Showgirls: The Novelization
Graphic by SpiderMartini, available for purchase Here is a handy compilation of the latest installments of the serial novel based on the award-winning film....
Best books I read this year
Every year I say I hate best-of lists but then I do them! The pandemic has reignited my love for reading and nothing makes me happier than someone reading a...
All the things I’ve bought during this year to try to fill the void
This Everlane button-down shirt. I’ve been obsessed with minimal dressing since watching Industry on HBO. The main character wears the same outfit every day,...
Tales of Tenure Terror: How to troll people by wasting their time
How to waste people’s time by making them arguing something that is generally agreed upon: I. Realizing your own mortality, both corporeally and...
I Miss My MTV: Too Young to Fall In Love
I MISS MY MTV is about my lifelong obsession with music videos. “Too Young to Fall In Love” by Motley Crue makes me hornified: horny but horrified. Here is...
I can't believe The National Enquirer Still Exists
The National Enquirer, the magazine that screamed headlines at you as you were doing your obligatory exchange of money for goods to sustain the life of your...
Can't Even
As I am pondering my future and my mortality, and this quote from Anne Helen Petersen’s Can’t Even really hit home. I don’t want a career. I just want a job...
Like these things or don't
Punch Up the Jam is a stellar podcast on a regular day, but this week’s episode was near and dear to my heart, dissecting a Good Charlotte song and the shame...
Recent events reimagined as 90s sitcoms
Raised by Wolves They’re not like your family! The Station-22 family is a blended family- can six kids incubated from embryos relate to their two Android...
Tales of Tenure Terror
We’re all talking about Dr. Jill Biden, who has claimed that she will continue to work as a professor during her time as the First Person. Everyone is...
Things I Like That You Are Free to Like or Not Like Because Art is Subjective
All the news is about the same thing this week (Max Ehrich’s new Instagram girlfriend) so I will tell you about some things I am enjoying. Spam Kings: The...
I Miss My MTV: Strike It Up
You know I love a scam, so here’s a hot 1990s music video scam. There’s something so deliciously European about Black Box. A DJ and a beautiful singer/dancer...
Everything sucks, here's a dumb sketch I wrote.
So everything is terrible and I don’t how much more stress my poor stomach can handle. There’s a lot of academic shenanigans going on, but instead of Tenure...
Countdown to Christmas
Does the Hallmark Channel run out of names for their 472 Christmas movies? The Christmas Wish The Christmas Dish The Wish for Christmas The Christ in...
Our Dissertations, Ourselves
I’m ready to share more of my dissertation topic. A dissertation topic is a sensitive issue: it’s like an extension of our academic identity. And since...
Tales of Tenure Terror: Stop Citing Yourself
What’s the opposite of predatory journals? Predatory articles. You may have heard about this article that has 182 words but 212 references. Also? All...
I Miss My MTV: Spooky Edition
It’s the Halloween edition, so I’m sharing the videos that are the scariest and have stayed with me like a living nightmare. You have been warned! Yes, these...
Culture Mix Tape
Before ‘GLOW’ got canceled, its actresses of color felt ‘disempowered’ by their rolesAaron Sorkin, Full of Sorkin, Sorkins all over the Chicago 7The...
I Think About This A Lot: When Stories Are Over
Your favorite show is canceled. What do you do? Get bummed out. Move-on. Watch some reruns. Two of my favorite shows recently have been canceled, Mindhunter...
Tales of Tenure Terror
I’ve been delinquent with research for this for academic reasons (I’m officially a doctoral CANDIDATE btw). There have been several stories that have hit,...
Culture Mix Tape
Shaun King Is A White Liberal’s Wet DreamThe Alt-Right’s Star Racist Propagandist Has No RegretsWhy are sitcom dads still so inept?Literary ambition....
I Miss My MTV: Too Funky?
I credit George Michael with launching the era of the supermodel. The supermodel was so great at her job. She was a vessel for every sort of proto-feminist,...
Culture Mix Tape
The Boys Is the End of the Superhero As We Know ItInfinite Jest (the politics of Tenet)Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph Reveal the Power Imbalance of The...
I Miss My MTV
I love music videos. They were a big part of my formative years, and as you all know, my best friends were television and music. Music videos are not movies...
Tales of Tenure Terror: Predatory Journal Owns Itself
Predatory journals are a fascinating scam and one that never seems to go away. Likely because it preys on the anxiety and arbitrary nonsense that fuels...
Culture Mix Tape
Worth ReadingThe Fall of Troy Hearst hired a belligerent leader to disrupt its magazine business. Then fired him mid-disruption. Now it’s left with — what,...
Showgirls, the novelization: Marty, get the ice!
Previously: I Can't Even Thread a Needle And, if you like it (or don’t), consider subscribing to support me in my cultural academic journey? [Explicit...
Tales of Tenure Terror: another fake Twitter, Gilley strikes again
Academics creating and using fake Twitter accounts is not a new thing, but it is still so satisfying when the case is cracked. This time it is pretending to...
Culture Mix Tape
The internet is trash! But sometimes not:On the “Misogyny Paradox” and the Crisis of Heterosexual Coupledom‘That’s So Gay’: How ‘PEN15’ Nailed the...
Controversial Subversive Podcast: An Origin Story
Brenda couldn’t remember if the podcast idea was hers or Nell’s. They joked about it for a while, after they would frequently get together and complain about...
Tales of Tenure Terror
Hey all, I thought this column would not write itself, but academia is on the edge of major collapse. I’m basically Hard Copy for academia now. The Great...
Culture Mix Tape
In the Name of LoveWhy Goodreads is bad for booksHow Did the Internet Get So Bad?‘Antebellum’ and ‘Lovecraft Country’ are gorgeous empty suitsPathologizing...
Unlocked: Next Level
I completed my preliminary examinations this week. If/when I pass, I will officially become a doctoral candidate. It’s a somewhat outdated process that seems...
Every true crime investigative journalism podcast describing the neighbors of the victim
Judy and Marvis Clementine live in a small, modest house. Paintings of ducks line the hallways of their slightly run-down yet cheery craftsmen house. Judy,...
Tales of Tenure Terror:
Apparently a graduate student at UW-Madison has pulled a Krug/Dolezal. Although I love an aca-scandal, these aren’t the fun kind, because the harm to already...
Culture School
Let me help you navigate the sea of garbage that is the internet.The Atlantic tried to artistically show gender dysphoria on its cover. Instead, it damaged...
The Selling Sunset Women as Cultural Theorists
Christine: FreudAll of her displacement (“you’re jealous!”) and sublimation. She is the ultimate castration threat. Amanza: FoucaultWhy is she being PUNISHED...
Tales of Tenure Terror
This column continues to manifest its own content! Yes, I sure will be talking about Jessica Krug. Here’s the info: Krug is (was) a professor of Africana...
Culture School
The internet is a hapless void, here are the good things on it: John Boyega: 'I’m the only cast member whose experience of Star Wars was based on their race'...
Culture School
The internet is a hapless void, here are the good things on it: John Boyega: 'I’m the only cast member whose experience of Star Wars was based on their race'...
I Think About This A Lot: Can Ballroom Go Mainstream?
I recently finished Legendary on HBO Max. It’s a competition show featuring ballroom houses. Ballroom is a longstanding black/Latinx/queer subculture that...
Tales of Tenure Terror; "She has a reputation as a lawnmower."
When I decided to do this subject weekly I thought it may be hard to come up with enough content. Don’t worry, academia is full of bad behavior. This is a...
Cultural Studies Syllabus
The internet is awash with nonsense, here is some of the best culture writing I found this week. Vivian Stephens Helped Turn Romance Writing Into a Billion-...
I Think About This a Lot: Who the Hell Started This Dark and Gritty Reboot Nonsense
The Batman trailer was released. The presentation of comic book movies is more fascinating to me, in fact, not the actual movie. First of all, comic book...
Tales of Tenure Terror
I’m going to do a weekly roundup of academic blunders, terrors, and scandals, mostly predicated by tenured professors, who sometimes wield tenure as a...
Culture Studies Syllabus
There’s a lot of noise on the internet. Let me help you find the the best cultural writing of the week: Un-Adopted YouTubers Myka and James Stauffer shared...
I Think About This A Lot: Human Monsters
I’ve read two recent books about garbage humans for reasons I can’t even assess. Maybe I just like to see to what depths are the lowest, and maybe I am...
Book Brag
Hello everyone. Is this thing on? I’ve read 35 books since COVID began. I share this as a brag, yes, but also as a reveal that this has kept me feeling...
Are you down with PPC
That’s Positively Popular Culture, that is. I’ve got some things cooking, but meanwhile Kathleen and Carrie were nice enough to let me on their podcast...
Showgirls, the novelization: I Can't Even Thread a Needle
Previously: You Want It, You Pay For It And, if you like it (or don’t), consider subscribing to support me in my cultural academic journey? [Explicit...