Rollin’ Down the River
Today I’m feeling the need to rewrite an old adage: The more things stay the same, the more they change. I grew up in small-town Oklahoma, and I lived on the rural side of that. The woods, for me, served as playground, sanctuary and laboratory. My brother and I spent far more time riding bikes […]
An Ooky, Yucky, Stinky Blog Post
This stinks! (But you’d think it would have the opposite effect.) Writes Time’s Lily Rothman: For better or worse, poop jokes—like so many movie stars of past decades—seem to have lost their box office luster. See what I mean? You’d think I’d be happy about a trend toward less bodily function humor in movies. But […]
I (Broken Heart) TV
I like TV. As a medium, I think it has quite a bit to offer that movies don’t, in fact. Movies, after all, have to wrap everything up in a couple of hours. TV can take its time with plots and threads and character development, over months, even years of weekly installments. Movies, it’s said, […]
Fake News: Much More Funny Than Real News
This is your life on news: “Jennifer Love Hewitt is pregnant!” “Late-night mocks Douglas sex story.” “It’s ‘all awesome’ for ‘Pacific Rim’ writer.” “Kim Kardashian finalizes divorce.” “Bachelorette guys rap the ‘right reasons.’” “Who won the year’s top fashion awards?” “Tonys Tuesday: ‘Cinderella’ stars.” Those were all headlines from the main “Life” section page on […]
We Admit It. And Furthermore, We’re OK With It
It’s the cover-up that’s the problem, right? You do something wrong or even just embarrassing, maybe culturally contrary, and you instinctively search for a way to smooth it over, make it better, cover it up. And that’s often when the lying starts. The stuff you do or say to provide cover ends up being worse […]
A Moment of Silence, Hollywood Style
As a culture, we’re pretty big on moments of silence. We’re not very good at being quiet, mind you, but we very much like to honor things/people/events with a moment of thought/prayer/silence. From tragedies to triumphs to transitions, these little moments become cairns along the way, reminding us of where we’ve been and where we […]
Start Reading This Post … Before I’ve Even Finished Writing
When I first started writing for Plugged In, the publishing world had just begun transitioning away from lead-based movable type in hand-cranked printing presses. OK. A colleague just reminded me that it was actually a few years after that, when computers were starting to move away from using those paper data cards. Maybe those walk-uphill-both-ways-in-the-snow […]
One Word: Perspicacity
I’m writing this post because of a single word. It’s not my word, I’m loathe to admit, because I love it. It’s a word used by Noah Berlatsky, writing for The Atlantic about why we all love certain things in our culture so much. Why we all love the same certain things. The word is […]
Lolly-Gagging: The Fine Art of Complaining While Staying Complacent
Last week one of our Culture Clips blasted Barbie for her not-so-natural shape and the way that shape might influence young girls’ perception of their own bodies. Read this before I go on: Trying to counter what it calls “an epidemic of body hatred,” rehabs.com is currently showing its users how impossible it would be […]
Friends or Foes? It Depends on How Well You Pick ‘Em
I remember well the old saw, “Don’t smoke, drink or chew, or go with girls who do.” It was burned into my brain as a kid. It spoke to not only bad behavior, but to the idea that the people you hang out with have quite a bit of influence over what you think about […]