Latest Articles

Project Runway All Stars: When Pigs Cry

by Kelsey Wallace
January 20, 2012 at 12:42pm

Our Project Runway All Stars designed for “megacelebrity” (and plush puppet) Miss Piggy last night:

Nothing weird about this promo photo at all. Why do you ask?

On Our Radar

by Mac Pogue
January 20, 2012 at 11:46am
Here’s what we’ve been reading this week.
  • We need to be careful not to let our talk of Paula Deen slip into schaudenfreude.
  • You know, the whole “Shit [blank] Says to…[blank]” meme has proven to be a pretty smart examination of prejudice and microagressions, and we ought to give it more credit.
  • West Coast readers! Check out the West Coast Rally for...

Double Rainbow: Finding Autism in Popular Fiction

by Caroline Narby
January 20, 2012 at 10:49am

Of course one doesn’t have to go finding autism in popular fiction—it’s the subject of intense cultural fascination right now, so it’s just there, everywhere. In novels like Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Jodi Picoult’s House Rules; in films like Mercury Rising, Mozart and the Whale, Adam, ...

Pop Pedestal: The Right Honourable Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham from Downton Abbey

by Kelsey Wallace
January 19, 2012 at 2:50pm

Welcome back to Pop Pedestal, the series where we pay tribute to pop culture personalities we admire. Up today is the Right Honourable Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, inimitable matriarch of Downton Abbey.

I’m a woman, Mary. I can be as contrary as I choose.

The 99%: Undercover Boss and the Undervalued Worker

by Gretchen Sisson
January 19, 2012 at 11:17am

Unions are supposed to help workers have jobs that are safe, fairly compensated, and have opportunities for upward mobility. But unions are having trouble doing that these days, in large part because so many legislators and executives (like the ones on Undercover Boss) are going so far to limit their power.

Double Rainbow: Autism and Horror

by Caroline Narby
January 19, 2012 at 10:16am

In mainstream film, autistic characters seem to appear most frequently in two types of movies: award-grubbing dramas and horror films. Both genres stick to a disappointingly narrow range of tropes.

Sm{art}: The Colors of Coco Riot

by Kjerstin Johnson
January 18, 2012 at 1:40pm

Bright and graphic illustrations, installations on bathroom politics, and back-page comics for the fabulous Shameless mag? Artist Coco Riot does it all!

Some SOPA Links to Help You Tell Congress to Shove it

by Kelsey Wallace
January 18, 2012 at 12:17pm

Since you are currently online, you’ve no doubt noticed that SOPA (don’t worry, you can click on the link—it’s one of the only Wikipedia sites that isn’t blacked out today) is the talk of the Internet. More specifically, people are speaking out against SOPA and PIPA and the threat it poses to a free(ish) and open Internet.

Us too, pal. Us too.

Bechdel Test Canon: Irma Vep

by Alyx Vesey
January 18, 2012 at 11:10am

Olivier Assayas’ 1996 feature Irma Vep celebrates Maggie Cheung, the actress under the catsuit.

The 99%: Why the Real Housewives of Atlanta Aren

by Gretchen Sisson
January 18, 2012 at 10:00am

Few women of color are allowed to represent themselves on television with much nuance; frequently they are reduced to stock characters like mammies and Jezebels that deny them full, complex humanity.  Successful women of color are slammed with stereotypes of the “Angry Black Woman” or are forced to represent all women of their race as impossibly perfect standard-bearers.

...

Pages