Author: B. Joseph Jackson

Whenever I’m chatting with friends about horror movies, I like to get really quiet for a moment during the conversation, which is the opposite of my usual state. I wait for a small lull in the conversation. When everyone is quiet, I like to mutter, “Have you ever actually been scared?” It’s an incredibly creepy question to ask if you say it right. Well? Have you? Huh? Too many questions this quickly? What if I told you I don’t care? Interesting. That’s what I thought. Now we can get down to business. This is me breaking you down psychologically in the…

I’m from the Midwest. Some would argue it isn’t one hundred percent the most Midwest state you can be from, but then what else would you classify Ohio as, smart guy? It sure as shit isn’t the mid-Atlantic, and don’t even tell me it is Appalachia. Ohio is the Midwest, no matter how much pride some Nebraska student wants to argue it isn’t. Now that you know I’m coming from, this kind of “I can make fun of this because I lived it” situation, I am free to be about as critical as I want of my fellow Americans at…

I’m back from the depths of the web for another installment of everyone’s favorite time-destroying game, Unexpected Internet Rabbit Holes. Since we last spoke, I’ve been trying to climb out of the digital sinkhole that is TV Tropes and after a few weeks of trying, I think I’m back on flat ground. This time, we’re going to go over the absolute bonkers genre, subgenre and styles lists found over at AllMusic. Do you want to learn more about Children’s Rock, Pop or Folk? What about finding the newest artist to come out on the Techno-Tribal New Age circuit? Maybe Illbient is…

Don’t go to TVTropes.org if you have any upcoming deadlines. It’ll take the time you have in the rest of your life and cut it in half instantly; you’re really in the actual rabbit hole territory now. I’ve mentioned TV Tropes before and for good reason. The site is designed to make you click one more link, explore one more article, go one more night without sleep. You’ve been warned. Anyway, TV Tropes is one of the best, most interesting sites on the Interwebs. Set up much like the juggernaut of rabbit holes, Wikipedia, Tropes’s main job is to explain, catalog…

Last time on UIRH, we explored the world of Magic: the Gathering’s suspended player list, which – if you’ve been paying attention – got a whole lot spicier recently. This week, we’re going to take a trip to the land of fiction, with a website that will surely steal your precious time, just like N did so long ago. Not only is it fiction, but it’s spooky fiction! I’m talking about the SCP Foundation, and the thousands of articles that go along with it. The SCP Foundation is a fictitious foundation set up to protect mankind from “anomalous objects, entities and…

Don’t go to TV Tropes unless you want it to suddenly be tomorrow morning and you’re late for work. Stay away from Wikipedia’s music genres if you only have a few minutes to surf (and don’t want to scream at the screen in fury). These are just a few examples of websites out there that suck the life out of you; I’m positive they use the time energy to run their servers. But here’s a site you may not have expected to be such a glorious internet rabbit hole: The suspended player list for DCI memberships, the program that essentially…

Ever stand too close to the speakers at a sold-out club show? You get that feeling that something isn’t quite right – the vibrations ripping through your body like neutrinos on their way through yet another planet, stopping for nothing. Some people shy away from it, but if you’re like me, that’s sort of the feeling you’re going for whenever you’re listening to any kind of music. I’ve always thought of Black Sabbath as the kings of shred. There is nothing for me to do other than bang my head and sing along any time I feel that reverb cut…

We all feel the life-altering, spirit-crushing burden of student loan debt, unless you’re one of the smart ones and said “Eff that” when presented with the idea of attending school for a number of years to obtain a degree that may or may not help you in the future career you’re not sure you want (I wish I was you). So, as a part of Back to School Week, we’ve found two ways to generate extra income (well, two if you happen to be male). These might not be glamorous, but they’ll ensure that the debt collectors stop calling your…

Someone finally stepped up to the plate. Major league sports are notoriously a boys’ club – the NFL being maybe the biggest offender – so I’m genuinely thankful that at least one team is trying to diversify its audience. That team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, recently launched RED: The Bucs Women’s Movement in order to reach more female fans. On the surface, this is a wonderful gesture – a nod to the fact that yes, not all sports fans are men, nor are they even all gender conforming (might be asking a little much there). However, the execution leaves…a lot…

Before about a week ago, the furthest I had ever delved into Canada was Windsor and Niagara Falls – both border cities. At those places you don’t even really need to change your money to Canadian. You can hardly say that my family and I had taken in much culture. Being the good ol’ American boy that I am, I decided to rectify that and take a trip to Canada. It just so happened that it lined up perfectly for a friend and I to go to Toronto, be in Ottawa for Canada Day, and then finish up with Montreal. It…