Claire Zulkey

How to grow a delicious placenta

By: Claire Zulkey | May. 16, 2012

Last night I reviewed the TV show Pregnant in Heels for the A.V. Club. As I mention in my review, there was a woman on the show who revealed a plan to eat her placenta after she gave birth to her baby.

I believe that it’s been well-established by this point that eating your placenta is standard practice. January Jones did it; New York magazine did an article on it; Christine on Pregnant In Heels did it. So, basically,  it's de rigueur at this point. If you have to ask why, I just feel embarrassed for you.

However, looking at Christine’s face as she choked down her placenta smoothie, I was struck by a problem that afflicts way too many pregnant women: We are growing gross-tasting placentas.

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List: Best-named deep sea creatures

By: Claire Zulkey | May. 15, 2012

When James Cameron traveled seven miles down to the bottom of the ocean, the Daily Beast predicted some of the amazing creatures he might encounter on his voyage.

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Gender roles at my house

By: Claire Zulkey | May. 14, 2012

Him: Watering indoor plants/lawn
Her: Outdoor plants

Him: Nighttime dog walks
Her: Daytime dog walks

Him: Disposing of dead birds
Her: Killing bugs

Him: Paying bills
Her: Buying wedding presents and remembering to tip hotel maids

Her: Cooking
Him: Sometimes eating said cooking

Her: Buying the family shoes
Him: Buying the family lightbulbs

Him: Hating doing laundry
Her: Hating putting away laundry

Him: Tech troubles
Her: Tech complaining

Him: Drink-getting, coat-taking, dishes
Her: Party execution/stressing

Him: Taking care of cat litter
Her: Squirting cat with a water bottle when it tries to come up the stairs where it’s not supposed to go

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The Veronica Roth Interview

By: Claire Zulkey | May. 11, 2012

Today I chat with the local author of the smash Divergent trilogy, a set of dystopian young adult books set in our very own fair city. Divergent was a New York Times bestseller, while the second book in the series, Insurgent, was released last week. Like me, Roth is a Northwestern graduate and like me, she’ll be appearing on a YA panel at Printer’s Row this summer, so stay tuned for more information about that!

You start your Insurgent tour this summer: how do you typically decide what to read for appearances?

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Time to celebrate some local YA authors!

By: Claire Zulkey | May. 8, 2012

This week is unofficial local Young Adult author week on the blog. On Friday I'll feature an interview with Veronica Roth, the author of the very popular book Divergent and its recent follow-up, Insurgent.

Today though I want to give a shout-out to my friend M. Molly Backes, whose debut YA novel The Princesses of Iowa comes out Tuesday. Don't let the word "princesses" in the title fool you: I heard Molly read from the first chapter a few weekends ago and the book is bitingly funny, raw, real and not at all princessy. If you'd like to meet Molly in person and get a signed copy of your book, StoryStudio will be hosting a book launch party for her next week.

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Etiquette for airplane hell

By: Claire Zulkey | May. 7, 2012

Okay folks, let’s go over something. We all hate flying, unless of course you’re flying first class, in which case, will you marry me? Anyway, it stinks, especially if you’re on a flight that lasts more than a few hours: those impossibly-tiny seats, the zen koan of hell that is the seat-reclining-in-your-face-but-you-also-want-to-recline-YOUR-seat-situation, the movie you don’t really want to watch but will since it’s on but you can’t see it anyway since it looks like it’s in black in white and is two miles ahead of you in the cabin, the snack you’ve resigned yourself to buying but discover that you can’t anyway since somebody ten rows ahead of you ordered the last one. It’s all the worst.

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The Keegan-Michael Key Interview

By: Claire Zulkey | May. 4, 2012

Today I chat with one of the stars of Key and Peele, one of Comedy Central’s most popular new shows, which features sketch comedy that tickles the funnybones of people like me and Barack Obama.

Prior to K&P, Keegan-Michael Key was best known for his roles as a cast member on MADtv for six seasons. He has also had recurring roles on Reno 911! and Gary Unmarried.

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Defending the plagiarists

By: Claire Zulkey | May. 3, 2012

It may surprise you to know that occationally, rock stars aren’t the pillars of good behavior we expect them to be, and sometimes their bad behavior extends to the creative realm. Several high-profile musicians have been accused of -- and successfully sued over -- allegations of plagiarism or copyright infringement when it turned out the hits they wrote weren’t exactly the hits they wrote.

But writing new songs is hard. Here, I’m going to cut some slack on a few of the world’s most famous copycats. I'll even attempt to argue how the “new” song improved upon the old.*

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