Published in Vulnerable Man·Dec 9, 2021Member-onlyIn “Partners, Am I Right?” Hawkeye Follows Safely Along the Buddy Cop FormulaCrazy that there’s only two episodes left — After watching the fourth episode of Hawkeye I found myself rereading my review of the previous episode and wondering if I’m judging this show fairly. Am I appreciating what the show is, or am I judging the show for what I want it to be? Generally, I like shows that…Hawkeye5 min read
Published in Vulnerable Man·Dec 1, 2021Member-only‘Hawkeye: Echoes’ is Forty Minutes of Wasted PotentialStill a lot of fun though — One of my favorite horror movies is A Quiet Place, a movie that asks the question, “being deaf is scary, but what if it was even scarier?” It’s a smartly designed film that uses sound (or the lack thereof) to put the audience into its deaf character’s (Regan’s) perspective with…Hawkeye6 min read
Published in Vulnerable Man·Nov 24, 2021Member-onlyThe Hawkeye Premiere is Messy but PromisingA review for the first two episodes — Why don’t people like Hawkeye that much? Throughout the past few years, posts on my Twitter timeline have referred to him as the most boring Avenger, played by a boring actor. I’ve heard people say Jeremy Renner looks too much like Popeye, but I don’t know, Popeye’s kind of hot…Television5 min read
Published in The Writing Cooperative·Apr 21, 2021Member-onlyTo Learn to Write Effective Horror, Watch ‘The Office’How ‘Dinner Party’ is a master class of rising tension — When horror, suspense and thriller writers talk about their inspirations, they often refer to the great, renowned authors and directors like Stephen King or Guillermo del Toro. …Writing11 min read
Published in An Injustice!·Mar 17, 2021Member-onlyRidley Scott’s ‘Blade Runner’ Shows the Toxic Mindsets Behind Climate DenialismThe greed and self-delusion that led to the world of Blade Runner, and our own — One of the most important things to remember, when arguing with people who deny the existence of man-induced climate change, is that their beliefs are not motivated by any kind of legitimate skepticism with the science of the issue. …Climate Change11 min read
Mar 12, 2021Member-onlyI Want AOC to Run For President, But I’m Terrified of What This Country Will Do to HerWhy I still have hope anyway — A month ago I watched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez post a live video on Instagram explaining exactly what it felt like for her during the Capital riots on January 6th. It was a deeply brave and moving video, but I couldn’t fully appreciate it at the time. …Politics7 min read
Published in GEN·Jan 19, 2021Member-onlyYou’re Lucky Workers Are Only Asking for $15 an HourIt’s time to question the flawed conventional wisdom driving the minimum wage debate — I was 16 when I got my first job at a McDonald’s in upstate New York. It was the fall of 2014; I was paid $8 an hour. It was around this time that I started thinking of my purchases in terms of time. A gallon of milk was around…Pineapple 202110 min read
Jan 5, 2021Member-onlyThe Rich Are Not Our FriendsMy slow realization that it’s all theater — The 2016 election was the first Presidential election I was old enough to vote in, and throughout that period I found myself caring a lot about what late night comedians had to say about politics. …Politics8 min read
Published in An Injustice!·Dec 18, 2020Member-onlyThe Disappointment of Meadow SopranoRationalizing away your complicity — The kids on The Sopranos can be hard to like. They’re often described as spoiled, whiny, self-centered, and hypocritical, and a lot of the time they are. On a show filled with murderers and thieves, somehow these two characters managed to provoke the most contempt from viewers. While I admittedly…Television12 min read
Published in An Injustice!·Dec 7, 2020Member-onlyShe Was Murdered by A Jealous Ex-Lover, and the Alt-Right Took Full AdvantageHow the whiteness of the true-crime genre fuels white supremacist narratives — By March of 2018, Haley Anderson was a 22-year-old nursing student at Binghamton University. She had a part-time job at an on-campus coffee shop, a full-time job lined up at a Long Island emergency room in her home town, and was set to graduate in May. Anderson was, by all…True Crime10 min read
