The Rise of Inclusive, Low-Pressure Communities
In a world of hyper-competitive and often toxic gaming environments, women look for a sanctuary to simply enjoy their games without the noise of exclusion. In the increasingly noisy world of online gaming, where hyper-competitive environments and toxic behavior often dominate, the need for alternative spaces is more crucial than ever. These spaces aren’t necessarily…
What Makes or Breaks a Video Game to Screen Adaptation?
Examining the Evolution and Future of Video Game Adaptations It’s the early nineties, and video games have just experienced a boom in popularity. As two extremely visual mediums, film adaptations of video games felt like a no-brainer. Turning an already extremely popular intellectual property into a blockbuster film should be a guaranteed success, like the…
Frutiger Aero: The Iconic 2000s Tech and Corporation Aesthetic, and its Sub-genres.
Written by Nataly Ornelas It’s 2007. After a long day at school, you’ve come home to try out the new Windows OS. You sit down on your good-old ergonomic chair and scoot up to your wooden desk, booting up your bulky PC and monitor. After a minute of watching the agonisingly slow loading screen, you…
Sonny Angels: The Cherubic Collectibles You Didn’t Know You Needed
Sonny Angels don’t just give you wings – they also lighten your wallet! Alright, let’s dive into the world of Sonny Angels. Picture this: you’re wandering through a labyrinthine Japanese department store, and suddenly, you’re ambushed by a horde of tiny cherubic figures. Each one is donning an outrageous headgear – a strawberry, a panda,…
Gaming Purity and the Attitude Towards Cheats and Wikis
The Holier-Than-Thou Attitude Towards Cheats and Wikis in Single-Player Games In the hallowed halls of single-player video games, there’s an unspoken hierarchy among players—a purity test, if you will. On one side, you have the self-proclaimed purists, those who wear their struggle and perseverance like badges of honor. On the other, there are the pragmatists,…
Is the IT Girl Just an Online Girl?
Reflecting on the broader implications of digital culture on today’s celebrities In the kaleidoscopic realm of contemporary culture, the concept of the “It Girl” morphs and mutates, perpetually reinventing itself to mirror societal shifts. Once defined by fleeting glimmers in the tabloid spotlight, today’s It Girl is enmeshed in the digital ether, her identity coalescing…
So Kawaii: Exploring the Pastel Pink Underbelly of the ‘Cute Boom’
Written by Amelia Masters The word ‘kawaii’ derives from the phrase ‘kao hayushi,’ which translates to ‘one’s face is aglow.’ When I think of the roots of kawaii and ‘cute culture,’ I think of Japan – well, more specifically – Tokyo. Kawaii flourished in post-World War II Japan, where a new generation of the middle…
Trans Identity in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Vivian steps out of the shadows and into the spotlight in the Paper Mario remake After Nintendo announced that a remake of the beloved game, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, would release on the Switch in late May, I was ecstatic. Initially released for the GameCube in 2004, the game is something that I grew…
Super Sapphic Ultra Modern Girl
Pop culture’s ongoing sapphic explosion Written by Ashley Schofield Happy Pride Month! It’s a damn good time for sapphic representation. To put it one way, lesbians are eating good right now. For the first time in a long time, art made for and by the sapphic community is comfortably back in the mainstream, not hidden…
At what point did Social Media become your portfolio?
From TikTok talent to Instagram aesthetics, how social media’s evolution turned personal profiles into powerful professional portfolios. Scrolling through countless clips of content, culture, and collections led us to not just documenting every second of our lives, but also our working lives. The evolution of social media has undeniably transformed the way we present ourselves…