• Close up shot of Tom Sandoval, a dark-haired man with a mustache, with his hands clasped in front of his face, with greenery behind his shoulders. A closed caption on the lower half of the image reads: "I wanted to play pickleball. It had been seven months."
    return to form
    Which rates a higher level of difficulty: keeping a beloved franchise alive or starting one? This inspired by the recent season premiere of Vanderpump Rules, which is already being hailed as a glorious return to form. On this I would have to agree and am further curious about what we mean, what we see and feel, more specifically to render such a judgement. It is easy to spot when Vanderpump had gone off, or at least speculate why: the show reached that critical self-reflexive moment in reality television, the franchise having reached a level of popularity that allowed it to … Read more
  • From below shot of a stage with four performers, one featured on a curved, jutted out portion for the platform; the room is dark but the stage is illuminated in bright neon blue light and 3 of the background performers have their fists raised.
    summoning bad winter
    This was supposed to be a post about Bad Winter, a most wonderful time of the year, but I got waylaid. First, the weather withheld its end of the bargain, maintaining a balmy 30s and 40s as we crossed into the new year, making it difficult to sink into the feeling. It didn’t help that I avoided as best I could the usual December hysteria, opting for a few measured doses of holiday cheer and pouring into bed (still finely drunk) within an hour of the newly born 2023; no regrets there, but no high to come down from either. … Read more

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