***Season 5 spoilers ahead*** It must be tough for House of Cards to tap into an exhausted public consciousness, already tested and strained by real U.S. politics. While the Underwoods remain vile and vicious, they seem bland compared to the tabloid-like headlines coming from the actual Washington, DC (the Underwoods…

During crucial moments in history, the world asks us to demonstrate our virtues and wear our hearts on our sleeves. Not everyone is up to the task. But when true courage does manifest, it is magically infectious. Other people will absorb it and it will crystallize inside them. In times…

With the messy state of international affairs and over-the-top political drama worthy of universal facepalms and eyerolls, everybody is turning to their favorite dystopic show available for stream to get away from it all: The Leftovers. The Handmaid’s Tale. Even the Twin Peaks reboot. …

In the early Sixties, America was mired in earthly miseries threatening its future, from deep-seated segregation in the heartland to a seemingly unending power struggle with the Soviet Union. Despite the tumult, it managed to set optimistic sights on outer space. In 1961 Al Shepard became the first American to…

How Japanese art reminded us of humanity after two nuclear tragedies. Inspired by Takashi Murakami’s “Little Boy” exhibition (2005) While flipping through Hugh Gusterson’s book, Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War (1996), a chilling paragraph caught my eye: The marked bodies of all these pigs, dogs, monkeys, cows [subjected to radiation to study nuclear weapons…

The origin story of Marvel’s “Big Hero 6" and its encounter with one bad nuclear villain. Illustration by Adriel Luis for Bombshelltoe The first Disney — Marvel CGI-animated mashup, Big Hero 6 (2014), captures the creative potential of two powerhouse companies working under the same roof: a heartwarming, action sci-fi story about an Asian-American robotics prodigy, his pudgy inflatable robo-medic sidekick and a crew of awesomely…

The forgotten tales of women in the nuclear world. Photoillustration by Adriel Luis for Bombshelltoe In the early 1940s, at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, women filed off of buses every day and shuffled into their respective buildings ready for another day’s work. Some of these women were in charge of operating calutrons — mass…

In Hollywood, nukes are a target hit Photoillustration by Adriel Luis for Bombshelltoe The 2013 summer superhero film The Wolverine got movie critics excited about the big fireball scene depicting the August 1945 nuclear attack on Nagasaki, Japan. A Japanese soldier, clutching a knife as tears stream down his cheeks, is bracing for the nuclear blast when…

During the Cold War, showgirl glamour became a means to cope with the existence of new deadly arsenals in America’s backyard. Lee Merlin, Miss Atomic Bomb 1957 (Photo: Las Vegas Sun) One wouldn’t intuitively put U.S. nuclear tests and pin-up girls together, but the two share a little-known history in the barren deserts of Nevada. While thousands of soldiers trudged around the infamous Nevada testing site, women sashayed into the nuclear…