comic-con

Though I am certain that this history and resulting reputation is only all to painfully familiar to the initiated, I must admit that it was not until fairly recently that I discovered, to my intense delight, that the stories and characters of comic sagas could be remarkably well depicted, complex and visionary as any genre (in fact I suppose, calling it a genre, rather than a mixed-media, a vehicle for presentation, only contributed to that prejudice and dismissal), I think that this review from Vox presents a quite lucid look at the context and hysteria that diminished and declawed the artform, which has only recently and as a force-majure been brought back around in public perception. I cannot say exactly when I began to make this rediscovery for myself, reaching back to a golden age, but it was sometime between the great rebranding that came with making the format sound more adult with “graphic novel” and before the breakout of the cinema-franchises. I did receive a a bound volume of Flash Gordon classics and was really surprised to find that there was more to the story than portrayed in the space-opera or in the funny pages.
Because H did not know this character, I researched also the German equivalent, Perry Rodan—who was possibly leaning more towards Buck Rodgers but also really original and innovative in his outlook. The rise of McCarthyism and inspired patriotic fear of Communist subversion, coupled with the growing audience share of network television, however, quickly caused writers and publishers to comply with new standards or face the consequences. Seeing their retinue severely curtailed (no sexual innuendo, no supernatural beings, no corrupt officials or crooked politicians), comics became relegated to a less sophisticated readership of children and adolescents (though surely there more impressionable lot and there was not doubt a lot of guarded allegory to be found still). Having the rough edges sanded away, though there were still many true-believers and the origins endured in a canon that’s recently enjoyed a resurgence.

jam tomorrow and jam yesterday

Indeed, attention is probably the scarcest resource there is—at least by our own estimation, as we absolutely rush, harried through our daily routines, ushered by those gadgets designed to be more fleet of foot and to help us help ourselves—but surely it’s a cultural quirk, a weakness or vanity that can be appealed to like any insecurity.

As with any other matter of pride or conceit, there is a price to pay—perhaps not so obvious to the buyer and beholder, whereas it might be mockingly apparent to those outside looking in. The family of inmates—I think, is growing. This essay from Æon Magazine certainly gives pause and make one think about the idea of allotted time. Technology is both a flatterer and a heckler—our schedules, how we use time, has probably never been allowed to be so idiosyncratic, and yet there’s a dual passage of it, both incredibly slow and incredibly fast and with the same seconds, minutes and hours to savour as before, that synchronises very disparate agendas. Innovation, even when made to bear awful burdens of chauvinism, covetousness and myopia, is not imagination and generally re-enforces the society that creates it. Far from the great, relentless oppressor its easy to characterise it to be, those productivity tools that are sometimes thrust upon us (but usually willingly accepted and even sought out), and just insistent reminders of what’s left yet to be done (or what could be done) and closed-out. It is OK to leave something pending—and has been always, although ignorance or forgetfulness can no longer be substituted for avoidance and procrastination.

five-by-five

that dress: the original brunt of cyber-bullying, Monica Lewinsky, stops off in Norway on her way to present a seminar on the phenomenon

broadcast energy transmitter: researchers are making progress in beaming solar from orbiting cells

strangers have the best candy: annual roundup for oddest book titles

intermission: a loving collection of vintage theatre lobby carpets

pukebox: a subjective playlist of music most vile

afturköllun

The Foreign Ministry has informed the European Union that it will no longer be pursuing its bid of accession into the supranational monetary and trade pact.

The nation of just over three-hundred thousand residents made their bid to join the EU in 2009, just as the people were mounting a revolt, spurned by the global hedonism of speculation in investment markets that ravaged the otherwise sufficient and partaking economy that threatened to a generation without prospects and marginalise Iceland. This announcement, while doubtless a popular one and a decision to be respected by all sides ultimately, did however come from a minister who had tried before to unilaterally derail talks who committed his government without the clearance or consent of parliament. Though there is probably no chance that the minister will be made to eat his words, circumventing democratic processes does seem like rather a big deal, and though the EU remains outwardly chipper, I think it might be doing so through clenched-teeth.

five-by-five

drunk and disorderly: a supercharged tonic wine produced by monks in an abbey in Devonshire is a subject of controversy

rubber banding: some absolutely brilliantly illustrated brochures for the British video game awards

proud as a peacock: new species of spiders discovered in Australia

inked: an interactive exhibition allows people to tell a story with magical conducting ink

chatty-cathy: new fashion doll will forward children’s conversations along to corporate HQ and snitch to their parents