CLIPS
Here are all my favorite stories.
film
As a member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, I’ve covered film since 2010 as a critic, an interviewer, and a trend reporter. I examined Warcraft’s surprise international box office success and the rise of films marketed specifically to Chinese audiences. I wrote about why Arrival was a much-needed allegory after the 2016 election. I wrote about Spotlight’s place in the history of journalism films and interviewed director Tom McCarthy. I dug into the story behind Sanjay’s Super Team, the most personal short film ever produced by Pixar.
I interviewed composers Junkie XL and Hans Zimmer about superhero films, Johann Johannsson on scoring the films of Denis Villeneuve, and 10 Cloverfield Lane composer Bear McCreary about the difference between writing music for television and films.
I ranked the films of Tim Burton, Roald Dahl book-to-film adaptations, and the increasingly impossible adaptations undertaken by directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. As a film critic at The A.V. Club, I specialized in Saturday morning screenings of family films like The Lego Movie and Frozen. I ran the numbers to determine Pixar’s best director, interviewed Zac Efron and Emily Ratajkowski at a night club press junket, and took a full census of the vehicular carnage in every Fast & Furious film.
television
I wrote about the Gilmore Girls revival and why so many rebooted shows disappoint fans. I marveled at the rapid improvement of Halt And Catch Fire. I interviewed Mike Judge about the ever-changing credits sequence of Silicon Valley, and wrote a faux-magazine profile for one of the show’s characters after WIRED was referenced in an episode.
I wrote about John Oliver guest hosting and the future of The Daily Show, the revival of The Powerpuff Girls, and the end of Gravity Falls. I interviewed Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland about Rick and Morty and Brian Reitzell about his unique approach to composing the music of Hannibal.
I interviewed constructed language expert David J. Peterson about creating Dothraki and Valyrian for Game of Thrones and other fictional languages. I highlighted Ben Mendelsohn ahead of his rise to prominence as a character actor in American film and television, got the story behind the theme song on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and uncovered the abysmal, secret pilot for a Wheel of Time television series produced so one company could retain adaptation rights.
I wrote about binge-watching Star Wars Rebels, Elementary, The Good Wife, Scrubs, and covered Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, True Detective, Justified, Community, and The Walking Dead.
music
I wrote about Adele’s highly-anticipated album 25 and its chances of breaking the all-time one-week sales record. I interviewed Lauren Mayberry and the rest of Chvrches ahead of their sophomore album Every Open Eye. I attended Outside Lands in San Francisco to observe the clash of tech company brand activations and the unplugged vibe of a music festival. I profiled Oakland songwriter and NPR Tiny Desk Concert contest winner Xavier Dphrepaulezz (better known as Fantastic Negrito), and Speedy Ortiz frontwoman Sadie Dupuis. I attended a DJ set by Kristian Nairn, the seven-foot-tall actor who plays Hodor on Game of Thrones.
I wrote about beloved albums by Built to Spill and Ratatat, dove deep on great songs by Weezer and New Order, and wrote a guide for how to get into noise rock pioneers Sonic Youth.
podcasts & comedy
I profiled Hari Kondabolu before he blew up with his documentary about Apu from The Simpsons. I interviewed Tig Notaro about her standup documentary performing in small, non-traditional venues like backyards and living rooms, and talked to Anthony Jeselnik about why he hates “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden.
I was one of the first to write about the team behind Welcome To Night Vale starting their next podcast Alice Isn’t Dead, and wrote about why the rising fiction podcast scene needs to move away from Serial.
tech & business
I profiled California Lieutenant Governor and former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom about his involvement in the campaign to legalize marijuana in California.
I wrote one of the first profiles of Sphero, the robotics company that designed the massively popular BB-8 robot toy for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. I uncovered the story behind the special effects company that created the holochess easter egg hidden in the film that connects back to A New Hope. I talked to a narrative researcher who compared character interaction data from Star Wars films to compare relationships and make predictions for future films.
I wrote about Symphony, the company attempting to create streaming ratings for Netflix films and series. I wrote about the landmark first instance of Netflix fully funding a film production, and analyzed the year Netflix became a true major television network.
I wrote about Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo becoming the first record to hit the top of the Billboard charts with mostly streaming equivalent sales units, and the lawsuit filed against Tidal over the record’s availability on other streaming services.
I uncovered the black market for gun sales on Instagram and the company’s attempt to hide the posts.
books
I interviewed Mara Wilson about her memoir on growing up as a child actress, David Mitchell about his shortest and most inviting novel, and Karen Russell for insight and background details on her best short stories.
I interviewed the guy who rewrites all the Star Wars movies as Shakespeare plays about his choice to recast Jar Jar Binks as a secret political radical.
I led a discussion of the script for J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, delved into why the published scripts of Welcome To Night Vale provide a pleasant political allegory for troubled times, and wrote about why George Saunders didn’t need to write a novel to be a literary titan.
I wrote about how interested readers could get into baseball literature, and wrote a column on young adult classics including The Outsiders and The Giver.
video & radio
I’m currently the co-host of What In The Westworld Just Happened, the weekly live discussion of HBO’s Westworld that airs on the Internet Movie Database’s Twitch channel. I also joined the channel to discuss Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ready Player One. For two years I co-hosted, produced, and engineered The Monitor, WIRED’s weekly Culture podcast. I joined New Hampshire Public Radio’s Word of Mouth to discuss Warcraft becoming a box-office smash in China. I talked about Adele’s record-breaking sales for The Simi Sara Show on Vancouver radio station CKNW.
I interviewed Green Room star Anton Yelchin and director Jeremy Saulnier about room escape scenarios. I brought Fantastic Negrito in to perform one of his best songs in the WIRED studio. I talked to The Lonely Island about emoji. I traveled around San Francisco to capture the widespread reach of Pokemon Go. I demoed the new motion-control Force Band peripheral for Sphero’s hit BB-8 robot and got former Stanford basketball player Taj Finger to demonstrate the history and potential future of the three-point line in basketball.