What The Hell Is The Met’s Costume Institute Going To Do To Our Beloved Camp?: A Filthy Dreams Plea
Camp / Fashion

What The Hell Is The Met’s Costume Institute Going To Do To Our Beloved Camp?: A Filthy Dreams Plea

On Tuesday, I received a promotional email in my inbox (one of many I tend to ignore) announcing the theme of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute 2019 exhibition. To my shock (and horror), it was a theme familiar and close to my black little heart: camp! As a long-time denizen of camp, I … Continue reading

Into The Black: Peter Hujar’s “Speed Of Life”
Art

Into The Black: Peter Hujar’s “Speed Of Life”

“Maybe I can’t find you, Peter,” darkly exclaims David Wojnarowicz, walking through a cemetery in his essay “Living Close To The Knives” (100). While detailing his harrowing and nerve-wracking attempt to find the grave of photographer Peter Hujar, who Wojnarowicz later describes as “my friend…my brother my father my emotional link to the world,” Wojnarowicz’s … Continue reading

You Can’t Make This Shit Up: Our 13 Favorite Moments In ‘Fire And Fury: Inside The Trump White House’
Trash

You Can’t Make This Shit Up: Our 13 Favorite Moments In ‘Fire And Fury: Inside The Trump White House’

“You can’t make this shit up,” repeats the hapless former press secretary and White House Easter bunny Sean Spicer, as his “daily, if not hourly mantra.” This apt line, more articulate than anything Spicer said behind the podium in his months of White House employment, is quoted by Michael Wolff in his new book/American cultural … Continue reading

Down The Rabbit Hole: The Ridiculous Theater Of The White House Easter Egg Roll
Trash

Down The Rabbit Hole: The Ridiculous Theater Of The White House Easter Egg Roll

There’s nothing more convincing of the absolute triumph of a bizarre mixture of surrealism and farce like watching President Donald Trump appear next to a giant bespectacled Easter Bunny that looks positively stunned at the circus surrounding him. Like Bun Buns, I too watched yesterday’s first Trump administration Easter Egg Roll with my jaw dropped and a … Continue reading

Yes, Mary, There Is Still Camp, But It’s Just Conservative Camp
Camp / Rants and Raves

Yes, Mary, There Is Still Camp, But It’s Just Conservative Camp

This week, i-D Magazine’s Amelia Abraham published a think piece asking, “Whatever Happened To Camp–Does It Still Exist?” Believe me, Mary, just that question made me recoil in horror. How DARE they wonder if camp still exists?! Why, as we’ve frequently shouted into the abyss here on Filthy Dreams, it’s more important than ever! In … Continue reading

Staring Into The Abyss: A Filthy Dreams Election Think Piece
Opinion

Staring Into The Abyss: A Filthy Dreams Election Think Piece

Samuel Beckett seems like a good place to start. After election night on Tuesday, it feels like we’re living in one of his plays. I didn’t really want to write this piece–or any election-related “think piece.” It always seems egomaniacal and self-indulgent. But, I couldn’t find a way to avoid writing about our ominous election of Donald Trump. Continue reading

Laugh And You Are Free: The Ridiculous Theater Of Jackie Curtis And Ethyl Eichelberger
Art

Laugh And You Are Free: The Ridiculous Theater Of Jackie Curtis And Ethyl Eichelberger

Finishing his manifesto with a rallying battle cry for the absurd or, as he describes, “instructions for use,” Theatre of the Ridiculous auteur Charles Ludlam writes, “This is farce not Sunday school. Illustrate hedonistic calculus. Test out a dangerous idea, a theme that threatens to destroy one’s whole value system. Treat the material in a … Continue reading