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Thinking pop culture

Displaying 81 - 90 of 184 articles

Belaboring the Big Black Brute

It was a matinee screening in a small town in Massachusetts. I’d stayed for the credits, feeling an odd need to confirm that I’d heard Dido on the soundtrack. Only one other person had been in the cinema…

Blind-buying into the theatre of love

The phrase “blind-buy” is common among perfume enthusiasts. A fragrance gets purchased without spritzing or sniffing, bought blindly based on text: marketing copy perhaps, or gushy fan reviews. I take…

Getting Under the Skin of Cinema-going

It was the never-ending shot of a forkful of chocolate cake that finally broke me. The night prior, printed e-tickets in hand, our arrival at the cinema was met with commotion and the revelation of an…

The Fault in Our Outrage

“Have we all composed ourselves?” asked the Alpha-lass to her entourage in the row behind us. Her hands were on her hips, it’s essential to note. Truth be told, her question could have been asked of most…

The Secret History of Audiobooks

A month or so ago I finished listening to Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch. It’s an all too rare occurrence that I find myself sacrificing sleep to keep the characters in my ears. The Goldfinch was such a book…
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Pop Culture’s Apples and Oranges

A standard text message came in from my brother earlier today. That he’d just seen Sunshine Cleaning. That he enjoyed it. Standard because he pretty much enjoys everything he sees. Standard because he’s…
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Nymphomaniac’s Crash Course in Sexuality Studies

It was a thought that only occurred to me the morning after. What would have happened if Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac was actually sexy? What would have happened had I, and my too-handsome friend sitting…
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Neptune. It’s Better In Your Head

For a handful of years in the mid-2000s, Veronica Mars was on our screens. A sassy teen sleuth (played by Kristen Bell) solved crimes in a Californian town named Neptune. It was cute, clever and just a…
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That was a joke, Joyce

I’m always reluctant to use the word impatience — it sounds so petulant, so thoroughly demanding - so instead I’ll admit to being time-conscious. To harbouring zero respect for (most) kinds of waiting…