Rumpus Original Fiction: What Kind of Alone?
Everything old felt far away; everything new felt exhilarating.
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Join NOW!Everything old felt far away; everything new felt exhilarating.
...moreI thought my period would be the happiest, most active time of the month.
...more“[A]s long as we retain all of these conflicting ideas of what sex is, and what it means to us, sex will always sell—until it’s inconvenient.”
...moreWe don’t like to think that love traffics in the same biases that shape our culture—but of course it does.
...more“I think time is really undervalued by people who come from money because they just have the time.”
...moreThis is the hearth. This is the knot. This is home. The woman bent over a sewing machine, the steady hum of the motor, the needle rising and sinking.
...moreBut is this implying enough that thin is the final message? I’m not sure. Sexy, we’ve nailed. But how do we make it clear thin is the goal?
...moreAndi Zeisler, co-founder of Bitch and author of the new book We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrl to CoverGirl, discusses capitalism, breast implants, pop culture, and feminism.
...moreAn ad campaign by Penguin Random House in the UK meant to intrigue readers into purchasing classic books has instead sparked controversy for being anti-Russian. The ad features an unattributed line from the novel Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev: “Aristocracy, liberalism, progress, principles… Useless words! A Russian doesn’t need them.” Russian ex-pats living in London are questioning PRH’s motives in […]
...moreWell the only reason Bookslut was interesting was because it didn’t make money, and when I realized the sacrifices I was going to have to make in order for it to make money, it wasn’t worth it. It used to be you could get an advertiser for a month; now it’s all directly linked to […]
...more[T]he finding, cutting, and pasting process constantly offers me new perspectives on how I see the world around me.
...moreBehold: the “Cool Girl” of commercials.
...moreIn my eight years as a Mad Men fan, the series has repeatedly prompted me to reflect on parenting.
...moreAndrew Ervin discusses his debut novel, Burning Down George Orwell’s House, social media and writing, and how video games can serve as a way to understand the post-human world.
...moreIt’s hard to remember why I was silent. Maybe, like some of the women only now reporting they were raped by Bill Cosby decades ago, I was afraid I wouldn’t be believed.
...moreIf you are a white man, your Internet is different than other internets. Hackers are going offline and embracing print. Content moderators keep your Internet from being worse. A comprehensive history of the reviled banner ad. Facebook is changing journalism. Like you already didn’t know that. The delicate balance of technology and art. BuzzAdemia?
...moreGeorge R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire isn’t native advertising for Sparkling ICE and Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey… but a brand manager can dream. Over at Electric Literature, Lincoln Michel wonders what would have happened if famous literary works were meant to be a forum for advertising.
...moreDo video games undermine empathy? Or are they just a comfortable scapegoat for a violent culture? Scientists search for an evolutionary reason for art. Spoiler alert: The answer is men and sex. How does widespread surveillance effect art and free expression? The American Reader discusses these questions and more. Tim Parks thinks the Internet is […]
...moreThough it may never be nominated for an Oscar, the contemporary ad has unarguably become a genre of its own. Over at McSweeney’s, Kendra Eash pokes fun at some of the genre’s tricks and tropes. See how this guy in a lab coat holds up a beaker? That means we do research. Here’s a picture […]
...moreChoire Sicha writes about the visual evolution of the internet over at The Awl. Sicha discusses the fact that advertisements are being woven into the content of websites, such as promoted tweets from a corporation being plopped to the top of one’s twitter feed. The question at hand is whether or not these advertisements can be […]
...moreAs we watched the stick, scantily clad models parade onscreen for public consumption, my daughter turned to me, her face tight with disgust, and asked, “Why would women do that?”
...more“We see your picture of Harry Connick Jr. standing near yarn/Tommy Lee Jones using a kleenex/insert-your-weird-pitch-here, and we raise you a picture of Wil Wheaton collating paper.” Accidental and intentional reply-alls. “Fucking bitch” name-calling. This email exchange between The Bloggess and a PR firm should not be missed.
...moreSo a decade ago, hack advertisers needed to make everything cyber-this and i-that. Fifty years ago, everyone was selling a Space-whatsit, and a hundred years ago it was all radium-whatever. Radium Razor Blades! (I’m serious.) But let’s say it’s 1848: now how do you make yourself the product of the future? Wonder no more. It’s
...moreI’m not exactly an insider here at The Rumpus. I’m not really an outsider either. I’m the Sunday editor.
...more“Studying the humanities improves your ability to read and write. No matter what you do in life, you will have a huge advantage if you can read a paragraph and discern its meaning (a rarer talent than you might suppose)… “Studying the humanities will give you a wealth of analogies. People think by comparison — […]
...moreA visual history of tourism ads. The Ghost Orchid has risen from the dead. And as long as we’re on the subject: the Pompeii fast food establishment Thermopolium is set to reopen. Free public light for all! (woo!) I would live the shit out of this truck house.
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