Tag Archives: Utilitarian Review

Utilitarian Review 2/1/14

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News

Featured Archive Post: Kristian Williams on morality in Mad Max, Rorschach, and Girl With the Dragon Tatoo.

Stephen King’s The Running Man and superhero fascism.

What is the worst movie of the year?

Rooting for the Nazis in Mignola’s Hellboy.

We’ve got a Bloom County roundtable on the way in a couple of weeks. If you’d like to participate, let me know.
 
On HU

Chris Gavaler on sherlock vs. sherlock vs. sherlock.

Hellboy art is not all that. Especially when you’re talking about Mignola’s Baba Yaga.

Qiana Whitted asks for PPP, “What Is An African-American Comic?”

Chris Gavaler on cowboys, superheroes, and online harassment.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Salon

— I list 18 great songs about the devil

— I talk about how the internet made me a better writer

At the Atlantic:

— I argue that just because racism and sexism is of its time doesn’t mean we should ignore it.

— I review At Middleton, which envisions college as a playground for the affluent.

At Splice Today I talk about how:

— moral foreign policy is an oxymoron.

—I would like more hypocrisy from Paul Ryan.

 
Other Links

Jeet Heer on the limitations of Herblock.

Owen Alldritt on Her as biting satire of the human condition.

Brannon Costello on Howard Chaykin and fascism.

Edie Fake on Mould Map 3.

Natalie Cecire on gender and the discussion of head injuries in football
 

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Utilitarian Review 1/25/14

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On HU

Featured Archive Post: Darryl Ayo on Before Watchmen and the children’s crusade.

I wrote about how guys in romance are hotter than the girls, and often richer too.

Lee Relvas on being a working-class artist.

James Romberger looks at Douglas Fairbanks’ The Mark of Zorro (and makes a storyboard for the film.)

Sarah Shoker on feminism, the Little Mermaid, and Frozen.

Samantha Meier with her first column on women underground cartoonists, looking at women’s comics anthologies.

Frank Bramlett with this week’s PPP post, asking how do comics artists use speech balloons?

Chris Gavaler on why superheroes should be in the academy (plus a syllabus.)
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I argue that 1984 is a romance and Julia is a MPDG.

At Salon I’ve got a song for each month of the year.

At the Center for Digital Ethics I talk about the ethics of quoting from social media.

At the Dissolve I review:

Old Goats, a crappy senior citizen buddy movie.

Mercedes Sosa, a lovely doc about the radical singer.

At Splice Today I talk about:

—how to be anti-war a film needs to not be a war film (looking at Full Metal Jacket and Atonement.)

—Armond White and why 12 Years as Slave as torture porn isn’t a bad thing.

Other Links

Michael Carson talks about Lone Survivor and the ironic kitsch of war movies.

Andreas Stoehr is completely wrong about Her, but his review is still lovely.

Osvaldo Oyola on Ms. Marvel and revisionist feminist history.

Christina Kahrl on how Grantland screwed up in outing a trans woman.

Grace takes down Dinesh D’Souza with Gifs.

Sarah Kendzior with a great piece about academic publishing.

Raymond Cummings provides a public service message from Barack Obama.

Molli Desi Devadasi on problems with the sex work rescue industry.
 

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Utilitarian Review 1/18/14

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On HU

Feature Archive Post: James Romberger on late Jack Kirby.

I talk about romance, patriarchy, and Jennifer Cruise’s Welcome to Temptation.

I talk about smugness and climate scientists.

Craig Fischer on women in B.P.R.D.

Osvaldo Oyola on interpretation, dream, and Matt Kindt’s Mind MGMT

Chris Gavaler on lit fic, genre, and teaching writing.

Roy T. Cook for PPP looks at art changes in the Invisibles from floppy to trade, and asks whether, or how much, the comic is changed.

Erica Friedman on zombies and gender in Attack on Titan.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I talk about slavery films, Oscars, and white saviors.

At Salon I list 24 great movie soundtracks, from R.D. Burman to Carl Stalling to Outkast to Miles Davis.

At Splice Today I am skeptical that Andrew Sullivan will trasform the media.

Other Links

Nicky Smith kicks the odious Her.

Julia Serano talks about dating and politics.

A thoughtful defens of Armond White.

Sarah Kessler with a great piece on Girls and work.
 

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Utilitarian Review 1/11/14

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News

So we’re getting a good bit more spam since I turned off the captcha requirement. Is this annoying people? Or is it worth not having to struggle with the captcha? Let me know if people are happy as is or if I should try to bring the captcha back.

On HU

Featured Archive Post: a report on a panel on gender and cartooning in Chicago.

I review the mediocre mockumentary Troll Hunting.

A list of the best essays I wrote in 2013.

Ilana Gershon on firing teachers for what they say on social media.

Chris Gavaler on the superhero pilgrimage to Tibet.

Richard Cook got engaged! To celebrate, he provides a history of marriage in comic book covers.

Adrielle Mitchell for PencilPanelPage kicks Moon and Ba’s Daytripper.

Isaac Butler on the labor practices of the theater The Flea and whether people should be paid for acting. (This is I think our biggest single day post since the Victorian Wire in terms of traffic.)
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic

—I argue that Britney belongs in Vegas.

—I celebrate Sherlock Holmes’ freedom from copyright.

At Salon I have a list of winter songs.

At the Dissolve I am unimpressed with The Rocket, a feel-good Laotian drama with spunky kids.

At Splice Today I write about

the upsides of hypocritical homophobia.

Chris Christie losing my vote.
 
Other Links

NPR’s Code Switch did a big segment on Orion Martin’s HU piece asking What if the X-Men Were Black?

Calum Marsh on why every war movie is a pro-war movie.

Jonathan Bernstein has started his new politics blog at Bloomberg.

Andreas Stoehr has a brutal short review of Saving Mr. Banks.

Jill Filopovic on online harassment of women.
 

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Utilitarian Review 1/4/14

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On HU

Featured Archive Post: Matt Seneca interviews CF.

Me on romance definitions, Pamela Regis, and the defensive crouch.

Chris Gavaler on real life superheroes and vigilantes.

A list of some highlights from 2013 at HU.

Brian Cremins for PPP on Otto Binder and Joe Orland’s “I, Robot” as protest.

Kaily Kent on the underrated achievement of Jillian and Mariko Tamaki’s Skim.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I talked about Sankofa and the need for more slavery films.

At Splice I reviewed the two albums from my that I hadn’t managed to write about yet. Those are:

— Guy Clark’s My Favorite Picture of You.

—Jeri Jeri’s 800% Ndagga.
 
Other Links

Can’s remember if I linked this before, but worth doing again; Tom Spurgeon has a long interview with Brian Cremins.

In praise of snark as an alternative to smarm.

Someone else noticed that the Pajama Boy discussion was linked to anti-semitism.

From a bit back; science blogging has some of the same problems with sexual harassment that comics do it looks like.

Ami Angelwings talks about dealing with transphobia on OK cupid.

Man is this Wax Audio Metallica vs. Herbie Hancock mashup amazing.
 
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Utilitarian Review 12/28/13

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On HU

Featured Archive Post: Tom Crippen with a gallery of Robert Binks’ Christmas cards.

Me on sadism and Jess Franco’s Sinister Eyes of Dr. Orloff.

Kailyn Kent and Osvaldo Oyola on the X-Men as assimilationist melodrama.

Bert Stabler on teaching cartoons and failing to teach cartoons.

Chris Gavaler on Jesus Christ vs. Superman.

Best albums of 2013.

Superheroes are about fascism but don’t necessarily promote fascism.

Who gains from a lack of diversity in sci-fi?
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Salon I write about:

— why Love Actually is no good and you should read a romance novel instead.

—22 great duets.

At Splice Today I write about:

—arcade games and cyborg nostalgia.

—pajama boy and anti-semitism

Also I participated in the 2013 Splice Today best music poll.
 
Other Links

Rachel Edidin on Scott Lobdell’s weak apology for sexually harassing Mari Naomi onstage during a comics panel. Brigid Alverson also has a good post about the issues involved.

Alyssa Rosenberg on the Duck Dynasty mess.

Osvaldo Oyola on Oglaf, the fantasy sex comic.

Amazon cracks down on monster porn.

Carolina D. on Her and disembodied femininity.

Utilitarian Review 12/21/13

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Conversations-magnum

from Lilli Carre’s show at the MCA in Chicago

 
News

The holidays are upon us, obviously. Not exactly sure what posting here will be like. We’ll definitely have new posts Monday and Tuesday, and PencilPanelPage is posting Thursday…so, yeah, we’ll be around in some form or other most of the week. So stop by if you have a minute to spare from the merriment.

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Richard Cook with a gallery of Super-Santa covers.

I talk about the Regency Romance as horror and the Cecelia Grant’s Blackshear series.

I write about the small as life pleasures of Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

Orion Martin asks “What if the X-Men were black?”

Robert Stanley Martin is mostly underwhelmed by Julie Maroh’s comic “Blue Is The Warmest Color.

Chris Gavaler on Paul Revere, Batman,and jihad.

I wrote about the first X-Men comics in which the X-Men behave as establishment lackeys.

Michael A. Johnson on Christmas and the seasons of Krazy Kat. This finishes up the PPP Krazy Kat roundtable.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Chicago Reader I reviewed Lilli Carre’s lovely show at the MCA in Chicago.

At Salon:

—I listed 14 country songs for people who hate country.

— I talked about Her and Philip K. Dick and empathy for white guys.
 
Other Links

At the Atlantic I talked about Vivian Maier and the uncomfortable politics of outsider art.

At Splice Today I talk about

—America’s educational apartheid, and how you can’t fix schools by fixing schools.

— conservatives, progressives, and polygamy.
 
Other Links

Mari Naomi writes about being harassed onstage at a comics panel. Scott Lobdel, who was the harasser in question, apologizes.

And how to discourage women from cartooning.

Ta-Nehisi Coates on the toughest gang in Chicago.

Wazhma Frogh on the problem with trying to save victims of human trafficking when you don’t know what you’re doing.

Meghan Murphy on twitter feminism.

As Brienne point out, this music best of from Mother Jones is pretty funny.

Some idiot plagiarized Dan Clowes, if you haven’t already heard.