About Lisa Olson
Lisa Olson holds a BA in art from the University of Minnesota, which is why she still works in retail for the time being. She is a lifelong nerd well-versed in many fandoms, and ships with seriousness. Her attention to detail has caused her father to call her "a malcontent" during arguments about The Walking Dead. She is not a good dancer, but an enthusiastic one. She would starve to death if takeout wasn't a thing. She's on Twitter and Tumblr.
Website
http://www.twitter.com/lisasnaps
Recently Kumail Nanjiani tweeted that the best Star Trek film was Galaxy Quest. I laughed at that because it’s a funny joke, but after having seen Star Trek: Into Darkness I enthusiastically agree with Kumail. I don’t want to give you nightmares, but I feel like there’s something really important you need to know: there was a time, before the Internet, when if you liked science fiction because you liked to read and think outside of school, kids would probably just turn and walk wordlessly away...
I’m going to keep this short and sweet so that I don’t waste too much of your time before you go buy your tickets for Iron Man 3, which opens today. I suspect that people who hate fun and routinely miss the point will say things like “I’ve seen this before.” And my response to that is yes, you probably have. Pop culture is mostly repetition. Shakespeare was ripping off contemporaries for material hundreds of years ago and now movie remakes are like catnip for...
I’m sure you want to jump right into life with your new Ricky, but let’s get to know him first. Legend says that Ricky’s father was Javier Bardem and that his mother was a gentle doe who roamed the lush Iberian forests. One day when the doe came across a cool forest pond she bent down to take a drink. Suddenly she saw the reflection of Javier in the water across the pond, the moonlight caught her eye and when it twinkled Ricky Rubio sprang...
As a musical-theater-loving spazz, before I even walked into the theater I had my review of Les Miserables all planned out as a rage comic highlighting my biggest feels and reaction GIFs of Adventure Time characters flailing. I’m sad to say that after viewing the film that’s not really how it went. For me, one of the most interesting things about seeing Les Mis was seeing The Hobbit a week before. Both are movies with an entrenched, rabid fan base and a general public that...
Love or hate The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, you have to respect Peter Jackson’s contribution to the technology used to make bad movies. Let’s be honest, 48 frames per second in 3D is the single greatest thing this century to push forward the nauseating art of the bad movie. It’s so bad I hope to never see anything shot like this ever again. How great is the achievement of this poor aesthetic? Imagine the Shire. The lush, bountiful, soothing Shire as depicted in the Lord of...
Sina Grace has got to be one of the most blatantly sincere people working in mainstream comics today. I know this, and yet when I picked up his new book Not My Bag I expected a dense, thorough tome with a highly literary narrative like those I’ve become accustomed to from people like Craig Thompson. That sort of thing is valuable, of course. Tremendous works of art like Habibi, Persepolis, and Watchmen make for a great expenditure of your time and help legitimize the genre...
In the summer of 2010 I almost started to cry when, reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, I encountered the first mention of the title in the middle of the book. It took my breath away, which is a tough thing to do. It was the most challenging thing I’ve read since graduating from college and also the most rewarding, but had I not been reading it with a book club I might have abandoned ship during the first chapter. Now I confidently place it...
Maybe you’re like me. Maybe the idea of comic books has always seemed interesting but you mostly think of them as roided out superheroes for kids or weird black and white stuff that’s boring or makes you feel weird. Maybe you read Maus or Persepolis and thought “Yeah, this is neat—but what now?” Maybe the idea of walking into a comic book store full of aggressively knowledgeable nerds is frightening. Maybe you don’t even know what a comic book store is or where to find...
As much as I was vibrating out of my skin with excitement over The Avengers, I have been filled with doubt and anxiety for months over the release of The Dark Knight Rises. I know that I haven’t been alone: the corner of Twitter in which I live has been, at best, whispering with cautious excitement and at worst wailing in existential dread about how Christopher Nolan would choose to end his involvement with the Bat Universe. And while I usually pride myself on my...
Let me paint a picture for you: I’m about seven years old and I’m at Disney World with my family. I know only light and wonder. Then my parents take me on another ride. On this ride we pass through scenes from famous movies. We travel through The Wizard of Oz; I am overjoyed. We travel through Singin’ In the Rain; this man looks nice and I like when people sing. Then it gets dark, I’m confused, we’re in a metal hallway. We round a...
HULK SMASH! HULK MAKE EPIC COMEBACK FROM TWO CRAPPY MOVIES! HULK SMASH… Wait…I should back up. Hi. We haven’t met yet. I’m a nerd. I’m a nerd who has been consuming the lead-in movies to The Avengers for years with nigh religious fervor. I’ve been living my life by way of little Nick Fury hits and enduring some intense cravings in between times. My expectation level for this movie, thanks to a legion of fellow nerds on the Web and their fanatical excitement about this...
My Dream Date with Benedict Cumberbatch
May 24, 2013
Linguistic Reasons Why Pronouncing GIF with a Hard G is Just Fine
May 23, 2013
The Worst Harry Potter Book Covers From Around the World
May 22, 2013
Ten Easy Ways to Make Your Life More Like a Movie Trailer
May 21, 2013
Ten Kinds of Book People It’s Impossible to Have a Conversation With
May 20, 2013
