Sitemap - 2023 - Everything Is Horrible

This Week's Writing 12/31/23

The 25 Best Books I Read This Year

Maybe The Best Way To Oppose Fascism Is To Fucking Oppose It

The Best Roots Albums of the Year

*Joy Ride* Isn't Sure Where It's Going

“Orange Man Bad” Is a Fine Message for Democrats

Misogyny Is Hard to Escape In "The Royal Hotel"

Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas

This Week's Writing 12/23/23

Jeff Bezos Likes Mozart Because Mozart Is Dead

Poor Things Makes Vivisecting the Patriarchy Look Easy

Past Lives Is An All-Time Great Romcom By Not Being a Romcom

One Year Anniversary of Paid Subscriptions

Can A Shit Search Function Save Substack From Nazis?!

Star Trek TOS S2E12: The Deadly Years

This Week's Writing 12/16/23

Worship the Giant Bomb

Substackers Against Nazis

On Trans Rights, Vote for Biden

I For One Welcome Our Oankali Overlords

“American Fiction” Pillories Tired Hollywood Racism

Spitting on Kissinger's Corpse as Conceptual Art

"It Lives Inside" Can't Escape Orientalist Horror

Biden Isn’t Losing…and This Week’s Writing 12/2/23

Eileen And The New Noir

Demanding Liberal Women Marry Trump Supporters Isn't Just Sexist

Anatomy of a Fall Refuses to Give Viewers a Femme Fatale

Right Now, The Ceasefire Is More Important Than Whether You’re Going to Vote for Biden

You Hurt My Feelings Tries to Show Failure

This Week's Writing 11/25/23

Across the Spider-Verse Flees Its Own Message About Prejudice

Saltburn Doesn't Hate the Rich

Some Reading for the Holiday Week

Boudica And Rooting for the Colonized

Poetry

This Week's Writing 11/18/23—40% off sale ending!

What Teen Raunch Comedies Won't Say

Americans Hate the Economy. Americans Love the Economy.

When George Bailey Looks In the Mirror, Does He See Patrick Bateman?

Christian Music for Jewish Souls

Israel Doesn't Have a Plan

This Week's Writing 11/11/23

The 25 Best Albums of the 1970s

Porn is Normal; Sociology is Weird

The Long War Between Highbrow and Lowbrow

Complexity as a Weapon of War

This Week's Writing 11/3/23

The House war on budgeting is also a war on democracy

When Evil Lurks Makes Evil Smart.

Intent Is Central to the Definition of Genocide

A Year on Substack!

This Week's Writing 10/28/23

The 25 Best Albums of the 60s

Best Albums By Decade Index

GOP Chaos Is Not A Trump Plot

Can Superheroes Do Without Prisons?

Jack Kirby is…The Joker!

This Week's Writing 10/21/23

The 1973 War and the 1973 Peace

The 25 Best Albums of the 1950s

Langston Hughes, Of His Time

Israel and American Jewish Identity

This Week's Writing 10/14/23

Star Trek TOS S2E11: Friday's Child

The Economic Anxiety Explanation of Fascism Is Wrong

Death in Paradise, Violence in the Colonies

This Week's Writing 10/7/23

Growing Up Where They Don't Say Gay

The Courts Struggle to Restrain Trump

No Happy Ending: Steven Universe as Bleak Parable

This Week's Writing 10/1/23

It’s Okay to Criticize Feinstein

Chris Arnade and The Limits of Real America Reporting

Why I’m Okay With Being Called a ‘Content Creator’

Star Trek TOS S2E10: Journey to Babel

This Week's Writing 9/23/23

Empathy Doesn't Make You Less Racist

Interviewing Trump is Useless

Are the Supremes a Rock Band?

This Week's Writing 9/17/23

Jann Wenner Is Garbage. But Not Because He's a Boomer.

The Shylock of the Lord of the Rings

Trump Has Hacked GOP Partisanship

Married to the Mob Is a Grim Story About Domestic Abuse

This Week's Writing 9/8/23

Star Trek TOS S2E9: Metamorphosis

Oh Lord, Stay the Fuck Out of Deadwood

The NYT Uses Trans Hate to Discipline Its Workers

This Week's Writing 9/1/23

Mitch McConnell and Ageism

Gravity Isn't Very Romantic

Trump and the Christofascist Volk

This Week's Writing 8/25/23

Star Trek TOS S2E8: I, Mudd

Trump shouldn't have had to post bond

The One Democratic Messaging Trick That Could Destroy the GOP

Does Torture Work?

Donald J. Swearengen

100 Words

This Week's Writing 8/19/23

Flying Forwards But Backwards

Jordan Peterson's Anti-Leftism Pulls Him Towards Fascism

Free Speech Isn't To Protect Presidents

Star Trek TOS S2E7: Catspaw

This Week's Writing 8/11/23

Trump Reminds the RNC That He’s a Fascist

Antifascism Is a Positive

Don't Worry, Barbie

Maybe Less Posting?

The Appealingly Modest Thunder God

This Week's Writing 8/5/23

Mia Khalifa's Marriage Advice Is Good

Star Trek TOS S2E6: The Doomsday Machine

Why Is the Joker Serious?

Femme Fatale And The Joy of Castration

It Doesn't Matter If Jason Aldean Is From a Small Town

Rumpelstiltskin

What We Should Remember About William Hurt

This Week's Writing 7/28/23

Maybe Biden's Approval Is Bad Because Everything Is Horrible

Devil in the Translation

Twin Auteurs

There Isn't a Crisis of Masculinity

14 Underrated Albums

This Week's Writing 7/22/23

Cat Pics, As Foretold!

Polite Society Is An Anti-Romcom Romcom

Galaxy Quest Isn't Much Like Star Trek TOS

Cat pic promotion plus! 30% off annual subs

Tracy Chapman Maybe Gets Somewhere

Spider-Man: No Way Home Keeps Peter in the Closet

Cat Pic Promotion Week

Crank Treats Action Movies As A Decadent Pleasure

Body Double Gazes At Failure

Dangerous cat pic promotion!

The Best Roots Music Albums of 2023

Star Trek TOS S2E5: The Apple

Psycho vs. Psycho

How Philosophy Can Address Marginalized Identities

Mark Zuckerberg, The Sad Billionaire

The Shallow Genre Trash of Trouble Every Day

Karmalink Pursues Its Own Unique Path to Enlightenment

This Week's Writing 7/8/23

Slightly Embarrassing News

Star Trek TOS S2E4: Mirror, Mirror

Evil Dead Rise Resurrects the Franchise...Briefly

Ana Kasparian Would Not Have Supported the Civil Rights Movement

Sartre as Antifascist, Sartre as Antisemite

40% off sale ends with a Revolutionary Song!

King of Schlep No More

The Great Twitter Collapse Sale!

This Week's Writing 6/30/23

Star Trek TOS S2E3: The Changeling

"Biological Sex" Isn't a Thing

Indy 5 and the Irrelevant Nazis

This Is Your Brain on Altruism

Christians Believe in White Christian Privilege

My First Poetry Chapbook! Free Download!

The Boys Is Still Super

Moon Knight Shows that Work Sucks

This Week's Writing 6/22/23

The 10 Best Horror Films of the 1950s

Do We Need More Empathy for Billionaires?

Star Trek TOS S2E2: Who Mourns for Adonais?

Big Brother Doesn't See Race

Pure Isn't Good

The Diplomat Is An Authoritarian Fantasy for Liberals

The Eternals Demonstrates Why Trolley Problems Make Bad Stories

Brutally Massacring the Poor Chainsaws

This Week's Writing 6/17/23

The 10 Best Horror Films of the 1960s

50% Off, 1 day only sale!

Star Trek TOS S2E1: Amok Time

Angela Nagle Critiques Angela Nagle

Jurassic Park Is a Colonial Playground

The Left's Main Goal Shouldn't Be Converting Jordan Peterson Fans

A Black James Bond Would Change Some Things

The Good Madam Is About the Intimacy of Racist Violence

This Week's Writing 6/9/23

The 11 Best Horror Films of the 70s

Star Trek TOS S1E29: Operation: Annihilate!

"I Don't Think You Exist" Often Means "You Shouldn't Exist"

The Working Class and Other Mistaken Identities

Bold Substacker Cuts Out Middleman! And...Accidentally Promotes Hate.

Kelly Cadigan and Leaving the Right for Selfish Reasons

Shang-Chi Fights Heterosexual Expectations

Spin Me Round Has Trouble Finding Its Place

This Week's Writing 6/2/23

The 10 Best Horror Films of the 80s

Star Trek TOS S1E27: The Alternative Factor

Let Children Vote

Who Wins in Succession? The Answer is Barry.

Advice for Writers (20% off sale ends today!)

Normality Under Siege

This Week's Writing 5/27/23

Trans Superheroes Are the Best Superheroes

20% off Memorial Day Sale

Is DS9 Anti-War?

Ida Is a Holocaust Movie That Isn’t Made for Christians

The 10 Best Horror Films of the 1990s

This Week's Writing 5/19/23: Time for a Rest!

Force Majeure Mocks Masculinity

Is Ben Shapiro a Self-Hating Jew?

Phil Tippett’s Mad God Is a Joyful Celebration of Stop-Motion Ick

Star Trek TOS S1E28: The City on the Edge of Forever

Let's Take Magneto Out of the Holocaust

Were the Nazis Everyone's Fault?

Index to Best Horror Films by Decade

On Reading/Writing/Being Something or Other

Sweet Home Alabama and Racism as Romantic Comedy

This Week's Writing 5/12/23

Anderson Cooper Wants Trump to Urinate On Your Floor

Star Trek TOS S1E26: Errand of Mercy

Substack Doesn’t Love the Little Guy

Guns Don't Kill People; Nazis Kill People

Why I Don't Like Mary Oliver's "The Swan"

The Coddling of American Professor's Minds

Spencer Is a Coming Out Film

Episode 1: Kafka vs. Tucker Carlson

The Heady Rush of...*Cocaine Bear*!

This Week's Writing 5/5/23

The 10 Best Horror Films of the 2000s

Star Trek TOS S1E25: The Devil in the Dark

50% off yearly subscriptions through 5/5!

Why Didn't A Reporter Tell Us That Trump Had Bullied Him?

Best Movies of the Past 25 Years

No One Owes You Hope

Burying the White Working Class

I Shall Be Water

The Boys Animation Is Better Than It Has Any Right to Be

This Week's Writing 4/28/23

Star Trek TOS S1E24: This Side of Paradise

Welp, I Just Lost a Sixth of My Income

The 10 Best Horror Movies of the 2010s

Tucker Carlson Is Not Your Friend, FFS

Harry Belafonte's Groundbreaking Album "Calypso"

Index of Articles on Fascism

Is Substack a Neoliberal Hellhole?

Marry Me and Fake to Real Rom Coms

Substack Admits To Sweeping Ignorance About Content Moderation

This Week's Writing 4/22/23

12 Years a Slave and More: Colson Whitehead’s “Underground Railroad”

30% Off, Get Noah to 100 Sale!

Star Trek TOS S1E23: A Taste of Armageddon

The Obama/Trump Voter And Structural Racism

Ban Nazis, Unban Sex Workers on Substack

Our Problem Isn't Polarization. It's Fascism.

Anne Tyler Doesn't Need to Worry

The Seed Has the Bodysnatchers Invade Again

This Week's Writing 4/14/23

A Eulogy for Webley Cat

The 25 Best Guitarists of All Time

Did You Know I Write Books?!

Far From Heaven Shows We're Still In Sirk's World

What's It Like to Go (Sort of) Viral on Substack?

The Holocaust Isn't a Feel Good Story for Christians

Substack Notes Takes Over the World!

The White Actor in Imitation of Life

Elon Musk vs. His Own Business Model

Has Film Abandoned Sex?

This Week's Writing 4/8/23

Star Trek TOS S1E22: Space Seed

Accusing Republicans of Hypocrisy Is Pointless

The Mc Donaldification of America

The Wisconsin Victory is Good News for Joe Biden

Not Horseshoe Theory. Tentacle Theory.

What Polls Can and Can’t Tell You

The Dad Who Schleps No More

Guidance Shows The Bleak Side of Empathy

The Northman Is Good, But Not Original

This Week's Writing 3/31/23

Star Trek TOS S1E21: The Return of the Archons

Trump Is the Strongest 2024 GOP Nominee

Stay Out of the Infinity Pool

The GOP Still Wants Guns for Its Apocalyptic Fantasies

Titane vs. the Oscars

Kagan and Sotomayor Should Retire

The Shape of Pop Music Inequity

Help! I Am Stuck! Send Subscriptions!

On Not Reading Diana Chang

Jim Jordan Isn’t Fighting for Republicans

Star Trek TOS S1E20: Court Martial

The Villain in Power of the Dog Isn’t Who You Think It Is

Yes, We Should Use the Fucking F-Word

Condemning Joss Whedon After JL Is Easy

Firestarter Remake Isn't Even Worth a Bad Pun

This Week's Writing 3/17/23

How Hollywood Lets Real Fascists Off the Hook

4 Poems By Me

Infinity War and the Dream of Egalitarian Genocide

Star Trek TOS S1E19: Tomorrow Is Yesterday

We're Doing Better Than the German Left

Yes, The Republicans Are Fascists

Firestarter 1984 Is a Surreal Superhero Film

Star Trek TOS S1E18: Arena

No, Don't Let Marianne Williamson Debate

At Last! I Am the Cool Dad!

Making Fun Is...Well, Fun

Everybody’s a Critic. So Stop Hating Critics.

All Praise Dune! No, Not That One.

This Week's Writing: The Kitty Is Confused!

"No Devotions" Poetry Pamphlet Due in Sept.

We Don’t Value Trans Voices — Even On Trans Issues

The Real Key to Becoming a Successful Writer

Star Trek TOS S1E17: The Squire of Gothos

Bullet Train Is a Moderately Enjoyable Ride

The Pros and Cons of Holocaust Analogies

The Best Korean Alien/Wuxia/Time Travel Film You Are Likely To See This Week

Star Trek TOS: S1E16 Galileo Seven

Don't Say

How did you find my substack?

Vron Ware Talks About White Femininity and Racism

Thank You For Cat Snacks!

Star Trek TOS S1E15: Shore Leave

Emily Dickinson Demands That God Pay Up

Joel Osteen Provides Secrets to Godly Success

Why Face/Off Is Twice As Good As All Other Action Movies

Star Trek TOS S1E14: Balance of Terror

Why Books Are Terrible: A Summary

Even Rich Kids Need Free College

They/Them Slashes the Queerphobia From the Slasher

If You Don't Envy Other Writers Are You Even a Writer?

Upload Shows How Anticapitalism Without Antiracism Is Awkwardly Unreal

Support the Substack! Help me Feed the Very Large Cat!

The Woman in the House Across the Street from Bad Television

The Da Vinci Code, Cracked

Ant-Man and the Wasp Shrink the MCU

Star Trek TOS S1E13: The Conscience of the King

Hungry for a Feminist Slasher? Fresh Isn't Quite It

Against Workerism

Halloween Ends Not With a Scream But With a Pratfall

Star Trek TOS S1E11-12: The Menagerie

The Flight Attendant Season 2 Flies to Safety

My Own John Anderson

"Good Luck To You, Leo Grande" Makes a Quiet, Conventional Case for Revolutionary Pleasure

Lobsters Don’t Have Shoulders

Samaritan shows Superheroes Can Suck Even If They're Not in the MCU

This Week's Writing 2/18/23

Hate and Chait

Bigbug is a Bright, Automated Cyborg Ballet

Chattering Class Solidarity

Star Trek TOS S1E10: The Corbomite Maneuver

Retaliators Is a Tedious Testosterone Revenge Pic

Why White Students Need Black History

Why Class First Leftists Are Wrong

Star Trek TOS S1E9: Dagger of the Mind

No, We Shouldn't Be Paying Attention to Something Else

Losing at Sports, One Generation at a Time

The Goodnight, Mommy Remake Once Again Trades on Easy Twists

Wakanda Forever Doesn’t Want Grief to Lead to Revolution

Coppola's The Beguiled Loves Confederate White Women

This Week's Writing 2/11/23

S1E8 Star Trek: Miri

Burt Bacharach (1928-2023)

Tucker Carlson Helps Nazis Find Victims

Barbara Crampton Talks About Her Intense, Surprising Thriller—Without Men

355 Fights for the Female Buddy Action Movie, and Loses

The Chosen One

The Poem That Wasn't There

Star Trek S2E67: What Are Little Girls Made Of?

Deep Water is a Bad Movie

The Very Natural Films of Alice Guy-Blaché

People Think Kamala Harris Is Inauthentic For the Same Reason They Thought Disco Was Inauthentic

The Sadness is a Zombie Film for the Covid Era

Colonization with a Tom Cruise Grin

This Week's Writing 2/4/22

Carmen Is An Easy Sentimental Comedy With Dark Shadows

Dude, Where's My Empowerment Fantasy?

Do Revenge Is a Teen Comedy That Makes Patricia Highsmith Happy

Star Trek TOS Rewatch: S1E6 Mudd's Women

The Creation of the Venus of Willendorf

The Future Will Be Stupid...Today

Star Trek Rewatch: S1E5: The Enemy Within

Barry's Season Three is the Bleakest Yet

The Shit of Justice

Cam Girlz Treats Sex Work as a Business

Syndrome K Is Yet Another Inspiring Story About the Holocaust

Pleasure Presents a Conflicted View of the Porn Industry

This Week's Writing 1/27/23

History of Puerile Empowerment Fantasies

Who is the more violent: Tarantino or Bond?

The ACLU hates free speech

Star Trek Rewatch: S1E4 The Naked Time

The Forgiven Struggles With Colonial Dreams

Ron DeSantis is able to use schools for fascism because schools are already authoritarian

Lou Is A Small Scale Action Thriller About Family Violence and Aging

Star Trek Rewatch: S1E3 Where No Man Has Gone Before

In the New Noir Ramsey, Weak Men Fail Slowly

The Jewish Tradition of Not Being Jewish

Confess That You’re Insufferable, Fletch

How gratitude buttresses the myth of meritocracy

The Essex Serpent Is Caught in the Coils of Misogyny

This Week's Writing 1/20/23

Raven’s Hollow is the Folk Horror Edgar Allan Poe Origin Story You Don’t Exactly Need

In Severance, Work is a Prison

Beast Is An Animal Attack Film With a Heart

Star Trek TOS Rewatch: S1E2 "Charlie X"

The Runner Shows Horror Is Better With Friends

Moon Knight Gives Us a Jewish Superhero. Oy Vey.

In The Wilds, You Can't Get Away From the Patriarchy

Star Trek TOS Rewatch: S1E1 "The Man Trap"

The Netflix Persuasion Is Not For Jane Austen Fans

How to Manage Your Freelance Writing Career Straight to Neoliberal Hell

Star Trek TOS Rewatch Guide

The Gray Man Is Gray Genre Product

Woodland Dark and Days Bewitched Provides Terrifying Knowledge

A Poem about paywalls behind the paywall

This Week's Writing 1/12/23

Till Tries to Look At Injustice Through New Eyes

Should White Writers Write About Racism?

"I'm Totally Fine" Is SF About That Alien Emotion, Grief

Cronenberg and the Same New Queer Flesh

Men in 3 Women

Lorca's Two Dark Doves

Violent Night Will Make You Believe It Could Have Been a Better Movie

Defeated by Pants

Black Adam Fights Imperialism, But Not Too Hard

This Week's Writing 12/6/22

Our Batman, Ourselves

"You Won't Be Alone" Sheds Genre, Form, and Character

The 20 Best Albums You May Have Missed in 2022

I Was an Innocent Man, God Help Me

Who is the Better: Politics, Art, or Avocado?

Who Rolling Stone Leaves Out