Get Yer Unlimited Digital Books Here!
If you’ve ever thought, “Man, I’m so tired of buying books one at a time. I wish I could just get a subscription for $9.99 a month and have access to all of them,” well, Amazon just made your wish come true with the announcement of its new Kindle Unlimited service. You might think of the […]
Bored Kids Are Expensive
If there are two words parents never want to hear from their children, I suspect “I’m bored” are close to the top of the list. It’s a child’s shorthand for this: You need to provide a stimulating option for me. Right. Now. My children are now 3, 5 and 7. And I have to confess […]
The Curious Case of the Missing Sticker
The year 1985 was a dramatic one for the music industry. That year, a group of 22 high-profile and influential cultural watchdogs—including Tipper Gore, wife of then U.S. Senator Al Gore—convened a committee called the Parents Music Resource Center. The group’s goal was to give parents more information about the content of the music their […]
Just Say No to Celebrity Death Wishes
Smoldering indie chanteuse Lana Del Rey is infatuated with death. And for at least one person taking note, that’s not cool at all. In the days leading up to the release of her chart-topping second album, Ultraviolence, Del Rey talked with reporters twice about her weariness with life. In the U.K.’s Guardian, she said, “I […]
Our Fuzzy Pop Culture Memories
As a general rule, I suspect most of us think our memories are pretty good. After all, we have a vested interested in believing that our recall of the past is accurate. A lot depends on it. Science, however, has suggested that our memories are in fact more squishy—and perhaps less accurate—than we might be […]
Remembering Casey
In 1972, Don McLean topped the charts for four weeks with his iconic hit “American Pie.” The song’s lyrics focused on “the day the music died,” a reference to the February 1959 plane crash that killed pop singers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. While perhaps not quite that dramatic, Sunday felt to […]
Taking Celebrities Too Literally … And Missing the Point
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow stepped in it pretty badly a couple of weeks ago, triggering the wrath of many online commentators. And paradoxically, the misstep happened when Paltrow was trying to make a serious point about the toxic effects of Internet meanness. While speaking at a tech conference, Paltrow made the mistake of comparing Internet critics’ […]
Judging Justin
Justin Bieber used to talk a lot about his Christian faith. For some time now, however, the 20-year-old singer has been much more likely to end up in the tabloids for all manner of questionable behavior than at the top of the celebrity role model list. Whether it’s allegations of racist comments, marijuana use, egging […]
Celebrity Restraint in an Age of Excess
I think it’s safe to say that we don’t live in an age of restraint—at least as far as celebrity discretion is concerned. What once might have been considered scandalous or career-ending, such as, say, a sex tape, is now just another avenue for getting on the cultural radar. As Kim Kardashian has proven, it […]
189 Channels (and Nothin’ On)
Last week, Paul Asay talked about the incredible proliferation of niche programming in our ever-expanding media universe in his blog post “Coming Soon: The Atheist Channel.” And today I’d like to riff on a related theme, albeit one that contains a paradoxical twist from some of the comments Paul made in his article. Here’s the […]