what is?

CW: discussions of passing privilege, rape, sexual assault, lolcow culture, transmisogyny, transphobia, exploitation, some slurs are used in their original and unedited context to better show the kind of persons we’re dealing with The alt-right and alt-lite are really fascinating corners of the Internet. The fact that they’ve managed to gain so much traction while also being one of the most obtuse political movements out there, encompassing personalities from Richard Spencer to Gavin McInnes the Living Shitpost to Ethan and Hila Klein, is arguably the reason why I’m attracted in figuring out how the movement works and how it often views the world. Chances are: we’ve all dipped our toe into fringe elements now associated with the alt-right - I’ve been obsessed with lolcow culture ever since 2008-09, thanks to Michelle Pickens talking to me about a little known person by the name of Christine Chandler, and I’ve even interacted a few times on that side of the coin. I was involved in ...

There's this scene in The Disaster Artist  where Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) and Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) stand at the exact intersection where James Dean wrecked his Porsche 550 and died at the scene. Just a few moments ago, we saw them watching through his iconic star-making performance as Jim Stark in Nicholas Ray's electrifying and oft-disturbing analysis of generational disconnect Rebel Without a Cause  - specifically his famous outburst to his parents at the police station. As Tommy screws up the line while quoting it at a pizza parlor, Greg mentions that he's always wanted to visit the exact spot where Dean died - and Tommy, always willing to start a new adventure at the drop of a pin, decides to go on an impromptu car trip. Greg protests, stating that Dean's crash site is about 200-300 miles away from San Francisco, but Tommy insists on taking the trip. The odd thing is that James Dean didn't really become a famous actor until he died. At the point of hi...

The studio was often busy during the week - a total epicenter of natural ebb and flow, where all sorts of filmmakers gathered to fulfill their own artistic vision. Despite the awareness and advocacy of this day and age, a majority of these filmmakers were still white cisgender male humans, seen from the art form's infancy as the default - the one people would stick with despite other options being available. Mr. Miller, the security guard, expected this to be the norm - he had been working with the studio since the late '40s, always keeping watch over the lucky people that had their time in the sun as the replacement for the changed guards, the inmates of the asylum according to some parlances. It was rather ho-hum for the most part - mostly studio hires and unassuming filmmakers discovered from some passion project buried deep within the theaters of Park City and TriBeCa trying to finish another entry in the tentpole franchises that kept the rusted machine alive regardless of ...

Office Christmas Party  should've been one of the more groundbreaking films of the past 20 years. Groundbreaking is definitely the wrong term to describe something of its caliber and intended impact, but what I mean is that it should've been fresh. It should've offered a new way to explore what can be done within the confines of comedy. It was set up, from the announcements in the Hollywood Reporter and Variety, to be a hyperlink narrative - something that I've only seen referenced in relation to Robert Altman's expansive work of the '70s and his comeback period during the early '90s alongside Paul Haggis' rather simplistic Crash . The premise is a party - and we have a slew of characters we explore through, all of them driving the action to some extent. Unlike Altman and Tewkesbury's work, however, it had one primary focus: how an IT office copes with its impending closure through above-the-line people who seem to have it in for their personnel. ...