Media links;
i had a longish series of stories about my Christmas vacation and New Year's and things which got eaten by the Clipboard. it will probably be resurrected tonight, but until then, some things i've found recently;
***
1. in Chicago i was able to buy the most recent [twelfth] issue of Berlin, this great graphic novel by Jason Lutes which is about people living in said city during the early 30s. now i have all of them except the 2nd, which is for some reason out of print. the art is beautiful: the landscapes are absolutely perfect, and, for effect, the faces are a little off. the only problem is the main character, Marthe, and her Weltschmerz, but maybe she'll stop bothering me so much now that she's become a part-time lesbian. graphic novels + modern history = wonderful.
2. also, i've become addicted to Video Dog, which is Salon's video blog [i think "vlog" is a disgusting word] with, mostly, clips from TV shows. i know the prevailing opinion among my people is that TV is disgusting, and i don't watch very much of it myself, honestly, but i don't think there's anything inherently corrosive in pop culture. anyhow, the clips are all little absurdities and banalities from television shows: local news anchors discussing the end times, Pat Robertson suggesting God smote Ariel Sharon, and finger-puppet reenactments of particularly ridiculous situations from reality television, created by Heather Havriletsky, who runs Rabbit Blog. they remind me of the GI Joe pastiches, and that's very good. the same sort of subversion of authority through ridiculousness, although the GI Joe movies attack a very concrete, obvious figure of paternalism and militarism, and the Hen and Bunny clips are aimed at abstract and insidious cultural absurdities, Donald Trump's frenzied businessman banality or the Christianity of Amazing Race contestants.
(and Heather Havriletsky's articles are also very good. she links to them from her blog. read the one about Alanis Morrissette.)
3. this and this are from chi_thirdrail, who knows more about the el than anyone else in Chicago. more video pastiche, only this time it's overtly political. very funny, though.
***
1. in Chicago i was able to buy the most recent [twelfth] issue of Berlin, this great graphic novel by Jason Lutes which is about people living in said city during the early 30s. now i have all of them except the 2nd, which is for some reason out of print. the art is beautiful: the landscapes are absolutely perfect, and, for effect, the faces are a little off. the only problem is the main character, Marthe, and her Weltschmerz, but maybe she'll stop bothering me so much now that she's become a part-time lesbian. graphic novels + modern history = wonderful.
2. also, i've become addicted to Video Dog, which is Salon's video blog [i think "vlog" is a disgusting word] with, mostly, clips from TV shows. i know the prevailing opinion among my people is that TV is disgusting, and i don't watch very much of it myself, honestly, but i don't think there's anything inherently corrosive in pop culture. anyhow, the clips are all little absurdities and banalities from television shows: local news anchors discussing the end times, Pat Robertson suggesting God smote Ariel Sharon, and finger-puppet reenactments of particularly ridiculous situations from reality television, created by Heather Havriletsky, who runs Rabbit Blog. they remind me of the GI Joe pastiches, and that's very good. the same sort of subversion of authority through ridiculousness, although the GI Joe movies attack a very concrete, obvious figure of paternalism and militarism, and the Hen and Bunny clips are aimed at abstract and insidious cultural absurdities, Donald Trump's frenzied businessman banality or the Christianity of Amazing Race contestants.
(and Heather Havriletsky's articles are also very good. she links to them from her blog. read the one about Alanis Morrissette.)
3. this and this are from chi_thirdrail, who knows more about the el than anyone else in Chicago. more video pastiche, only this time it's overtly political. very funny, though.