Laura Bell

1 month ago | villagevoice.com | Mike Laws |Robert Shuster |Laura Bell |Gideon Leek

“The literati should read more books by Americans in 2025.” This recent tweet from Alex Perez, an editor at RealClearBooks, has stuck with me. Perez continued, “You don’t have to hype up every translated book by some rando from Norway. More focus on small press American writers from Ohio, New Mexico, etc. Let’s discover America again.” It’s not that I feel any special fury about hyped-up books from Norway, but there is a lack of geographic breadth in American letters.

Dec 10, 2024 | villagevoice.com | Laura Bell |Rob Staeger |R.C. Baker |Peter Noel

Playgirl: The Official History of a Cult Magazine (2024) It’s Playgirl’s 50th anniversary, and the milestone has been marked with a glossy coffee-table book. Stealing the male gaze and handing it to women, the mag gave us sexy shots (even full-frontal!), plus writers like Anaïs Nin and Truman Capote. But one difference between us girls and the guys reading Playboy? We didn’t feel the need to pretend we perused Playgirl for the articles.

Dec 5, 2024 | villagevoice.com | Laura Bell |Rob Staeger |R.C. Baker |Peter Noel

What to get for your hard-to-buy-for friends and/or loved ones during this gift-giving season? It helps if said gift doesn’t break the bank and can also fit into a stocking hung over the fire escape window with care — though you’re gonna need a really big stocking for those beautiful coffee-table art books. Below we look at books about art and artists we reviewed this year and in late 2023 that are definitely worth a second look.

Oct 18, 2024 | villagevoice.com | Laura Bell |R.C. Baker

Back in the days of all-girl dorms, my friends and I often passed around a copy of Playgirl. Immersed in feminism, we had no problem feeling as empowered as men to look at sexy — even full-frontal — images. It was a kick to check out the hot, exposed guys. Looking back, I have no doubt we sometimes exaggerated our responses to the photos, carrying on about some guy’s attributes just for the fun of it.

Jul 1, 2024 | liveforfilm.com | Laura Bell

Posted by Laura Bell on Jul 1, 2024 in Film, News | 0 commentsMovies have the power to transport us far, far away, be it for a beachside romcom, an action-packed desert, or a tropic jungle adventure. So, let’s take a look at how films are able to conjure the sun, sand, and sea all year round. Music is crucial for setting the scene of any kind of media, as it provides a multi sensory experience. Just take something like online slot games, for example.