“The New Year reviving old desires,
The thoughtful soul to solitude aspires;
Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES ON THE BOUGH
Puts out: and Jesus from the ground suspires.”
–Omar Khayam
Tag Archives: Noah
39 Pedestrian Steps
I just watched Hitchcock’s 39 Steps for the first time — or I thought it was for the first time. I actually vaguely remembered some scenes, though, so I must have seen it before.
Anyway, it’s clear why I forgot it. It’s forgettable. Halfway through it I was like, jeez, this must be one of Hitchcock’s clunkers, right? The plot might be better described as a plot hole — from the early murder of Annabelle Smith (who stabbed her? how’d they get in the apartment? why didn’t they stab that idiot Hanney as long as they were there?) to the moronic denoument (Mr. Memory starts blithely spouting spy secrets just because someone asks him about them — that’s convenient) the narrative lurches from one nonsensical improbability to another. It’s like it was written by monkeys with their frontal lobes removed.
Utilitarian Review 12/25/10
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?
What’s In a Name?
This essay was originally published on Splice Today.
____________________
Do we really need a book defining evil? Most people, it seems, know evil well enough when they see it. Murder is evil. Torture is evil. Lying is evil and, as a direct consequence, politicians are evil. There are various caveats — some would argue that it’s not evil to murder an enemy combatant in wartime; others that waterboarding is not torture; still others that waterboarding Mark Thiessen is not torture; and still others that lying to your child about who delivered that Christmas present is not morally indecent.
Goodbye Dirk
As most of you probably know already, online editor Dirk Deppey has been let go by Fantagraphics.
Dirk promises some final thoughts tomorrow, and his twitter feed indicates the parting was extremely amicable. Personally, I think Dirk’s weblog, Journalista, is one of the few things tcj.com has managed to get right, both before last year’s redesign and after. Dirk’s been one of the most intelligent and idiosyncratic voices in the blogosphere. His weblog has been the anchor for tcj.com; the one consistent editorial presence on a site where management rarely puts in an appearance. I fear that without him the site will lose any semblance of a rudder.
But time will tell for that, I suppose. More importantly, this seems as good a time as any to acknowledge my debt to Mr. Deppey. Six years ago I was starting to try to get work as a freelancer, and sent an unsolicited article to TCJ. It sat there for months…until Dirk took over the editorship at the magazine and contacted me. I’d already placed the essay elsewhere, but he let me pitch a couple other ideas. Then he went to bat for the piece I produced when other folks at the magazine found it uncomfortably incendiary.
When I started this blog over at blogger, Dirk was far and away the most consistent supporter of the site. Tom Spurgeon, bless his heart, helped as well, but Dirk basically posted links to everything I wrote. This blog, and the audience and friends I’ve found through it, wouldn’t exist without him.
Some folks would probably count that as a mark against Dirk. Maybe so — but I know that I was not the only blogger who Dirk found and propped up. There are many other writers in the blogosphere who have had similar experiences. Dirk was tireless in locating new writers, and generous in sharing his audience with them. I’m eternally grateful to him for that.
Most of his readers probably think of Dirk primarily as an industry analyst. I always enjoyed his work in that regard, but I have to say I felt that in some way the analysis and the link-blogging were a waste of his talents. Because of his commitment to Journalista, Dirk rarely wrote long-form criticism — which is a shame, because he is probably one of the two or three best writers on comics around. His incredible, endless, delirious essay about Chobits, Love Hina, and biological determinism was perhaps the high point of his epochal shojo issue of TCJ. His 10,000 word essay on boy’s love and being a bottom is probably the best thing tcj.com published all year, and just a fantastic piece in any context. I selfishly hope that with Journalista done he might find time to write more critical and/or personal pieces in that vein.
So I’ll look forward to Dirk’s final Journalista tomorrow, and hope he keeps writing, either for tcj or somewhere else, either on comics or on other topics. Thank you, Dirk. Hope to see you soon.
Update: Dirk’s farewell column is now up. Characteristically, he put it at the end, so scroll down past the day’s links.
Moto Hagio: Girls and Artists
It took me a little while, but thanks to Melinda Beasi I finally caught up with a long review at Manga Curmudgeon by HU columnist Erica Friedman discussing A Drunken Dream. It’s in many ways a response (either intentionally or otherwise) to my series of posts on the book, and particularly to my discussion of critical reactions to the volume. It raises a bunch of interesting issues which I wanted to try to address.
Utilitarian Review 12/18/10
On HU
We started the week off with Eric Berlatsky’s guest post on space, time, comics, and modernity.
Caroline Small reviewed an exhibit of Vorticist art.
I reviewed Reinhard Kleist’s graphic autobiography of Johnny Cash.
I discussed Christianity, humor, and cartoonist Art Young.
Artist and editor Ryan Standfest replied to my essay about Art Young.
Vom Marlowe discussed art resources for drawing the human figure.
Richard Cook provided a gallery of Santa’s appearances on comics covers.
I provided an electronica mix for download.
And Alex Buchet continued his series on language and comics with word and phrases from Al Capp, Walt Kelly, and more.
Utilitarians Everywhere
At Splice Today I explain why lefties against the compromise tax bill are idiots.
I’m a liberal pinko commie. I get up on the left side of the bed, and while I brush my teeth I blame America first. The only person I think should be waterboarded is Marc Thiessen. When I hear stories of rabid Brits trashing the royal limo to protest tuition hikes, I wonder why our cajone-less electorate can’t summon the courage and basic decency to kneecap some hedge fund managers. I’m in favor of abortion rights, single-payer healthcare, and unremitting class warfare. The rich got where they are mostly by luck and subterfuge, and at least 50 percent of what they’ve got should be taken from them and put into saving Social Security or fixing Medicaid or, hell, just taken from them on general principles because income inequality corrupts the political process and also because fuck them.
Also at Splice Today, I talk about Chuck Berry’s 1987 autobiography.
It’s maybe fitting, then, that Berry’s last great artistic effort wasn’t a hit but a personal testament. His 1987 autobiography was, according to the man himself, “raw in form, rare in feat, but real in fact. No ghost but no guilt or gimmicks, just me,” and you can hear the truth in the rock of the phrase and the roll of the alliteration. Berry says he’s only read six hardbacks in his life, and that the dozens of paperbacks he’s paged through were “only for the stimulation.”
Other Links
This isn’t something I find myself thinking very often, but I agree with Megan McCardle.
Tim Hodler does the AV Club a huge favor and is mostly pilloried for it. (You need to scroll through comics to see the full extent of the fracas.)