(We were lucky enough to entice one of our producers, Lawrence Buhagiar, into guest spotting a blog for us. Lawrence is not only an avid chronicler of all things popkultur but he has a background in both neuroscience and sociology– making him eminently qualified to write the following blogpost: Towards a Theory of the Leisure Suit Class)

Recently I came across an article in the New York Times written by John Ortved, a 28-year-old writer and former editorial associate at Vanity Fair, who lives between New York and Toronto, where he was born and raised. Ortved has worked for the likes of Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair’s editor-in-chief, contributed articles on television, film, fashion and comedy to The National Post, Now Magazine, The New York Observer, Interview and V. but is best known for his oral history of The Simpsons, published by Farrar Straus & Giroux.  Ortved considers himself to be a student of popular culture, so I was perplexed by the lameness of his piece.  The article titled, “For Guys, a Great Find Is Often Multiplied,” claims “women shop, men stockpile.”  Women, we are told, see shopping as a social or even therapeutic activity, whereas for men shopping is simply “a necessary evil, a moment to restock the supply closet.” Read more

“Christmas is gonna be tough”.

Everyone that knows about the challenge has said it to me at least once. I have not said it. My stock response is to nod my head, shrug my shoulders and say, “Yeah, it’s not gonna be easy.” That is a lie. I say it because not only do I know it’s what people want to hear, but because most people are genuinely trying to be supportive and I don’t want to go off on them with my  ‘I-don’t-do-Christmas’ rant. So I’ll do it here. Read more