Venus In Fur: Femininity, Masculinity, And The Wolfman

By Hanna

When The Wolfman’s release date was announced, feminist blog Jezebel asked why there aren’t many female werewolves, concluding that because werewolves are disgusting and hairy, people don’t want to equate that with women. They also pointed out that vampires are a lot more popular than werewolves at the moment, and described that position with regards to sex.

Although the answer to the question about women and werewolves lies exactly in those issues, Jezebel drew the wrong conclusions.
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Social Media: Bursting The Buzz Bubble

By Less Lee Moore

It’s been almost a month since Google launched Buzz, its bid for competition in a post-social media world. The buzz about Buzz, however, is that it’s been more of a bust than a boon.
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What a Fun Trick: A Great Noisemaker!

By Matt Keeley

The Apples in stereo are such a great band: shiny retropop that just makes you happy, even when the lyrics are depressing. It also seems that they’re nice folks.
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Showdown At The Oscars

By Lisa Anderson

As Oscar night grows near, two of the most closely watched nominations are for Best Picture and Best Director. Former spouses James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow are pitted against each other in both categories—Cameron for Avatar and Bigelow for The Hurt Locker. If Cameron wins, it will be a rare triumph for science fiction, one achieved despite controversy about Avatar’s content. Bigelow stands not only to score an upset victory against a blockbuster, but also to become the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director.
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Three Frames

By Less Lee Moore

A few weeks ago, Popshifter contributor Millie De Chirico revealed to me the disturbing and compelling nature of Three Frames.
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Attacking Non-Creativity With Creativity

By Less Lee Moore

Utne Reader recently discussed an ISO50 blog post on ways to get over creativity block. Not just writer’s block, mind you, but the inability to create.

This suggestion from Tom Muller caught my eye:

To be honest, I rarely get stuck in a creative rut, there’s more than enough ideas swirling around in my head, its [sic] just a matter of priorities and time.

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These New Puritans, Hidden

By Stuart Myerburg

Imagine Philip Glass recording a symphony with Nitzer Ebb, Nine Inch Nails, and Depeche Mode and you have some idea of the singularly daring sound created by These New Puritans on their second album, Hidden.
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Desktop EP

By Megashaun

Desktop is a combination of the creative forces of two men: Keith Thompson (from Electric Six and Johnny Headband) and Zach Curd (from Suburban Sprawl Music’s The Pop Project). When I first discovered the act several months ago, it was mainly with the intention of reviewing their all-too-short debut EP. At only three songs in length, it can’t possibly be difficult to describe them adequately.
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Sloan, Hit & Run (EP)

By Jemiah Jefferson

The newest original-material release from Toronto’s ambassadors of brainy party rock shows the four members of Sloan further exploring their masterful sound with these five tracks, one from each member (with an additional track from the prolific Chris Murphy).
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Embracing Pop: Throwback Suburbia

By Christian Lipski

Backspace, Portland OR
February 16, 2010

Although they are from my home base of Portland Oregon, I first heard about Throwback Suburbia from Indiana resident Gidget Bates, a DJ for Woody Radio. They’re her favorite modern band, and they’re neighbors of mine, so I went to see them at local venue Backspace.
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