All posts tagged: TV

New to Catch-all? Start Here

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Social distancing has left me with no excuse for neglecting this blog, so I’m back—for now. If you’ve landed on this page for the first time because you were bored and cruising the internet, well, welcome! And if you’ve been here before, welcome back. Thanks for returning again and again, despite years of inconsistency. I started this blog when I graduated from college in 2013. Since then I’ve had a handful of jobs, moved to another state, went to graduate school, and have done all sorts of other “adult” things. Yet I’m still here working on Catch-all because of what it provides for me. It’s an escape and a place to share my thoughts, but it’s also something more. It’s where I put the things I make that have no other place to go. Where my creative ideas have room to be planted; maybe they’re left there for a few years, maybe they die in the unwatered soil, but at least there’s a place for them. I’ve spent the past decade imagining and then re-imagining …

What I’ve Been Watching While Staying at Home

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Like many of us from all across the globe, I’ve been spending most of my time at home, figuring out ways to preoccupy myself while implementing social distancing. Though none of us are sure how long this will last, I’m going to do my part and stay away from people for as long as it takes. And if you aren’t keeping away from others already, read up on flattening the curve and start staying home, now. Lately I’ve been doing what most of us probably are—looking at my phone too much, having obsessive bouts where I read the latest news on coronavirus and then try to distance myself from it, cooking, organizing, cleaning, and watching movies and TV. Mostly, I’m watching TV. So here’s a bit of what I’ve been watching… I really enjoyed High Fidelity on Hulu, starring Zoë Kravitz. The performances are great, along with the fashion, and it’s just a fun show to watch. Now, it’s not perfect, and I’ve honestly never seen the original John Cusack movie (it’s on my list), but …

Favorites of the Decade

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HAPPY NEW YEAR! 🎉 Here are a few of my favorite albums, shows, movies, and events—both personal and public—from the last decade. I’m surely missing a lot, but everything I’ve listed below certainly had an impact on shaping the last decade of my life. And while I think it’s important to acknowledge the many bad, strange, and horrifying things that happened (or were made) between 2010 and 2020, I’d rather celebrate the positive. What are some of your favorites from the past 10 years? I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (2019) When marriage equality passed in the U.S.! Days – Real Estate (2011) 20th Century Women (2016) Making it through college and having some of the most fun and exciting experiences of my life. I cherish that time with my friends (and the lack of responsibilities) dearly. Moonlight (2016) Every Beach House album. My time with Hayley—a quirky and loyal rescue dog who I was lucky to have in my life for a number of years. They Came Together (2014) The Tree of …

Media Consumption Histories

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Sometimes I write blog posts and forget to post them! This is one of those posts. I started writing this in early 2017, completely forgot about it and never finished it, but decided to share it now without making any updates. A lot has changed since I wrote this, but I still think it’s kind of fun to share. Enjoy—or don’t! This past semester I was a graduate teaching assistant for the Introduction to Television lecture at USC, which required that I ran my own weekly hour-long class. Although the topic each week varied, many of our class discussions returned to the future of TV, and the ways in which digital technology has uprooted and transformed the traditional television landscape. As a result, I began thinking about my own consumption history and that of my closest friends and family. Living in the information age, technology seems to be propelling us ahead faster and faster, into seemingly complex and unpredictable times. Despite my anxiousness regarding our presumably hyper-tech futures, my approach to technology is not deterministic, meaning that …

Screens and the Time We Spend Staring at Them

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As I’m writing this I’m in front of a screen, and since you’re reading this you’re in front of a screen, and screens, screens, screens, screens. … Lately I’ve been spending too much time on Instagram. Being on the app is a part of my job, and I certainly don’t mind getting paid to look at my phone—but recently I’ve felt consumed by it. Even after work, I come home and succumb to the endless scroll. It relaxes me, and I escape into it. My physicality dissipates and it’s just me and my eyes and my brain and my finger, scrolling though images, liking some, sharing memes, watching videos. My eyes, my brain, my finger, and my phone. In this world of scrolls, time doesn’t exist. Nor do responsibilities, or consequences, or the pain of the present. Just dog videos, pretty photography, and my friends’ babies. … During my last semester of graduate school I was a teaching assistant for an introduction to television course, and I spent time talking to undergraduates about what they watch and how they …

“Twin Peaks” Podcast for NERDSoul Sunday’s

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This past week I was invited to contribute to the NERDSoul Sunday’s podcast by The Comic’s Bolt, and in the podcast I talk about Twin Peaks (of course) and why I love the series, what made it viable for primetime broadcast TV, and the show’s use of melodrama to hybridize other genres. If you have the time, take a listen and let me know what you think! If you’re a Twin Peaks fan, do you agree with some of my points or take a different stance? And if you haven’t watched the series, maybe it will pique your interest? I’ve also included a link to the video essay I made in 2016, which is the source of much of the research I reference in the podcast. PODCAST: The Strange World of “Twin Peaks” VIDEO ESSAY: Exploring “Twin Peaks” And as a bonus, here are two of my favorite Twin Peaks videos: Twin Peaks, Without People Twin Peaks but without context (*spoilers*)

I’m Still Mad That “Good Girls Revolt” Was Cancelled

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It’s been a little over a year since the premiere of Good Girl’s Revolt on Amazon, and a little over a year since its cancellation. The stellar series was created by Dana Calvo and is based on journalist Lynn Povich’s memoir of the same title. In her memoir, Povich details the discrimination lawsuit women at Newsweek launched against the publication in 1970. When I started Good Girls Revolt in November of 2016 (it premiered 10/28/16), Hillary Clinton had just lost the election. I was in absolute shock, punched in the gut by the reality that this country elected a racist idiot who jokes about sexual assault instead of a well qualified woman. I still have a difficult time facing the meaning behind her loss – and his win – and all that it says about this country and the people who inhabit it. At that time Good Girls Revolt offered a reprieve. It was a show created by women, for women, and I felt that energy in every ounce of its being. In early December of 2016, just a little over …

Catch-all in 2018

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I decided against making resolutions this year, but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t put aside a little time to reflect on Catch-all and consider what the future of this blog should – or could – look like. Because blogging is just a hobby for me, I’ve never been particularly strict about narrowing down my focus (it’s called Catch-all for a reason) and I know that going into 2018 my posts will continue to be just as varied. I do, however, plan to put my media studies degree to use and share more work that examines film, TV, pop culture, music, politics, identity, and representation. With more serious work will also come some fun (I think it’s about time to write about Vanderpump Rules) and I’m hoping to maintain that delicate balance between content that reflects both fierce critical engagement, and lighthearted entertainment. Catch-all in 2017 Most popular posts this past year: Fun with Vinyl Resistance Reading List On America, Mobility, & Freedom in “Easy Rider” PHOTOS: Women’s March Los Angeles Riding the Pacific Surfliner Most …

Tommy Wiseau, Vegan Pizza, & Gifs

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I really enjoyed putting together this casual newsletter-style post back in June, so I thought I’d do another! Here’s what I’ve been watching, listening to, reading, thinking about, doing, eating, and fawning over. What have you been into lately? WATCHING Not to be dramatic, but I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t had time to watch much TV or go to the movies. As far as television goes I’m currently watching Stranger Things, Transparent, Golden Girls, X-Files, Master of None, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. I’m basically part-way through all of these shows but haven’t been watching consistently. But I did binge the past 10 episodes of I Love You America with Sarah Silverman on Hulu the other night and I LOVE IT — YOU SHOULD WATCH! This past week I saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi and attended the 30th anniversary screening of Die Hard. The movies I plan on FINALLY watching this week include Lady Bird, The Florida Project, and The Disaster Artist, and I’m hoping to see Call Me By Your Name, Lemon, and Lucky soon. Oh can we talk about The Disaster Artist trailer for a …

Lena Dunham’s Rich White Kids

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I haven’t had the time to blog lately, so I wanted to jump back into things with a super short post on Lena Dunham. This is just something I wrote on my notes app one night last week, so my thoughts aren’t fully fleshed out, nor are they particularly well assembled. I was thinking a lot about Lena Dunham after she defended an accused rapist and had one of her Lenny Letter writers quit, citing “hipster racism.” Dunham has been doing and saying problematic things for years, and although I really wanted to be a fan (she’s an outspoken writer/director/producer and I look up to that) her work has consistently rubbed me the wrong way. One of the things that has always made Lena Dunham’s work a bit difficult for me to digest (beginning with Tiny Furniture, even though I enjoyed it overall) is that her very wealthy artist New Yorker background is so much a part of her storytelling. Her film, TV series, and writing is always about white girls, but specifically elitist, posh, rich white girls, which is …