Sad on Purpose

Composing Music for a Video Game About Depression Doesn't Sound Like Much Fun

'Depression Quest' is a a text-based role-playing game that, according to its website, is “not meant to be a fun or lighthearted experience.” Its objective is to simulate the misery of clinical depression, which probably qualifies it as the most masochistic video game of all time. Full story

Portland's Wildfang Wants to Clothe Hot Tomboys

Nestled closely to that reindeer Portland sign you see at the opening credits of 'Portlandia' are the offices for the newest clothing collection you were destined to love: Wildfang. Full story

A Free Show on Skid Row

Sun Araw Hangs Out with the Homeless and We All Get Happy

Skid Row is not just a hack 80s hair band, or a fabled place of destitution. It’s an actual neighborhood in Los Angeles where real people live. Not that most of LA would know. Full story

The Gimp from 'Pulp Fiction' Applies for a Literary Internship

For the last several years, I have been employed as a gimp in a box in the basement of Zed's Pawn Shop in Canoga Park, Los Angeles. I am tethered. I sleep in a four by two foot storage locker. In all my years in this position (and I do hope you’ll excuse my vagueness on details,… Full story

Video Games Killed the Radio Star

Ten years is basically a billion years in video games. In 1992, when Mortal Kombat came out on arcades, crowds would gather in the belief that they were seeing a duel from some far-flung nation—like China—where the natives were born with four arms and pixelated. Ten years later a… Full story

We Saw Death Grips and Some Other Bands in Montreal

The dude from Death Grips looks like he works out. He actually looks like and has the stage presence of a black Henry Rollins when Rollins was in Black Flag and before he did movies with Keanu Reeves. I wonder how many ladies in that theater went home with their milky, wimpy, fle… Full story

A Living Diary of a Dying Industry

The Sound Guy Who Really Needs You to Wind Those Cords Correctly

Audio engineer Jason Powers is a “cool guy" who works with Matthew Dear (among others), and owns/operates the studio Type Foundry in Portland. Full story

Paul Ryan: What Stupid People Think a Smart Guy Sounds Like

His popularity among voters isn't much of a surprise. Ryan's good-looking and articulate. Most importantly, he can convince people there's intellectual gravitas behind his words. It’s sort of like the Ross Perot phenomenon, a man for whom 20 million people voted in 1992. Since Pe… Full story

We Were Merely Freshmen: Classmates Recall Mitt Romney’s Year at Stanford

One Friday in the spring of 1966, Mitt Romney, then a freshman at Stanford University, skipped the discussion section of his Western Civilization survey class. A sit-in against the Vietnam War was underway inside President Wallace Sterling's office. Outside, Mitt Romney protested… Full story

Supporting the Troops Through Sexting

There’s one subject that seems to get most military guys riled up, just like anybody else: penises. One soldier, whose profile says only, “Give me your porn,” responded to my “hi” with close-up photos of his hard cock, including one shot of himself wet in the shower and a close u… Full story