Slaughterhouse 90210

This was a blog before it was a book, and I tend not to spend my money on those. When something's free online, why buy another version of it? But I couldn't help myself this time. Slaughterhouse 90210 is one of my favorite blogs, and it will be much easier to proselytize about it if I can shove the book at people when they come over to my house.

The conceit of the blog is pretty simple. Maris Kreizman pairs quotes culled from class and modern literature with screenshots of television shows, highlighting the similarities between so-called low-brow and high-brow culture. I first discovered it back when Kevin and I finished Breaking Bad, and I quickly went through that tag. Then I went through all her Buffy match-ups. Then I just went to the beginning of the blog and read the whole thing over the course of a week or so.

A lot of the references are actually lost on me. I haven't watched all of the TV shows that appear in the blog, and I can't recognize many of them from the screen caps. I'm even less familiar with the literature Kreizman quotes. But it's worth digging for the gems I do come across. And it's pushed me to expand my literary horizons.

One of the big improvements of the book version is the inclusion of an appendix where the image is identified and the connection explained. The book also expands beyond television to include movies and iconic popular culture moments. It's short, but I'm so glad I bought it. It will definitely be living on my coffee table.

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