Xmas A to Z
Avaricious bambinos covet Disney-detritus. Elders’ Fallopian genitals, heaving immaculately, jaculate kenosis-knickknacks. Levittowners merrily nurse organized pedophilia. Quasi-riant revenue-ravenous Santa Taws uncoil. Vultures watch Xt.’s yummy zygote.
On HU
Kinukitty started the week out with a review of the yaoi maga Stray Cat.
I explained why Moto Hagio is not just genre fiction for girls.
James Romberger discussed his long association with David Wojnarowicz and explained how the Smithsonian altered Wojnarowicz’s work even before they censored it.
I wrote a short farewell to TCJ.com blogger and editor Dirk Deppey, who has been laid off by Fantagraphics.
Ng Suat Tong discussed the work of manga-ka Hinako Sugiura.
I reviewed Terry Eagleton’s book On Evil.
Alex Buchet discussed how Superman and Shazam have affected the English Language.
Utilitarians Everywhere
At Madleloud I review The Best Music Writing 2010.
“Music itself is a call that demands response,” editor Ann Powers writes in her introduction to Best Music Writing 2010. That may be true, but it’s not exactly the message of the book she’s put together. She might have been more accurate if she had said, “Musicians are a call that demands response.” Or even, “the music industry is a call that demands response.”
Also at Madeloud, I review the new album by Ukrainian black metal group Drudkh.
At Splice Today I talk about R&B star Ciara’s career and her new album.
Other Links
This article sneering at any and all pop and rock is pretty entertaining.
I’m obsessed with the Wire at the moment. This essay about it is okay. Anybody find any better reviews online?
marc singer used to give Wire blow-by-blows on his blog (not-the beastmaster)
I’ve been poking around for Wire stuff, but haven’t found much. It made Yuletide, so it’s pretty rare. If I run across anything substantive, I’ll let you know.
“It made Yuletide so it’s pretty rare”
???? I don’t follow? Help!
Yuletide is the giant (1400+ fandoms this year) pan-fandom holiday fic gift exchange (2000+ stories). It’s only for rare fandoms. Making Yuletide is a good shorthand for knowing how rare a fandom is, particularly for Western media fandoms (it’s not so good about animanga fandoms). Usually when there’s little fic, there’s little meta. It’s now hosted on AO3.
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2010
This interview with David Simon is pretty interesting:
http://www.believermag.com/issues/200708/?read=interview_simon
Aha! I was wondering idly if there was Wire fan-fic; my guess was not a ton. It’s too self-contained and not sufficiently romantic to work well, I’d think…
I’ve seen some of Simon’s discussion of the series; I’ll check out that interview too though….
Hey Noah,
browser ate my lovely rundown so here’s a bit of a linkdump for you…
Sepinwall’s epic reviews:
http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/
Jason Mittell is a tv scholar who has done a bunch of work on the wire; not much organisation to his posts but check it out:
http://justtv.wordpress.com/?s=the+wire
Slant interview with DS:
http://www.slantmagazine.com/tv/feature/interview-david-simon/225
DS Interview on authenticity, filming in Baltimore:
http://heavenandhere.wordpress.com/2006/10/15/for-the-city-david-simon-qa/
Interview @ Vice:
http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n12/htdocs/david-simon-280.php
And usual sites did reviews on at least a couple of seasons, AV Club, TWOP, McNutt did a couple of posts (http://cultural-learnings.com/category/the-wire/), pajiba did a season 5 overview (http://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/the-wire-season-five.php)
Enjoy the criticism and the show!
Hey Jessie. Sorry, with all the links you got trapped in the spam filter — but thanks for the info! I’ll definitely check some of that out.