PicoBlog

That song, that performance, changed my life in many ways. The first time I ever saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show, it was a transformative experience. If you’ve been yourself, you get it. If you haven’t, get to a midnight showing as soon as you’re able. I know sharing a meatloaf recipe this week is a little obvious, and I would never in a million years make light of someone’s death.

I am a big aficionado of memes, both for their humor and the fact they drive home a point succinctly and visually. I collect them and use them in my teaching at UNC as well as often in communications. In this edition of the newsletter, I’ve collected a number of memes about AI, some of which I created. While some (many?) are a little dark, I hope you enjoy them and share with others if you think they will enjoy as well.

“Every year is a great year for film.” That’s a quote—or maybe just a paraphrase—from my friend Bilge Ebiri, the esteemed film critic for Vulture, that comes to mind quite often during listing season, when some writers and cinephiles start thinking about the larger picture and how one year compares with all the others. I think Bilge is right about that: We might quibble, for example, over the relative strength of a Cannes competition line-up or the Hollywood’s slate of awards fodder, but when you’re talking about all the films from around the world that have premiered in a given year, greatness is inevitable.

It’s December, which means I spent a lot of my month catching up on movies, working on my Best Movies of 2023list, and perusing the many other best of the year lists. At some point during the month I thought it would be interesting if someone used all these lists to rank the movies in all these lists and make some kind of meta-list of the best movies of the year.

We bookmark a lot of tweets during the season. Most of them have “kenpom” in them. It’s a good way to create a reference for review at the end of season. A lot of people are going to focus on the end-of-season ratings or the pre-tournament ratings, but every day of the ratings is important here. And so when someone pipes up and refers to the ratings being off in some way, we bookmark their tweet to see how things turned out once the season ends.

Hi hi hi. So, I’m coming in hot with a nostalgia post and a (probably) controversial take. Before I lay it all on the line, I wanted to say welcome to all the new friends who have subscribed lately. I’m so grateful and hope you have some fun—with me or at my expense. It all works. While almost every post at WHN its tinged with some level of generational nostalgia, I like to, on occasion, do deeper dives into my own pop culture history.

Black tights are a winter wardrobe staple for me, but like denim, there are countless styles to choose from — too sheer? too opaque? control top or not? As soon as the weather cools off, I start pairing them with shorter hemlines, like mini skirts and faux leather shorts. Not only do they add a tiny bit of warmth, they also layer in another texture to an outfit and save me from spending time on sunless tanning!

You know what I hate? Being out for the day in weather gear when the weather changes. In my past experience with rain boots (and I say past because I have not donned a pair in at least eight years) my skin would crawl when the sun invariably started shining half way through the day. And there I’d be, warmth on my face, rubber clunkers on my feet. The horror! This is not to say that rain boots don’t have their place.

🥰 Did you know that if you hit the HEART at the top of this post, it makes it easier for people to find this newsletter? (And makes my day!) These sourdough waffles are golden, crispy and fluffy in all the right ways. If you’re looking for an easy way to use up some of your starter, these waffles are a satisfying way to do it. (You can use fed starter or discard to make them.