Laura M. Browning
The AV Club
Chicago, IL, United States
Contact Laura M
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
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Past articles by Laura M:
Who do you want to die in tomorrow’s Game Of Thrones?
This week’s question is pegged to the showdown on everyone’s mind: Who do you want to die in tomorrow’s Game Of Thrones? → Read More
Leaving Whiskeytown: 2 hours of alternative folk-rock
The New York Times yesterday published an all-too-familiar piece of reporting: Another man accused of preying on women in his industry, offering to help their careers in return for sexual favors, and of being emotionally manipulative. This time the alleged perpetrator is Ryan Adams, whose gravelly, emotional music has been a mainstay of alt-country and Americana since the mid-’90s, as the… → Read More
What are you reading in December?
In our monthly book club, we discuss whatever we happen to be reading and ask everyone in the comments to do the same. What Are You Reading This Month? → Read More
The best country albums of 2018
From one angle, the country music narrative in 2018 was distinguished by consistency. Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s easygoing soul-twang confection “Meant To Be” spent a staggering, record-setting 50 weeks atop the Hot Country Songs chart, while the vast majority of award winners and chart-toppers are all familiar household names. But dig a little deeper and it becomes clearer that the… → Read More
Dirty John tells a terrifying story with a lot of melodrama and not much else
Note to readers: Dirty John is about emotional and financial domestic violence. → Read More
Season 2 of Making A Murderer begins to reckon with its success, but becomes Reddit bait
The second season of Making A Murderer attempts to grapple with the deep scars wrought by the success of its first—for about six minutes, encompassing the montage of news headlines and local TV clips that open the season premiere. It comes across as well-intended but half-hearted, but it still frames one of the ongoing questions of Steven Avery’s and Brendan Dassey’s convictions in the 2005… → Read More
Halloween Unmasked explores the psychology of Michael Myers and real-life serial killers
This BBC food journalism podcast travels to China as part of a broader series exploring eating disorders outside the context of a Western woman’s disease. Although there’s not an official record, it’s known that areas of China see the same prevalence of eating disorders as the U.S. and Europe. At the country’s sole closed ward for treating eating disorders, a psychiatrist worries that cases are… → Read More
The Good Place, annotated: “The Snowplow”
In addition to being one of the best shows on TV, The Good Place is a dense knot of running jokes, visual humor, references to dense philosophy tomes, and breadcrumbs for later episodes. In order to help you keep it all straight, The A.V. Club will be annotating the show’s third season. Catch something that we didn’t? Email us at youforkingmissedit@avclub.com. → Read More
Catch up with streaming stand-up, from Nanette to The Comedy Lineup
Ah, summer—the hottest time of the year everywhere but in TV land. At least, it was until Netflix set a goal of 1,000 original releases by the end of 2018. But fear not: The A.V. Club is offering life preservers for those who are adrift in this sea of content, starting with the best of scripted and nonscripted series. Next up is a roundup of comedy specials that stand out in the deluge. This is… → Read More
The best thing about Ocean's 8 is the women on the screen
Ocean’s 8, the all-female heist film with Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett leading a truly magnificent cast, opened this weekend to middling reviews—our own Ignatiy Vishnevetsky called it “more knock-off than spin-off,” giving it a C and calling Gary Ross’ direction “undexterous.” Many women on The A.V. Club staff have been looking forward to this since the first trailer was released, so a few… → Read More
Peep Show’s Robert Webb on the power and affection of the word “cunt”
Robert Webb may be best known to American audiences as Peep Show’s man-boy Jeremy “Jez” Usborne, and if his new autobiographical book is to be believed, Webb’s own life has exhibited a fair bit of Jez’s selfishness and immaturity. How Not To Be A Boy: Rules For Being A Man uses his own boyhood, and later manhood, to examine with brutal and sometimes heartbreaking honesty the damage that gender… → Read More
David Lynch dreams up his own biography, and 4 other books to read in June
Every month, a deluge of new books comes flooding out from big publishers, indie houses, and self-publishing platforms. So every month, The A.V. Club narrows down the endless options to five of the books we’re most excited about. → Read More
Puerto Rico is a great place for Samantha Bee's comedy and outrage
The asterisk three words into the title of this Full Frontal With Samantha Bee special sets the tone: “The Great American* Puerto Rico (*It’s Complicated).” It is complicated, and Samantha Bee and her team go into a potential landmine of cultural misunderstandings with their eyes fully open. At its best, Bee and her writers capture Full Frontal’s feminist spirit and call to arms, creating a sort… → Read More
The A.V. Club is live-blogging the 90th Academy Awards
We’ll be live-blogging this year’s Oscars starting about 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central. We’ll also be on Twitter, so follow @theavclub as well! → Read More
What are you reading in February?
In our monthly book club, we discuss whatever we happen to be reading and ask everyone in the comments to do the same. What Are You Reading This Month? → Read More
No, Mr. President, you will not like The Post
In a striking display of obliviousness, the Trump White House has reportedly asked to screen The Post, Steven Spielberg’s film about The Washington Post’s publication of the Pentagon Papers, a Department Of Defense study that revealed that the United States had remained engaged in the Vietnam War knowing that it couldn’t win. One can only guess at Trump’s motivations: Does he have any idea what… → Read More
10 last-minute gift ideas that are all books you can buy the day before Christmas
Well, you’ve done it again. You’re a thoughtless piece of human garbage who couldn’t get your shit together enough to purchase or make a thoughtful, personal gift for the only people in the world who love and care about you. This procrastinator’s gift guide is for you. You can find all of these fine books wherever fine books are sold. Pick them up at your local independent bookstore, or find one… → Read More
Think long and hard about why you're sending that dick pic
A quick and very unscientific study of the women of Gizmodo Media and Onion Inc. shows that pretty much all of us have had to look at a dick pic we didn’t want to. (And as one co-worker pointed out, have we ever wanted to look at any dick pic?) And although women have long talked among themselves about why guys send dick pics, there hasn’t been any scientific research to support the anecdotal… → Read More
Making A Murderer's Steven Avery won't get a new trial
Milwaukee ABC affiliate WISN is reporting that Steven Avery’s request for a new trial has been denied. Avery is serving a life sentence for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, which gained notoriety with the Netflix docuseries Making A Murderer in 2015. Avery’s lawyers have filed repeated motions in an attempt to exonerate him; most recently, attorney Kathleen Zellner filed a motion for… → Read More
What are you reading in November?
In our monthly book club, we discuss whatever we happen to be reading and ask everyone in the comments to do the same. What Are You Reading This Month? → Read More