I Suddenly Found Myself Nostalgic for a Time I Never Even Lived Through
In Praise of Emotional Time Travel (Sort of)
When my kids ask me in years to come how I survived the coronavirus quarantine, will I give them the proper answer or the honest one?
The Unintentional Theology of Rites of Spring, Or, The Gospel According to Guy Picciotto
“I’ve Found the Answer Lies in a Real Emotion / Not the Self-Indulgence of a Self-Devotion”
Memories from the Future: A Word on Abandoned Houses, Nostalgia, and the Hope of the World
Grateful for this incredible piece by Nate Mills: When I was 3 or 4 I had an apocalyptic vision. It may not have been as otherworldly as the Ancient of Days appearing in resplendent glory like in Daniel 7, but it was unmistakably surreal. My family was taking a road trip from our home in […]
Another Week Ends: Mandating Happiness, Facetuning Your Face, The Never-Ever Golden Age, and The Shining Star of Losers Everywhere
Click here to listen to this week’s episode of The Mockingcast, which features an interview with psychologist and ‘experimental theologian’ Richard Beck, author of Reviving Old Scratch: Demons and the Devil for Doubters and the Disenchanted. 1. The New Yorker asked last week whether or not you can mandate happiness? Looking specifically at workplaces—workplaces that […]
The Magnetism of the Exiled Soul to Stranger Things
The most succinct way to describe Stranger Things is to say that it’s Steven Spielberg meets Stephen King — meets Netflix. At eight episodes, it’s very watchable in one week, or one night, depending on how willing you are to sacrifice your REMs. (Be warned: You’ll find it hard to finish one episode and resist […]
Idols of Nostalgia and the Downfall of Doc Huxtable
It’s hard to cross the Internet these days without reading an update on Bill Cosby’s falling star. As of this writing, a planned NBC comeback sitcom has been cancelled, and other new initiatives (like an ill-conceived social media meme push) have been met with anger and sarcasm. Perhaps most salient: TV Land has quietly stopped airing reruns […]
Aphex Twin’s Syro and the Joy of Forgetting (and Remembering)
Enigmatic and revered electronic artist Aphex Twin (real name Richard D. James) released his long awaited new album, Syro, last week, ending a 13-year hiatus that followed his previous album, Drukqs. The new album is–in true Aphex Twin form–a colossally dense and impeccably composed piece of electronic music that morphs, warps, and toils considerably for […]
Mama Liked the Roses (And So Did T.S. Eliot): Deciphering “Burnt Norton” – Part 1
Eliot’s Four Quartets remain among his most critically acclaimed and notoriously inscrutable works. Although there’s no established consensus on the precise meaning of these poems, they’ve all been viewed as meditations on time, each focusing on a particular aspect of this central reality of human life. Constantly going back to the Quartets and always enjoying […]
Cartoon Nostalgia, Cartoon Revolution, Part 3: Cartoon Morality in Transformers
With Transformers 3 less than a week away, we present the third installment of Jeremiah Lawson’s excellent four-part series on Cartoon Nostalgia, in which our hero takes a hard look at moral undercurrents in the Transformers universe. And speaking of nostalgia (and golden ageism), if you haven’t yet seen Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, it’s […]