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Cool Stupid.
Me [right after watching Wanted]: It was stupid.
My friend Laurel: Yeah, but it was cool stupid.
Some of my friends think I’m something of a movie snob, and honestly, I’m not, but people still think my first reaction to the summer movie season is usually running for cover. On the contrary: I happily succumb to its [...] -
Grand Theft Auto IV and the American Dream (Part Two)
But back to the delights of Grand Theft Auto IV. If immigrant disappointment is quintessentially American, then so is the notion of immigrant criminality. How else does one explain the grip that cultural artifacts like The Sopranos, or The Godfather, or Scarface, or Carlito’s Way, or Gangs of New York, has on the public, their [...]
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Grand Theft Auto IV and the American Dream (Part One).
Niko Bellic is pissed. His cousin Roman hasn’t exactly been telling him the truth about America: the sports cars, the penthouse, and the women which he mentioned in his letters are nothing but a beat-up cab, a roach-infested walkup in Brighton Beach, and tattered centerfolds tacked to the wall around a stained sofa bed. So [...]