writing, communications & creative strategy
Cultism has evolved throughout history in the bacterial space between symbiosis and parasitism. It is not an extraterrestrial phenomena, but always contingent on the boundaries of the cultural present. Whatever … Continue reading Failure and the Fast Track to Cult Success
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A few years ago I wrote an essay about the history of powerviolence, an obscure sub-subgenre of punk rock that originated on the West Coast but has since spread to … Continue reading Powerviolence, or How to Play Punk with a Hammer
My newest “Outside Art” column is up @ Quiet Lunch, looking at Alok Vaid-Menon’s recent performance in Chicago.
I’ve got a new article posted at the Center for Digital Ethics & Policy: “Facebook is a media company, but what’s a media company?” When Facebook says that it’s a … Continue reading New article for the Center for Digital Ethics & Policy
When I completed grad school in 2015, I was awarded a Media Studies Award from Oxford Bibliographies (Oxford University Press) for my work in cult cinema. After nearly three years … Continue reading Cult Cinema Bibliography
I have a new column for Quiet Lunch, “Outside Art.” My first entry is on Chicago’s Intuit Museum of Outsider Art. Compared to the usual culture-media pipeline, I’m not writing … Continue reading New Column for Quiet Lunch
Hey! Check out this promotional video I scripted for World Business Chicago. Voiceover by Bill Kurtis.
Like any other industry, media is an amalgamation; a pulsating admixture of anxiety, ideology, cacophony and pure green envy. The products churned out by the Media Machine—everything from Twitter posts … Continue reading 13 newsletters for upping your media IQ
Got another call from MEL Magazine based on some of the first-person narratives I provided last year regarding how my wife and I worked our way out of $100,000 in … Continue reading Financial advice for MEL Magazine
This is the Chicago I saw in 2017. A city of stoicism, secrets, strife, sadness and surprise. All iPhone 7 for @benvanloon.jpg.
