Here goes something! - by Inkoo Kang
On the Search Engine podcast this week, tech journalist Casey Newton predicted that Twitter would declare bankruptcy within a year. The way things are going over there, that seems entirely possible. I don’t know Elon Musk’s limit for setting fire to his money for the sake of edgelording on Main (apologies to the not terminally online for making you read that phrase), but I do know that Twitter, my previously favored social media site, has been awful to be on since his takeover.
Twitter was where I usually put out recommendations. And I like recommending things! I have more free time than most people, and part of my job (as the TV critic at The New Yorker) is, ostensibly, to keep up with culture and decide what’s worthwhile and what sucks. I want the projects that I think are adding to the world in a positive way to get more attention, and I want to steer people away from garbage that I think is a waste of their time. I think there are people out there, too, who want to discover new things and trust my taste (or at least are curious about what I’m interested in).
So here’s the first batch of a planned weekly set of recommendations, which I imagine will include articles, books, movies, TV shows, podcasts, social-media posts, and the very occasional consumer item. And, of course, as a writer on the internet, I unfortunately must do a bare minimum of hustling my wares. This Substack is not monetized, and I’m not anticipating hitting anyone up for money anytime soon, so you won’t have to worry about that. I just wanna make your life slightly better through sharing what I think is cool and good.
-Inkoo
—Stiffed podcast. I loved this eight-part series from Jennifer Romolini about Viva, a short-lived feminist porn magazine in the 1970s published by the founder of Penthouse that inevitably crumbled under the weight of its own ideological contradictions. (I also liked this retelling waaaaaay more than what I saw of Minx.)
—Orange Is the New Black Signalled the Rot Inside the Streaming Economy. New Yorker writer Michael Schulman’s dispatches from inside Hollywood are often must-reads, and this illuminating piece is as good as any in explaining why the actors (and writers) are striking right now.
—The Revolt of the Christian Home-Schoolers. Fascinating WaPo profile of a generation that essentially became experiments in evangelical home-schooling of the 1980s, and how, as as they grew up and became parents themselves, some of them turned away from those teachings.
—Haiti Held Hostage. An impressively thorough (and rather humanizing) recent history of Haiti’s extreme political turmoil, which has led to the current takeover of Port-au-Prince by dozens, if not hundreds, of gangs.
—The new season of Harley Quinn (Max). I love this bloody, queer, animated, second-act take on the Batman villainess, powered by Kaley Cuoco’s go-for-broke voice performance. I’ve seen the first nine episodes of the fourth season, and it’s probably my favorite since Season 2.
—The Barbie movie, I guess? I found it more clever than coherent or satisfying, but the neon-fever-dream aesthetics don’t disappoint, and Ryan Gosling’s performance is a fucking lark. And, if nothing else, Barbie gave us this dog.
—We Have Reached Peak “Therapy TV.” This roundtable between Doreen St. Felix, Alexandra Schwartz, and me came out really well!
—Not a recommendation, but: I’ve been reading up on bone china this weekend, the making of which apparently involves actual animal (usually cow) bones? Wild!
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