Colin Marshall
Open Culture
Korea, Republic of
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Past articles by Colin:
A Tour of Studio Ghibli's Brand New Theme Park in Japan, Which Re-Creates the Worlds of Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Other Classics
Two and a half years ago, we featured the concept art for Studio Ghibli's theme park here on Open Culture, and just two weeks ago it opened its doors. → Read More
Noam Chomsky on ChatGPT: It's "Basically High-Tech Plagiarism" and "a Way of Avoiding Learning"
ChatGPT, the system that understands natural language and responds in kind, has caused a sensation since its launch less than three months ago. If you've tried it out, you'll surely have wondered what it will soon revolutionize — or, as the case may be, what it will destroy. → Read More
How Fast Food Began: The History of This Thoroughly American (and Now Global) Form of Dining
What is the most American institution of all? The mind first goes in the directions of church, of the military, of football. But if we consider only the systems of modern life developed on United States soil, the most influential must surely be fast food. → Read More
The Avant-Garde Animated Films of Walter Ruttmann, Still Strikingly Fresh a Century Later (1921-1925)
Though regarded by many as near-impossibly difficult to judge, avant-garde art can be put to its own test of time: does it still feel new ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred years later? → Read More
Cats in Japanese Woodblock Prints: How Japan’s Favorite Animals Came to Star in Its Popular Art
Few countries love cats as much as Japan does, and none expresses that love so clearly in its various forms of art. Though not eternal, the Japanese inclination toward all things feline does extend deeper into history than some of us might assume. → Read More
Did Psychedelic Mushrooms Appear in Medieval Christian Art?: A Video Essay
Historical research reveals psychoactive substances to have been in use longer than most of us would assume. But did Adam and Eve do mushrooms in the Garden of Eden? → Read More
Watch Videos for 10 Songs on Brian Eno's Brand New Album, FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE
Those who have only casually appreciated Brian Eno's music may not think of him as a singer. Given that his best-known solo recording Music for Airports not only has no lyrics but contains few recognizable instruments, that perception makes a certain amount of sense. → Read More
When the World Got Introduced to the Amazing Compact Disc (CD) in 1982
The first compact discs and players came out in October of 1982. That means the format is now 40 years old, which in turn means that most avid music-listeners have never known a world without it. → Read More
The Virtue of Owning Books You Haven't Read: Why Umberto Eco Kept an "Antilibrary"
When considering whether to buy yet another book, you might well ask yourself when you'll get around to reading it. But perhaps there are other, even more important considerations, such as the intellectual value of the book in its still-unread state. → Read More
Behold Illustrations of Every Shakespeare Play Created by Artificial Intelligence
William Shakespeare's plays have endured not just because of their inherent dramatic and linguistic qualities, but also because each era has found its own way of envisioning and re-envisioning them. → Read More
The Comiclopedia: An Online Archive of 14,000 Comic Artists, From Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, to Mœbius and Hergé
Nobody interested in comics can pass through Amsterdam without visiting Lambiek. Having opened in 1968 as the third comic-book shop in human history, it now survives as the oldest one still in existence. → Read More
The Fiske Reading Machine: The 1920s Precursor to the Kindle
The Sony Librie, the first e-reader to use a modern electronic-paper screen, came out in 2004. Old as that is in tech years, the basic idea of a handheld device that can store large amounts of text stretches at least eight decades farther back in history. → Read More
What Sex Was Like in Medieval Times?: Historians Look at How People Got It On in the Dark Ages
The adjective medieval tends to conjure up vivid and sometimes off-putting images, not least when applied to sex. But how many of us have any sense at all of what the real people of the Middle Ages got up to in bed? → Read More
How the CIA Turned Doctor Zhivago into a Propaganda Weapon Against the Soviet Union
Humanity has long pondered the relative might of the pen and the sword. While one time-worn aphorism does grant the advantage to the pen, most of us have entertained doubts: the sword, metaphorically or literally, seems to have won out across an awfully wide swath of history. → Read More
Kierkegaard on Why We All Misunderstand the True Meaning of Love: An Animated Explanation
Søren Kierkegaard died in 1855, but if he'd glimpsed our modern-day landscape of dating apps, he probably would've understood it. → Read More
Michael Pollan, Sam Harris & Others Explain How Psychedelics Can Change Your Mind
You may never have tried psychedelic substances. You may never have had an interest in trying psychedelic substances. But if you're reading this, you do have a mind, and you've almost certainly felt some curiosity about how that mind works. → Read More
Stephen King's 22 Favorite Movies: Full of Horror & Suspense
A rich list of horror and suspense films. Open Culture, openculture.com → Read More
How a Mondrian Painting Has Accidentally Hung Upside-Down for 75 Years
Piet Mondrian's New York City I was recently discovered to have been hanging upside-down on display for the past 75 years, which made for a cultural story practically designed to go viral. → Read More
Hear 149 Vintage Halloween Radio Shows from the Golden Age of Radio
As Halloween radio broadcasts go, it would be hard to displace in American cultural memory the adaptation of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds that aired in 1938. → Read More
See Metropolis' Scandalous Dance Scene Colorized, Enhanced, and Newly Soundtracked
It didn't take long after the invention of cinema for its sheer power of spectacle to become clear. Arguably, it was apparent even in the pioneering work of the Lumière brothers, though they attempted only to capture images familiar from everyday life at the time. → Read More