New comers in the "X and Philosophy" world

Continuum press, an independent academic publisher oriented towards continental and trendy stuff, has sent out a call for papers for "The Wire and Philosophy", which would make them the third publishing house using this line except for the fact that the book will not actually be titled "The Wire and Philosophy". That's just the subject line of their CFP. The real title will be *Down to The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television* and it looks like it will not be following the formula of Bill Irwin's books. Instead, it will be a general academic look at a TV show, like *Cylons in America* by the same editors. I'm reading *Cylons* now and enjoying it quite a bit.

I've heard that Irwin has received proposals to do an actual "The Wire and Philosophy" volume, but turned it down. He has, however, ok'd *Iron Man and Philosophy* and *Final Fantasy and Philosophy*. The latter convinces me that the real factor in deciding whether to do an "X and Philosophy" book is how fan-boyish a following the show has. More to the point, the question is: "Is this show or bit of pop culture liked by people who people who buy a lot of merchandise?" This explains not only the large number of superhero "X and Philosophy" books, but also things like "Harley Davidson and Philosophy". Harley is a marketing franchise. People who buy into it are hooked consumers, the sort who might buy a book simply because it has "Harley" in the title, even if they don't read it.

I'm in a weird place with these books right now. I've written for two of them. I enjoy reading them, and I enjoy writing for them *a lot*. But I don't actually see much value in them. Meanwhile, I now have two (2) ideas for my own "X and Philosophy" books. I would love to do *Britney Spears and Philosophy* if the whole book (not just the cover) would be laid out like a tabloid. "Briney caught in epistemological shocker!" I also think the book should have a lot of feminist philosophy: a Britney book would be a good place for consciousness raising. I also thinks *(Alan Moore's) Swamp Thing and (Environmental) Philosophy* would be fun.