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19 Jul Meredith Borders

“Talking about movies often means talking about everything,” Meredith Borders, the editorial director of Birth.Movies.Death., told me as we talked about the site’s hilarious, insightful, sometimes intense think pieces.

I can’t think of any better phrase to explain what makes Birth.Movies.Death. one of my favorite places to visit on the internet. “Art is about life and everything that goes into it,” Meredith continued, “and sometimes it’s vital context to discuss politics or matters of social import, because these are the events that are going to be influencing our art for years to come.” It’s this big-picture mentality, this ability to bring to life the ways that art, movies and culture both reflect and shape our world, this willingness to pause and meditate on what something truly means, why we are so touched by a scene, a line, a song or a character—all of that is what makes Birth.Movies.Death. so compelling. Plus, the writers are freakin’ hilarious. They're true movie and comic book nerds who let it all hang out when it comes to what they love, no matter how niche or “geeky.” But perhaps the best part of Birth.Movies.Death. (BMD as shorthand from here on out) is the kind of beautiful online—sometimes off-line—community that has organically grown around the site.

14 Feb Mark Schettler

February 14, 2017

Let’s rethink this phrase: “I could really use a drink.”

I mean, after talking to Mark Schettler—bartender and general manager at New Orleans' Bar Tonique, president of the New Orleans Chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild, and total effing babe—you’ll probably rethink everything you’ve ever thought about bars, bartenders, and imbibing, anyway. But even if we just take that simple, oft-repeated phrase and tear it apart, what are we really saying? We’re saying we need relief. We need a moment to connect. We need help rising above. We want to smile. We need a way to let go. Mark knows all of this, and he has selected this one vessel—a well-prepared, transcendent glass of something boozy—as his way of making that small daily impact, that elusive incremental change, real.

19 Oct Ayisha Jaffer

What if you just changed everything--picked up and left--and started over? What if you did it not to run away or chase something but just to fucking do it?

That’s exactly what our babe, Ayisha Jaffer, 29, did when she took a leave from her job managing bands at Punkdafunk and moved from New York City to New Zealand. But change and movement are two things that Milwaukee native Ayisha has become, if not comfortable with (because their very nature negates that), then familiar with over her lifetime, especially in her music industry career. Ayisha has done almost every music industry job you can imagine, and it all began when she was asked to organize a battle of the bands benefit at 13 years old.