Hallmark Christmas Movies

Past Present Podcast, Episode 260

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: The Hallmark Christmas movie is a bona fide super-genre. Niki referred to this New Yorker article about how the form took over cable television, and Natalia drew on this piece at The Lily about the tradition of hate-watching the films.  In ...
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The Last Monday in May

There are no parades, no baseball games, no parties, and we stay home all the time anyway: why should we care that it is Memorial Day?

As Joan Rivers would say, “Oh, grow up!” First of all, let’s be clear: Memorial Day is not about you. It’s about honoring the dead, which would make you think it would be a more sober holiday than it usually is nowadays. And initially, it was. Memorial Day sprang from the practice ...
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The Last Monday in May