Archives - Vennela Pandaraboyina

Not Vanilla: Goodbye

This column has helped me think critically about media that I previously took for granted.

Not Vanilla: Is the hype train harmful or helpful?

It’s hard to avoid hype. I’ve often been frustrated by movie hype, because I get scared that when I finally see the movie I’ll be let down.

Not Vanilla: A definitive ranking of the best places to chat with your friends

Today I will rank some of the popular video chatting methods — from worst to best.

Not Vanilla: The quaint lesson of ‘Stardew Valley’

It’s a place where the complications of life are absent, where you can quietly and productively live the life of a (fictional) farmer.

Not Vanilla: The ‘Bon Appetit’ test kitchen is mwah

The “Bon Appetit” YouTube channel is a great place to find information about cooking, but it is also a tour of a fantasy work environment — one where everyone is doing what they love, with company they enjoy. 

Not Vanilla: Award Shows

Thinking more, I started to wonder why people like to watch award shows. Many of them are marketed as annual touchstones, but I increasingly question their validity.

Not Vanilla: Style Stars on the Small Screen

I thought we could take a look at some of my favorite fashion moments in television that have inspired my sense of style.

Not Vanilla: What is self-care?

As college students, we are bombarded with a lot of messaging — about managing our mental health, eating right, and…

Not Vanilla – The Hidden Context of Costumes

When I was a child, I loved Halloween. I loved it for the candy — the costumes were almost an…

Not Vanilla: Public Picassos, and the life of online artists

Stagnation is a dire problem in our age, where new content and information is constantly pumped out. I was experiencing…