From Abfab to Zen:

Paper’s Guide to Pop Culture

edited by Kim Hastreiter and David Hershkovits

Distributed Arts Publisher, 204 pp., $24.95 (paper)

Who could describe this glossy compilation of media-induced images better than that venerated maestro of unabashed decadence, John Waters: It’s a “reform school yearbook of addled fame and fucked-up fortune.” With striking photos and cursory entries ranging from the endearingly inane (Monica Lewinsky and liposuction), to the dubiously inspirational (feng shui and Quentin Tarantino), and finally to the superficially sublime (Viagra and RuPaul), there is plenty to muse over when meaningful conversation is hardly the goal.

This article appears in December 17 • 1999.

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