Blogging persists, of course. But it’s mostly for adults – professionalised to the point where the old “bloggers vs journalists” debates now seem hopelessly quaint. Maintaining a personal blog has become entrepreneurial: a job that earns an income through display advertising, network marketing, ebooks and blog-to-book deals.
Concomitantly, blogging has indelibly influenced mainstream news reporting, which is now much more immediate, informal, link-rich and inclusive of reader comments. When I taught online journalism at Monash University from 2009-11, students published their assignments on WordPress blogs.
So for young people, blogs are work, not play. A 2008 Pew research project found that while 85% of 12 to 17-year-olds engaged in electronic personal communication (including texting, email, instant messaging and commenting on social media), 60% didn’t consider these texts to be “writing”. Another study in 2013 revealed that teenagers still distinguish between the “proper” writing they do for school (which may be on blogs) and their informal, social communication.
By contrast, my fondness for prose – and my disgusted CLOSE TAB when an interesting link turns out to be, ugh, a video – marks me as a digital fogey. I didn’t get Tumblr for the longest time. Why were people just reblogging other people’s posts?
I saw a couple of other gripes about the obvious expiration date on this big change, and how that undermines the character’s worth. A few people were legit concerned that editor Wil Moss called this Thor the Thor and not a “temporary female substitute.” How could she not be a temporary substitute if He-Thor’s gonna come back eventually? After decades of reading these things, I’ve come to accept that words like “temporary” have a very different meaning in comics. Temporary still means temporary, it’s just used to differentiate between two different lengths of temporary. There’s the type of temporary used for one storyarc and then done with – like Punisher’s Captain America costume or Spider-Man’s “Other” powers – and the type of temporary implied when Moss says this Thor is not temporary. This Thor is permanent in no doubt the same way that Bucky’s Captain America and Doc Ock’s Superior Spider-Man were permanent. Both had lengthy stints in the headlining role and left a sizeable footprint on the comic book landscape; both of those runs will be remembered for a very, very long time, even if they’re both over now.
This is genuinely impressive in its attempt to explain away what was either a lie or mistake on Wil Moss’ part in regards to the announcement of the new Thor. “Well, it’s temporary, but not temporary.” Yeah, sure; that makes sense.
(From here.)
Sure, part of it was that by that point, I had begun to feel a little like a one-hit wonder. But I also realized that I didn’t recognize the manic pixie anymore. Clearly labels and definitions are inherently reductive. And if you are a critic, labels and names and definitions are a necessary evil. But it’s a particular feature of the fast-paced, ephemeral world of online criticism that writers are always seeking quick reference points to contextualize their analysis — so the rise of the MPDG was in large part a creation of the Internet as well.
He’s come in to meet on a lot of our movies over the years, in particular Guardians. He had a lot of awesome things to say on Guardians. But James [Gunn] had a slightly more solid take that was of interest to us.
I shit you not, this is Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige seeking to reassure people that replacement Ant-Man director Peyton Reed will do a great job. Because nothing reassures people more than saying “Okay, so he was our third choice replacement for the director who walked off the project, but he was also our second choice director for the movie that’s just about to come out, so, guys? Come on, right, guys?”
He’s come in to meet on a lot of our movies over the years, in particular Guardians. He had a lot of awesome things to say on Guardians. But James [Gunn] had a slightly more solid take that was of interest to us.
I shit you not, this is Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige seeking to reassure people that replacement Ant-Man director Peyton Reed will do a great job. Because nothing reassures people more than saying “Okay, so he was our third choice replacement for the director who walked off the project, but he was also our second choice director for the movie that’s just about to come out, so, guys? Come on, right, guys?”
14/07/2014, Arts Extra – BBC Radio Ulster
14/07/2014, Arts Extra – BBC Radio Ulster
Marie-Louise Muir covers film, television, music, books and the visual arts.
I refuse to listen to this on the grounds of oh God are you joking of course not, but I was on live radio this morning and thankfully stopped myself saying the words “shit tons” just in time. The idea that Irish radio called Portland, Oregon to speak to a Scot about a Welsh TV show tickles me no end. This international world of the Internet!
Which is not to say I wasn’t nervous, by the way. I was terrified. I had no idea I’d be as nervous as I was. I’ve done storytelling shows before, and those are a bit nervewracking, but this was something else entirely. Storytelling shows have a sort of implicit sanction: If it happened to you, it’s interesting. Last night, I wasn’t just relating a personal experiences—I was sharing sentences I constructed in the hopes of to eliciting a specific physical reaction from the crowd. If that reaction didn’t happen—if no one laughed—it would be because I was doing a bad job. Period.
My friend Alison Hallett does stand-up open-mic despite being terrified of public speaking, and then writes about it. I cannot tell you how in awe of her I am for this. No sarcasm; I am utterly mortified at the prospect of doing this, and for her to just do it despite the fear? So so impressive.
