Although George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is far too sprawling to be distilled to one point, if it’s anything, it’s this: war is hell. Also: war is stupid. Really, really stupid. The HBO adaption, known to people as Game of Thrones, has done a good job this season of illustrating how the royalty, far removed from the ravages of battle, are largely unaware of the horrors the people go through to serve their ideological, religious, or political gamesmanship. Most oblivious of all, perhaps, is the boy-king Joffrey, thrust into the role of ruler without any qualifications, or any real understanding of how governing works, constantly trying to project a fierce, powerful image of himself throughout the world, no matter how many lives must be lost along the way to do so. On a completely unrelated note, here’s an image of George W. Bush’s head on a spike outside the castle walls of King’s Landing...more

Musical style, swagger, and fashion sense, weren’t the only things that hundreds of bands, Oasis most famously, borrowed from the Manchester rock legends The Stone Roses. There was also that little matter of hating each other’s guts... more

One of these days the remixing scientists tinkering around in the evil music labs are going to finally perfect the pop formula that destroys the world; millions falling to the ground with permanent smiles of glee plastered across our faces, and this is an important step in the right direction...more

For centuries, philosophers and poets alike have have searched for the one unifying cultural trait that has tied people together throughout history. Our love of art? Beauty? Music? Comedy? Perhaps. But even more so than that, it’s our shared affinity for watching people fall on their asses...more

Red Night, the second record from New York City’s drops today on Warp Records. Like the duo’s debut, This Desert, it’s a portrait of nocturnal urban cool, with darkly woven synth lines that feel like they’re the driving force behind a chase through the rain-swept alleyways of a noir romance...more