Tag Archives: Utilitarian Review

Utilitarian Review 4/15/16

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Rodrigo Lara Zendejas, Burghers of El Rayo

 
On HU

Featured Archive Post: Joy DeLyria on the reactionary perils of reboots.

Chris Gavaler and Carolyn Capps discuss their comics collaboration process.

I’m planning to do a longer blog project…not sure exactly what yet (Universal Horror Films? PKD novels? Twin Peaks?) So weigh in if you have a preference.

On Tim Burton’s Alice and colonialism.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Random Nerds I wrote in praise of trying to like the mediocre Black Panther #1.

Also at Random Nerds: brief recommendation of a great Open Mike Eagle song.

At the Reader I reviewed a great art show by Rodrigo Lara Zendejas.

Phil Sandifer and I did a podcast about Wonder Woman: Earth One and other matters.

At Splice Today I wrote about how

—NPR’s gushing review of a novel about Thomas Jeffersona and Sally Hemings is awful.

—All the Presidents’ Men shows Hollywood loves conspiracies.

—PC did not create Trump.

—the Dr. Strange trailer is a racist, boring piece of crap.
 
Other Links

Liberation Library is sending books to incarcerated children who requested them. You can donate books from their Amazon wishlist here.

Ben Joravsky on how Rahm will blast teachers, but not police.

Lindsay Gibbs on the rape charges against Kobe Bryant.
 
 

Utilitarian Review 4/8/16

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On HU

Trina Robbins on why Azzarello’s Wonder Woman is no good.

Chris Gavaler on why comics shouldn’t have words.

A review of the mediocre Laotian drama The Rocket.

Me on Coates’ Black Panther, which isn’t very good.

Me on race in Hamilton.
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Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Guardian I wrote about my favorite Merle Haggard album.

At the Establishment I wrote about how cutting edged sci-fi is often written by marginalized writers.

At Quartz I wrote about how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame keeps not inducting women (and a list of women who they should induct.)

At Random Nerds I wrote about the Sparks Conversation defense. (You know, that thing where you say, Harry Potter is awful, and your interlocutor says, “well, we’re talking about it, it can’t be that bad.)

Oh, also at Random Nerds I got a chance to recommend a looked at possible election results in the next Congress.

At Splice Today I wrote about

—how Superman in BvS is not a Muslim immigrant.

—a great indie pop R&B album by obscure indie artist Claire Keepers.
 
Other Links

Mistress Matisse Melissa Gira Grant, ethics and reporting on sex work

How Mickey Mouse evades the Public Domain.

Utilitarian Review 4/2/16

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On HU

Featured Archive Post: Craig Fischer on why Stitches is the worst comic ever.

Jimmy Johnson on borders, imperialism, and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.

Chris Gavaler on creating a comic book page for his novel (drawing by Sean Michael Robinson.)

Me on Jose Antonio Vargas’ Documented, about his experience as an undocumented immigrant.

Me on Daredevil’s blind male gaze.

Kate Skow on how all fiction is fan fiction.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Quartz I wrote about how superheroes don’t kill! in an excuse for killing.

At the Establishment I wrote about Superman vs. Batman, homoeroticism, and misogyny.

At the LA Times I wrote about hulk pooping, Kierkegaard, and fan fiction for all.

At Random Nerds I wrote about Superman 1978 and choosing supergood over superangst.

At the Week I wrote that everyone hates Congresspeople but still reelect their own Congresspeople.

At Splice Today I wrote about Steve Harvey’s dreadful dating advice book.

At the Chicago Reader I did a little review of the retro-retro-sixties band Quilt.
 
Other Links

CT May on Madonna and charges of sexism.

Kaleem Aftab on how BvS is an allegory of the Muslim experience.

Utilitarian Review 3/26/16

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On HU

Osvaldo Oyola on Dan Slott’s She-Hulk and meta-comics.

Donovan Grant on O.J. Simpson, Miles Morales, and authentic blackness.

Ben Saunders with a eulogy for Keith Emerson.

Chris Gavaler on superhero tropes and a real life Mexian vigilante.

Me on the internetsploitaton crap Uwantmetokillhim?

Me on Psycho, transmisogyny, and violence in the bathroom.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Chicago Magazine I wrote about the Chicago activist Mariame Kaba, who is leaving Chicago after 20 years.

At the Guardian I wrote about the fact that there are no good films in the Marvel Cinematic Univese.

At The Week I argued that there should be compulsory voting.

At Splice Today I wrote about

—George Strait’s best album.

—Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona and superwomen shapeshifting out of tropes.
 
Other Links

Melissa Gira Grant on how feminists have contributed to anti-trans panic.

Why Taye Diggs follows everybody on twitter.

Utilitarian Review 3/19/16

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Robert Stanley Martin has decided to move his posts off the site. His chronicle of on sale dates for comics will continue at his new location. (Hopefully we’ll be able to link you there.)
 
On HU

Featured Archive Post: Andrea Tang on recent films and the yellow peril.

Eleanor Lockhart on trans themes in the work of the Wachowski sisters.

Lindsay George on Watchmen, The Handmaid’s Tale, and anti-dystopia.

Osvaldo Oyola on the Thing, Yancy Street, and superhero ethnic identity.

Me on Old Goats and buddy movies after 65.

Roy T. Cook on Hawkeye and what ASL tells us about the definition of comics.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Establishment I wrote about the film Creative Control and how the male gaze is about staring at men.

At Playboy I wrote about Anita Alvarez’s defeat and scaring US prosecutors straight.

In my first piece for Alternet I wrote about how the police kill disabled people.

At Quartz I wrote about

—how protestors in Chicago were working against Anita Alvarez as well as against Trump.

—Trump, the nadir and how racial progress can be undone.

At the Week I wrote about why Obama’s approval ratings are high.

At the Reader I wrote about a lovely exhibit of paintings on wood panels.

At Splice I wrote about how the protests against Trump got Chait and Yglesias off the fence.
 
Other Links

Eva Gantz on sex workers at tech conferences, and on why stigmatizing them is bad.

Jos Truitt on the damage caused by the transphobia in Silence of the Lambs.

Yasmin Nair with a great piece on the limits of feminist utopias that exclude women over 40.
 

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Utilitarian Review 1/12/16

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On HU

Things were a bit livelier this week, which was good to see.

Featured Archive Post: Adrielle Mitchell on comics creators talking about their own projects.

mouse on Disney’s horny Zootopia.

Sarah Shoker on Antonin Scalia and the politics of grief.

Jennifer Heibit on The Handmaid’s Tale, Watchmen, and the differeing evils of dystopia.

I fix everything wrong with the Supreme Court.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Guardian I wrote about:

—Ghostbusters, sex, and gender swapping.

—the Matrix’s crappy gender politics, MRAs, and the Wachowski sisters.

At Quartz I wrote about Shira Tarrant’s new book The Pornography Industry and why we need more porn.

At the Week I explained why we should get rid of early voting.

At Random Nerds I interviewed André Carrington about his new book on race and science fiction.

At Pacific Standard I wrote about Rebecca Traister’s All the Single Ladies and how single women will change the world.

At the LA Times I rounded up all the theories about who is to blame for Donald Trump.

At Splice Today I argued that the Democratic candidates should endorse Kim Foxx for Cook County prosecutor.
 
Other Links

The Chicago Reader on Kim Foxx’s vision for changing the Cook County prosecutor’s office.

Nicole Brinkley on the YA novel Inexcusable and rape.

Parker Molloy on the Wachowskis coming out as trans and the disappointment of redpill MRAs.

Utilitarian Review 3/5/16

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On HU

Featured Archive Post: Kinukitty on Neil Gaiman and the death of dream.

A storify about telling people they’re privileged.

Chris Gavaler presents a superhero performance.

I reviewed the film Bethelehem about the Israeli spies and how they suck.

I reviewed the doc Next Year In Jerusalem about elderly American touring Israel.

Robert Stanley Martin with on sale dates of comics from the end of ’52.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Playboy I interviewed David Barash about how humans are naturally polygamous and harem forming.

At the Kernel I wrote about my failed Patreon campaign.

For my first piece at The Week I wrote that this isn’t the year of the political outsider.

At the Establishment I wrote about the fascist fantasies of “London Has Fallen” and Trump.

At Splice Today I wrote

—about some great future past electronica: Chema64, Gqom, and Kraftwerk reprised.

—that Sanders should quit when it’s clear he’s going to lose.

A couple of Shmoop guides I worked on were posted.

—One on Karel Capek’s R.U.R.

—One on 2001: A Space Odyssey.
 
Other Links

Jeff Spross on how we should give welfare to everyone.

C.T. May on shitty prose on the Internet.

Suzy Khimm on the movement after Sanders.
 

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