MEDIA DIET

By: Nicholas Rombes
April 13, 2026

A weekly series exploring the media “input” of a group of people — HILOBROW’s friends and contributors — whose “output” we admire.

Nick has been a valued HILOBROW contributor since 2021. His first post was on the topic of OLD GEOLOGY SURVEY BOOKS WITH MAP INSERTS. His most recent contributions to this publication include: MOVE ON FAST | RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH | TWIN PEAKS.

Detroit…

HILOBROW: What forms of media do you “take in” the most regularly/frequently, during a typical day or week?

NICK ROMBES: A typical day begins with checking the news, which for me is the New York Times. Then I’ll check in at The Guardian. I’ll also visit MLive.com for Ann Arbor and Michigan news. Over the course of a day, depending on what else I’ve got going on, I’ll visit a few Substacks, including The Metropolitan Review, The Republic of Letters, and Zona Motel. Over the course of a week I’ll also head over to MUBI Notebook and Filmmaker Magazine for film-related content. I’ll also visit Thomas Ligotti Online, a message board for all things, well, Thomas Ligotti, although I go there primarily for weird literature recommendations. I’ll visit 50 Watts Books to check out their new arrivals, as they carry books from the UK that aren’t widely available in the states, especially books from Broodcomb Press. I’ll also have a physical book or two (one fiction, one nonfiction) that I’ll toggle between. I’ll listen to some streaming music while I write; current favorite Mitsuko Uchida. I have an Instagram account which I don’t use much because it knows exactly how to grab and keep my attention, feeding me a steady stream of 1) behind the scenes footage of David Lynch directing and 2) freighters battling the high seas.

HILOBROW: What work of nonfiction (old or new) would you recommend to someone trying to make sense of today’s world?

NICK ROMBES: I wish there was a book that helped make sense of today’s world. Vaclav Havel is one writer I keep coming back to, especially essays like “The Power of the Powerless,” where he writes that “ideology is a specious way of relating to the world. It offers human beings the illusion of an identity, of dignity, and of morality while making it easier for them to part with them.” It’s hard to think and talk about ideology because it’s invisible (just “the way things are”) but Havel helps to make it visible for me, or at least a little bit legible. Havel addresses the soul-sickness of a society — his society in 1978 — but I think much of what he says helps me understand the sickness of my own country today. Havel suggest that soul sickness is circular, not just flowing from the top (the powerful) down (individual citizens) but from the bottom up, as well. It’s circular, and he ends the essay suggesting that a brighter future might already be here in the present and that we, because of our “blindness and weakness,” just can’t grasp it yet.

HILOBROW: What’s the best movie you’ve seen recently?

NICK ROMBES: Rather than one movie, there are parts and vibes of recent movies that resonate with me. In The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendoça Filho) the ambiance of camaraderie; in Hamnet (Chloé Zhao) the scene when Shakespeare and his wife Agnes first meet; in Keeper (Osgood Perkins) the interiors of the cabin; in Black Phone 2 (Scott Derrickson) all the super 8 parts; in Weapons (Zach Cregger) the part where Aunt Gladys shows up at Alex’s school and steals ribbons; in Lurker (Alex Russell) the scene where Oliver is brought to tears by Matthew in the recording studio; 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle) and the Rudyard Kipling “Boots” poem; the entirety of Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa); and although it’s not a new film, I’ve fallen back in love with Agnes Varda’s 1962 film Cléo from 5 to 7 because I taught it recently and had a chance to watch it a few times. There’s a remarkable scene with long, fluid shots as Cléo enters a studio where her friend is posing for sculptors: you release yourself to being under the power of a visionary director.

MEDIA DIET

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