SOMEONE DIDN’T READ THE SITE DESCRIPTION! Apparently I’m a left-wing blogger now. Ah well. Click there for a list of greatest Americans as chosen by selected left-wing bloggers plus, for some reason, me. I was a bit disappointed, though not surprised, to see that the only artist listed is Mark Twain; I voted for a whole passel of them, inc. Emily Dickinson, Lee Miller (she was American, not British, right?), and several filmmakers. Also disappointed-but-not-surprised to see Margaret Sanger on... Read more

SHANKERY WEDNESDAY: I have a lot of things I’m chewing on–mainly, this Unqualified Offerings post. But so far I haven’t come up with anything even coherent enough to blog. So I’m shanking. The UO post has a poem in it, so that’s your Poetry Wednesday as well. Killing two birds with one shank, you know. Oh, and here, have a medieval bestiary. Via Dappled Things. Tomorrow, I’ll definitely have the next installment of my short story. Other than that… we... Read more

“IN A SUPRALEGAL LOCATION”: Newsweek column on American torture. Please read this. I’m not sure the author is right about the significance of the “sources and methods” quote at the end, but that’s a fairly minor caveat. Via Ginger Stampley. Read more

MORE FICTION BLOGOSPHERE. Krubner is posting excerpts from his novel; Will Duquette’s storyblog roundup site is here. I am blogging a short story here (don’t click if you are not okay with fairly pungent language/situations)–expect the next segment of this tale on Thursday! Read more

REINVENTING COMICS: So after that vast thing below, inspired in part by Understanding Comics, what have I got to say about the sequel, Reinventing Comics? Not so much! I basically noticed three things about the book: 1) McCloud has an engaging, visual sense of humor, which made both these books a real pleasure. 2) The thing about how comics might change on the Internet–how comics might continue to represent time through space when “space” is virtually unlimited–was very intriguing, though... Read more

HE WATCHES A FILM ABOUT THE EVENING SKY/IT WAS SOMEONE ELSE’S DREAM: So I finished Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics (and its sequel, Reinventing Comics, of which more presently). I would tell you about it, but I think I need to reread some of the most interesting bits again, with favorite comics by my side for comparison. I really liked it, though, and thank Journalista! for the recommendation. The bit that I wanted to write about is a bit that even... Read more

…I wanted to say that this A, B, C, D thing is the Y-axis, and beauty or intensity of vision is the X-axis. I’m not sure that works, but I’ll go with it for the moment. The A through D scheme encompasses both insight and innovation; the beauty/intensity axis would capture both beauty (obviously) and sublimity. No, it doesn’t work, because the two axes kind of intertwine, if you see what I mean. D-art is D-class in part because it... Read more

EVIL. Link via the Cranky Professor. Read more

JUDICA ME DEUS, PART 3b: The latest installment of my short story. You can read the whole story in order starting here; or you can just read the latest chunk. “Mature content and language” as they say. More on Thursday; then the story should end either next Monday or next Thursday, depending on how fast I write. Read more

And on the spot where they watched their blog, The grasses they will never grow… A completely random assortment of topics today. Manic-Depressive Jukebox time. Hit & Run: Good sharp post pointing out that in the “Golden Age of immigrant assimilation,” there were all kinds of people who didn’t want immigrants to assimilate, and prevented assimilation through e.g. restrictive housing covenants and, you know, bigotry. Necessary corrective to people who argue that the US can’t handle 1900-sized immigration waves anymore... Read more