Welcome to Filthy Dreams
Well hello there! Welcome to Filthy Dreams, a blog that analyzes culture through a queer lens. Rather than jumping right into new content, we thought it best to introduce ourselves and our aesthetics with our Trash Manifesto
Latest Entries
Hex Signs and Butt Plugs: Pennsylvania Dutch Perversions in Anne Buckwalter’s “Reins on a Rocking Horse” at Rachel Uffner Gallery
Bearded Amish men creating traffic jams in horse-drawn buggies. Shoofly pies, whoopie pies, and apple butter bake sales staffed by women in plain cotton dresses. Worn farmhouses adorned with painted barn stars. Wooden rockers and star-laden quilts. These are the quaint scenes that immediately come to my mind when considering the aesthetics of Pennsylvania Dutch … Continue reading
Brandi Twilley Memorializes the Home of Rock Bottom (Prices) at Sargent’s Daughters
There is something existentially terrifying about American big-box grocery stores. Maybe it’s just me. Shamefully, I have melted down in more than a few ginormous supermarkets across the country, sniping at family members over muffins and abandoning shopping baskets in the cereal aisle in a panic. I know I’ve fashioned myself as a supporter of … Continue reading
The Ice Spice Munchkins Drink Is the Height of American Ingenuity in 2023
I have a thing for freakish fast-food menu items. Always have. Back when Facebook wasn’t the platform for Boomer rage, I frequently amused myself by putting up the latest in chain publicity stunt psychosis for group consensus. Looking back, KFC’s Famous Bowl, a glop of every conceivable menu item, from chicken to mashed potatoes to … Continue reading
Yesterday’s Schlock Is Today’s Treasure in “The Camp Followers’ Guide!”
Our new Bible (all photos by moi) Susan Sontag may have written the most renowned and widely considered definitive consideration of camp, but let’s be honest, Susie could not be camp if her public intellectual life depended on it. Regarding the Pain of Others, Illness as Metaphor, or even, On Photography aren’t exactly laugh riots! … Continue reading
Hot to Trot: Ann Oren’s “Piaffe”
Piaffe, Ann Oren’s lusty ASMR-laden debut feature in 16mm, pivots around a timid young woman named Eva (Simone Bucio) having to play substitute Foley artist to Zara (Simon(è) Jaikiriuma Paetau), her troubled sibling holed up in a psych ward. Their shared apartment is a ready-to-go sound studio, where pairs of brogues and boots are purposefully … Continue reading
Stop Trying to Cock-Block America: “The Idol” Is a Trash Masterpiece
Blame it on the cum shot. That’s all it took for me to fall permanently and irrevocably in love with HBO’s widely loathed, universally mocked, critically maligned, and now-officially canceled and “canceled” show The Idol, created by Euphoria‘s Sam Levinson, Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd, and Reza Fahim, all of whom have been unfairly raked … Continue reading
Is That All There Is to a Fire?: Not According to Naudline Pierre’s Kingdom of Flaming Creatures at The Drawing Center
I’ve recently experienced a religious conversion—become born-again if you will. At least where art is concerned. For decades I avoided Medieval art like the plague due to (what I felt at the time was) its revolting connection to Christianity at its most conservative, a kneejerk response after reading too much Christopher Hitchens as a contrarian … Continue reading
Fuck It All!: Thomas Kinkade Goes Dark and Other American Shitposts in Jordan Sullivan’s “Booze, Bullshit & Buttfucking”
I’ve recently been suffering from a fever. No, not that kind of fever. I’ve been struck with a Thomas Kinkade fever! Yes, the less-than-esteemed painter of shopping mall schlock (before the fall of malls) and the bane of snotty critics recoiling at the satiated bad tastebuds of Americans enamored with all those little queasily quaint … Continue reading
Never Can Say Goodbye: Eric Sneathen Conjures Gaétan Dugas (Aka ‘Patient Zero’) and Other Ghosts in “Don’t Leave Me This Way”
Eric Sneathen’s Don’t Leave Me This Way, published recently by Nightboat Books, is a ghost story. Ok, the book is not a ghost story in any traditional sense. There are no vengeful ghosts banging open closets or throwing silverware around after being summoned by a Ouija Board or, as in Danny and Michael Philippou’s film … Continue reading
Cries & Whispers: Coming Soon
August 11, 2026 For Immediate Release As the Writers Guild of America / SAG-AFTRA strike enters its fourth year (despite last year’s passage of the 28th Amendment banning AI-generated entertainment), the recently launched streaming service NoStarz is thrilled to announce the rollout of seven new shows. NoStarz original series and films offer content-starved viewers…well, they … Continue reading