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Aug
25
Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Mary Kay Place, JoBeth Williams, Glenn Close, and Kevin Kline in The Big Chill.

Pop culture weekend (Aug. 25): The millennial Big Chill (doesn't exist)

7 min read
Aug
23
J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, stares into the camera while smoking in this black-and-white image.

What we discourse about when we discourse about Barbenheimer

The discourses around Barbie and Oppenheimer have followed very similar patterns.
8 min read
Aug
18
A father runs with his daughter on his shoulders in the movie The Broken Circle Breakdown.

Pop culture weekend (Aug. 18): I can't watch bad things happen to fictional kids anymore.

I became a parent, and you won't believe what happened next! (Spoilers: I found watching scenes of children dying or being endangered almost completely unbearable.)
7 min read
Aug
11
Tommy Lee Jones and Sissy Spacek star in Coal Miner's Daughter.

Pop culture weekend (Aug. 11): Country music and hierarchies

5 min read
Aug
09
Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore (in a Steelers jersey) watch some TV on the couch in This Is Us.

You are not smarter than the art you critique

Here's my best advice for young critics: Don't presume you know better.
8 min read
Aug
04
A screengrab from the lyrics video for Taylor Swift's "August": "Back when we were still changing for the better."

My pop culture week, your pop culture weekend - August 4 edition

4 min read
Aug
03
The Kens from the Barbie movie grasp ad hoc weapons as they go to battle.

I was busy thinkin' 'bout boys

What if your sexuality transitions too? What then?
7 min read
Jul
28
The Baker and his wife hold hands onstage and sing in front of shadowy trees in Into the Woods.

My pop culture week, your pop culture weekend - July 28 edition

4 min read
Jul
21
Murph, leans against a pickup near her father, Coop, in Interstellar. They are by a cornfield.

My pop culture week, your pop culture weekend - July 21 edition

3 min read
Jul
19
Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy overlook the New York skyline. Upside down. Almost holding hands. Not quite.

Across the Spider-verse is not half a movie. C'mon, now.

(Since I published my last newsletter, SAG-AFTRA joined the WGA in a strike against the AMPTP. SAG-AFTRA has asked its
9 min read