In the past I’ve been accused of various forms of laziness—not taking advantage of a beautiful day, whiling away my childhood, not studying for my next test, whiling away my adolescence, not writing my dissertation, whiling away my 20s, 30s, etc.—when really I’ve been hard at work watching TV and movies. That the optimal method […]
I have a fairly straightforward relationship with dairy: I partake in its delicious fruits semi-regularly and it, in turn, completely devastates my guts. Yet despite this connection between lactose consumption and gastrointestinal distress—a correlation that I can only describe as very strong—it somehow took me several years to fully realize that, yes, I’m lactose intolerant. […]
Unfortunately for me, one of the first things I see most mornings is an ad. It’s largely my fault—I have the extremely terrible habit of keeping my phone next to me at night and then an arguably worse habit of checking Twitter (excuse me, X) in the morning, leading me to inevitably scroll past an […]
There are absolutely no swear words in Toy Story 3. This is something that probably should go without saying, if you’re even vaguely familiar with the Disney/Pixar approach to family entertainment. And yet, as I paused in my scrolling through a popular short video app, this was exactly the thought that skipped through my mind […]
A few paces into a walk one day, my friend’s dog found, nestled under a pile of autumn leaves, the most wonderful treasure the world could offer: a discarded box of half-eaten chicken wings. Before my friend could pull her dog away, the wings were gone—inhaled with the speed of an opportunist who knows better […]
One of my favorite parts in the development of a good friendship is the moment you realize that you’ve started to mimic each other. Take, for instance, the ridiculous way my high school friends and I started to mispronounce word “beverage” with an extra r: breverage. This didn’t stem from any speech difficulties or our […]
Spoilers for Everything, Everywhere, All At Once: In the best movie of the year, protagonist Evelyn Wang (portrayed by the inimitable Michelle Yeoh) navigates, among many things, her taxes, complicated family dynamics, at least one raccoon, intense fight sequences (both kung fu and metaphorical in nature), and some unconventional uses of professional accolades in order […]
It feels like, culturally speaking, we’ve developed quite an interest in the role of fear, anxiety, and trauma in shaping our everyday lives. Popular works of fiction explore the trauma and anxieties of their characters in settings that range from the mundane to the fantastical; just look at the popularity of TV shows like Ted […]