Category: Rookie of the Year

Rookie of the Year

Four Days With First Aid Kit

By Matt Marrone • April 26th, 2018

Through analytics, Matt Marrone discovers a favorite album he didn’t realize he had.

Rookie of the Year

Halt and Catch Death

By Matt Marrone • March 29th, 2018

I used to believe I was immune to regret. I wore it like a tacky t-shirt. Now I know I have a virtually endless string of regret. Not bad choices, necessarily. Just so much taken for granted.

Rookie of the Year

I Fought the PAW and the PAW Won

By Matt Marrone • February 5th, 2018

With Twin Peaks over, Matt Marrone turns his obsessive TV watching mind to…PAW Patrol?

Rookie of the Year

Music Loves, Too

By Matt Marrone • December 29th, 2017

You’d think for Twin Peaks super fan Matt Marrone, the soundtrack to the third season would be a shoo-in for his favorite album of the year, but that isn’t the case.

Rookie of the Year

The Last Word on When to Quit

By Matt Marrone • December 4th, 2017

Matt Marrone finds a faint glimmer of hope for Agent Cooper and Laura Palmer in the final Twin Peaks novel by Mark Frost.

Rookie of the Year

The ‘Oh!’ Sound That Means Yes

By Matt Marrone • October 25th, 2017

You wave goodbye and it’s early and it hurts and you’re working from home today.

Rookie of the Year

It’s 2017, Coop

By Matt Marrone • October 9th, 2017

Matt attempts to piece together his brain after the finale of Twin Peaks blew it apart.

Rookie of the Year

Folk Yea, Twitter!

By Matt Marrone • September 6th, 2017

The Rookie of the Year has the time of his life pestering performers at the Newport Folk Festival on Twitter.

Rookie of the Year

The Bob Bang Theory

By Matt Marrone • August 11th, 2017

This is the water. And this is the well. Drink full and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within.

Rookie of the Year

Nintendo Switch FAQ

By Matt Marrone • July 12th, 2017

Q. Should I buy a Nintendo Switch? A. Reply hazy, try again.

Rookie of the Year

Stand Clear of the Closing Doors, Please

By Matt Marrone • June 5th, 2017

The Rookie of the Year’s subway entrance was shuttered in 2015. It just reopened last month. Hooray?

Rookie of the Year

Deliver the Message

By Matt Marrone • May 17th, 2017

In another timeline, Twin Peaks wasn’t cancelled and The X-Files was it’s spin-off. The connections are there if you look for them.

Rookie of the Year

Phil Connors Sees His Shadow

By Matt Marrone • May 5th, 2017

Matt goes to see the very first performance of Groundhog Day the Musical, which is a thing that exists. Hijinx ensue.

Rookie of the Year

Hack to the Future

By Matt Marrone • April 11th, 2017

There are secrets to be unearthed in Back to the Future, Part II.

Rookie of the Year

Shit Show

By Matt Marrone • March 31st, 2017

What the opening segment of S-Town, the podcast everyone loves this week, should have told us.

Rookie of the Year

Whichworld?

By Matt Marrone • February 4th, 2017

Which robot-populated historical simulation theme park would you visit?

Rookie of the Year

The Song Doesn’t Remain the Same

By Matt Marrone • December 27th, 2016

“That long November 8 night has already had a notable aesthetic effect: the way we hear the music of 2016 has changed, perhaps forever.”

Rookie of the Year

The 1-Year-Old’s Guide to Gaming

By Matt Marrone • November 24th, 2016

“As we track his progress from infancy into full-blown toddlerhood, we’ve seen him come up with some pretty awesome [game] titles.”

Rookie of the Year

If You Want to View Paradise

By Matt Marrone • October 10th, 2016

“In high school, I wrote a musical.” Matt Marrone recalls a glorious time and pays tribute to Gene Wilder.

Rookie of the Year

The Message, Received

By Matt Marrone • December 18th, 2015

Matt Marrone recounts his history with fiction podcasts, starting with Welles’ 1938 War of the Worlds and ending with the 2015 The Message.

Rookie of the Year

Rookie of the Year: The Scariest, Saddest Song of 2016

By Matt Marrone • November 5th, 2015

“What happens when you can’t even remember those favorite things that make you not feel so bad?” Matt Marrone on the horror of Daughter’s first track of 2016.

Rookie of the Year

Rookie of the Year: I am Google Cardboard

By Matt Marrone • October 22nd, 2015

“I am Google Cardboard. I come to this realization slowly.” Matt Marrone explores VR, horror, and childhood with a cardboard case and an expensive smartphone.

Rookie of the Year

Rookie of the Year: Jesus Stalks

By Matt Marrone • October 5th, 2015

“When I go to church, it’s not to worship. It’s to stalk musicians.” Matt Marrone finds a way to enjoy his favorite off-tour band live.

Rookie of the Year

Rookie of the Year: A Matter of Time

By Matt Marrone • September 22nd, 2015

“Why am I floating above the city of Toronto?” Matt Marrone gets creative with a suite of CG geometric iOS photography additives.

Rookie of the Year

Your Game Just Wants Some Space

By Matt Marrone • September 7th, 2015

“We all know what it’s like to need a videogame. But what about when a videogame no longer needs you?” Matt Marrone on Fallout Shelter and the self-playing game

Rookie of the Year

Rookie of the Year: Breaking Up With My Xbox

By Matt Marrone • August 25th, 2015

“I have come to the end of an era – I am finished with the gaming consoles that inspired me to begin this column in the first place.” The Rookie of the Year begins a new chapter.

Rookie of the Year

Rookie of the Year: Not So Empty Nest

By Matt Marrone • July 21st, 2015

To prep for the Newborn of the Year, Matt Marrone spies on his family with a new surveillance camera.

Rookie of the Year

The Seinfeld OASIS

By Matt Marrone • July 6th, 2015

The Rookie of the Year visits Seinfeld’s apartment after reading Ready Player One. Surreal? Not as much as you’d think.

Rookie of the Year: Ace of Vase

By Matt Marrone • June 25th, 2015

“Where do iOS games come from, anyway?” Matt Marrone talks with iOS dev Geoff Gruetzmacher.

Christmas Morning, 2020 AD

By Matt Marrone • May 11th, 2015

Matt Marrone uses the Oculus Rift for the first time and is changed forever.

Rookie of the Year: The Shining and Alex Colville

By Matt Marrone • October 6th, 2014

Matt Marrone discover the connections between Canadian painter Alex Colville and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

The Owls Are Not What They Seem

By Matt Marrone • August 25th, 2014

Matt Marrone interviews Brad Dukes, author of Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks.

Rookie of the Year: It’s Time to Buy Unwinnable

By Matt Marrone • June 2nd, 2014

The Rookie of the Year says goodbye to Unwinnable.com – and hello to Unwinnable Weekly.

Rookie of the Year: Six Things I Hate Right Now

By Matt Marrone • May 5th, 2014

The Rookie of the Year grumbles about Record Store Day, Almost Human, Threes, 2048 and more.

Rookie of the Year: Lost in Hawaii

By Matt Marrone • April 21st, 2014

The Rookie of the Year takes the Lost tour at Hawaii’s famed Kualoa Ranch.

Rookie of the Year: A Note From Your Newly-Minted Foursquare Mayor

By Matt Marrone • April 7th, 2014

The following is the latest in a series of journal entries chronicling the author’s descent into next-gen gaming degeneracy and assorted geekery – from getting his first television in years to trying to figure out why the @$@$&@@ you need two goddamn directional pads just to walk down an effing hallway.