
06-19-2008 |
Art
Spielberg Goes 'Boom,' but Will Gaming Follow?new
It's both intriguing and a big deal that the man who owns one-third of one of Hollywood's largest film studios recognizes the power of gaming and wants to get involved. It's the sort of thing that can potentially lead to "respect" and "credibility" for gaming, concepts that the industry and gamers still struggle to own.
Charleston City Paper |
Aaron R. Conklin |
05-28-2008 |
Video Games
Lowcountry High Rollers Hope to Bring Roller Derby to Charlestonnew
A lot of girls in the area long to be named Miss South Carolina. More power to them. But only one girl in the land of pluff mud and seersucker suits decided that she would take on the name of Philly Phuck and refashion herself as a rock'em, sock'em roller derby queen.
Charleston City Paper |
Kinsey Labberton |
05-07-2008 |
Sports
Tensions Between Fair-Trade and Local-First Movements Increasenew
Can today's moral standard be reconciled with the one from a few years ago? Is it possible to eat local and support farmers in developing countries? And should that be the goal in the first place?
Charleston City Paper |
Eric Blair |
04-30-2008 |
Food+Drink
Kulture Klash 2 and the Authenticity of an Emerging Arts Brandnew
Charleston's one-night arts event tweaks the standard strategies of arts marketing and sells nothing but the idea of itself.
Charleston City Paper |
John Stoehr |
04-23-2008 |
Art
