The memories of a deadly pandemic hidden in one of America's most beloved films

Art about pandemics and plagues rarely gets made after the fact. Yet here's the Spanish flu in It's a Wonderful Life.

Dolly Parton never met a song she couldn't make her own

Also: A trip to the Minnesota State Fair, The End of Oak Street, and America's reigning Garfield princess

Tim Curry's major scenes in Rocky Horror, ranked by their potential to awaken something deep inside of you

Or in me, specifically.

Episodes Book Club: Infinite Jest, Week Five

Is careful observation the same thing as love? Lily and Emily investigate.

It's The Leftovers' afterlife. We're just living in it.

Over a decade after its debut, HBO's cult series about an ambiguous apocalypse only grows more prescient.

Episodes Monday Rundown August 17–23 2026

This week: Furious, further Camp Miasma thoughts, and, most importantly, TRAINS.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, or learning to love your own horniness

Jane Schoenbrun's new film is about a very common trans experience. And a very common human experience too.

Episodes Book Club: Infinite Jest, Week Four

It's Eschaton time!! (Oh, and also David Foster Wallace predicts Trump.)

We Call It Love: A Transracial Adoptee Celebrates Hedwig and the Angry Inch at 25

"Hedwig wasn't a window into another world; it was a portal back to myself."

Episodes Monday Rundown August 10–16 2026

This week: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Spider-Man, and the Winnie-the-Pooh hot takes you've been waiting for.

August mailbag! (preview)

A little preview of this month's mailbag!

August mailbag!

This month: the works of John Crowley, our personal AI policies, and movies that could have used a sex scene.