All by Kolleen Carney
Pop culture permeates every facet of my being. I speak in Simpsons references, I study Frank Henenlotter films to create trivia questions, even my WIP, a novel about a woman who makes poor dating choices, is rife with sections about movies. Pop culture is important to me, and it's clearly important to everyone else too.
“Connor's Wedding” (S4 E3) starts off exactly as it sounds: the gang gears up for their elder half-brother's wedding to the (incredible!) Willa, who none of them respect. Connor has essentially purchased his bride to be; she was a call girl when they started “dating”, and the previous episode centered around his being in his feels, as Willa had run away from their rehearsal dinner.
Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner introduces or June issue!
Editor-in-chief Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner welcomes you to the October issue and shares news about our ongoing fundraiser!
The Happytime Murders is Meet the Feebles-lite, and while it's obvious scenes have been scrapped for whatever reason (I'm guessing time), it's still a worthwhile movie to watch if you're not in the mood to think too much while having a few guilty laughs. Melissa McCarthy delivers as Edwards and Bill Barretta once again shows his puppetry mastery as Phil, her curmudgeonly ex-partner. Come for the murder mystery, stay for the copious amounts of puppet ejaculate.
Editor-in-Chief Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner on poetry-world drama, the August issue, and what lies ahead.
You've probably heard people talk up Hannah Gadsby's Nanette, and if you're like me you sorta shrugged it off for a bit, but then smartened up and watched it and sobbed into a blanket for like, twenty five minutes. Hannah takes the act of a comedian turning their pain into humor and stomps it into the ground. I can't do this any justice -- it's something everyone should experience.
“Paloma” is fascinating both in style and content. Hudgens uses interesting structural choices to create what act as staccato thoughts, which is appropriate— the collection is dedicated to their late friend Lauren, and each piece holds a memory as delicately as you would a butterfly’s wing. “Part of me is hoping you faked your own death” Hudgens says in “Smart Money’s on Harlow”. “The dead will laugh at our/ foolish living” they say in “Old Photos”. This collection, beautifully hand bound by Blood Pudding Press, is a love letter to those who have left, and those who are left behind.
I would tell you not to go see this movie, which is a very disappointing and unnecessary sequel to a very amazing original film, but by the time you read this it probably won't be in theaters anymore. The only thing saving it from an F is the pool scene and that's only because of the use of a Jim steinman song. Don't waste your money. Not even worth 100 words to be honest.
I have, over the last month or so, been forced to consider the penis a bit more than I would like. I mean, I have nothing against penises, but boy oh boy, do you guys like to write about them. And talk about them. And reference them. All the time. Every day. The amount of submissions we receive that are totally centered around the gratification of dick is… well, I should say it is shocking, but it isn’t, really. And one can argue all writing is masturbatory, all writing is navel gazing, but I don’t necessarily believe that. I mean yeah, maybe if this was the movie Wonder Boys or something (I did not read the novel).
Everything seems to be falling apart at a fantastic rate.
As I sit here typing this letter, Trump (I will not call him the President) has fired the Attorney General, Sally Yates, for saying what we’re all thinking— that he is a lunatic unfit to run a washing machine, let alone a country. People have not stopped resisting, protesting, for ten days. Longer than that, I guess. It seems there is no end in sight. Have you been making calls to your representatives day in and day out? Are you exhausted?
