News

The first column in the romance novel criticism series I’m editing at Public Books went up. Kathleen Gilles Seidel wrote about Jane Austen in space!

On Patreon

An extended version of my essay on Advantageous, and neoliberal hell.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At Reason I wrote about Tom Nichols’ inexpert book on the death of expertise.

At the Forward I wrote about how Magneto has always been a Nazi.

At Quartz I wrote about:

—Stealing Fire and billionaires self-actualizing.

—Maxine Waters, and listening to black women rather than Trump voters.

At Flavorwire I interviewed Nnedi Okorafor about her novella Binti, colonialism and jellyfish.

At Random Nerds I wrote about B’wana Beast!!!! and rejiggering the Mighty Whitey trope.

At Playboy I wrote about Life, which is Alien for scrubbed professionals who hate immigrants.

At Trackrecord I interviewed the folks at Audiotree about the business of making live video recordings for indie bands.

At Splice Today I wrote about:

—how you should buy my book.

—Dirty Harry and the fascism that dare not speak its name.

—the Spider-Man trailer which looks like all the other MCU trailers, yay.

 
Patreon

I wrote about Lizzie Borden’s 1983 film Born in Flames, and the timelessness of feminist revolution.
 

Utilitarians Everywhere

At Vogue I wrote about AZA comics and multi-ethnic superpowered warrior princesses.

At Splice Today I wrote about:

—Lego Batman’s stupid redemption arc.

—the Nazi film The Eternal Jew, and why it should be called propaganda, not fake news. (starting a series on Fascism in film).

—London O’Connor and the tradition of black elevator music.

At the Reader I reviewed alt sludgy indie rockers Slothrust.

 
On Patreon

I wrote:

—about director Alice Guy-Blaché’s wonderful Madame Has Her Cravings, and the naturalness and unnaturalness of pregnancy.

—on the second episode of Twin Peaks and camp utopia.

—some notes for an intro on Alice Guy-Blaché.

 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Quartz I wrote about Phoebe Maltz Bovy’s The Perils of Privilege, and the pros and cons of privilege call outs.

At Random Nerds I wrote about Beyoncé at the CMAs and racism in country music.

At Splice Today I wrote about

—Ida Lupino’s The Hitch-Hiker, which doesn’t find any women on the road.

—Laura Agustín’s The Three-Headed Dog, a novel that punctures trafficking myths.

 
On Patreon

I wrote about:

Alice Guy-Blaché’s lovely short film Falling Leaves, and sister lovers.

Twin Peaks and the real. (If you want more twin peaks writing, you should contribute!)

Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Reader I wrote about Sinead O’Connor and the anti-fascist potential of grief.

At Playboy I wrote about:

—Trump as bloated elitist, and why the rich can be classless.

—I wrote about The Founder, Ray Kroc, Donald Trump, and how we think assholes are winners.

At Splice Today I wrote about:

—the mediocrity of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.

—The Night Porter and identifying with Nazis.
 
 

 
On Patreon

I’m hoping to do a Twin Peaks rewatch, if I get enough support. I discussed the project here.

I wrote about Alice Guy-Blaché’s The Cabbage Fairy, sometimes cited as the first narrative film, and unnatural or natural birth.

A little outline of a longer essay on Guy-Blaché.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At Quartz I wrote about how fascism doesn’t make great art.

At Splice Today I wrote about:

—freelance panic for the holidays.

—Penelope Spheeris’ Decline of Western Civilization and why punk isn’t just for the misogynists.

—how Jacobin should give up the celebrity-obsessed identity politics and focus on class analysis.

—

 
On Patreon

I wrote about the Howling and moralistic Reaganite werewolves.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At Splice Today I wrote about:

—my favorite nonfiction books of 2016.

—Trinh T. Minh-Ha’s anti-documentary, Reassemblage, about how Westerners look at Senegal.

—musicians hating Donald Trump for the same reasons everyone hates Donald Trump.

—pop culture think pieces, and why you can’t take the politics out of art.