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Snapchat: A Loveless Marriage

/ James P. Crowley / Leave a comment

I never took the kids and left Snapchat, but we only spoke when we needed to and started sleeping in different beds.  I do think Snapchat and I are spared our divorce, but we’re still trapped in an unhappy marriage that I won’t leave for the sake of my contact list.  This was probably foreshadowed by Snapchat’s tumbling stock and when the layout for the app was first altered, but I think that Snapchat’s most recent update is the most half-hearted attempt at making the app better.  Worst of all, it’s going to hurt the app and user’s relationships with it. Continue reading →

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My Next Guest Needs No Introduction-Barack Obama

/ ninam567 / Leave a comment

David Letterman takes the stage of the Amsterdam Campus of the City College of New York in My Next Guest Needs No Introduction looking more biblical than his CBS days.  Letterman comfortably sits opposite President Barack Obama. In a format more intimate than Late Night, Letterman seems at ease in this new role. Still, some things feel familiar from his light comedic tone to bringing on Paul Shaffer as the composer of this series. Continue reading →

Top 10 Podcasts from 2017

/ James P. Crowley / Leave a comment

It almost feels like every day someone tells me that they want to start listening to podcasts, and since it’s become a regular medium, you can find podcasts about literally anything.  I’ve listened to podcasts about everything from tech to crying.  There really is a podcast for everyone, whether you need information, a laugh, or an emotional reaction.  Here are some of the best new podcasts and veterans that have kept up the good work:

 

  1. Swipe Out

Alix McAlpine’s podcast is simple enough on the surface, and it’s certainly not the first dating podcast.  The premise is Alix goes on first dates, then discusses them with her friend, while creating a list of qualities she’d like her ideal partner to have.  Occasionally, it’s funny, but McAlpine is doing more than just gossiping about her dates.  She’s really exploring what it’s like navigating the dating world, as a millennial, with dating apps, and as a young adult.  It’s a mostly transparent look into the dating world, and it provides so much insight to those single among us.

Standout episode: Connor/Slim Thicc Continue reading →

Another One Bites the Dust: Letting Charles Manson’s Celebrity Die

/ Eirini Melena Karoutsos / Leave a comment

Despite being the cause of at least five deaths, Charlie Manson is considered to be one of the most popular killers in culture today. A part of me desperately wishes that serial killer popularity wasn’t a thing, but here we are in 2017 with fan clubs for convicted serial killers, rapists and cult leaders, or men like Manson, who happen to be all three.  In what is only going to be sudden spike in Manson popularity, I think people forget that this was exactly what Manson wanted from the beginning.  The whole world to look at him as someone special and as we continue to feed into the criminal turned celebrity, I think it’s important to take a moment and reflect on a society that worships people like him. Continue reading →

Charles Manson-Lie (The Love and Terror Cult)

/ James P. Crowley / 1 Comment

The human fascination with death and murder takes us all down strange rabbit holes.  It’s hard for some people to resist watching Law & Order, some of us have libraries with Helter Skelter or Zodiac, and some of us spend most of our work day listening to murder podcasts.  With a demographic that can sometimes skew down the darker path of life, it’s not difficult to see an audience for Charles Manson’s Lie album.  Manson’s relationship with music is one of the largest parts of his legacy that will surely be discussed for years to come. Continue reading →

PWR BTTM’s Ben Hopkins Accused of Sexual Assault

/ James P. Crowley / Leave a comment

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Ben Hopkins of queer-punk duo PWR BTTM has recently come under fire following accusations of sexual assault.  Following the accusations, the band released a statement, a number of shows have been dropped, Salty Artist Management have dropped them, touring members and support have dropped off their upcoming tour, and a woman came forward in an anonymous interview as a victim of Hopkins.  The band’s sophomore album Pageant was released today.

National Sexual Assault Hotline – (800) 656-4673
The Trevor Project – (866) 488-7386
LGBT National Help Center – (888) 843-4564
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs – (212) 714-1141

Casting JonBenet: The Advantages of Bias

/ Marisa Winckowski / Leave a comment

Casting JonBenet (Dir. Kitty Green), the highly anticipated meta-documentary released as a Netflix-exclusive film about the 1996 murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was met with mixed reactions- mostly because the idea of making a film about the actual brutal murder of an actual child didn’t sit well with many people. 1996 wasn’t that long ago. Is it exploitative? Probably. But by that logic, every film about or based on a real-life tragedy is exploitative. I am willing to defend this film’s existence despite its tendency to insert some black humor, as it doesn’t set out to minimize the seriousness of the crime. Unlike other crime documentaries, it is less focused on solving the mystery at hand and more focused on reactions to what we know about the murder and the inevitable biases that come with it. Continue reading →

The Return of Lasagna Cat

/ Marisa Winckowski / Leave a comment

“Sex Survey Results, the Pipe Strip and the Return of Lasagna Cat”

Jon Arbuckle, Zero

via KnowYourMeme

Despite his status as a cultural icon for the past forty years, Garfield hasn’t contributed much to the artistic world at large- save for some “I hate Mondays” coffee mugs and the memes your aunt shares on Facebook. And while this orange cat has never truly gone away, he isn’t often discussed. Garfield has existed as background noise for the past several decades as a three-panel comic strip, the occasional cartoon, and a handful of kids’ movies that nobody saw. Everybody knows who Garfield is but few have dedicated as much time analyzing his oeuvre as Fatal Farm’s Zach Johnson and Jeffrey Max. Continue reading →

Get Out (Dir. Jordan Peele)

/ Marisa Winckowski / Leave a comment

Get out

Jordan Peele’s Get Out would not have been green-lit in any year but this one. Had someone described the premise of this film to me a few years ago, I would not have believed them- that not only does this film exist, but that it is a tremendous hit both critically and commercially. And it’s a blessing, really, because if Get Out had been released two years ago it might have been more polarizing if it had even been released at all. The fact that a film with such a supposedly controversial premise has done so well is a testament both to how good this movie is and, very likely, due to the current political climate. It’s a daunting task to create a thought-provoking and genuinely scary film that can include humor sparingly and with purpose, but Jordan Peele has pulled it off.

Get Out is not a “horror comedy”. It is a horror film with moments of comic relief to keep the audience grounded. The humor in this film will come from one of two sources: the uncomfortable familiarity of upper middle class white culture, or Lil Rel Howery as audience surrogate Rod Williams. Rod’s job is to act as the voice of reason most horror movies are missing. See this movie in theatres while you can, because part of the experience is developing this camaraderie with the other viewers through Rod. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a movie that warranted applause at three separate scenes.  

SPOILERS BELOW

Continue reading →