Cereal is Not a Soup, A Pop Tart is Not a Sandwich, and Die Hard is Not a Christmas Movie, Shut Up, Shut Up, Shut Up

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and I feel as though I’ve spent enough time complaining about “Last Christmas” to people, so it’s time to tackle serious cultural issues. And by “tackle”, I mean “throw into a trash bag, throw the bag in the river, and light the river on fire.” On the… Read More Cereal is Not a Soup, A Pop Tart is Not a Sandwich, and Die Hard is Not a Christmas Movie, Shut Up, Shut Up, Shut Up

2 Dec 2022 AndrewLeave a comment

Matthew Perry is Clearly Doing Great

The clickbait got me. I like to think that I’m above all this noise, but every now and again something so artlessly pathetic crosses my awareness that, like a hungry jackal, I delight in the prospect of tearing it to shreds. And since no one does “artlessly pathetic” quite like Matthew Perry, here we are.… Read More Matthew Perry is Clearly Doing Great

27 Oct 2022 AndrewLeave a comment

On Art and Freedom

I subscribe to 32 Poems, which is put out semi-annually. It contains, as promised, 32 poems per issue. They are thematically curated; the Spring/Summer 2022 issue features “32 Stages of American Hunger”. It’s that sort of thing. In said issue, I read a piece I found provocative: Agnes said that painting is not about ideas… Read More On Art and Freedom

13 Sep 2022 AndrewLeave a comment

Pam and Tommy and Steve and Johnnie

It must be Biopic season, because I’ve just sat down of my own free will and watched two fictionalizations of actual events: one from my infancy, which I look on with fascination, and one from my early adulthood, which I disdain with the snobbery of a thousand dead aristocrats. The second thing, Pam & Tommy… Read More Pam and Tommy and Steve and Johnnie

11 Jun 2022 AndrewLeave a comment

Elizabeth Holmes and the Mystification of Commerce

In my hunger to put my eyes on actual New Content instead of the same old lamentations on Endless Trash, I decided to give the Hulu series on Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, The Dropout, a try. It was pretty good, as such devices go. It had points to make about what Elizabeth Holmes was and… Read More Elizabeth Holmes and the Mystification of Commerce

28 May 2022 AndrewLeave a comment

Destroy all Fandoms

I’m gonna be crystal-clear on this: being a fan is a market-induced mentality. The word is derived from “fanatic“, which is an early-Modern Latin derivative referring to religious zealotry. Late Modernity, having removed religion from the public square, substitutes devotion to entertainments as simulacra to the epics and sagas of old. That’s why they’re using… Read More Destroy all Fandoms

17 May 202217 May 2022 Andrew2 Comments

The Hidden Masters of Pop Culture

Adam Manstroianni has written an article on his Experimental History Substack about a thing long lamented, how everything in pop culture is on repeat. In every corner of pop culture––movies, TV, music, books, and video games––a smaller and smaller cartel of superstars is claiming a larger and larger share of the market. What used to be winners-take-some has… Read More The Hidden Masters of Pop Culture

3 May 2022 AndrewLeave a comment

Cultural Dissociation is the new Rite of Spring

I come to the chilly end of April and realize how little of pop culture has any impact on me anymore. The front page of Variety may as well be intel from another planet. For example, James Corden leaving “The Late Late Show” is the first time I realize that he was the host of… Read More Cultural Dissociation is the new Rite of Spring

29 Apr 2022 AndrewLeave a comment

Garfield and the Consumer Event Horizon

Last night I sat through a YouTube video nearly as long as a feature-length film, discussing a cartoon cat I haven’t cared about in decades. When I was a young fellow, I had a whole slew of Garfield books, at least the first 14 or so. Adolescence brought changes, and the existence of Calvin &… Read More Garfield and the Consumer Event Horizon

3 Apr 2022 AndrewLeave a comment

Will Smith is Not Okay

I skip blogging about the Oscars for one year, and this happens? This has been the news all day. Not Ukraine, not Coronavirus. Twitter glommed onto this like a starving man set loose in a donut factory. So did I. Ever since I heard about it this morning (I didn’t watch the telecast, because of… Read More Will Smith is Not Okay

28 Mar 2022 AndrewLeave a comment