Archive - Steam Calliope Scherzos

Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" Is Charming, but It's a Giant Mess

Why McCloud's theory has generated more confusion than clarity about the great lowbrow art form -- featuring lots of PICTURES!

Jun 14 • Kerwin

What It Means to Canonize Popular Art

On collective mnemotechnics and opt-in identity formation

Jun 7 • Kerwin

May 2026

Or, Language Is Not A Fiat Currency (Revisited)

May 24 • Kerwin

Selective Breeding as an Art Form

And, more pointedly, an Anglo-Saxon art form

May 17 • Kerwin

Why Conspiracy Theories Are Getting Lazier and Dumber

Seven reasons, plus some general remarks on the phenomenon

May 10 • Kerwin

Some More Sex Machines

On erotically powered machines that portend a supreme metal takeover

May 2 • Kerwin

April 2026

Some Sex Machines

Meditations on the pulsating irrationality of eros versus the all-consuming forces of the mechanical realm

Apr 26 • Kerwin

Survival Machines

On biosemiotics vs. mechanical reductionism

Apr 19 • Kerwin

(Soft) Linguistic Relativity Is Pretty Much Correct

Yes, our language really does tincture our perception of reality

Apr 10 • Kerwin

Memetics Never Stood a Chance

What "memes" are, and why the field of memetics could only fail, as it did

Apr 3 • Kerwin

March 2026

Relational (and to some extent Process) Ontology

A relatively undisciplined post on why I'm starting to become interested in these things

Mar 27 • Kerwin

Why I Won't Miss the 20th Century Illusion of Unending Cultural Progress

The time has come for fellaheen-maxxing.

Mar 20 • Kerwin