Monsters, mashups, and popular culture
In addition to all the wonderful conferences I’m hoping to attend in 2016, I happen to be co-organising a symposium of my own, on the role fantasies play in the construction of contemporary reality. Whatever your background, discipline, or career phase, we want your abstracts (and we just want to meet you). Have a look at the … Read more
This week I took advantage of my stay in the frozen north of Holland to visit an unlikely location: the David Bowie Is exhibit at the Groninger Museum, running from 11 December 2015 to 13 March 2016. A friend recommended David Bowie Is back in December. As a casual fans of his influence in pop culture, my husband … Read more
What follows is part two of a spoiler-free discussion of The Force Awakens (the new Star Wars movie), and its cultural context in science fiction, fandom, and nostalgia culture. You can find part one right here. Last week I started my breakdown of The Force Awakens with the disclaimer that I am a long-time Star Wars fan. I looked at arguments … Read more
What follows is part one of a spoiler-free discussion of The Force Awakens (the new Star Wars movie), and its cultural context in science fiction, fandom, and nostalgia culture. You can find part two here. I, like millions of other people, went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens over the winter holidays. Twice. The first … Read more
Steampunk is a popular aesthetic these days, though it’s still too early to comment on its long-term staying power as a movement. Either way, the subculture still caters to many different groups of fans in many different countries. This past weekend the Emporium Vernesque opened its doors for a Dutch gathering of steampunks. A few months … Read more
This post first appeared on An American in London, a travel blog run by Natalie Romero. You can find the original post here. I am an American citizen. I am also a Dutch citizen. This means I get to pick and choose which passport I want to travel on, and when I want to identify either the … Read more
Are you a Victorianist, or do you just love all things Victorian? Then feast your eyes on the 2016 British Association for Victorian Studies’ Call for Papers: ‘Consuming (the) Victorians’, brought to you with the help of the invaluable Tom de Bruin! At this 3-day conference, hosted by Cardiff University, we’ll be looking at Victorians practices … Read more
In a new piece of performance art, Shia LaBeouf (Nymphomaniac, Transformers, Holes) is watching all 27 of his movies in reverse chronological order, 24 hours a day, for three days — and you can watch him do it. He won’t be stopping to sleep, and there is only a five minute intermission between each screening. The finished piece will essentially … Read more
