isgreaterthan

Photo by nwhitford on Flickr.

I started Is Greater Than in late 2007 with little direction or ambition, as a response to the sadness and frustration I felt after the end of Punk Planet magazine, where I served as an intern and a reviews editor during its last year. Despite my brief tenure at the magazine, I had been a long-time reader, and it had a huge impact on my thinking. I credit

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Once upon a time, the Little Mermaid came into Red Lobster. She came into Red Lobster sad and wobbly. Sad, because she missed her family and friends far away under the sea. Wobbly,…

These are popular times for novels set in a dystopic near-future America. This setting has understandably become a reflection of our collective disaffection as citizens, our anxieties, our…

The thing about the way I troll for fodder for this column – going to [monolithic internet retailer]‘s web site, clicking on new music releases for a given week, seeing what catches my eye –…

Recently I spent an extraordinary amount of time testing grenadine recipes, trying to find one that wouldn’t sacrifice color for flavor, or flavor for color. There are a lot of complaints out there…

Photo by Graham Watson on Flickr

The reader…will hear the accursed cat, which is a symbol of unredeemed guilt, mewing behind the wall.
The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard

I don’t have much…

There are a lot of headbands in the National Basketball Association. And socks and towels and jerseys. And on every one of them; in fact on just about all things NBA, there is the logo. You know…

It may be well into the glorious, green, sunny season of spring – at least for those of you not stuck in the interminably cloudy, cold weather sinkhole that is Seattle these days – but that…

Here in the US the sun is finally getting close enough to the equator to warm our frosted bones and we can finally bring out all those wide legged pants and maxi skirts that have excited the…

In my circle of friends it has always been all about granola. A friend of mine in Philly makes a vanilla bean and sea salt granola that I would, if it came down to a last bowl, punch…

Most artists treat their album covers as a way to communicate what their music sounds like, in one way or another, allowing the potential consumer to quickly decide whether or not to waste…

Photo by Mister Bijou on Blogspot

As soon as Roger saw me he said I smelt like the rain. I had made some questionable late night phone calls just to complain about the incessancy of it. And yet…

What name do you associate with the “We Can Do It” poster? Rosie the Riveter? Yeah, me too; until recently, anyway. Turns out, we’re wrong. Kind of. The iconic image captures an era and…

Last month I was introduced to Alex London’s work with surprised pleasure via the fall 2011 collection, Kagami. The clothing made it clear that this is not your average…

June 6

Rats have been spotted in the children’s room. It is thought that they are getting in through the pipes. The library director thanked Angela for trying to catch them, but it is not the…

I have to admit that I love this time of year. Spring is right around the corner, and here in California the rain storms are raging and the citrus is still booming. All around me people…

Combatting air pollution with…glowing artificial trees?

MIT…

Jeff Koons, Pink Panther, 1988. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Gerald S. Elliott Collection. Photo © MCA Chicago

I feel the same way about Jeff Koons as I did about learning to…

Our friend Cooper McBean of The Devil Makes Three has kept himself busy in the band’s downtime, putting together a backing band on the side for his solo efforts and recording a four-song ep…