Here are two interviews worth looking at: Arafat Kazi talks to the inimitable Paolo Bacigalupi, and Avi Solomon interviews the brilliant Ted Chiang. Both of these interviews deal with their most recent works, neither of which I’ve read yet but Bacigalupi’s novel is high in my pile of books to get to, and Chiang’s is in my list of books to get, period.
Month: August 2010
Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book by Gerard Jones
Jewish Geeks, Italian Gangsters, Porn, Businessmen, Comics, Superheroes, Artists, Ghost-Artists, Wives and Girlfriends… and Superman. That, in a nutshell, is what this book deals with. But then, in a nutshell, humans are water, some meat, a little electricity, and dreams. That isn’t the story, and what the story of this book is, is the story of geek culture — its genesis, its struggle to survive, and its eventual triumph. Even if, like me, you’re more familiar with comic book characters through their cinematic adaptations, this book is worth a look. While I’m not a Superman fan, I was not bothered …
Write-a-Thon Results
Well, as I announced about six weeks ago, I participated in the Clarion West Write-a-Thon again this year, I think the first time since 2007. I pledged something insane: to write three academic papers in six weeks, to the point of them being ready to send out at the end of the six weeks. Well, the result was: close, but not quite, but I’m still quite chuffed by what I did achieve, and a few things got thrown into the mix that I didn’t expect, so I’m overall quite pleased with what I did manage: The first paper I worked …
Net Connected Ganked…
So if you’re trying to get hold of me, today’s a bad day. Sorry!
이끼 (Moss)
Well, it’s been a while since I saw a Korean film that I couldn’t quite understand with my limited Korean. (Of course some lines go over my head, but I usually get the gist.) This film, on the other hand, frustrated me like mad. I think part of the reason–probably because it’s based on a comic book–is that there is a lot of non-action action. What I mean by that is, there are a lot of sequences that serve the same function as action sequences, but which actually feature characters either standing still or movingly only a little. Frankly, the …