Dear air conditioner enthusiasts, You may have heard that June is LGBT Pride Month in these United States, marked by rainbow-banner parades in cities across the country. Boston’s passed a few Saturdays ago (favorite sign: “gender is a drag,” courtesy of a Traniwreck marcher), but I’ll confess, the parade that still means the most to [...]
Archive for the ‘video’ Category
An Archival Pride Parade
Posted in film, LGBT, periodicals, politics, video, tagged gay, gay history, LGBT pride, pride parade on June 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Good Bye, Leaven!
Posted in advertising, african-americans, food, holidays, Jews, religion, video on March 30, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
To the domestically-inclined, Break out your horseradish everybody! Passover is officially here, bringing with it gefilte fish, chocolate-covered matzo, brisket, and all the other healthy treats you’ve come to associate with the feast of the unleavened bread. In truth, perverse as it might sound, I do look forward to Passover every year, I suppose because [...]
Yale Radicals, Juvenile Offenders, and Henry Miller’s Bathroom
Posted in books, college, film, politics, technology, television, video, tagged henry miller, sixties on February 19, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Dear viewers like you, The website Snagfilms usually gets pegged as “Hulu for documentaries”—a pretty generous comparison when I think about how many episodes of 30 Rock I’ve watched on our Mac. But while Hulu gives a chance for major TV networks to distribute shows both popular and flagging, Snagfilms shines its spotlight on filmmakers with [...]
The Kitsch of Christmas Past
Posted in advertising, domesticity, holidays, television, video on December 22, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Dear New Years TV marathon viewers, If you wondering when your local cafe, supermarket, and shopping mall would stop playing “Santa Baby,” rest assured: Christmas is almost here! Though my own family is Jewish, the holiday still holds so many sweet memories for me: the evening I gathered all the ornaments given to my mother [...]
The Wonders of Coffee
Posted in advertising, commerce, commercialism, domesticity, economics, food, leisure, shopping, video, visual culture on November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
To students seldom awake before ten, Like many scholars, I’ve relied on coffee as a lifeline for most of my academic career. By senior year of high school, I was already bringing a plastic mug full of instant Maxwell House (terrible, I know) to class. In college, I even considered footnoting the local convenience store [...]
Veterans and Recruits
Posted in advertising, military, video on November 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Dear holiday lovers, Growing up, I definitely didn’t take Veterans’ Day very seriously, except as a reason to sleep in. There were only two people in my family who ever saw a battle front—my Bronx-reared great-uncle, who was a paratrooper in the Pacific, and my Czech grandfather, who fought with the Russian army against the [...]
Eisenhower and Bush Sr., Now Kid-Friendlier!
Posted in advertising, cartoons, politics, video on November 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Dear reluctant researchers, As you ponder the results of yesterday’s elections, I thought you might appreciate a visit from the ghosts of political campaigns past. No, I haven’t summoned the spirit of Fiorello Laguardia again. But I have uncovered a fascinating archive from the Museum of the Moving Image: “The Living Room Candidate,” which includes [...]
Musical Marxists and Jazz Hands
Posted in music, musicals, theater, video, tagged music, musical, video on October 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Dear die-hard dilettantes, Some of you know that I’m a teaching fellow this semester for a popular course at Harvard called, “Gender and Performance,” taught by the extraordinary Professor Robin Bernstein. This week’s all about Bertolt Brecht, an artist I’ve had a love-hate relationship with ever since my freshman year encounter with Mother Courage. I’m [...]