Category Archives: Uncategorized

I have to confess before I start: I’m writing this essay partly from ignorance. I haven’t seen Hamilton, because I don’t have a spare $700 for the live show and don’t feel like giving any more of my disposable income to the Disney Corporation than I already have. I have listened to the soundtrack. InContinue reading “What the Hell Is Hamilton, Anyway?”

Netflix isn’t the only streaming service cramming its content in; as part of its transition from Now/Go to Max, HBO is also putting out all sorts of streaming content! I watched one of its latest, Run, which is a weird hybrid in a lot of ways. Ruby and Billy were college sweethearts who made aContinue reading “Run”

Even in the most tumultuous times, my commitment to watching the stupidest shit remains unshaken. That’s right, reader—while you were out marching in the street, I was watching Netflix. Specifically, Netflix’s Space Force. I may have done other things as well, but I’m sure that the most important thing I did for America was sufferContinue reading “Space Force”

Everybody is watching Tiger King right now. Everybody isn’t really everybody, of course–everybody with a Netflix subscription, and with a taste for documentaries, and with the time to stream a seven-hour series. But everyone who likes to talk about “culture,” including me, is watching Tiger King and writing about it, and a surprising amount ofContinue reading “On Tiger King and Exploitation”

Since I’m stuck mostly inside and can do as I please, why not another Star Wars post? Why not a post about why the sequels are bad? No, really, why not a post about why they were bad without all the awful, cod-political arguments that this discussion always devolves into? It’s always okay to dislikeContinue reading “Six Actual Criticisms of the Star Wars Sequels”

Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers. Any review of J.J. Abrams’ The Rise of Skywalker seemingly has to be in conversation with The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson’s previous entry in the Star Wars series, so let’s start with this: I didn’t like Last Jedi, and I don’t think that the backlash to it stemmed from racismContinue reading “Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker”

Peter Strickland presents two tales of horror centered on a dress that tortures its wearers to death. Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays the lonely divorcee who buys the dress for a first date, and (in the weaker story) Leo Bill inherits the dress for his stag do. Both come to bad ends, as the dress wounds them,Continue reading “In Fabric”

What is the truth about Chernobyl? After 35 years, there still isn’t a definitive answer. Outside the obvious horrors–the explosion, the fire, the poisonous radiation–the details tend to change with the telling. The exact cause of the reactor meltdown is still a matter of academic dispute, as is what happened to the people involved. WorkersContinue reading “on Chernobyl, very late”

By now, everyone knows about Sarah Dessen and how her unhappiness made somebody who didn’t like her books very, very much unhappier, and how many of her fellow authors jumped to her defense, as if she were a cringing child instead of a very rich, very popular author. And everyone knows that Jennifer Weiner, anotherContinue reading “on Jennifer Weiner, criticism, and what makes a woman”