Channel: Cultural Consumption

In this keenly-observed graphic novel, Odette has been hiding a problem: an inky black jellyfish that floats perpetually in her field of view.

Despite scenes of peril on the ocean, the book moves slow, full of details about everyday survival in this harsh environment. By the end, the reader has witnessed great changes reflected the microcosm of the characters’ lives.

Coming from Montréal’s bustling scene of graphic-novel creators, Cab’s main character is a painter struggling with creative block while living semi-legally with his friends in a building on the verge of being condemned.

A thrilling yet understated crime drama focused on the relationship between a police detective and a woman whose husband has died in a suspicious climbing accident, distinguished by the complexity of its characters.

These three inaugural releases from a label that “focuses on quality and works out subtle differences in each work” offer a range of sounds, textures, and objects to explore.

Jordan Kurella’s novella is a modern fable that bounces back and forth between a modern day university, a music department, and the nether world of Hades, the Greek version of Hell.

Combining instrumental virtuosity, compositional complexity, and lyrical depth, Tool’s Fear Inoculum deserves not just a listen, but repeated listenings.

A quietly provocative story about a cellist who leaves the musical profession and finds a job preparing dead bodies for burial.

Will I ever enjoy listening to Kind of Blue again knowing that Miles Davis abused and beat his wife when he was outside the recording studio?

Appealing and fast-paced, this novel set in 1950s Mexico is a classic tale of an attractive young woman marrying into family with sinister secrets, who finds her choices taken away, and her life and sanity under threat. True to the gothic genre, the cr …

Insightful stories peel back the secrets within families, but the dazzling moment comes as you pass the midpoint of the book, and the connections between these universes begin to be revealed.

Fiction, films and search engines meet indigenous names and the chatter of jays; where does our attention wander when it strays on the dappled path?

Our bodies transform what we eat, and with our minds we re-create and transform culture. Here are some of the works that have gotten our attention recently and feel worth sharing.

The Claypool Lennon Delirium masterfully tells the story of rocket scientist/ occultist Jack Parsons.

A series of writing and conversations exploring the many layers, folds, complexities, and intensities of director Darren Aronofsky’s disturbing tale of home invasion: mother!

Kapuscinski’s intentions are early implied, to match Dawkins bite for bite and (as honestly) to demonstrate the irreconcilable gulf between intellectual reductionism and emotional religious dogmatism, each flailing towards fundamentalism in trying to flatten one another.