Words: Karley Sciortino / photo: Mary Ellen Mark
You guys don’t have jobs, right? Everyone’s just at home all day, masturbating? Yeah, me too. Cool. So, why don’t you close your PornHub and Seamless tabs for a sec and consume some culture, because knowing things makes you more fuckable. Here’s five things I’ve seen/read/listened to recently that I think are worth your time. You’re welcome.
1. Amy Schumer on Howard Stern
What religion am I if I only pray to Amy Schumer? Fuck, she’s so funny, I can’t even deal. Not to be cheesy, but I really feel like she’s the ideal voice of our generation—a self-aware, functionally drunk, empowered slut. This is an interview with Amy on Howard Stern a couple years ago, right before her TV show aired and she became a huge star. The interview is incredible (I’m constantly amazed by what a talented interviewer Howard Stern is). She talks a lot about sex stuff, as usual, including when she dated a pro wrestler (wtf?), having body confidence during sex (despite your cellulite), the moral boundaries of comedy, and “grape” (gray area rape, obviously).
2. Radiolab’s “Nazi Summer Camp”
I, like most enlightened people, am a huge Radiolab fan. I listen to it on my headphones while I’m walking around the city, riding the subway, cleaning my apartment, etc., because listening to podcasts is more elegant than listening to music (in my opinion, anyway). This episode tells the story of a town in Alabama during WWII who were overwhelmed by thousands of German prisoners of war. The situation forced America to ask itself a fundamental question—one that we are still struggling with today: when your enemy is at your mercy, how should you treat them?
3. Eve Babitz profile in Vanity Fair
Eve Babitz—writer, notorious LA party girl, fuck-buddy to Jim Morrison, and the naked girl playing chess with Marcel Duchamp in the iconic above image—had a more glamorous life than most of us could ever imagine. Last year, she was profiled in Vanity Fair, and I truly recommend this article to everyone. Not only is the story of her life incredible, and uber chic, but journalist Lili Anolki tells Eve’s hedonistic story so vividly. Read it HERE :)
4. Anime Magazine’s “Trans Mission”
Animæ is a biannual print mag that explores untold stories about contemporary sexuality. Animæ’s third issue, ‘Trans Mission,’ explores trans culture and androgyny, features trans models, artists & performers, and includes images from legendary fashion photographer Steven Meisel’s personal archive. It incredibly beautiful, and you can check it out HERE :)
5. David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” commencement speech
This one’s an oldie but a goodie. I went to my little brother’s college graduation at Vassar yesterday (#awww), and Arianna Huffington gave a really powerful speech about focus and ambition, and how achieving those things is harder than ever now, given our myriad technological distractions. She was also hysterically funny, which I wasn’t expecting—way more sex jokes than your average commencement speech, is all I’ll say. Anyway, her talk got me thinking about commencement speeches, so I thought I’d share this audio of David Foster Wallace speaking Kenyon College back in 2005. It’s become a very famous speech, so if you haven’t already listened to it, you really should (just incase someone brings it up at a dinner party, duh). In it, Wallace talks about the difficulty of empathy, and how being an adult can be really fucking miserable and lonely, basically. You should listen to it! No but seriously, it’s really inspirational, and I used to listen to it like once a week at a point in my life where I was all “WTF is my purpose on earth?!” It helped me. I think… TBD.