“So Charlaine Harris’ last Southern Vampires book, Dead Ever After, is out May 7. Except it’s kind of out now, which is why the interwebs are exploding. Some random asshat got their claws on an early copy, which is sneaky enough, but then posted the ending online, which is borderline sociopathic.” Mary Janice Davidson has [...]
The New York Times has a piece on the statistical quest for a sure thing box office hit. Meanwhile, The AV Club pans Netflix’s original series, very much grounded in algorithms, Hemlock Grove: “The genius of Netflix’s computer-programmed, demographic targeting approach to TV is that it doesn’t need to create amazing, or challenging, or even [...]
ZDNet’s Violet Blue offers ways you can join the Apr. 22 protest against The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. At The Atlantic, Rebecca Greenfield notes that CISPA has “few friends in the Senate” but has the support of “major tech companies”: “Unlike SOPA which was widely condemned in the tech community, CISPA has the [...]
Movie Morlocks ‘ R. Emmet Sweeney explores the filmmaking history of Fabergé fragrance CEO, George Barrie: “Barrie produced his films under a ‘Brut Productions’ shingle, while Brut Records put out albums by comedian Robert Klein and Brut Television co-produced the popular spy thriller series The Protectors starring Robert Vaughn. There was even a Brut Publishing [...]
A documentary on the making of Akira Kurosawa’s The Bad Sleep Well.
Gutters and Panels has a convenient timeline of notable departures, firings and bridge-burnings at DC Entertainment since 2010.
NPR’s Scott Tobias writes of Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey: “The disparity between Journey’s mercenary nature and Pineda’s inspiring triumph over adversity comes through starkly in Everyman’s Journey.” (via @TrashFilmGuru)
NPR talks about romance written by and for people of color with authors Brenda Jackson, Michelle Monkou, Camy Tang and romance critic Sarah Wendell at the Romance Writers of American convention. (The radio piece is stronger than the written synopsis).
As Popshifter has pointed out, Suzy Menkes’ article about fashion, could apply to so many other cultural pursuits now: “It is great to see the commentaries from smart bloggers — especially those in countries like China or Russia, where there was, in the past, little possibility of sharing fashion thoughts and dreams[.] But two things [...]
The Fractured Atlas has an interesting piece on Netflix’s House of Cards, the Nutcracker, data analysis and driving new content development in the arts. And Andrew Leonard has more at Salon: “Netflix’s data indicated that the same subscribers who loved the original BBC production also gobbled down movies starring Kevin Spacey or directed by David [...]
Tor.com reports on one of the largest space battles in the history of EVE Online: “A space battle kicked off entirely by accident. A space battle so big it could not be simulated, it had to be crafted and pushed forward by human ego, so big it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and yet [...]
“In an age when every conceivable permutation of pornography is immediately accessible for free online, the power dynamic between viewer and star has shifted. Most porn viewers are still quietly accessing the material from the privacy of their own homes, but because it’s so easy to get, the reverence has faded.” At the Adult Entertainment [...]
At Geek Juice, Josh Hadley’s “Industrialized Plagiarism” responds to a Village Voice piece, “How To Defend Quentin Tarantino.” Read them together for QT, Hollywood SOP, Harlan Ellison, homages, plagiarism and more.
“For a couple of years I’ve been predicting in column after column that B&N was eager to get out of the brick-and-mortar business of selling books, but seeing it finally kick into high gear was no fun.” Melville House’s Dennis Johnson draws out the implications of Barnes and Noble closing stores for the book business, [...]
DC Women Kicking Ass counts down the Best of 2012 for DC Women! Movies! Comics! Animation! Marketing! Batman!
At Gutters and Panels, John Gholson shares his 3 biggest disappointments in comics this year.
At The Globe and Mail, Michael Posner writes on Apple’s corporate censorship of Peter Ovig Knudsen’s books, Hippie 1 and 2. “The Hippie book controversy follows a series of similar attempts by Apple to censor–or deny market access–to artistic material it deems offensive.”
Couchcutter asks horror fans not to cheat themselves out of the future: “I’m not asking you to buy less Hollywood. I’m telling you that we *need* to buy more Independent. At least, if there is any independent stuff that you love or have ever loved. If one of the two have to suffer out of [...]
Sarah Wenger has made a neat infographic about women in the tech field.
John Seabrook, aka, “Uncle Pervy,” created an overview of K-Pop video for all your booty-shaking, synchronized dance needs. Make sure to click through to his article on Korean pop music for The New Yorker. (via @sammy2lighters)
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