Strange Stories
I interviewed Vanessa Davis about her father, the photojournalist Gerald Davis, and his new collection Strange Stories for the Paris Review Daily.
Broad City
Dear Television is covering Broad City this season for Talking Points Memo. Here’s my first contribution, on episode 2, “Mochalatta Chills.”
Update (2/12): Episode 5, “Hashtag FOMO.”
Update (3/12): Episode 9, “Coat Check.”
Inherent Vice
My essay on Inherent Vice, lost love, and the objectification of women is up at Avidly.
Culture Crash
My debut for Slate: a review of Scott Timberg’s Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class.
(Illustration by Jon Chadjurian)
2014 Dear Television Questionnaire
I contributed to Dear Television’s year-in-review questionnaire over at the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Getting On
I yakked with Lili Loofbourow about Getting On, probably my favorite show currently on television, for the Los Angeles Review of Books/Dear Television.
Dory Previn
My appreciation of Dory Previn’s life and career is in the new issue of The Pitchfork Review, available now.
The History of Rock’n’Roll in Ten Songs
I reviewed Greil Marcus’ The History of Rock’n’Roll in Ten Songs for the Los Angeles Times.
Malcolm Cowley
I have a review of The Long Voyage: Selected Letters of Malcolm Cowley, 1915-1987 in the third issue of the Los Angeles Review of Books‘ quarterly journal.
Love, Factionally
I reviewed the new expanded edition of Carl Wilson’s Let’s Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste for Public Books.
Publicness
On Thursday, May 29th, I’ll be appearing at Betalevel’s Errata Salon to discuss questionnaires and quizzes, from the confession album to BuzzFeed. Also on the bill is Ben Wurgaft, who’ll be speaking about cafes as work spaces.
The Animals
I reviewed The Animals: Love Letters between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy for the Los Angeles Times.
I Did Not Approve This Message
I wrote about David Foster Wallace, James Joyce, and literary estates for the Paris Review Daily.
(Photo credit: loveleeliz, via Instagram)
Willowbrook
I interviewed Rosten Woo about his new book Willowbrook is…/es… for the Los Angeles Review of Books.
(Photo credit: Alyse Emdur)
L.A. Times Festival of Books
I covered two book panels for the L.A. Times this weekend: one on “The Art of the Personal Story” with Leo Braudy, Leslie Jamison, Pico Iyer, and Dinah Lenney, and one on “The Artist as Influencer” with William Todd Schultz, Ben Tarnoff, and Beverly Walker.
(Photo credit: Bret Hartman / L.A. Times.)
Moonlighting
I wrote an essay for Avidly, responding to Yasmin Nair’s “Scabs: Academics and Others Who Write For Free.”
True Detective
I contributed a post about the culture of recaps and precaps, and what I call “the Temporal Fallacy,” to Dear Television’s True Detective symposium.
Train in Vain
I wrote a short essay on my reservations about the Amtrak Residency for n+1.
Community
I did a guest appearance at Dear Television this week to discuss season 5 of Community.
Ismism
I reviewed The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines for the London Review of Books.