Gabe Bullard
@gbullard.bsky.social
Journalist and critic. I study nostalgia in pop culture and politics. I'm writing a book about convenience. I'm on the radio. Everything is at gabebullard.com. Basel, CH.
Reposted by Gabe Bullard
NEW: When Propecy Fails is one of the most famous social psychology books of all time, a look at a small group of UFO believers when the “spacemen” failed to land. I wrote about a new study from an independent researcher who says the book is not what it seems. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
It’s one of the most influential social psychology studies ever. Was it all a lie?
A classic book on UFO believers and their "cognitive dissonance" after aliens failed to land is called into question.
www.motherjones.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:36 PM
NEW: When Propecy Fails is one of the most famous social psychology books of all time, a look at a small group of UFO believers when the “spacemen” failed to land. I wrote about a new study from an independent researcher who says the book is not what it seems. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Gabe Bullard
Happy 89th Birthday Dick Cavett, thank you for making television that would absolutely never be made by a major broadcast network any more, like letting Orson Welles perform a 9 minute monologue on ABC
Orson Welles Performs A Monologue About Noah's Ark | The Dick Cavett Show
YouTube video by The Dick Cavett Show
youtu.be
November 20, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Happy 89th Birthday Dick Cavett, thank you for making television that would absolutely never be made by a major broadcast network any more, like letting Orson Welles perform a 9 minute monologue on ABC
It's amazing how many tricky problems of writing can be solved by moving a paragraph, then deleting it.
October 13, 2025 at 3:20 PM
It's amazing how many tricky problems of writing can be solved by moving a paragraph, then deleting it.
Reposted by Gabe Bullard
Humbly presenting to the void: today is new album release eve. Tomorrow you can get hear my second piano trio "Payne Hollow," inspired by Harlan and Anna Hubbard who lived deliberately on the banks of the Ohio. Recorded by local group NouLou Chamber Players. fictivemusic.bandcamp.com/album/piano-...
Piano Trio No. 2 "Payne Hollow"/winterloops, by Daniel Gilliam/NouLou Chamber Players
5 track album
fictivemusic.bandcamp.com
October 8, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Humbly presenting to the void: today is new album release eve. Tomorrow you can get hear my second piano trio "Payne Hollow," inspired by Harlan and Anna Hubbard who lived deliberately on the banks of the Ohio. Recorded by local group NouLou Chamber Players. fictivemusic.bandcamp.com/album/piano-...
Reposted by Gabe Bullard
With less than one month to go before the paperback release, I am sharing a review a day. Today's review is from the esteemed Olivia Liang in The Financial Times.The FT was actually the first review to appear outside of a trade publication and it was a huge relief to see it reviewed so well overseas
October 5, 2025 at 6:48 PM
With less than one month to go before the paperback release, I am sharing a review a day. Today's review is from the esteemed Olivia Liang in The Financial Times.The FT was actually the first review to appear outside of a trade publication and it was a huge relief to see it reviewed so well overseas
This is a really fun look at a great comic.
It’s up! Me and Gabriel Gianordoli went deep on the great Emil Ferris and her terrific mystery/art books
Emil Ferris Pays Homage to Horror Comics With ‘My Favorite Thing Is Monsters’ (Gift Article)
In her two-volume classic, “My Favorite Thing Is Monsters,” Emil Ferris explores a girl’s journey to understand the world, and herself.
www.nytimes.com
October 5, 2025 at 6:59 PM
This is a really fun look at a great comic.
Part three of the cultural history of the bowling shirt. Folks, we've got swing revival, Two and a Half Men, fake irony, and a gallon of Donkey Sauce. gabebullard.substack.com/p/the-end-of...
The End of the Bowling Shirt Saga
All meaning is gone
gabebullard.substack.com
October 3, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Part three of the cultural history of the bowling shirt. Folks, we've got swing revival, Two and a Half Men, fake irony, and a gallon of Donkey Sauce. gabebullard.substack.com/p/the-end-of...
Reposted by Gabe Bullard
one will soon sink, unrecorded, in the sea
October 3, 2025 at 10:47 AM
one will soon sink, unrecorded, in the sea
Eating figs and singing ”I got figs” to the tune of ZZ Top’s “Legs.”
October 3, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Eating figs and singing ”I got figs” to the tune of ZZ Top’s “Legs.”
Reposted by Gabe Bullard
the doom of boats, and ships, and men
October 1, 2025 at 10:47 AM
the doom of boats, and ships, and men
Still writing about bowling shirts. This time, I touch on the swing revival, old Mac games, that Lit video, and the false idea of a 20-year nostalgia cycle. open.substack.com/pub/gabebull...
Further Adventures of the Bowling Shirt Guy
Nostalgia’s Nasty Nineties
open.substack.com
September 21, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Still writing about bowling shirts. This time, I touch on the swing revival, old Mac games, that Lit video, and the false idea of a 20-year nostalgia cycle. open.substack.com/pub/gabebull...
Reposted by Gabe Bullard
Speaking of film formats, I recently published an article on Pola-Lite, a largely unnoticed and under-researched single-strip 3-D format, in Film Atlas, an encyclopedia of every film format ever.
I had a blast researching this. It has everything! Monsters, Douglas Sirk, questionable origin stories!
I had a blast researching this. It has everything! Monsters, Douglas Sirk, questionable origin stories!
FILM ATLAS
The International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) brings together institutions dedicated to rescuing of films both as art and as historical documents
www.filmatlas.com
September 18, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Speaking of film formats, I recently published an article on Pola-Lite, a largely unnoticed and under-researched single-strip 3-D format, in Film Atlas, an encyclopedia of every film format ever.
I had a blast researching this. It has everything! Monsters, Douglas Sirk, questionable origin stories!
I had a blast researching this. It has everything! Monsters, Douglas Sirk, questionable origin stories!
I encourage anyone working in a creative field who is concerned about AI replacing them to not aid in AI's replacement of people in other creative fields.
If you're a freelance writer, ask your editor how they'll illustrate your story—with stock images, illustrations, new photos, or AI.
If you're a freelance writer, ask your editor how they'll illustrate your story—with stock images, illustrations, new photos, or AI.
Reading a post critiquing AI podcasts and the image appears to be an AI-made illustration.
I see this a lot. People in one medium critique the use of AI in their field, but then use it to do things they can't do or they don't want to hire out—like audio producers using AI images.
I see this a lot. People in one medium critique the use of AI in their field, but then use it to do things they can't do or they don't want to hire out—like audio producers using AI images.
September 10, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I encourage anyone working in a creative field who is concerned about AI replacing them to not aid in AI's replacement of people in other creative fields.
If you're a freelance writer, ask your editor how they'll illustrate your story—with stock images, illustrations, new photos, or AI.
If you're a freelance writer, ask your editor how they'll illustrate your story—with stock images, illustrations, new photos, or AI.
Reading a post critiquing AI podcasts and the image appears to be an AI-made illustration.
I see this a lot. People in one medium critique the use of AI in their field, but then use it to do things they can't do or they don't want to hire out—like audio producers using AI images.
I see this a lot. People in one medium critique the use of AI in their field, but then use it to do things they can't do or they don't want to hire out—like audio producers using AI images.
September 10, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Reading a post critiquing AI podcasts and the image appears to be an AI-made illustration.
I see this a lot. People in one medium critique the use of AI in their field, but then use it to do things they can't do or they don't want to hire out—like audio producers using AI images.
I see this a lot. People in one medium critique the use of AI in their field, but then use it to do things they can't do or they don't want to hire out—like audio producers using AI images.
Reposted by Gabe Bullard
Five years of Defector: defector.com/five-years-o...
September 10, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Five years of Defector: defector.com/five-years-o...
Reposted by Gabe Bullard
Many congratulations to Laura Garbes (University of Minnesota) on the publication of her pathbreaking sociology of the culture, idealism, and contradictions of public media. Out today on Princeton University Press.
Listeners Like Who?
How public radio has perpetuated racial inequality since its founding—and how journalists of color are challenging white dominance in the workplace and on the public airwaves
press.princeton.edu
September 9, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Many congratulations to Laura Garbes (University of Minnesota) on the publication of her pathbreaking sociology of the culture, idealism, and contradictions of public media. Out today on Princeton University Press.
Don't trust anyone* who shows up to work in the morning with their tie already loosened.
*Anyone who isn't a musician†.
†A good musician.
*Anyone who isn't a musician†.
†A good musician.
September 8, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Don't trust anyone* who shows up to work in the morning with their tie already loosened.
*Anyone who isn't a musician†.
†A good musician.
*Anyone who isn't a musician†.
†A good musician.
Maybe I need to stop on these book edits. I just imagined I wrote the phrase "Load o' Laundry."
September 8, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Maybe I need to stop on these book edits. I just imagined I wrote the phrase "Load o' Laundry."
Reposted by Gabe Bullard
So much of mainstream American journalism has just been finding the "iconoclasts" to ensure you're "adding something to the conversation."
So you end up with 3 kinds of interviews:
So you end up with 3 kinds of interviews:
Highest level of support since Gallup started asking this question a quarter century ago
September 8, 2025 at 4:36 PM
So much of mainstream American journalism has just been finding the "iconoclasts" to ensure you're "adding something to the conversation."
So you end up with 3 kinds of interviews:
So you end up with 3 kinds of interviews:
Part one of my cultural history of the bowling shirt is one of the most popular essays I’ve published in a while. I guess people like it?
gabebullard.substack.com/p/what-happe...
gabebullard.substack.com/p/what-happe...
September 8, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Part one of my cultural history of the bowling shirt is one of the most popular essays I’ve published in a while. I guess people like it?
gabebullard.substack.com/p/what-happe...
gabebullard.substack.com/p/what-happe...
Going deep on bowling shirts. gabebullard.substack.com/p/what-happe...
September 5, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Going deep on bowling shirts. gabebullard.substack.com/p/what-happe...
Reposted by Gabe Bullard
Hey Beautiful Nerds! @99pi.org is fifteen years old tomorrow! Hard to believe. We used the occasion for me to talk about our editing process, my design hill to die on, and foot measurement devices
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...
The 99PI Anniversary Special: 15 for 15
Podcast Episode · 99% Invisible · 09/02/2025 · 51m
podcasts.apple.com
September 3, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Hey Beautiful Nerds! @99pi.org is fifteen years old tomorrow! Hard to believe. We used the occasion for me to talk about our editing process, my design hill to die on, and foot measurement devices
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...
Reposted by Gabe Bullard
August 23, 2025 at 11:46 AM