It's the year of the mash-up. Or the year after! Or the year after that!

It's not just mash-ups in music anymore. I guess it hasn't been for a while. And whether or not we're talking about the sort of video mashing we see on YouTube all the time (using different audio as a soundtrack to existing video) or clothes mash-ups (I saw a "Blondie vs. The Doors: Rapture Riders" t-shirt at a store in San Diego this past week) we are using an unprecedented level of control over our culture to mix cultural elements together like never before.

So here's an example I really like: Marvel vs. Peanuts. The genius of the mash-up, to me, is when it reveals something new about each existing piece by having to make it work with something apparently discordant. Charlie Brown and Peter Parker have more in common than I ever thought: no matter how hard they both try, the world just seems too intent on beating them down.

And Spider-Brown, upside down in the kite-eating tree, getting a kiss from Snoopy? Genius.