Our Week of Mashup Madness

Combining seemingly unrelated existing things to form exciting new things is as old as chemistry (back when it was cool, before people started studying it). It’s even an occasional pop-music fad. This week, we got wired and inspired by Jhave Johnson’s mashup-machine prototype and by various poetry-world collisions.

Libraries vs. payphones. Libraries are evolving. Payphones, having all but disappeared, have inspired a wave of nostalgia. One rogue librarian brings digits and couplets together.

Scorcese vs. cybernetics. Hugo is up for an Oscar this weekend. It was drawn from the same tale that inspired the creation of this charming, artistically-inclined automaton.

Tim Tebow vs. Dr. Seuss. The controversial football star sometimes stops to ham it up.

Maya Rudolph v. Maya Angelou. The esteemed comic actress took on the seriously serious wordsmith on last week’s Saturday Night Live. Give it up for niche humor on late-night.

Dodie Bellamy vs. Emily Gould. One of our favorite poet-bloggers sits down for a chat with one of our favorite ex-Gawker microcelebs.

Megan Volpert vs. Andy Warhol. The angular-thinking writer praises pop art and mix tapes.

Math vs. Poetry. The twain meet and the two become one.

Poetry vs. Sci-fi. Ancient forms speculate futuristically.

De’Ath vs. Moore vs. Sincerity vs. Failure vs. Levin vs. Boyer vs. OWS. This was this week’s most ambitious mashup. We’re still cleaning up after it.