Author: Heath McCoy
-
Britpop VS. Grunge
Britpop and Grunge each step into the ring, with Heath McCoy as referee, judge, jury, and executioner. Winner takes it all —- Britpop vs. Grunge. The so-called Britpop movement, which was born 20 years ago, around this time, meant so much more to me than the so-called grunge movement, which effectively died 20 years ago,…
-
Interview: Kevin Eastman (TMNT)
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are turning 30, so Heath McCoy talks to Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman in advance of his appearance at Calgary Expo. When friends Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird self-published the first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in May 1984, world domination was the furthest thing from their minds. “We…
-
The Squared Circle – David Shoemaker
The world of pro wrestling is overrun with more than its share of historians, documentarians, biographers, and all manner of bargain bin mythmakers. On the other hand, from an academic side, one can only imagine all the painfully pedantic scrolls that have been dedicated to the mat game in the name of cultural studies. But,…
-
A Love Letter to Van Halen’s 1984 on its 30th Birthday
To 13-year-old me, there was no doubt about it. I had just discovered the coolest cats on the planet. Baby boomers often wax poetic about the first time they saw Elvis Presley or The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. Well, for me, hitting my teens just in time for the golden age of MTV,…
-
Is Feminism Weakening Wonder Woman?
We live in a time when the pop culture world is packed with ass-kicking heroines, from Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow and The Walking Dead’s Michonne to Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and Hit-Girl from the Kick Ass flicks. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Xena: Warrior Princess aren’t that far in the rearview mirror. Wonder…