KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.
CONTEXT
IS OMNIPOTENCE.
JOHN THE
OBSCURE ™
By John Ruch
©
2008
AN
INDEX OF PAST COLUMNS:
Gorillas and
Guerillas: Illegal Charcoal and the Burning of an Ape
N
Who You Gonna Call?: The Presidential
Obsession with 3 a.m.
N
A Bunch of Hot
Air: Tourmaline Hair Dryers, Silver Brushes and Other Dubious Hair-Care
Treasures
N
Mad, Bad and Dangerous
to Knowledge: Scientific Anomalies in Byron
N
An
Open Letter to Would-Be School Shooters
N
Note
to Self: Become a Phony Corporate Moron
N
Tales
Told Out of School IV: Roe v. Itself
and Other Supreme Secrets of Constitutional Law
N
Massive
Norwegian Study Shows My IQ Is Higher Than Boston.com’s
N
The
Full 200: Sympathy Beatings in Fact and Fiction
N
Empathy
for the Devil: Where the Right Is Right
N
N
“Interactivity”:
The New “Jungle Music”
N
From
“MLB 2K7” to MMORPG: The First Pitch in a Whole New Ball (Make That Video) Game
N
Plato’s
Orc Cave: The Paranoid
Ultimate Reality of Video Games
N
Straight
from the Saurus’ Mouth: Obscuranta
(And Dentata) from My Field Field
Trip
N
The
Vietnam Syndrome Kicks Back
N
N
N
Toy
Story: Back-of-the-Box Mythologies of Commercial Playtime
N
Tales
Told Out of School III: UMass Amherst Dresses Its Students as Whiskey Bottles
N
Tales
Told Out of School II: Studio Noise as Folk Authenticity in Punk Rock Albums
N
N
Anything
You Quote May Be Used Against You: Supposedly Sophoclean
Police Wanted Posters
N
N
N
Four
Percent Chance of Satyriasis: Great Dungeons & Dragons Dice-Roll Tables
N
The
Moral Crisis of a Cat-vs.-Mantis Death Match
N
Projekt:
Ghostmaker: Forbidden Experiments, Anti-Semitic
Costumes and Other Halloween Curiosities
N
The
Mask of Dionysus: Optical Illusions in Ancient Roman Mosaics—And
Everywhere Else
N
Episodes
in Bad Video Game Journalism
N
Observations
While Attempting to Lurk
N
Dr.
No (Gays): Bond, James Bond vs. Phobia, Homophobia
N
N
The
White House Sword: Sharp Thoughts on Impulsive Acquisitions
N
Cherche l’homme:
“La Femme Nikita” and Macho Drag
N
Why
Are You Working for Free?: Asking for Yahoo! Answers
N
The
Pen Is Mightier Than the Bacteria, And Other Ways to Write Dubious Ads
N
“Stupid
Question” Resurrection: Questioning the Answer-Men and Why Poor People Wear
Barrels
N
Your
Ciphertext Is My Plaintext: Ignorance as Pseudo-Code
and Pop Culture’s Fake Eurekas
N
The
Bumblebee’s Shiver: Secret Sonic Powers of the Other Buzz
N
The
Leprosy-Experiment Armadillos of the Fakahatchee
Swamp
N
On
Getting Away With It: The History and Theory of Criminal Statutes of
Limitations
N
They
Have Buried Talu: Ethnic Theme Parks and Chinese
Utopia
N
Did
I Kill id1g1t?, And Other Sticky Strands of the Web
N
No,
Get Off My Ass: Swearing Off
Corporate Culture
N
Further
Notes on Video Game Criticism
N
Toward
a Critical Theory of Video Games
N
Effecto
2000: The Y2K Bug Really Did Almost Destroy the World
N
N
Walton
Ford and the Temple of Doom: Or, Judging Books by Their Covers
N
Please
Pass the Umami, And Can I Get Some Kokumi on That?
N
Star
Wars: Revenge of the…Fairies?!
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