Site of the Week: making TV literate with Slaughterhouse 90210

If you were looking for the pinnacle pomo blog, Maris Kreizman's tumblr Slaughterhouse 90210 (previous title idea: "Full House of Mirth") is as much a pop culture collision as its title, pushing together the high and low, The OC's Summer and Edith Wharton. For three years now, Brooklyn media junkie and former book editor Kreizman has been pairing television screenshots with contemporary fiction with the goal of getting books back into pop culture discussions. Based on the rampant re-blogging and huge three-year anniversary party at Housing Works this past March, it might actually be working.

On her tumblr Kreizman uses pictures to talk about the Big Picture, proving that quotes from literature can be that much more appealing and illuminating when attached to a TV screenshot. Each post features stills from shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Parks and Recreation, and Seinfeld and then pulls quotes from authors like David Foster Wallace or Kurt Vonnegut to unearth a deeper meaning within the show. Although it might sound juvenile or even absurd to examine pop culture through a literary lens, Slaughterhouse 90210 does so without any irony whatsoever, celebrating the way both books and TV can make the audience feel--and giving word nerds something to laugh about.

Why not make your experience that much more mediated?