Well, as you may or may not have noticed, we’re still here. Hopefully we’ll shift over to TCJ early next week. In the meantime, here is your weekly wrap as usual.

On HU

I started the week off with a long discussion of the question Can Wonder Woman Be a Superdick?

Richard sneered at Image United.

I sneered at Carol Lay’s Big Skinny.

Vom Marlowe praised the stick figure art in xkcd.

Kinukitty pledged eternal devotion to Japanese cross-dressing reality shows.

And this week’s download features a bunch of things I learned about through the Factual Opinion’s year-end best of.

Utilitarians Everywhere

Bert Stabler and I have a long conversation about The Book of Job of all things. Here’s probably my best bit:

The second epilogue, perhaps, is the crucifixion. You can see the wheels turning in God’s head after Job 42, perhaps, maybe in a kind of Stan Lee or Star Trek vein — “How strange these humans are! So weak, and yet, parodoxically, so strong! I must study them more closely…and to do that I must become — One Of Them!”

Next: Comes a Man-God!

And keeping with the religious theme, I have an article about Anthony Heilbut’s gospel compilations over on Madeloud.

Anthony Heilbut is probably the most influential white atheist in African-American gospel music. His 1971 book, The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times, was the seminal study of the genre. In addition to being a scholar, he was also an influential producer and compiler, and the records he put together remain some of the best introductions to the music. Many of his compilations and projects were on vinyl and never made the leap to disc — but many more were done more recently and are still, blessedly, in print.

I have a review of Rihanna’s new album over at Metropulse.

And finally, for the new TCJ sight I’ve reviewed Junko Mizuno’s Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu and Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit. Of course, since the site is in beta, these links may be broken by the time you click on them…which is one reason that going live from Beta is maybe not the best of all possible ideas. Just sayin’.

Other Links

Jog has a massive, encyclopedic discussion of all things manga. I haven’t made it through yet, but it looks stunning.

Gary Morris has an interesting discussion of his new book of film interviews here.

And your Thai pop video of the week: Duangjun Suwannee with Mon Boo Doo.