Here are the esteemed individuals that write for Critically Touched:
Jeremy Grayson (Jeremy G.) – ADMINISTRATOR
TV show(s) reviewed: The West Wing, Freaks and Geeks, Wonderfalls, and select episodes of Angel.
Welcome!
As the title says, I’m currently the administrator of Critically Touched. I am not, however its founder. That would be Mike Marinaro, AKA MikeJer, whom you can read about below. I joined the site as a writer in 2012, and took over following Mike’s departure in 2017.
I enjoy writing – mainly about television (see my myriad reviews and articles scattered across this site), but also about popular culture in general. I’ve long believed that pop-culture can act as a mirror which reflects on our society in vivid and unexpected ways. It can make us laugh, it can make us cry – but most importantly, it can make us think. It is my hope that this site can explain why.
In time, I hope Critically Touched can further grow into a site that breeds thoughtful, engaging discussion about television, film, and the world at large. If you’re interested in becoming a writer for Critically Touched, please click here.
Thanks for dropping by, and I hope you enjoy your stay!
Mike Marinaro (MikeJer) – FOUNDER/CREATOR
TV show(s) reviewed: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and select S4/S5 episodes of Angel.
Hi!
I was the fool that thought it was a great idea to build a site and write insanely nerdy, emotional, and introspective reviews of Buffy the Vampire Slayer way back in 2005, when such a thing wasn’t nearly as common.
Eventually I decided to bring on some other quirky writers to join me in taking on media that they found intelligent, deep, and deeply personal. That led to the creation of Critically Touched.
After 12 years of being a hand-built custom website with all kinds of really cool search and community features, life finally caught up with me. This led to a wholesale transition to this very free WordPress site you see now.
Although I’ll likely always haunt this place, Jeremy Grayson (below) is now the site’s administrator and overlord. I wish him the best of luck and know he’ll lead the site to another 12 fabulous years!
Contact: jeremygrayson17[at]gmail[dot]com.
Jay Yencich
TV show(s) reviewed: Twin Peaks.
Hello. My name is Jay. I know who MikeJer is. I have spent many an hour on his couch, watching something, and then debating its merits. Like MikeJer, technology (I got through a quarter’s worth of VB curriculum in half a quarter) and literature/writing were both options for me coming out of high school, but partially because I’ve never gotten along with a science teacher in my entire life, I took The Dark Path. Some years later, Creative Writing and English/Comp. Lit double-major B.A. from Columbia University, poetry MFA from the University of Washington, a PhD in the works.
While my field is regarded as silly or frivolous by many, I take it, and much art, as seriously as anything in my life. I get my kicks not only from trying to make art but trying to explain how it works, which can help in that I like some weird things. I tend to get wrapped up in discussions of structure and cinematography probably more than MikeJer, but still bring a lot of character-centric analysis as I think it’s more difficult, though not impossible, to pull off a show without at least solid characterization.
Favorite Shows: Bakemonogatari (series), Breaking Bad, Les Revenants, Mushishi, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Twin Peaks
Favorite Movies: Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, La Cité des Enfants Perdus, Let The Right One In (Swedish original), Oldboy (Korean version), Solaris (Tarkovsky version)
Favorite Music: Charles Mingus, Dirty Three, The Lounge Lizards, Mogwai, Morphine, The National, Nick Cave, Okkervil River, Pere Ubu, Soul Coughing, Tom Waits, assorted other experimental, post-rock, indie rock, hard bop jazz, and classically-inspired minimalist outlets (I wrote my thesis to Messiaen’s “Quatuor pour la fin du temps”, if that means anything to more than one of you)
Other Interests!: Baseball, beer, hiking
Contact: jyencich[at]gmail[dot]com
Noah Burns
TV show(s) reviewed: The Inside.
I’m a student currently studying philosophy, the history of mathematics and science, and literature. In the past I’ve worked as a political consultant, speechwriter, and policy advisor in a local election. One of the greatest experiences I had in that job was seeing something that I had written move someone to take a new opinion or at least consider an idea they previously hadn’t. If I can accomplish that with my reviews, I’ll be happy.
But I’ve also done creative writing. Success in that means expression. While for my reviews of The Inside the art and the expression will be Minear and his staff’s, I hope to get at what they are expressing in a way that will be useful to you, and in a manner that is (at least sometimes) creative. My main goal, however, is to act as a go-between between the reader and the artists.
Contact: nhalle[dot]theinside[at]gmail[dot]com
Antony Stubbs (guttersnipe)
TV show(s) reviewed: Dekalog.
Hi!
I’m Antony, introvert, cinephile and travel enthusiast. It’s an honour to be part of the Critically Touched family, beaming thought-rays from the secret lair beneath the volcano where dreams of quality reviewage become reality.
When I’m not here I’m planning trips abroad, gushing about Japan, playing with my cats or making and painting miniatures, all of which are well-ingrained pastimes.
My first show for this illustrious website is Dekalog, the magnificent ten-part miniseries by Krzysztof Kieslowski exploring ethical conundrums revolving around the Ten Commandments. My desire to review the show comes as much from simply trying to promote the relatively-obscure series as it is to expound upon its virtues and analyse the works in a way that will hopefully bridge the gap between creator and recipient. My Dekalog scribblings come after a long hiatus from film reviewing, and the life lessons learned in the interim have if anything made me a stronger critic today. Nevertheless, I am merely a vessel, and if my thoughts on Dekalog (or Buffy, or Angel, etc) seem way off-base, take me up on it and I’ll pull up a chair.
Other favourite TV shows include: Twin Peaks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Simpsons, QI, The Fast Show, Macross Plus, Jam, TV Offal, Paranoia Agent, BrassEye and King of the Hill.
Favourite films include: Fight Club, Blade Runner, The Exterminating Angel, Le Feu Follet and Secretary. Favourite film movements and people include film noir, anime, Nouvelle Vague, MGM musicals, Japanese New Wave, American independents, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe.
Favourite music includes: Tori Amos, Depeche Mode, Alice in Chains, Deftones, The Smiths, Portishead, Nina Simone, Joy Division, In the Nursery, Slayer, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Wu-Tang Clan, electronica, hip-hop, hardcore punk, etc.
Favourite literature includes: Lolita, 1984, L’Enfer (Barbusse), In Cold Blood, VALIS, Cyrano de Bergerac, One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Atrocity Exhibition, Othello, Invisible Monsters and The Last Temptation of Christ.
Pet peeves include: families, couples or even individuals who take up the whole pavement forcing me to walk on the road, delays on public transport and people who bend magazine and book covers between their thumbs and first two fingers.
Contact: guttersnipe28[at]hotmail[dot]com
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