Tag Archives: Utilitarian Review

Utilitarian Review 10/18/13

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On HU
Our Indie Comics vs. Context roundtable rolled on.

We had an Indie Comics vs. Google Trends showdown.

A music sharing post featuring indie cartoonists who also rock (or make other noises.)

Kailyn Kent on indie comics and the context of fannishness.

I wrote about gender in Johnny Ryan’s “Spring Break”

Charles Reece on feminism and Fukitor.

Qiana Whitted on Jennifer Cruté, race, risk, and underground cartooning.

Owen A looks at influences on the work of Rusty Jordan and Roman Muradov.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere
At the Atlantic I wrote about the documentary My Other Me, Cosplay and authenticity.

At Splice Today I wrote about the video for Lucius’ song “Turn It Around” and retor failure.

Tracy Q. Loxley talked to me and others about whether men who talk about feminism online get harassed (the consensus was not so much.)
 
Other Links
Splice Today is having an autobiographical writing contest with a $1000 prize.

Charles Hatfield takes a sledgehammer to the mediocre new PBS documentary on superheroes.

Danielle Paradis with a piece ostensibly about Miley Cyrus but actually about the sexualization of waitstaff.

Joseph Thomas on how our idiotic copyright regime is going to prevent him from publishing his biography of Shel Silverstein.
 
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Utilitarian Review 10/12/13

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On HU

Featured Archive Post: James Romberger on Alex Toth’s late horror comics.

Pam Grier is too cool to write an interesting memoir.

I argue that nobody should care who wrote the Jack Kirby/Stan Lee collaborations because the writing isn’t any good.

Ng Suat Tong on Satoshi Kon’s mediocre Tropic of the Sea.

We started our Indie Comics vs. Context death match roundtable. See our handy index here.

RM Rhodes on Hipster Hitler and American Captain — old icons in new context.

Bert Stabler on how Matt Groening improved the Simpsons by disappearing.

Jacob Canfield reviewed The Graphic Textbook and found it wanting.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Salon I argue that if you want good advice on writing you should ask a hack.

I wrote a fun piece at Splice about various versions of Bonnie Raitt’s schmaltz standard I Can’t Make You Love Me

At the Atlantic I talk about:

—Miley Cyrus, Jeff Koons, and the goal of pop artificiality.

—a documentary about the first independent television station in Afghanistan.
 
Other Links

Laura Hudson interviews Eva Orner on her documentary The Network, about the first independent TV station in Afghanistan.

James Romberger on Jack Kirby’s In The Days of the Mob.

Zack Beauchamp on how racism caused the shutdown.
 

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Utilitarian Review 10/5/13

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On HU

I talked about The Interrupters and violence in Chicago.

Our music sharing post featured Ms. Jade and lots more.

Alex Buchet reaches America with his series on the prehistory of the superhero.

Subdee on Homestuck dealing with its fans.

Chris Gavaler on the Western voyages of Sinbad.

Me on Hulk vs. Jeff Koons.

Chris Gavaler on a tea party superhero.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic Cities I interviewed Daniel Hertz about the inequality of violence in Chicago.

At the Atlantic I reviewed a new documentary about Muscle Shoals.

At Splice Today I wrote about:

—how great Cassie is.

— how the shutdown is really not very much like the Civil War.
 
Other Links

Jeffrey O. Gustafson compares Adventure Time 19 to Solaris.

Mikki Kendall on violence and segregation in Chicago.

Corey Blake wonders if Comixology should go public.

Jonathan Bernstein on Republican party dysfunction.

Utilitarian Review 9/28/13

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I think this week I’m going to experiment and have a featured archive post every day rather than one a week. We’ll see how it goes. You have been warned!

On HU

Featured Archive Post:Linsey Bahr on fashion in the Hunger Games and Gattaca.

Walter Benjamin on the internet as socialist utopia.

Our music sharing post: check out what folks have been listening to.

Michael Arthur on racism and funny animals.

Jacob Canfield provides a useful guide so you can figure out if you’re being a censor.

Chris Gavaler explains Joss Whedon’s next project.

I talk to Julia Serano about call out culture and exclusion in feminist and queer communities.

Vom Marlowe on how GoodReads needs to let its readers talk about it when authors are assholes.

People who make art shouldn’t appropriate Hulk!
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I:

—wrote about the documentary The Muslims Are Coming.

—interviewed Julia Serano about the reality of gender and her new book Excluded.

—wrote about segregation and violence in Chicago.

At Splice Today I wrote about:

—Tim Wise, Robert Shaw, white allies and failure.

—how Alexander Hamilton was the Dick Cheney of his day.
 
Other Links

This is a pretty horrible story about the Chicago police.

Helen Rittelmeyer with a lovely piece about Charles Lamb’s Confessions of a Drunkard.

Hating perfect actress hair.

Brian Cremins on Bill Mauldin’s Back Home.
 

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Utilitarian Review 9/21/13

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On HU

Featured Archive Post: Caroline Small on how SPX blows her mind.

Me on why Harry Potter isn’t very good (it’s all about quidditch.)

Isaac Butler on perceiving race.

Alex Buchet continues his series on the prehistory of the superhero, this time focusing on Holmes and Wells.

RM Rhodes argues that SPX has something for everyone, unlike the mainstream.

Osvaldo Oyola on queer silence and a radical ending for the Killing Joke.

Me on the Joker’s wife, and also no how the Killing Joke is sanctimonious pulp crap.

Chris Gavaler on the superheroine dress code and how the mainstream is (slowly) becoming less sexist.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

For my first ever piece at Salon, I talk about Ender’s Game and making genocide a sacrament.

At the Atlantic I argue that the NYT Book Review should just embrace its identity as a lit fic fanzine.

At the Atlantic I talk about the documentary the Revolutionaries and why right-wing ideologues in Texas are only part of a broader problem with education.

At Splice Today I talk about how racists who think Indians are Arabs aren’t actually confused (just racist.

 
Other Links

David Brothers on how racists-react-to-things posts are themselves racist.

Feminists pretend Playboy cares about consent.

on why focusing on confessions of white privilege are counter-productive.
 

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Utilitarian Review 9/14/13

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On HU

Featured Archive Post: Jones, One of the Jones Boys on visual aliens; characters drawn in a different style than everything around them.

Jack B. on Johnny Ryan and the appeal of bullying.

We’re going to have an indie comics vs. context death match roundtable.

RM Rhodes says stop complaining about Marvel and DC and vote with your feet.

Kailyn Kent on how the romance narrative eats Lucy in A Room With a View.

Richard Cook and I live-blogged the Presidential address on Syria.

Richard Cook with ads of food from comic books.

Me on seeing and not seeing race in the Pixies, Danity Kane, Johnny Ryan and Bloom County.

Chris Gavaler on superhero anatomy then and now.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I wish people would talk about poems rather than poetry.

Also at the Atlantic I talk about the uncomfortable racist roots of anti-interventionism.

At the Chicago Reader I’ve got some previews of upcoming pomo museum shows.

At Splice I explain to the mainstream that black metal does not equal fascism necessarily (just genocide.)

I also argue that morally shaming people for not putting their kids in public school is not a good idea.
 
Other Links

An excerpt about being an ally to trans women from Julia Serano’s wonderful book Excluded.

Jeet Heer interviewed about his new book about Francoise Mouly.

Interesting piece at Slate refuting the case for charter schools and vouchers.

And Richard Dawkins once again brings shame to atheists everywhere. Thanks, Richard.

Utilitarian Review 9/7/13

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On HU

Featured Archive Post: Jacob Canfield on Johnny Ryan, Benajamin Marra, and lazy thinking in comics criticism.

Piyali Bhattacharya with a short review of Bea Ridgway’s River of No Return.

I celebrate the glorious alienation of Chicago juke.

I explain why Shelby Lynne is not death metal.

Ng Suat Tong looks at Dan Clowes’ short story “Justin Damiano,” about critics and criticism.

Alex Buchet continues his pre-history of the superhero, with a focus on sci-fi from Verne to Vril.

I talk about Kazuo Umezu’s Butterfly Grave and how weak mothers eat their young.

Chris Gavaler on his mother’s superpowers and her aging.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I interviewed Stanley Hauerwas about intervention in Syria.

At Reason I review a love letter to an Afghan warlord.

At Splice Today I talk about

— how the Internet hates you, and what to do about it.

— Dungeons and Dragons and the rule of nerds.
 
Other Links

Robert Reece on black men’s bodies and the white female gaze.

Elizabeth Sampat on why the guys who do Penny Arcade need a swift kick in the shins.
 
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