Hey and welcome to the upgrade, the podcast from the team at LifeHacker, where we help you improve your life one week at a time.

I'm Jordan Calhoun, editor-in-chief of LifeHacker.

And I'm Megan Walbert, LifeHackers Managing Editor. And today we're learning how to become successful, effective culture critics. Yes, and that's not to be confused with trolls or people

who just want to complain. Rather, we're becoming thoughtful critics of art and media with

help from writers William Evans and Omar Holman.

You know, this is a term we talk about in poetry a lot, right, in terms of like,

you're not writing about anything new under the sun, right?

So like, we're all entering the same house.

The difference is, can you take me through the window?

Can you take me through the attic?

Can you take me through the back door as opposed to everyone always walking through the window, can you take me through the attic, can you take me through the back door, as opposed to everyone always walking through the front? William and Omar are writers, poets, and co-founders

of the website Black Nerd Problems, which they started back in 2014. And I have to say, as someone

who's known them ever since then, they are very much nerds and very, very great culture critics.

They also have a new collection of essays that just came out, also called Black Nard Problems.

And I have to say, I'm personally really looking forward to talking with them.

But first, Jordan, I know you've done some of this type of work, right?

Can you tell me about that?

I'm curious what it was like for you.

Absolutely.

I definitely had the experience of wanting to become a culture critic, wanting to

write about movies and pop culture, and not knowing where to start. And that was actually how I

found Omar and Will to begin with and how we all just became friends. It was early when

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