Anne Helen Petersen

1 week ago | annehelen.substack.com | Anne Helen Petersen

That’s one way to intro a book: it’s the best thing I’ve read this year. Also the most exhilarating, whimsical, and insightful book I’ve read this year. I could say “just trust me,” as I often do, and hope you’ll see part of why in the conversation below. But if you want to read something that will reorganize the way you think about the way AI, the performance of self, and just the internet broadly in this moment, something propulsive and unexpected, — Vauhini Vara’s Searches is that book.

2 weeks ago | annehelen.substack.com | Anne Helen Petersen

I don’t usually focus a piece on a single piece of media, but The Pitt has affected me in unanticipated ways — ways that make me want to talk about the entire show with anyone else who’s watched it and cajole others into watching it as well.

2 weeks ago | annehelen.substack.com | Anne Helen Petersen

We haven’t done one of these in a long time and spring/summer gardening requires a LOT of podcast material. I’ve previously recommended Amy Poehler’s new show, Good Hang, which has filled a need I didn’t realize I had (famous people who aren’t dudes talking about being famous but also being normal). Switched on Pop has also been on a real jag of greatne…

3 weeks ago | annehelen.substack.com | Anne Helen Petersen

I am feeling fucking bleak about the state of everything. If you’ve kept a distance from the day-to-day developments here in the U.S., I understand, but I also encourage you to read or listen to Ezra Klein’s latest, “The Emergency is Here,” for a concise and explicit understanding of what is happening right now — and the very real threat to all of our rights and safety. If you’re a visual person, you can watch below. If you’d like to hear it in audio, it’s here.

1 month ago | annehelen.substack.com | Anne Helen Petersen

I fucking love a (well-done) Hollywood production about Hollywood. I love A Star is Born (every version, legitimately) and I love The Aviator and I really love Adaptation!!! The Player! Singin’ in the Rain are you kidding me! Even The Stunt Man, a solid B- of a movie about Hollywood buoyed by Ryan Gosling’s charisma, got me. So no surprise that I love …