Back in April I assembled this collection featuring “10 of Kathy Shaidle’s Greatest Hits.” Now today I present this collection organizing more broadly my favorites of her articles and blog posts by subject.
A realization dawned today: Kathy is the writer I’ve worked with the longest. We’ve had occasional breaks here and there as projects have shifted but it’s been five years now, with the last 3 at PJ. And Kathy has consistently churned out one memorable piece after another in service of a very substantive media and cultural critique. She’s become one of my biggest influences and inspirations on new media and culture. When young writers ask for suggestions in developing a writing career in today’s new media world I hold her up as a prime example. Her articles and her approach are filled with wisdom.
Get caught up on the pieces you may have missed below and don’t forget to follow Kathy on Twitter and visit her indispensable blog Five Feet of Fury:
Movies
- Make Way for Movies for Grown-Ups
- Movies for Grown-Ups, Part 2: Dodsworth and the Shame of Age
- Movies for Grown-Ups: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
- Movies for Grown Ups: Seconds (1966)
- Art, Lust, and Doing the Dishes: The Controversy of Scarlet Street
- 5 Reasons Star Wars Actually Sucks
- God Bless America? Remembering 1993′s Falling Down
- Talk Sixties, Act Fifties: The Ice Storm
- 4 Ways My Moviegoing Habits Changed After I Grew Up
- Nurse Ratched, My Hero: 4 Female Movie Villains I Love
- The 3 Most Poisonous Movie Clichés of the 60s and 70s
- I Liked Scrooge Better Before: 3 Christmas Movies I Hate
- Special Effects Unplugged: Movie Magic Before Computers
- Yippie-Kay-25th-Birthday Die Hard
- I Was a Communist for the FBI a Half-Century Later
- Will Roger Ebert Biopic Be a Big Bust?
- 10 Movies Millennials Must See to Understand the 1970s
Music
- 6 Reasons The Who Is Better Than That Stupid Band You Like
- Vengeance Is Mine: The 5 Best Revenge Songs
- 6 Classic Recordings That Have No Business Existing (Part One)
- 6 Classic Recordings That Have No Business Existing (Part Two)
- The 5 Most Overrated Male Musicians, Part One
- The 5 Most Overrated Male Musicians, Part Two
- The 3 Most Overrated Female Musicians
- The Other Bono: Remembering Sonny (and the Pre-Crazy Cher)
- Keep Cat Stevens Out of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- Give ‘Em Enough Rope Turns 35 (Part One)
- Give ‘Em Enough Rope Turns 35 (Part Two)
- The Once-Unimaginable Occurs: David Bowie Turns 67
- Neil Young Doubles Down on the Crazy
- Never Mind the Beatles: America Met the Clash 35 Years Ago This Week
- The Top 3 Myths About Beatlemania
- Rock Around the Clock: How 2 Movies Made Musical History
- 10 Obscure Songs That Should Have Been Hits
TV
- Why David Letterman Has (Almost) Always Creeped Me Out
- The 3 Best Monty Python Sketches (Aren’t Necessarily the Funniest)
- Lessons on Being a Grown-Up from… Vincent Price?
- Murdoch Mysteries: The Un-Breaking Bad
- Michael Palin: Monty Python Would Never Mock Islam
- TV’s 3 Most Admirable Post-Modern Cartoon Characters
Books
- Grown Men Don’t Read Comic Books: Here’s an Alternative (That Might Just Save America)
- Grown Women Don’t Read Twilight: Here’s an Alternative (That Just Might Save America)
- 3 Reasons Higher Education Is Broken — and How To Fix It
- ‘That’s the Ultimate Race, Poor People’: In Praise of Adam Carolla’s Brutal Honesty
- Ann Coulter’s Mugged: A (Mostly) Frank Monologue About Race — Part 1
- Mugged and Ann Coulter Derangement Syndrome, Part 2
- 5 Controversial Ways to Enjoy the Decline of America
- Conrad Black Still Loves You, America (In Spite of Everything)
- Conrad Black Still Loves FDR (In Spite of Amity Shlaes)
- Conrad Black, Nixon, and the Red Scare: The Flight of the Eagle Concludes
- The 11 Best Ideas in Adam Carolla’s Hilarious New Book
Punk Rock and Counterculture
- Kinkos Goes To College: University of Iowa Acquires Zine Collection
- The BBC Sex Scandals and the Birth of Punk
- Farewell, Pussycat: Remembering Cult Movie Actress Haji
- Takin’ the Freight Elevator to the Incinerator: Joe Strummer and 9/11
- Vampira: Beatnik, Goth, Punk
- Altamont: When the Hippies Were Expelled From the Garden
- Miley Cyrus: Punk of the Year? Almost. (Seriously.)
- Patti Smith: The Paula Deen of Punk?
- When John and Yoko Took Over the Mike Douglas Show
- Hitchcock’s Rope and Gay ‘Rights’
- Happy 59th Birthday, Nina Hagen
- What Is Your Damage, Heathers?
- A Life Based on ‘Crossing the Street’
Crime and Death
- Mommie Dearest, Brothers Grimm: Thinking about Cleveland’s House of Horrors
- Raining on the Nelson Mandela Parade
- Sound Familiar? Rapist-Murderer Complains He’s Misunderstood
- Is Death Still a Great Career Move?
- Dead Celebrities Pitch Beer, Chocolate, and Bad Taste
- ‘Hurricane’ Carter: Fact vs. Fiction
- If Jack the Ripper Was Jewish, Does It Matter?
Religion
- ‘This Would Be Heaven For Me’: An Evening with Dennis Prager and Adam Carolla
- Catholic Nuns: An Idea Whose Time Has Gone?
- The Imaginary Rabbi and the Dead End Kid: Another Evening with Dennis Prager and Adam Carolla
- Yelling at Each Other About Robin Williams, Ann Coulter, Death, and God
Stand-Up Comedy
- George Carlin Wasn’t Funny: The Top Five Most Overrated Liberal Comedians
- ‘Long Story Short’: Colin Quinn’s 75-Minute History of the World
- That’s Not Funny: The 5 Biggest Comedy Taboos
- Del Close Marathon Ignores Improv Guru’s Occult Obsessions
- Carolla vs. Kindler: When Jealous Losers Attack
- Sam Kinison Biopic Back on Track With New Star
- Stand-Up Comic vs. Air Force Colonel: Who’s the Real Joker?
- Behind the Scenes: Jerry Lewis’ ‘Holocaust Clown’ Movie
- Dave Chappelle and Heckling as the New ‘Racism’
- ‘Comedy Gives Back’ Proves People Can Make a Difference — But Not the Way They Expected
- Dean Martin Roasts: Remembrance of Zings Past
- Finally: A Comedian Who Refuses to Apologize
- BREAKING: Stand-Up Comedians Are Crazy
Relationships and Gender
- Mean Girls: Why Are Women Turning Against Tina Fey?
- How Women Ruin Romance by Talking Too Much
- 3 (Conservative) Reasons to Admire Helen Gurley Brown
- Shoes, Sheetrock, and the Skipper: 3 Surprising Things That Make a Man Sexy
- Meet Matt Graber, Your New Leftwing Heartthrob!
- Confessions of a Failed Slut
- How to Be the Perfect Wife in 3 Easy Steps
Life Reflections and Career Advice:
- Why Skipping College Was One of the Smartest Decisions of My Life
- Talent Isn’t Everything: 5 Secrets to Freelance Success
- In the Future Will Everyone Really ‘Have To Become an Entrepreneur’?
- I Kid You Not: The Top 4 Reasons I Don’t Have Children
- No One Is Ever ‘Just Kidding’
- If I Were Queen: My First 3 Acts Upon Becoming Your Beloved Empress For Life
- The Poor Get Poorer: 3 Character Traits That Undermine Prosperity
- The 47% Solution: Yes, If You’re Poor, It Really May Be Your Fault
- Jobs Are for Suckers: How to Be the Boss of You
- No One Who Works Indoors Needs a Union
- We All Wondered What Happened
- 50 Is the New Crappy
- 3 Things Getting Lupus Taught Me
Tips on Writing, Technology, the Internet, and New Media Success
- Steve Jobs: The Other Man in My Marriage
- 3 Rules for Handling the Online Trolls, Bullies, and Crackpots
- 3 Turning Points in the History of Blogging
- Gravity Doesn’t ‘Card’: Cyber Bullys and the Laws of the Universe
- The ‘Me’ in Social Media: The ONLY Online Etiquette Rule You’ll Ever Need
- 3 Tips for ‘Owning’ Your Name on Google’s First-Page Results
- How To Boost Your Blog By Going ‘Under the Hood’
- Know Your (Copy)rights: Tips for Writers and Bloggers
- The Chestnut Diet: How To Cut Cliches Out of Your Writing
- The 5 Best Security and Privacy Tools for Your Mac
- 3 Pro Secrets to Double Your Freelance Writing Income in 2 Years
Travel
Canada
- 3 Weird Things About the U.S. This Pro-American Canadian Doesn’t Get
- Dispatch from Canada: 146th Birthday Edition
- Justin Trudeau: Canada’s (Future) Pothead PM?
- Canada Asks Muslims: When Will You Stop Beating Your Wives?
- An Unlikely Canadian Hero’s Tale of Non-Violent Defiance
- So I Guess I Have to Talk About Rob Ford, Huh?
- Economic Freedom: Canadian Province Beats Out All 50 States
- Father of the Canadian Flag Dies, Aged 96
- Is Canada Becoming the Proving Ground for Eco-Terrorism?
Generational Theory
- The Truth About The Greatest Generation
- The 3 Most Destructive Members of the ‘Greatest Generation’
- The 3 Biggest Myths About Generation X
- Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation: 6 Gen-Xers I Can Actually Stand (Part One)
- Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation: 6 Gen-Xers I Can Actually Stand (Part Two)
- Gen X Dream Girl Phoebe Cates Turns 50
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