Just reading about this makes me feel nauseous and worse about the world.

I imagine this probably isn't going to get a lot of traction with this crowd, but I cannot speak highly enough of The Liturgists podcast. It's an explicitly progressive Christian podcast, and speaks about theological issues in explicitly Biblical terms, but the hosts are just so smart and thoughtful and good, and talk…

If I had to make my best guess, I think the reshoots probably mean "the first cut was riskier and more interesting, but clearly functionally flawed in a way that would be alienating to audiences, and just not as good in execution as it sounded on paper (a la Gareth Edwards's Godzilla), and it was rewritten and recut…

"Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye. Even decades of crappy pop culture haven't been able to ruin it completely, but scrubbed of all that awful association? Hearing it for the first time might be transcendent.

We can treat racists as people without treating racism as a valid worldview, especially since racism has infected everyone to one degree or another.

Not in the sense that "more people are going to be gay" but in the sense that "more people will be openly, visibly LGBTQ, and LGBTQ people, identity, and politics will have a significantly louder voice in society."

Trump was elected specifically because people KNOW that America is getting browner and queerer.

We always laugh at the race and gender politics of retro-futurism ("Ha! They stupidly believed that social roles would remain stagnant even as technology evolved!"), but they're going to say the exact same thing about us (and rightly so). The future is way browner and queerer than any mainstream scifi right now has…

I think the word "cuck" is great, in that anyone who uses the term unironically has signaled with absolute clarity exactly what kind of person they are, thereby freeing me from the burden of having to waste time talking to them at all.

I wish media wouldn't keep posting images of the alien language. I had the benefit of seeing Arrival totally blind, not knowing anything other than the cast, director, and basic set-up, and seeing the heptapods produce their inky language for the first time was BREATHTAKING. One of the few moments in cinema that has…

…who is this for?

Not TV, but to me the ultimate Thanksgiving weekend binge watch is the Rocky series. If there is one unifying theme that runs through the whole series (other than, obviously, sweaty dudes punching each other), it's the spirit of gratitude and making the most of what you have, and the dangers of taking what you've been…

I think this is a really important perspective. I am also not the protesting type. I think protests are an important and valuable part of a vibrant and healthy democracy, and I think they will be essential to the future of our country. However, I don't think they are, technically, a good match for my skill set or…

I've seen a lot of people talking about how this is a distraction motivated by our vacuous obsession with celebrities and pop culture, and maybe that's true, but we shouldn't knock our vacuous obsession with celebrities and pop culture. It may end up being our greatest cultural and institutional defense against the…

You don't have a responsibility to inundate yourself with Trump news and thinkpieces at the expense of your mental health. It hurts you and helps no one else. Find something you can do regularly with your time or your money to help protect vulnerable people in your community, and otherwise take care of yourself.

Oh shit, NOW you're cooking with gas.

As someone who loves Kanye West and despises Trumpism, this doesn't even remotely surprise me. It's disappointing in a way, yes, but Kanye has already proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that his worldview doesn't really sync up with conventional politics or even conventional understanding of reality in any coherent way.

Also, that blackberry jam and ricotta cheese on a saltine looks *incredible.*

As a fat guy, I never feel particularly comfortable eating ANYTHING in front of people. But I'm working on it! The other day, I unapologetically ate a donut in front of a group of skinny people. It was my sad little act of personal resistance.

Yes. I know it's cool to hate Metallica now, and it's especially cool to hate The Black Album, but it genuinely holds up, and I don't think it should be grouped in with their output since. I understand metal purists not really getting into it, but if any single new Metallica album had the solid songwriting foundation…