David Bowie came out as gay in an interview with Melody Maker magazine in 1972, and it was the closet door heard ’round the world. But what did he mean by it?
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Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Go West, Young Man!
John Crutchfield’s “Toward an Aesthetics of Failure” explains why he still loves the out-of-fashion western despite repetitive plots, one-dimension characters, and shoddy filmmaking — and why you should, too.
Posted inUncategorized
Hollywood Gets Authenticity and the Pentagon Gets Publicity
Jamie Tarabay explored Hollywood’s relationship with the Pentagon in a recent piece for Al Jazeera America. The Pentagon has a devoted “entertainment-liaison officer” who acts as a Hollywood point person and helps decide which projects get Pentagon support (in the form of expertise, equipment, and locations). According to scholar Lawrence Suid, the Hollywood military relationship relationship dates back to […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle users, you can also get them as a Readlist. Sign up to receive this list free every Friday in your inbox. * * * 1. The Plot to Steal the Color White From DuPont Del Quentin Wilber | Bloomberg Businessweek | Feb. 4, 2016 | 15 minutes (3,819 […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
‘Gidget,’ John Hughes, and the Whitewashing of Jewishness in Pop Culture
This whitewashing of Jewishness out of pop culture is an old, old story, and it isn’t specific to camp movies; it’s true of plenty of other Hollywood representations of American teens, too. The Czech Jew who wrote the novel that was the basis for Gidget (1959) was inspired by his own surfing daughter, Kathy Kohner, who went on […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Below, our favorite stories of the week. Kindle users, you can also get them as a Readlist. Sign up to receive this list free every Friday in your inbox. * * * 1. To Catch a Rapist Kathy Dobie | The New York Times | Jan. 5, 2016 | 34 minutes (8,593 words) Behind-the-scenes at a […]
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
On Female Friendship and the Sisters We Choose for Ourselves
Essayist Chloe Caldwell on the “sisters” we choose for ourselves, and her close relationship with her surrogate younger sister, Cheryl Strayed’s daughter Bobbi.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Democratic Fame of Silent Movie Stars
The period known as “Classic Hollywood” began in the late ‘20s/early ‘30s, with the gradual consolidation of the studios, and ends at a nebulous point in the 1950s. In the earliest days of the so-called “movie colony,” you could get a job in the moving pictures if you a) had a great face (Clara Bow); […]
Posted inBooks, First Chapters, Nonfiction, Story
Falling in Love with Words: The Secret Life of a Lexicographer
Merriam-Webster lexicographer Kory Stamper describes how she fell in love with words and offers a peek into the complex process of making dictionaries.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Eight Stories About #HB2 and Its Ramifications on the Transgender Community
I hope the following eight stories will be of use to you, to educate my cisgender readers and provide support and solidarity to my transgender siblings.
