On HU
Featured Archive Post: Sean Michael Robinson on Choose Your Own Adventure books.
I discuss Rienhold Neibuhr and the egotism of pragmatism.
Erica Friedman on why she loves anime and manga, and the relation of both to Japanese culture.
I talk about the Hernandez Bros, Kirby, Barefoot Gen, and other disappointments in summer reading. A long rambling but entertaining comments thread ensues.
Marguerite Van Cook on Kirby, Lee, class, text, and credit.
I argue that schools should not be prisons.
Qiana Whitted on Blues Comics.
Interviews with J.R. Brown, Lillian Diaz-Przybyl, and Shaenon Garrity on the effect of Borders closing on manga.
Vom Marlowe on Monet and gardening.
Utilitarians Everywhere
At Splice Today I talk about Sly Stone’s disappointing new album.
Also at Splice, I review the mediocre Troll Hunter.
Other Links
Dan Nadel smacks down Grant Morrison.
Jog on his selections for the best comics poll.
And Boing Boing linked our best comics poll. People in comments hate Peanuts. Who knew such sacrilege was possible?
Disagree on Troll Hunter. That movie was hilarious. You think it’s gonna be one kind of movie, but then it turns out to be another. Trolled!
I saw it at the Fantasia film festival Another Earth, which was such an emotionally intense movie that I was honestly glad to not be asked to invest that much feeling in another set of characters. You can empathize with them if you want to, but you can also just laugh at them if you’d prefer. (I thought the Troll Hunter was a pretty sympathetic character myself – he’s got the ultimate crappy government job.)
Here’s my review from a few months ago: http://sub-divided.dreamwidth.org/13144.html
My minder when I was very small (six months to a year and a half) had previously looked out for Sly Stone while he was recovering from serious drug addictions. She later sued Stone for stealing lyrics, and then married a psychiatrist who turned out to not really be a psychiatrist.
Anyway, what I’m trying to say here is that I have great affection for Sly Stone, Dance to the Music era, because of this personal connection. “Everybody is a Star” was my favorite song for a long time. I haven’t heard any of those late 70s albums, though, which might be one of the things that’s convincing Stone that no one is interested in anything he’s done since 1971. If I had to guess, I’d say Sly put out the new album because he needs the money.
Er, that should be “I saw it at the Fantasia film festival after Another Earth,
I’ve heard some of the late 70s albums, which are really not bad.
He probably does need the money — but if you want to make money, you team up with current stars, not boomer has beens. Even as a sell out, it’s kind of a failure.
Yeah. I think there’s some mental illness issues when you start talking about Sly Stone. I think he might have some trust issues. (And after being betrayed by his manager and my minder, this is almost understandable.)