Ben Ulansey
Bio
Ben is a journalist, essayist, and reviewer who writes about everything from AI, technology, politics, and religion to travel, film, dreams, drones, drugs, dogs, music, video games, and writing.
Stories (35)
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The Surprising Efficacy of the He's Weird Argument. Top Story - August 2024.
There were many moments during Trump's run in 2016 that seemed as though they might spell the end for his candidacy and career in politics. From calling Mexicans "criminals" and "rapists," to the time he invited Russian interference in our election (a request Putin was more than happy to oblige), to the release of the Access Hollywood tape - the now-infamous "Grab em' by the pussy" comment.
By Ben Ulanseyabout a year ago in Humans
The Fast-Moving World of American Politics
It's hard to deny that the world of current events moves quickly, and American politics is no exception. Well before Biden dropped out of the race, we'd grown accustomed to the blazingly rapid nature of political happenings within this country. Even back when the entire fate of our nation didn't seemingly hinge on each new presidential election's results, we'd become desensitized to our politics devolving into an irrepressible circus of vitriol, lawn signs, attack ads, and unsolicited campaign bombardments.
By Ben Ulanseyabout a year ago in Humans
Civil War Is a Divisive Ode to a Divided Country
Civil War is a movie that's every bit as polarizing as its name implies. Directed by Alex Garland and set in a hypothetical near-future United States, there are few Americans who can watch it without feeling something. Whether that something is disgust, numbness, fear, enthusiasm, or indignation will depend on each viewer.
By Ben Ulansey2 years ago in Humans
Ex Machina and the Disconcerting Way That Sci-Fi Movies Age
One of the interesting things about the development of technology is that it changes our relationship with the sci-fi movies of yesterday. "Today's sci-fi is tomorrow's science," as many have pointed out.
By Ben Ulansey2 years ago in Futurism
What Makes a Slang Word Useful?
Living outside of the Philadelphia area for most of my life, I’ve seen my fair share of slang words enter and leave the fray. Some of them are amusing, some of them are useful, and some are outright pointless and forgettable. But it never really occured to me that there might actually be ways of truly assessing a slang word’s value. There are standards that linguists and philologists use to measure what a new word or phrase provides.
By Ben Ulansey2 years ago in Writers
Is Language an Economy or a Tapestry?
For much of my time as a writer, I’ve been torn between two camps. Since middle school, my father instilled in me an appreciation for words and each of their distinct meanings. For any given idea, there are a million ways to express it. To include every possible permutation of polysyllabic phrases, proverbs and platitudes, we begin to enter into delightful verbal infinities.
By Ben Ulansey2 years ago in Writers
The Right Side of a Wrong War
One of the strangest aspects of war is the awful ambiguity. When it's innocent civilians dying on both sides, morality often blurs. For the outsiders who watch chaos unfold through TV screens, rights and wrongs can fall into a muddled wayside.
By Ben Ulansey2 years ago in Humans
Interstellar: A Retrospective
In 2014, the movie Interstellar was released. Directed by Christopher Nolan and with a musical score written by Hans Zimmer, the film stands today as a cinematic masterpiece. From the subject matter to the characters, to the sound design, to the painstaking lengths that they went to getting the science as accurate as possible, Interstellar, in so many ways, is the movie of a generation.
By Ben Ulansey2 years ago in Humans
Self-Awareness: The Backbone of the MCU
Even as a fan of the Marvel Universe, sometimes it’s difficult not to feel as though we’re being completely inundated with new projects, movies and shows. Since the start of the pandemic alone, Marvel has released more than ten blockbuster movies — and that’s without even mentioning their burgeoning world of new TV shows. From Loki and Wandavision to Hawkeye and the increasingly notorious She Hulk: Attorney At Law, Marvel fans have had a lot to keep up with in recent months.
By Ben Ulansey2 years ago in Geeks
'Tenet': Time-Bending Masterpiece or Misfire?
Released in theaters before the arrival of coronavirus vaccines, many had hoped in September of 2020 that Tenet would be the movie that proved why theaters were still necessary. But in a world reeling from the first pandemic in a century, it never managed to achieve the acclaim it strived for. When compared with so many of Christopher Nolan’s previous films, its reception was fairly tepid.
By Ben Ulansey2 years ago in Futurism
“Asteroid City”: Wes Anderson at his Wessiest
There’s been a brand of cinematic work that’s taken off in recent years, and the style is proving divisive for many viewers. They’re the films that don’t intend to tell cohesive narratives. They’re the films that seem as though they’re more intent on confusing audiences— or at least causing them to think a little too deeply for their comfort — than they are on entertaining them.
By Ben Ulansey2 years ago in Humor
