i am a “friend of ak pressâ€? which means i pay them a certain amount of money each month ($20 US) and in return i receive a copy of every new book they print. i think this is a more than fair arrangement as every couple of months i get a fat envelope with a book or two, a cd or dvd, some stickers and a comic (or sometimes a different combination of stuff depending on what they produce). it’s like having organic vegetable delivery - you never know what you will receive and you end up trying stuff you would have never bought at the grocery. this book of short-essays is a rambling book of lighter material but an enjoyable read covering off the intersections between politics, art, music, architecture and sex via the words of a number of authors. looking through the lens of pop-culture often gives real insight into the values, aspirations and the “dark-sideâ€? of any society - something this this recent addition to the counterpunch book series delivers on in the waning days of the american empire. ( )