MEDIA DIET
By:
September 4, 2026
A weekly series exploring the media “input” of a group of people — HILOBROW’s friends and contributors — whose “output” we admire.
Annalee has been a valued HILOBROW contributor since 2010. Their first post was on the topic of THE GREAT OXYGEN RACE (short story). Their most recent contributions to this publication include: THE PUBLIC CHARIOT | CAR-BOMB REMNANT | ROBIN HOOD’S MERRY PALS.
San Francisco…
HILOBROW: What are your reading habits?
ANNALEE NEWITZ: I read as often as I can, and there is my conundrum. When I’m on transit, in a waiting room, or standing in a long line at customs, I want to pull out my book and read because it’s my favorite way to pass the time. That means I need an easy way to carry books, and as a result I have vacillated a lot over what form factor my books take. For decades, I was a dedicated paperback reader. Hardbacks are too bulky to carry everywhere.
About a decade ago, I very reluctantly started to read e-books, mainly because I was doing research and wanted to carry 20 books around with me. As a result, I started reading a lot on my phone. But now I’m going back to paper books for pleasure more and more often. I hate the constant interruptions on my phone. Plus, I don’t want some shit platform to delete my e-books, or worse, trick me into buying slop because I don’t look carefully enough at the listing.
Also? I have started to feel like we send a dark social signal when we stare at our phones in public. Of course, there are good reasons to glance at our devices — texting with a friend, or consulting a map. But when I read a book on my phone, I’m just staring at the little glowing fiend for hours and it feels extremely toxic. I don’t get that sense when I read a paper book or see someone else reading one. There’s something almost therapeutic about the feeling of the physical book in your hand. Maybe I’ve gone deep into my mind when I’m reading, but at the same time my senses are open to what’s around me. It’s a peaceful kind of withdrawal, not a noisy, demanding immersion.
Sadly, all those years of reading on devices has left me without a nice bedside lamp. I’m working on finding one that pleases me as much as sunlight on the page.
HILOBROW: What’s the best TV series you’ve seen recently?
ANNALEE NEWITZ: I honestly can’t believe how incredible Interview with the Vampire / The Vampire Lestat is. How does such a weird, subversive piece of pop culture exist in this era of media censorship and rote propaganda?
The narrative itself is a complete reimagining of the original source material by Anne Rice, which I gobbled up decades ago. The writers pulled the story forward into the twentieth century, and now two of the main characters — Louis and Claudia — are Black. That added a whole new layer to Louis and Lestat’s fucked up romance, because now Lestat’s power over Louis is structural and political as well as personal.
The tone itself is masterful: the show is incredibly campy and absurd, while also being profoundly moving and insightful. Wacky floating vampire sex is intercut with well-observed moments of microaggressions between characters and dramatic representations of life under Jim Crow in New Orleans. It’s also a great example of queer normalization; we see many permutations of sexual desire, without judgement, while never forgetting that many of the characters are paying a high price for being queer. The acting from leads Jacob Anderson (Louis), Sam Reid (Lestat), Bailey Bass (Claudia) and Eric Bogosian (Daniel, the interviewer) swerves between scenery-chewing chaos and subtle shades of emotional agony. It’s a joy to watch this cast embodying the fate of those who are doomed to play out their interpersonal drama for centuries, getting more wild and emotionally damaged as they age.
HILOBROW: How do you use social media, these days?
ANNALEE NEWITZ: Just reading this question felt like poking a bruise. My first publications as a baby essayist and journalist were online, starting with the digital zine Bad Subjects that I co-founded in the 1990s (we were on gopher before this crazy web thing came along). My next gigs were for places like Salon.com, Feed.com (RIP), and GettingIt.com (also RIP). And then I came into my own as a writer and editor when I co-founded io9.com, a wildly successful blog that was part of the Gawker Media Network (another RIP — see the pattern?).
Over the past five years, I’ve gone from treasuring my interactions online, to regarding them with fear, skepticism, and rage. I censor myself on Bluesky, IG, and Mastodon. I expect attacks from bots and operatives; I expect lies and slop from influencers.
Nevertheless, I persist in believing we can rebuild a public square on the internet. I read 404Media all the time; I am a member of the Flaming Hydra collective, and just published my first essay in COYOTE magazine. Long live indie media! Perhaps, one day, the messages that slide through glass filaments below the ocean will unite us across all the world’s foul borders again.
MEDIA DIET series: MATTHEW BATTLES | ADRIENNE CREW | HOLLY INTERLANDI | CAROLYN KELLOGG | MARK KINGWELL | FLOURISH KLINK | ADAM McGOVERN | CHARLIE MITCHELL | TOM NEALON | ANNIE NOCENTI | GARY PANTER | LYNN PERIL | JONATHAN PINCHERA | NICHOLAS ROMBES | CARLO ROTELLA | LUCY SANTE | SETH | MIKE WATT | JUDITH ZISSMAN | & more to come! Visit the SERIES INDEX.