pop culture

Not With A Bang, But A Whimper: RIP Wild Bill’s Memphis

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Memphis, Music, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

Alas, it is with great sadness that I report that the long-anticipated but much-dreaded inevitability in my life finally came to pass. Wild Bill’s is officially closed. The doors closed without ceremony or fanfare early last month.  Like every other time before, there were a few weeks when I hoped that this was a false…

Read More

31 Day Film Challenge, Day 1: Your Favorite Film

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 31 Day Film Challenge, Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

One thing I learned from my participation in the 30 Day Song Challenges (the Original and the Sequel) is that I almost always second-guess my selections the very day after I pick them.  I’ve pretty much resigned myself to that phenomenon now and so, instead of laboring for hours and hours to be certain of…

Read More

31 Day Film Challenge, Day 2: Your Least Favorite Film

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 31 Day Film Challenge, Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

I just want to say in advance that I don’t think my pick for today is the worst movie ever made.  I took a peek at what Wikipedia lists as “the worst films ever made” (allegedly determined by “reputable critics in multiple reputable sources”) and discovered that I had not seen a single one of…

Read More

30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel), Day 7: A Song You Love From the 50’s

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 30 Day Song Challenge, 30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel), 30 Day Song Challenge 2014, Music, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

The next several days of the 30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel) are going to be a bit of a grand tour of musical history over the last 60 years. We start with the 1950’s, particular interesting to me as the decade when country, folk, blues, and gospel hopped into bed (and sometimes business) with…

Read More

Poverty Porn, Pre-Humanism and Beasts of the Southern Wild

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Film, Film Reviews, Philosophy, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive, Weak Humanism 0 Comments

Several weeks ago, I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild (adapted from the one-act play Juicy and Delicious by Lucy Alibar), the first feature-length film by director Benh Zeitlin and possibly one of the toughest films to characterize that I’ve ever seen.  Whatever other faults it may have– and I will get to those shortly–…

Read More

2011 Year in Pop Culture

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 2011 Year in Review Lists, Dr. J's Lists, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive, Year in Review Lists 0 Comments

Doing the end-of-the-year Pop Culture list is definitely something that I look forward to each December. I was worried that last year’s list was going to be hard to top– what with 2010’s introduction of the Facebook “like” button, the Jersey Shore “GTL” mantra, the iPad and the Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear– but…

Read More

2011 Year in Dr. J

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 2011 Year in Review Lists, Dr. J's Lists, Memphis, Music, Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Year in Review Lists 3 Comments

Before I drop the 2011 Year in Pop Culture, which will be the last of my year-end lists, I thought I’d do one recounting my own year. 2011 began for me with a bit of a rough transition, as I was returning from a semester-long sabbatical, but things eventually smoothed out and stayed running smoothly…

Read More

2011 Year in Politics

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 2011 Year in Review Lists, Dr. J's Lists, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive, Year in Review Lists 0 Comments

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here to say that 2011 will likely go down as the most significant Year in Politics in my lifetime. Time magazine named “The Protester” as the 2011 Person of the Year. It was an interesting selection, since Time couldn’t actually photograph The Protester for their cover….

Read More

2011 Year in Music

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson 2011 Year in Review Lists, Dr. J's Lists, Music, RMWMTMBM Archive, Year in Review Lists 1 Comment

It’s that time again, readers! Time for Dr. J’s retrospective wrap-ups and utterly unscientific evaluations of the year that was 2011. In 2010, I decided to split my year-end lists up into categories– see the 2010 Year in Music, or the 2010 Year in Sports or (my personal favorite) the 2010 Year in Pop Culture—…

Read More

Leiter v. Alcoff, Part Two: The Context (or, Why This Isn’t Simply A “He Said, She Said” Story)

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Leiter/Alcoff, Philosophy, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive, Women and Gender Issues 8 Comments

Okay, if you haven’t read Part One of this series, you should go back and do so. Otherwise, the following won’t make much sense. If you have read Part One, and if you don’t already have a dog in this fight, you may be wondering: what exactly is the big deal here? So what, two…

Read More