Essay Daily: Talk About the Essay

Channel: Essay Daily: Talk About the Essay

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Dec 14: Erin Keane, Dreamchild, or the Curse of Being Alice

December 14, 2025, 5:00 am

Dreamchild, or the Curse of Being AliceErin Keane**Sandwiched between The Dark Crystal, a 1982 film I couldn’t follow as a child because the dinosauric Skeksis frightened me so much I kept my eyes...

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Dec 15: Isabelle Robinson, Three Scenes from an Essay about Scream

December 15, 2025, 5:00 am

Three Scenes from an Essay about Scream Isabelle Robinson*The opening scene of Wes Craven’s Scream—among the most famous in the history of cinema—is less than thirteen minutes long. I’ve watched this...

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Dec 16: Ted McLoof, The Year Seth Cohen Ruled the Earth

December 16, 2025, 5:00 am

The Year Seth Cohen Ruled the EarthTed McLoof**Recently, as part of the marketing for a book of coming-of-age stories I wrote, I was asked to name three TV shows about high school that inspired the...

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Dec 17: Dave Griffith, The Godfather at 50

December 17, 2025, 4:30 am

The Godfather at 50David Griffith*I had my ACL done, as they say, last January. I’m at the age–50 years old this Monday, the 15th–where people want to know who did it, not as in the culprit (it was my...

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Dec 18: Charles Jensen, My Enemy, Myself: The Weaponization of Player Agency...

December 18, 2025, 5:00 am

My Enemy, Myself: The Weaponization of Player Agency in The Last of Us Part IICharles Jensen*(This essay contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part II video game and seasons 2 and 3 of the HBO Max...

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Dec 19: Sharon Wahl, Alone

December 19, 2025, 5:00 am

AloneSharon Wahl**One afternoon in the spring of 2022, my husband shooed our cat off the chair in my study, sat down, and said he had something to tell me. He had just completed an application to be on...

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Dec 20: Ander Monson, Decommissioning the Drone Priest

December 20, 2025, 5:00 am

*Decommissioning the Drone PriestAnder Monson**I’ve been evangelizing for the 2022 point-and-click adventure game NORCO pretty much nonstop since I discovered it 18 months ago. It’s the final game my...

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Dec 21: Patrick Madden, Pietà

December 21, 2025, 4:00 am

PietàPatrick Madden*There's a scene near the end of the last episode of Midnight Mass that, the first time I saw it, evoked from me an involuntary sob, a kind of bubbling up of weeping emotion, sadness...

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Dec 22: Kirk Wisland, The Brogue of Broken Men

December 22, 2025, 5:00 am

*The Brogue of Broken MenKirk Wisland*Sickboy, the punky-blonde Scottish antihero of Trainspotting, was the reason I showed up for the Easter brunch of 1997 with orange hair. I had wanted blonde, but...

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Dec 23: Alison Deming, On Binge-Watching

December 23, 2025, 5:00 am

*On Binge-WatchingAlison Deming**If you spliced together all the footage of Ross Poldark galloping along the seaside cliffs of Cornwall, great coat flying over his stallion’s flanks, you could fill at...

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Dec 24: Geramee Hensley, Digital Mind Wave

December 24, 2025, 5:00 am

*Digital Mind WaveGeramee Hensley*"Too much hope is the opposite of despair... an overpowering love may consume you in the end."—Vincent Valentine, Final Fantasy VII (Note: Spoilers for Final Fantasy...

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Dec 25: Will Slattery, Pray and Work

December 25, 2025, 4:30 am

Pray and WorkWill Slattery*When setting out to find a topic for this year’s Advent Calendar/Media Club essay series I noticed that the 3 most aesthetically rewarding games I’ve played over the past...

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John Haskell, Blow Me Away

January 1, 2026, 3:15 pm

This essay is in our Media Club series, an ongoing series of essays on visual media. More details here.*Blow Me AwayJohn Haskell(This essay is reprinted from John's new book, Trying To Be, recently...

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Avery Gregurich, Seeking: Max Headroom

February 24, 2026, 3:05 pm

This essay is in our Media Club series, an ongoing series of essays on visual media. Pitch us something! More details here.*Seeking: Max HeadroomAvery Gregurich*Max Headroom first found me the way...

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Scott F. Parker, No God but God: Notes Toward the Essay as Unknowing

August 12, 2026, 5:30 am

Learning means learning what cannot be learned; practicing means practicing what cannot be practiced; discriminating means discriminating what cannot be discriminated. Understanding that rests in what...

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