The John Waters Collection Doesn’t Hate You, but Contemporary Art Still Might
Art / Camp / Filthy Dreams On Location / Trash

The John Waters Collection Doesn’t Hate You, but Contemporary Art Still Might

Someone was taking a dump in The John Waters Restrooms at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Was it an art-inspired intestinal emergency or a dedicated tribute to the filmmaker whose major public stink involved Divine sampling some doggy-doo in the filthy finale of Pink Flamingos? Or perhaps, this intrepid museum-goer previously devoured John’s chapter “Act … Continue reading

Welcome Back to the Pleasure Dome: “After Blue (Paradis sale)” Resurrects the Filthy Delights of Camp Artifice
Camp / Decadence / Film

Welcome Back to the Pleasure Dome: “After Blue (Paradis sale)” Resurrects the Filthy Delights of Camp Artifice

Are you sick to death of sleek cinema? An overbearing aesthetic that has trickled down so far that even the most whacko experimental films and unhinged underground movies strive to achieve a similar spotless surface perfection as those boring big-budget Hollywood films? Blech! Give me the awkward, the uncanny, the janky, the shonky, the half-baked, … Continue reading

Are You Getting a Case of the Sinceres, Dear?: Nate Lippens’s “My Dead Book”
Books

Are You Getting a Case of the Sinceres, Dear?: Nate Lippens’s “My Dead Book”

I’m beginning to hate the phrase “chosen family.” Conducting an interview recently for a well-known “queer” publication, I felt myself physically recoil when an interviewee used that term. Why? Because like queer itself, the phrase, to me at least, feels increasingly hollow—emptied of all meaning—especially as queer becomes a brand identity and chosen families, the … Continue reading

Diana-rama!: Why Does Princess Di Inspire Such Schlock (And Why Do I Love It So)?
Camp / Film / Trash

Diana-rama!: Why Does Princess Di Inspire Such Schlock (And Why Do I Love It So)?

In the latter half of the year of our Lord—or really Lady—2021, I decided to become a Princess Diana obsessive. That’s right, send me all your purple Princess Diana Beanie Babies that you’ve been squirreling away under your beds since the late 1990s just in case they finally become worth more than NFTs. I’m now … Continue reading

Money Can Buy You Camp (Just Unintentionally): On Bad Progressive Camp and The 2021 Met Gala
America Is Doomed / Camp / Fashion

Money Can Buy You Camp (Just Unintentionally): On Bad Progressive Camp and The 2021 Met Gala

A nuclear green alien robot baby with his daddy’s matching lime-green hair. A morph suit dress that resembles a cross between the eponymous character from Alien and Charlie’s Green Man from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. A Balenciaga sleeping bag that could be mistaken for Mugatu’s Derelicte line from Zoolander. The blanket from Roseanne‘s sofa. … Continue reading

It’s Kinda Long but Full of Suspense: A Conversation on “Zola”
Camp / Film / Trash

It’s Kinda Long but Full of Suspense: A Conversation on “Zola”

An ill-fated trip to America’s heart of darkness–Florida–that becomes a whirlwind of sex work and crime. A doomed friendship forged over stripping and text messages. A montage of the most repulsive dicks you can imagine. It’s no question that Zola, the cinematic adaptation of A’Ziah “Zola” King’s jaw-dropping and riveting 148-tweet Twitter magnum opus directed by … Continue reading

Does the World Need More Lesbian Corn?: A Conversation on Camille Roy’s “Honey Mine”
Books

Does the World Need More Lesbian Corn?: A Conversation on Camille Roy’s “Honey Mine”

As primarily nonfiction readers, your faithful co-founder Emily Colucci and contributor Jessica Caroline have been making an effort to overcome our general reluctance to engage more in contemporary fiction. We gave Lauren Oyler’s Fake Accounts and Torrey Peters’ Detransition, Baby a whirl. However, it’s not like authors at larger publishing houses are in dire need of … Continue reading

Hallelujah! Camp Has Risen: Our Savior Lil Nas X Resurrects Transgression From The Clutches of Conservatives
Blasphemy / Camp / Music

Hallelujah! Camp Has Risen: Our Savior Lil Nas X Resurrects Transgression From The Clutches of Conservatives

Who could have predicted that all it would take to break the recent conservative stranglehold on camp and transgression would be a simple ride to Hell on a stripper pole in thigh-high boots and powerbottoming Satan? Certainly not me. But that’s what our Lord and Savior Lil Nas X achieved with the music video for … Continue reading

“I’m A Homicidal Bitch!”: Louise Linton’s “Me You Madness” Is Camp Heroism (Even If You Don’t Want It To Be)
Camp / Film / Trash

“I’m A Homicidal Bitch!”: Louise Linton’s “Me You Madness” Is Camp Heroism (Even If You Don’t Want It To Be)

“You thieving treacherous little shit! To think that I actually liked you and let you touch my lady bits. I’m going to slice your face off with a cheese grater and then feed your testicles to my girlfriend!” No, this isn’t a quote from a lost John Waters film spoken with the perverse and pathological … Continue reading