Wonder Woman Conquers the World!
I’m starting to get some reviews in on my Wonder Woman book. I’ll list them in Utilitarian Review weekly as they come in. For a complete list of reviews/interviews/events/articles and more related to my book, go here.
And the first full review of the book is from Publisher’s Weekly.
On HU
Featured Archive Post: Bill Randall answers the question What is Manga?
We finished our last full week of the Best Band No One Has Ever Heard Of roundtable. Entries included:
A thread on the Best Artist No One Has Ever Heard Of (I voted for my friend Bert Stabler, because no one appreciates him enough.)
Chris R. Morgan on the punk pain of Thoughts of Ionesco.
Otrebor on classical music and metal in Windham Hell and Virgin Black.
Dana Schechter on the mysterious psych folk duo Natural Snow Buildings.
A.Y. Daring on EGOIST, the band behind the anime “Psycho-Pass”.
Quinn Miller on Norma Tanega’s “Walking My Cat Named Dog.”
Utilitarians Everywhere
At the Atlantic I wrote about:
— the glorious salvation of Beyonce fan fiction.
— Nicki Minaj, superheroes, and fascism. (I also woke up very early and stuttered my way through an interview with the CBC on the same topic.)
For Pacific Standard I wrote about Jeffrey Zacks’ Flicker and how our brains can’t tell film from reality.
At Reason I wrote about how the UK copyright system is even worse than ours.
For the U of C Magazine I wrote about Wonder Woman and Bella and why the greatest superpower is love.
At CBR I explained why Adam West Batman is the only real Batman.
At the LA Review of Books I explained why spoilers are good, and all your art shoudl be spoiled.
I discovered that this transcript of my interview on CNN about Emma Watson, men, and misogyny is online.
At Splice Today I complain about the tragedy of Noah. Get your own damn name, stupid kids.
Other Links
Janell Hobson on Nicki Minaj and the performance of white supremacy.
Mary McCarthy, on why she feels it’s important to acknowledge that her sister’s death was a suicide.
Someone online made the point of irony that Drake, who’s part Jewish himself, has a presence in the seemingly Nazi-ish video. A lot of it comes across as gross oversight to me.
Janell Hobson points out that there are lots of reasons for black people to be uncomfortable with Nazi imagery too — Hitler killed black people when he could, and would have killed more if he had the chance. fwiw.
Just read that they based the look of the video on Metalocalypse, and I can definitely see that.
It’s just amusing how Nicki’s propensity to use offensive imagery is often explained by the intention of trying to make a larger point, however misguided. I’m reminded of the “Lookin’ Ass Niggaz” picture with, for some reason, Malcolm X, and how she was rightly lambasted for it.
LAN is great.
I think people sometimes make the mistake of thinking that if something is offensive, or intended to shock, then it can’t mean anything else, or any other meaning doesn’t matter. I don’t really think that’s the case.
Here’s my piece on Lyin’ Ass, in case you’re interested.
“I think people sometimes make the mistake of thinking that if something is offensive, or intended to shock, then it can’t mean anything else, or any other meaning doesn’t matter. I don’t really think that’s the case.”
Yeah, I’d absolutely agree with that. I’d also add though that should someone use provocative imagery to make a subversive point, people may tend to think of them as either short-sighted for not being aware of the unfortunate implications or just plain pretentious for trying to provoke them in the first place.
I actually kind of liked “Only” as a song funnily enough, and Nicki’s definitely got talent. However I really can’t stand whenever she puts herself under some sort of theatrical spotlight and goes for a point through means of provocation, as it’s often done (in my experience) in an in-artful, messy way that obfuscates any point she was trying to make and you come away from it thinking she’s just annoying. I’ve read a handful of your various articles on her though Noah, so if you have any defense for “Stupid Ho” (both song and video), I’d love to read it! Comes down to basically she’s way smarter than she often can come off, but she’s not as smart as she thinks. Or, to not be mean about it, she just needs to try and make her point clearer. IMO.
I don’t think I’ve heard “Stupid Ho” — maybe I’ll try to check it out though.
I think Minaj is about being provocative and outrageous. It’s a rock and roll, hip hop thing — and older than that too, I’d say. I think she can be very smart about it; I think Lyin’ Ass and Anaconda are both pretty great. She’s inconsistent for sure, though.