General Art Articles

[Assistant Editor's Note: Do you want to win a pair of Free Clogs from Sven Clogs? Read this review and learn how you win a pair of clogs for yourself.] Some people get older as they age. Me, I get…

There are some books you know you need, and then there are books like Greek Mythology for Beginners. You don’t know you need them until you hold them in your hands. As author/illustrator Joe Lee rightly points out, the tales of Greek gods, heroes, villains, and epic (as well as occasionally lurid) achievements have resonated throughout the centuries in our literature, art, and pop culture. The value of Greek Mythology for Beginners, then, is…

X-rays may not seem the likeliest of artistic mediums, but let’s be honest. Despite potentially morbid diagnoses and comparisons to Where’s Waldo? or Rorschach tests, X-ray prints possess a distinctive aesthetic that can mesmerize even folk who don’t frequent…

Review of McLuhan for Beginners by W. Terrence Gordon, with illustrations by Susan Willmarth. A book like McLuhan for Beginners, then, is a timely wakeup call to take a moment and consider one of the 20th century’s foremost media and culture theorists even if that consideration reveals…

After almost two weeks of working with Windows 8, I’ve gained enough experience to reinforce my suspicion that critics of the OS are either operating with a bias against Microsoft or are simply old dogs whimpering at new tricks. An unfair characterization, no doubt, but I remain baffled at the hostility towards Windows 8. In my experience, Windows is just like Windows 7, only with a Start screen instead of a Start menu.

If you believe the tech trades and the various opinionators who lurk in the articles’ comments section, Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows 8, is the second coming of the much-maligned Windows Vista or, if you really want to give yourself the heebie-jeebies, Microsoft Bob…After a week working with Windows 8 on my office workstation, I'm gaining enough experience to reach a verdict of my own. Thus, the questions: Is Windows 8 a win or a fail?

Lacking Goth-minded peers to draw inspiration from in school, my relationship to the Goth culture never was particularly immersive. Other than my own personal interests and imagination, most of my contact came through the internet and occasional forays to downtown stores.

It would be easy to end the discussion with the game’s art and design, oooing at each character’s presentation, aaaahing at every level’s aesthetic, staring with wide-eyed excitement at the stylish animated cut scenes; such is the game’s rich artistry and sophisticated storytelling…But this is a game, after all, and while the quality of the art is beyond question the game’s greatness in terms of gameplay washes out in a mix of brilliance and nuisance, with enough of the former to mitigate frustrations with the latter.

Gone was the innocuous blonde-haired girl with a summery blue-and-white dress and a penchant for attracting the whimsical. In her place, a dark gothic beauty with a blue, white, and bloodied dress, and a steely resolve to fight her way through Wonderland and, eventually, peace of mind.

As in past celebrations, L.A.’s cultural and ethnic diversity was showcased on Dec. 24 through a range of performances from traditional Mexican folk dancing to Afro-Cuban drumming, Dickensian choirs to gospel ensembles, Jazz Tap to contemporary hip-hop dance, and more.