Author and Podcaster Rax King Is Irresistibly Cheeky in ‘Tacky’
Author and podcaster Rax King shares her love of tasteless kitsch in her funny book on pop culture, Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer.
popmatters pick
MIKA’s ‘Last Party’ Is a Glorious Celebration
With over 100 classical musicians and choristers, MIKA has ventured to the Royal Opera of Versailles to re-record orchestral versions of his biggest hits.
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’70s TV Horror/Mystery ‘Kolchak: The Night Stalker’ Keeps Crawling from Its Grave
Horror-mystery TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker has a sour take on society that hasn’t dated since the ’70s; hence, its eternal afterlife.
Bob Dylan Would Dig Michael Gray’s ‘Outtakes’
Michael Gray is the Bob Dylan of Dylan studies, a man whose Dylan criticism has done more to augment and illuminate Dylan’s art than all of his rivals combined.
Simone de Beauvoir’s ‘Inseparable’ Resonates in Our Times
Simone de Beauvoir’s Inseparable reveals the devastating consequences of succumbing to conventions at the expense of one’s own autonomy and well-being.
Why Hasn’t Daphne Gottlieb Won a Lambda Literary Award?
As always, Daphne Gottlieb’s excellent Saint 1001 will please all of her readers – hetero and queer. Does that make her work “not queer enough” for Lambda?
‘The Afghanistan Papers’ Reveals How Not to Fight a War
Craig Whitlock’s searing Afghanistan war book is a jaw-dropping compilation of arrogance and stupidities that nobody wanted to see.
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘After Life’ Explores What Lingers in the Ephemeral
Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s poignant second feature, After Life, explores the vagaries of memory and the permanence of film.
The Humanist Dilemma in Kobayashi’s ‘The Human Condition’
Kobayashi’s The Human Condition demonstrates the impossibility of realizing the ideals of humanism.
Mohammad Rasoulof’s Brave and Brilliant ‘There Is No Evil’
The Iranian government does its best to support the ruling metaphor in Mohammad Rasoulof’s body of work: his country as a prison.
Shiori Ito and the ‘Black Box’ of Sexual Assault in Japan
Shiori Ito’s memoir ‘Black Box’ smashes open the legal norms that box in sexual assault victim’s rights in Japan and drags the system’s misogyny into the light.