Recent posts tagged entertainment
2022
The Tragedy Of The Cultural Engineers
Those who are most in the position to effect massive social changes through cultural engineering at scale are hidebound from doing so.
2021
Quit Daydreaming!
Escapism is just the snidest word for something that our collective survival may well depend on.
A Thing To Marvel At
The issue I have with tentpole franchise entertainment is not that it's unentertaining, but that it provides the wrong lessons for creators.
2020
The Pop Problem
What is it I really want from popular culture? Typically something rare.
2019
Highly Illogical, Jim
When does a story's logic hold fast, and when does it break?
2018
Very Much Reality
Anything you put out in the world under the pretense of entertainment is worth taking at least as seriously as someone else could. And some take it very seriously indeed.
A Second Life On Video
Movies have more second lives than ever, but only because they barely have first ones.
I Am (Not) An Entertainer
"I'm an entertainer." -- Alan Watts. "I am not an entertainer." -- William S. Burroughs. Discuss.
2017
TV Or Not TV
More on the de-boob-tubing of my life.
Grindhouse Vs. Arthouse Vs. My House
On schlock being useful without the love of it becoming its own snobbism.
Empathy Machine II Dept.
More on the idea that entertainments can be engines of empathy.
2016
We Put The 'Cult' In Culture Dept.
Modern fandom of the fantastic is transformative, not passive.
Stuporheroes Dept.
Age of Dulltron.
2015
Hunting High And Low Dept.
Different art, different critical standards? Maybe not.
Put Away Childish Things And All That Dept.
Comics are just for kids. Right?
That's Entertain(t)ment! Dept.
"Entertainment" isn't a cover for dispensing lies and misinformation.
Of Silos And Vin Diesel Dept.
Why never to say something can't win Best Picture. Or shouldn't.
Propagandart Dept.
All entertainment is art, whether or not we know it, and all art is propaganda. Therefore ...
Noise Filters Dept.
The uncanny has become the new normal.
2014
You Are What You Dream Dept.
Even our entertainments are works of art whether or not we like it, and have the chance to be taken very, very seriously by somebody out there.
Last Year's Model Dept.
Hollywood's mania for sequels makes sense in light of how forgettable the films are. With no follow-up, who would remember they even exist?
You With Your Fandom, Me With My Fandom Dept.
Fandom should be about more than just emotionally protecting one's territory.
My Water Cooler Runneth Over Dept.
On the communal enjoyment of entertainment and the 'paradox of choice'.
To Push All The Right Buttons Dept.
Flatter the audience at your own risk.
2013
A Mouthful Of Stories Dept.
Great writing and great cuisine, compared.
