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It's the Smart Pop Blog!

News, excerpts, Q&As, pop culture recs, and more.

Things We Loved This Week #7

In this week’s Things We Loved This Week we share (spoiler alert)…the things we loved! Read on for our pop culture recommendations including The Chair, crying with Mandy Patinkin, and a guide to get you started reading Marvel comics. Book Riot’s guide to starting the Marvel comics. Did you know that there are 235 established… Read more Things We Loved This Week #7

Smart Pop Fall 2021 Events

Smart Poppers, we’re thrilled to share the first of our fall events with you! Pandemic permitting we’ll see some of you in-person, but there’s also plenty of virtual fun to be had for all. Get your calendars ready, and stay tuned for additions to this list. October 7-10: New York Comic Con That’s right: come… Read more Smart Pop Fall 2021 Events

A Friday Night Lights Companion cover

Smart Pop Classics: Come Home: West Texas Identities

In the Smart Pop Classics series, we share greatest hits from our throwback essay collections. This week in “Come Home: West Texas Identifies” from A Friday Night Lights Companion, West Texas native Jacob Clifton offers a meditation on one of Friday Night Lights’ most fundamental values: being a part of something bigger than yourself 1. Texas… Read more Smart Pop Classics: Come Home: West Texas Identities

Things We Loved This Week #6

In this week’s Things We Loved This Week we share (spoiler alert)…the things we loved! Read on for our pop culture recommendations including a plethora of Hollywood Chrises, comics geekery with J.K. Woodward, and an emotional Star Trek featurette with Kenneth Mitchell. Bring a Hollywood Chris home for the holidays. Or, at the very least,… Read more Things We Loved This Week #6