Charlie Sheen, “lovable bad boy”
Charlie Sheen is currently the highest paid actor on television. With performances in movies like “Platoon”, “Wall Street” and “Cadence”, Sheen has long since established himself as an...
Ireland: sex crime nation
2009 was a watershed year for Irish sexual politics – but not in the sense that we usually understand the term. What we have seen is the intense politicisation of sex. Ireland has never had a...
Listowel: rape apology that the rest of Ireland will not tolerate
A figure sits shivering in the drafty courthouse. She is only twenty two, alone except for the counsellor from the Rape Crisis Clinic. She waits for the judge to enter and sentence the man who...
A hot mess of a decade, a reason for the American Left to be hopeful
Five years ago, give or take a couple of months, I was in Denver at a concert on the Plea for Peace tour. I was a rock and film writer just cutting her teeth on her first political column, and it was...
The 00’s: a bad American decade
A decade’s end lends itself to reflection. As a historian, I am thinking about how the 2000s compare to previous decades. While time and perspective may alter my thinking, I believe the 2000s is...
Spinning around: the 00’s in pop
It starts with Kylie, Kylie and Doctor Who. Kylie is The Doctor; her former self died and a new model rose in its place. She's not the only one either. 00's music was a parade of regeneration - more...
Ashura explosions: sanctimonious murder
When I was in college in the US, I dated someone who used to say, “I'm a Christian with a big crush on Islam.” I think it's safe to say that I'm a Sunni with a big crush on Shi'ism. This is a...
Back to the Apocalypse: the best of the 80’s post-apocalyptic films
Being a kid in the early 80s was tough. Thatcher’s Britain was like an amusement park that had failed a safety test -- it looked fun, but was really a potential death trap. Heroin “screwed you...
Ukrainian feminism: from Yulia Tymoshenko to making babies in a crisis
As a holiday gift to myself and readers, I sat down recently to speak to my friend, translator, and Ukrainian feminist, Maria Dmytrieva, who's famous as Mary Xmas in LiveJournal circles. What follows...
What’s wrong with action movies? A case study
I understand that action movies don't usually promote social change or make us examine our daily lives. The one thing they reliably accomplish is stress-testing romantic relationships within the...