Is YouTube the solution to the sex ed controversy? Every minute 100 hours of video footage are uploaded to YouTube. A likely majority of these videos are sneezing pandas and laughing babies, but a new trend is also emerging: using YouTube as a platform for sex education. Video genres on the site range from music…
The first thing I did when I arrived in New York City for fall break was sleep. The second thing I did was go to Barnes & Noble and buy Gone Girl. I haven’t read a book–a “real book” (namely, not a textbook)–since August, and I’d been meaning to read Gone Girl for months before the movie…
You’ve already read about the time my Tinder date pulled out a gun, but that night was relatively late in my Tinder “career.” Before I even considered meeting anyone I met on the app, I flicked through a ton of guys and had conversations with a good handful. A lot of those people were really…
Last week I wrote about the Bechdel test, which asks a few basic questions about any given movie to begin evaluating feminine roles in film. Women, however, aren’t the only underrepresented and compartmentalized group in the mainstream American film industry. While modern laws prevent discrimination in workplaces and schools based on age, race/national origin/ethnic background, religion,…
Think about the last movie you saw. Were there two or more female characters? Did they talk to each other about something besides men? The Bechdel test, created by Alison Bechdel, examines female roles in movies by asking three questions: Are there two or more women in the film? Do they talk to each other?…
I’m pretty trusting of people on the Internet. I successfully traveled from Boston to Ithaca with Zimride. I’ve used Craigslist to get babysitting and petsitting jobs. I looked for VidCon roommates using Facebook. Last November I arranged to stay for four days with a YouTube friend I’d never met. So when my friend encouraged me to download Tinder, an app…
I love when a film is tragic and moves everyone in the theater to tears, and then ends abruptly, leaving nothing but the slow scrolling white text of the credits and the sounds of sniffling, soft comforting whispers, and the rustling of jackets. People will linger a few moments longer than necessary, because the theater is heavy with…
Victim to Charm 