Ancient Grains Archive

Novelty Gifts That I Hate and/or Hate Myself For Loving

Every year around this time I find myself aimlessly searching online for Christmas gift ideas. One of the sites I frequent is a notoriously trendy retailer that epitomizes the mass production of “originality.” I don’t waste my time with their overpriced fashion offerings, but proceed directly to the novelty bonanza that is ...Read More

In Celebration of Fran Fine: Why You Should Rewatch The Nanny

hen you're seven years old, watching television shows made for grown-ups feels like a big deal. You're probably not new to TV--you may have been raised on a steady diet of Sesame Street and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, or ...Read More

Misandrist Animals

The anglerfish swims. She spends her life in the deep darkness of the sea. She notices little outside of herself, only the glow of the occasional passing edible fish and the movement in water created by those too big to be seen in the darkness. Encounters with other creatures happen so far ...Read More

Merry Christmas From Dad Magazine

Merry Christmas from the hardworking team at Dad Magazine. ...Read More

Tidings of Comfort and Joy: Alternative Christmas Movies

Christmas movies tend to be sweet little bonbons, rich with easy sentiment and warmth. But nestled among the sugarplums lie a few delicious poison apples, stories that shrug off cozy comfort and evoke all the winter bleakness lurking in our brightly-lit celebrations.

LiW a deal_tcm ...Read More

Toast Points: The Week of Dec. 20th, 2013

I got bored of antique toast racks, so today you got a fork instead. This week, let's use this space to deliberately draw your attention to just a few pieces I would be so sad for you to have missed. 1. Heather Seggel, "A Christmas Story" Heather writes so movingly, and with such humor, ...Read More

An Interview With Louise Lasser: TV, Depression, and SNL

On a soggy gray November afternoon just before Thanksgiving I sat in Louise Lasser’s modest one-bedroom on the Upper East Side, interviewing her. The occasion was the release of the complete box set of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a short-lived seventies TV show produced by Norman ...Read More

Femslash Friday: Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn

"Stop in the name of the law!" "Not tonight, baby."

-Poison Ivy, "Harley and Ivy"

I'm going to try very hard to make sure this doesn't just turn into a bullet-point list of reasons you should watch (or rewatch) Batman: The Animated Series, so I will confine my remarks about the series ...Read More