My col­umn for Star­burst Mag­a­zine, Hack To The Future, cen­ters around three things:

To that end, I’m writ­ing fiction, extrapolating what enter­tain­ment could become based on the cur­rent progress of tech­nol­ogy, the ever-increasing absur­dity of mod­ern media, and the bot­tom­less well of human nature. As a result, the columns need to be read in chrono­log­i­cal order.  Here is the com­plete list to date:

1. Run­ning the Block­ade (April 27, 2016): “Wel­come back for another install­ment, dear read­ers. Even though parts of the Inter­net have been taken offline due to the Artifex Union’s con­flict with the major stu­dios, I’ve man­aged to cast my eyes over some of the films that have escaped the fire­wall block­ade. This week: we take a look at trans­me­dia bad boy Xomsky’s retelling of a clas­sic sci­ence fic­tion tale; the lat­est super­hero reboot and the first in the ground­break­ing tril­ogy of movies based on Ben Pennington’s King­dom of the Arach­nae series.”
2. Mur­der Is My Beat (May 20, 2016): “Last week, as the Artifex Union’s (mostly suc­cess­ful) bid to halt all dig­i­tal pro­duc­tion of media came to an end, the flood­gates were opened and prop­er­ties that had been stalled were finally released to the pub­lic. This month, we look at the most intrigu­ing of these: AlephStudio’s trans­me­dia expe­ri­ence, The Widow in Red, a tril­ogy told in three parts across three dif­fer­ent medi­ums: movie, book, and game. It’s film noir with an animé edge, all in glo­ri­ous 3D aug­mented reality.”
3. Two Pair, Aces High (July 16, 2016): “…Let’s remem­ber that, with­out that writer’s strike, there would be no Dr. Hor­ri­ble, and with­out the Artifex strike of 2012 there would be no Xom­sky. If I’m wax­ing poetic it is only because I have seen what the stu­dios are releas­ing this month. I have looked into the abyss and have seen only despair. Remake after remake, and even the comics can­not save us from the ter­mi­nal bore­dom that is the stu­dio machine. But… you ask for reviews, so I give you reviews. Here, in brief para­graphs designed specif­i­cally to enable you to get the gist of the movie with­out need­ing to gouge your eyes out with a spoon, are two of the movies you have to look for­ward to from the major stu­dios. Stick with me, O reader: there are good things to fol­low if you can tra­verse these Dead Marshes.”
4. The Wealth of Nations (August 17, 2016): “It’s a game. It’s a busi­ness. It’s a future busi­ness model. It could rev­o­lu­tion­ize the future of cur­rency mar­kets. It’s a threat to gov­ern­ments all over the world. It is Denarius…Denarius is three things rolled into a pack­age. It is a vir­tual world. It is a vir­tual cur­rency exchange game. It is also a rev­o­lu­tion. This is not mere hyper­bole, dear read­ers. This is one of those rare games that shakes the foun­da­tions of heaven and hell and promises change on a global scale.”
5. The Iron Man Film Fes­ti­val (April 15, 2017): “A lit­tle his­tory and con­text: the Iron Man Film Fes­ti­val is the newest inter­na­tional film fes­ti­val to join cir­cuit made up of other major fes­ti­vals like Cannes and Sun­dance. At many of the oth­ers there is a sense of occa­sion, tuxes are pur­chased, red car­pets are rolled out, deals are made and con­tracts are inked. At Iron Man, you’re bet­ter served with a pair of com­fort­able sweats and a twelve-pack of Red Bull. The Iron Man Fes­ti­val, much like the race of the same name, is about endurance.”