Independent Coverage of Culture the Digital World
Independent Coverage of Culture the Digital World
RolandWhen audiences filed into IMAX theaters to witness the hyper-stylized kinetic violence of John Wick: Chapter 4 or the multiversal chaos of Everything Everywhere All at Once, they were participating…
RolandClose your eyes and listen: two low, alternating cello notes—dun-dun, dun-dun—gradually building in tempo and volume. Within two seconds, without seeing a single frame of film, your heart rate spikes,…
RolandWhen the curtain fell on the premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo in 1958, the reaction from critics was decidedly lukewarm. Reviewers complained that the picture was far too slow, excessively…
RolandInside a crowded arthouse cinema, the room is bathed in a saturated, blood-red neon glow. On screen, a camera glides slowly down a carpeted hallway, tracking a protagonist whose motives…
RolandIn May 2018, when news broke that Santa Monica-based cable network Syfy had canceled its critically acclaimed space drama The Expanse after three seasons, the show’s passionate audience refused to…
RolandIn an industry where multi-billion-dollar publisher budgets are routinely funnelled into hyper-realistic skin textures, real-time ray tracing, and photorealistic environments rendered at 60 frames per second, a curious counter-trend has…
RolandAt 11:45 PM on a Saturday night, while most of the city is winding down, a crowd gathers under the buzzing neon marquee of an independent neighborhood cinema. The line…
RolandOn a Friday evening, millions of streaming subscribers log into their accounts, scroll past the heavily promoted new releases, and pause on a title prominently featured in their personalized recommendation…
RolandOn a warm weekend in June 1982, cinema audiences lined up around city blocks across North America. They were not buying tickets for Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner or John Carpenter’s…
RolandOn any given evening, a livestream on YouTube or Twitch draws over 100,000 concurrent viewers. The host sings pop anthems, plays high-stakes competitive video games, reacts to fan commentary, and…