As the garish red and pink equality signs slowly fade from the profiles of my Facebook friends like receding flood waters, I begin to think about the effects of this kind of activism. I am often skeptical of grandiose Facebook trends like this, not necessarily because I worry about their efficacy (I couldn’t care less)...
Tilda Swinton is known for her somewhat bizarre antics, staggering height, and also for being the love of my life. (Full disclosure: I made that last part up.) She’s sometimes so disarmingly odd that a parody Twitter account was made for her, and it actually sounded sort of legit. It makes sense, then, that Tilda’s...
I am in mourning. HBO recently announced that it will be canceling its comedy-drama series Enlightened after only two seasons on the air. Although critically acclaimed, the show ultimately fell victim to low ratings and was overshadowed by the buzz surrounding HBO’s other comedies, Girls and Veep. I’m more than a little bummed out about this decision...
Trevor Powers, the boy genius behind Youth Lagoon, isn’t much to look at. The combination of his slight frame, awkward posture, dimples, and his mop of curly hair reminds me of a quiet boy I went to high school with. When I braved the cold a few days ago to see Youth Lagoon at Bowery...
On March 6th, Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky led a filibuster to delay the confirmation of John Brennan as CIA Director. Instead of using his spotlight to directly oppose Brennan’s nomination, Senator Paul chose to highlight his objections to President Obama’s drone program. In the days since, it seems that everyone’s been talking about the...
While my primary use of Tumblr is for reblogging pictures of One Direction and, yeah, okay, reading fan fiction, sometimes I try to use it for cultural purposes. To expand my artistic horizons, so to speak. I stumbled upon artist Charmaine Olivia’s Tumblr about a year ago, and was struck, initially, by how much I...
Now is an exciting time for politics. For the first time a serious, female and openly LGBTQ candidate is running for mayor of New York City. And that’s great! Not only because of her positions on the issues (which are great) but because I finally feel like I’m achieving some representation. Let me preface...
Movie studios are generally very careful about remakes–rarely trying to do something well-known for fear of screwing it up and incurring the wrath of dedicated fans. But with horror movies it’s different. Horror movies are iconic and part of our culture, but no one takes them all that seriously, so there’s not as much trepidation...
If you’ve seen me, it’s probably not very surprising that I love the DIY/punk/riot-grrrl aesthetic of the 90s that, to my great pleasure, has been making a resurgence lately. (My giant jean jacket with the words “RIOT GRRRL” spray-painted on the back is probably a good indication.) While the riot grrrl movement is most closely...
The countdown’s over. Barring some miraculous, last-minute deal, the sequester has gone into effect on March 1st. But there has been a surprising lack of moral outrage. No popular protest. No shouting in the streets. Perhaps it’s because too many of us are busy wondering, “What’s a sequester, anyway?” It’s a package of $85 billion...
This weekend is the 3rd Annual NYC Vegetarian Food Festival! Which means that this is the perfect time to kidnap your friends and quell their repeated questions: “If you’re a vegetarian, there can’t be many choices, right? I mean, what can you even eat?” At this event, just take your pick of vegan cheeses, ice cream,...
Awards season is over, and while Oscar talk between your friends (about how sexist the show was, or Amy Poehler and Tina Fey’s inexpressible superiority to Seth MacFarlane) might still be in full swing, the buzz will die out soon enough. But what’s left for the rest of you? Those who never want to stop...
