Do you ever think about the darker side of nightlife? It’s an entire world that only a tiny fraction of the population get a glimpse of and will vary city by city. But the stories told in these small hours are often the most fascinating. The bar staff, the service workers, the shadowy figures that…
REVIEW: Snoopy, Come Home is a Canine Classic
Snoopy, Come Home (not to be confused with the animated film of the same title) is a reissue of Charles M. Schultz’s book from the early 1960s, incorporating 126 daily Peanuts newspaper strips from 1955-1962. The volume’s release will coincide with the beloved series 70th Anniversary this year and a new show on Apple TV.
REVIEW: Mirrorland by Carole Johnston
Think of a funfair mirror hall: things appear magnified, often distorted, real, yet otherworldly. We see ourselves reflected, but it’s not us. It’s more than that; a distortion of the truth. And sometimes, things can appear so evident when the truth has been so twisted and memories so repressed, and we don’t want to confront…
REVIEW: The Girls Are All So Nice Here
Our reign was short and bloody. What came after it was worse. When an email arrives in Ambrosia “Amb” Wellington’s inbox, she deletes it immediately. It’s from her Alumni committee, inviting her to a ten-year reunion, but Amb does not want to go. Then strange notes start to arrive. Something VERY BAD occurred when Amb…
REVIEW: Witches of Brooklyn Makes Magic
“Young children don’t perceive reality the way adults do…which gives them real creative freedom…and that freedom can lead to the best kinds of magic.”
REVIEW: Ghosted in L.A. Lives its Best Afterlife
Los Angeles is a city of ghosts. They linger on the sidewalk, forever haunt the crumbling old mansions that once belonged to movie stars, and reside in the rooms of historic hotels. Spirits are on every path, behind every corner. But Los Angeles is also a city of hope, where people venture to find themselves….
Portrait of an Artist: Georgia O’Keeffe Is a Lush Account of the Mother of American Modernism
Portrait of An Artist: Georgia O’Keeffe, written by Lucy Brownridge and lavishly illustrated by Alice Wietzel, broadly depicts an iconic artist whose life was vast and encompassing. O’Keeffe is widely known as the mother of American modernism; her art is powerful and potent, and her association to the sprawling Arizona desert synonymous with her name.
Portrait of an Artist: Frida Kahlo Is Perfect for Art Lovers Young and Old
Frida Kahlo is one of the most recognisable artists who ever lived. While her likeness has been highly commodified in recent years, the potency of her art and her fanbase is larger than ever — and constantly increasing. Her home, her Blue House, has now become a regular stop for art lovers in Mexico City,…
The Art of Birds of Prey
If you have read my work on WWAC, you will know that visual culture is my ‘thing’. By that I mean, I’m all about the art, especially how pop culture riffs on famous artists and plays with their iconic images. Late last year, DC released original character art for Birds of Prey. I was already…
Snap Flash Hustle: A Social Media Crime Tale For The Insta Age
Haley Mori wants to be famous. Actually, she wants to be Insta famous. An alternative model riddled with debt (she can barely afford to scrape together the few dollars for a cup of coffee), Hailey adopts the hashtag #snapflashhustle after noticing the hits it generates on Instagram. And it does—a single photo lands her the well-paid…
Couturier to Champions: An Appreciation of Edna Mode
It may sound bizarre to some of you, but whenever I visit an exhibition celebrating movie costumes, I always expect to see something by Edna Mode. Yes, I understand that she is a figment of Brad Bird’s imagination, I know she has been rendered on a computer, and I realize that we have only seen…
Seeing Surrealism in Comics
I started researching Surrealism, more specifically Women Surrealists, over ten years ago, writing both my M.A. dissertation and then my PhD thesis on the subject. I have a particular interest with Surrealism’s connections to the female body, fashion, and magic/alchemy/witchcraft, but the movement is wide and its influence felt in many places. As a result,…