Cracks in Postmodernity
Thanks to everyone who supported CracksInPomo this year. Get ready for new posts next year on topics including thirst traps, Pope Benedict’s postmodernism, The White Lotus season 2, divorce, and why high schools need to teach philosophy.
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My Top 5
1. ‘Decadent’ Young People See Beauty in Catholic Tradition: a generous take on the spread of the TradCath vibe among young hipsters and internet celebrities, and on why Catholics should read Huysmans
2. Unicorn Frappuccino Instagram Barbie: an ungenerous take down of Ariana Grande’s public persona (for the record, I still love her music)
3. Camille Paglia’s Second Wave: an exploration (and celebration) of Paglia’s resurgence in popularity among millennials and gen z
4. Who gets/has to be white?: my thoughts on white privilege and the erasure of ethnic identity under poststructuralist social justice rhetoric, and on Rick Caruso’s claim that Italians are Latino
5. How secular humanism is ruining drag: on what’s missing from the war over Drag Queen Story Hour
Culture, Politics, and Religion
A failed Oscar Wilde: The Rise and Fall of Milo Yiannopoulos
Reality Check: Review of Sean Thor Conroe’s Fuccboi (on bourgeois moralism and the superfluity of men)
World Cup LARPing: Watching soccer as anthropological research
Searching for Solidarity after the “Great White Flight” (an elegy of my grandfather Steve Adubato Sr., Fr. Geno Baroni, and urban multiethnic enclaves)
The attraction of Catholic traditionalism: From the fringes to the spotlight (on Shia LeBeouf, Dasha Nekrasova, and Britney Spears’ TradCath musings)
The ‘Body Positivity’ Movement Is at Odds with Human Nature
Looking for advice on masculinity? Try St. Joseph rather than Jordan Peterson
Within the Hollow Crown (on Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral)
Red Scare podcast and Postmodern Politics
Wrapped Up in Music and Myself (on Spotify Wrapped)
Pope Francis, Pets, and the Growing Culture of Narcissism
Sodomy, Smoking, and the inversion of vices
Andy Warhol, St. John Paul II, and St. Sebastian
The devotional Catholicism behind Andy Warhol’s postmodern art
Harpers and LARPers (on the midterm elections)
Quentin Crisp’s Great Dark Man
Music
Cultural Decay vs. Appropriation vs. Rosalia
What Mariah Carey’s ‘Butterfly’ has to say to children of divorce
Bad Bunny is a spiritual guide for our postmodern times
Raw, brilliant and prophetic: Lauryn Hill’s MTV Unplugged concert 20 years later
Amy Winehouse and the Spirituality of a Restless Heart
Cross-Dressing Stars Like Bad Bunny Are Just Corporate Pawns
‘Emo’ reggaeton brings out longing and nostalgia in the musical genre
“Latinas Don’t Twerk” (on Ivy Queen and Afrodiasporic music)
Spotify’s Corporate Colonialism (on the banning of Buju Banton’s “Boom Bye Bye”)
TV and Movies
The Wonderful Life (review of It’s a Wonderful Life)
The Magic Hides the Disenchantment: Harry Potter and the Triumph of Neoliberalism
Review of Bros
Netflix’s ‘Elite’ Falls into Moralizing Progressive Tropes in Its Sixth Season
‘Ramy’ explores the issues we argue over, and offers us perspective
Netflix’s Sintonia and the Afrodiasporic Roots of Brazilian Funk
My favorite podcast episodes of 2022 (also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts)
1. Call Me By Your Name author Andre Aciman on memory and desire
2 and 3. Urban Hannon on his article “Against Heterosexuality” and on the contrasting narratives of Brideshead Revisited, Call Me Be Your Name, and Love, Simon
4. Limpida on gender dysphoria and detransitioning
5. Joe Enabnit on corporate gym culture, the feminization of men, and owning a small business
Others worth listening to: Shadi Hamid on his new book The Problem of Democracy, and whether Americans can afford to be post-liberal; James KA Smith on his concept of “cultural liturgies” and the fate of universities; Albert Thompson on subsidiarity and racial equality; Erin McAtee on Warhol and Humanae vitae; Armin Rosen on Rolling Loud and Playboi Carti; DC Schindler on what’s wrong with millennials; the one and only John Milbank; Abigail Favale on gender and The White Lotus; Ryan Czerwonko on James Franco and James Dean; Billy McMorris on why you should smoke; Aric Serrano SJ on postmodern Christianity, Pope Benedict, Nietzsche, and the infamous Jesuits
photo taken in the church of San Clemente, Rome
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