All in On Others' Hard Work
Crime Scene: The Vanishing of a Discernible Ethics in True Crime
Netflix’s recent release about the disappearance and death of Elisa Lam is a good example of everything that can go wrong when producers are more interested in a buzzy and viral few days of social media attention than carefully telling good and/or interesting stories.
Don't 'Kill Your Heroes,' Rather, 'Gently Admonish Those For Whom You Have Deep But Measured Appreciation'
Reading criticism of writers or artists by people who once held them in pedestalic esteem always feels awkward and intrusive, like listening to somebody enumerate the flaws of their parent’s naked body.
You only live twice, or three times, or...fuck it--what is death, really?
Like I said, I think it’s mostly fine, it’s all fine. But goddamn it, is it too much to ask for some fucking stakes? Not even in terms of demanding the “art” comment meaningfully on actual human experience in a way that makes you feel things beyond, “man, I really gotta pee.” I just want there to be a little bit of meaningful stakes in the universe these characters inhabit, and allegedly “live and die” in.