Obviously we all know that the currency of issue #1s has been devalued of late, and we also all know that when there are so many X-Men titles, most of them are going to be throwaway. Even so, it comes as a surprise to see such a blatant filler issue so early in the run of a new title.
An odd feature of the X-Men line right now is that while the two lead titles are plainly the Bendis books, neither of them actually features the X-Men. By which I mean, they both feature teams that, until a few years ago, would have been given a different name and presented as spin-off titles. The X-Men, by any sensible definition, are the team living in the Jean Grey School. Uncanny is about Scott rebuilding a new group after the collapse of his side of the schism during Avengers vs X-Men; All-New X-Men is specifically about the time-travelling teen group, making it akin to the early nineties Legionnaires spin-off from Legion of Super-Heroes.
That ought to leave the way clear for somebody else to write the actual X-Men and have some leeway to make their book feel significant. But none of the other three titles do feel significant right now, in pretty much any way, and hitting a comedy fill-in issue about a goat seven issues in really brings that home.
In Relief of Silence and Burden
In Relief of Silence and Burden
I will not write his name. I will not speak his name. I will try not to think his name.
I saw the young man’s video, and the first thing I felt, god forgive me, was pity for this broken man child and his grotesque narcissism and his naked hatred of women, of himself.
“At a reading in Miami, a man asked something like, “Do you think all men are rapists?” I said no because I think nothing of the sort. And still, one is too many.”
The “Not All Men” thing is exhausting/frustrating/depressing/alloftheabove in large part because it is such a straw man argument than nonetheless fails to engage with itself. Of course no-one is making the argument that every single man is a rapist/killer/misogynist, because no-one truly talks in statistical absolutes like that. Nonetheless, by saying “not all men,” it suggests that there’s a threshold for it not being a problem – as if, if it’s only 10% of all men or whatever, that’s just fine.
The “And still, one is too many” cuts to the heart of that for me. At some point on Saturday, I thought to myself that the correct response to “Not all men” was “Maybe not, but more than anyone would really want and that’s the point.” But even that feels cowardly nitpicking. The correct response is probably “Just shut up and listen.”
Anyway: Read the Roxane Gay piece linked above.
You Know My Name
A belated thought, re: Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice (which, yes, is a very very strange title all told).
For all of Man of Steel, Superman isn’t called Superman. There’s even the “On my planet, the S means hope” scene to explain the symbol away without having to go anywhere near the word “Superman.” Maybe I’m misremembering, but I could’ve sworn there were thinkpieces about this, convinced that it meant that Warner Bros was afraid of the name “Superman,” as if it were too ridiculous for the self-important tone of the movie.
For the sequel, the character is not only called Superman, but the name is right there in the title – as is “Batman,” making its first appearance in a movie title since… what, 2005’s Batman Begins? That’ll be more than a decade since the character has been named in a movie title by the time BVS hits screens. It’s as if Warners has decided not only to embrace the source material, but – judging by the Dawn of Justice subtitle – overly embrace it. I look forward to future thinkpieces.
She reminded them of the BBC’s guidelines on social media, laid out on its website: “But the guidance is clear when it comes to personal activity: ‘As a BBC member of staff – and especially as someone who works in News – there are particular considerations to bear in mind. They can all be summarised as: ‘Don’t do anything stupid.’”
I would love to, but … It’s a mixture of being too lazy and also having been spoilt by writing lyrics. In songs, you can write something that’s only a page long and yet it’s the whole song. I’m reading the new Dave Eggers book [The Circle] at the moment, which is about 490 pages long. The idea of sustaining something over that length, well, I’m in awe of people who can do it. I’m more like a short-sharp-bursts kind of person.
Jarvis Cocker sums up my attitude towards writing a book. Just replacing “writing lyrics” with “blog posts.”
Yes, All Men
I’ve mostly kept my mouth shut in this latest round of calls decrying misogyny after the tragedy in Santa Barbara on Friday night, but a variety of reasons. Chief among those reasons is the fact that I am a straight white middle class dude who is the absolute embodiment of “privilege” in American…
Entirely right, especially that last paragraph.
Virginity, Experience and Shame: This is where the MRA Movement Comes From.
Virginity, Experience and Shame: This is where the MRA Movement Comes From.
We need to fundamentally change, on a mass level, how we, as a culture, discuss virginity. Because this has to stop.
Like basically anybody with a heart and a brain, I was disgusted this morning to discover that Elliott Rodger, aged 22, shot and killed seven people because he was still a…
Staff are arranging for locksmiths and services for students who left personal belongings and keys in the building.
Second year student Clare Reilly said: “It’s not about that (keys and personal belongings), four years of work is gone for all those students, the deadline was at 5pm today.
"Even the archive and library in there will be gone.
"There’s so much work and history in the building and it’s gone. I’ve got two years to go but we might not be allowed back in.”
The deadline for the degree shows was 5pm today.
Imagine all of your work being destroyed on the very day you were supposed to be finished.
(From here.)
Firefighters are tackling a major blaze at a historic building at one of Europe’s leading art schools.
The fire at Glasgow School of Art’s Charles Rennie Mackintosh building was reported at about 12.30pm.
The Scottish fire and rescue service said four appliances had been immediately sent from Cowcaddens, Yorkhill and Maryhill fire stations, and firefighters were on scene within four minutes.
Smoke could be seen billowing from the roof of the building and flames coming from some windows on the upper floors.
A post on Twitter from the school said: “The Mackintosh building is on fire, all have been evacuated & we will post updates as we get them. Currently setting up an incident number.”
As someone who (a) grew up outside Glasgow and (b) went to art school, it’s no surprise that I’ve spent a lot of time in Glasgow School of Art – whether it was short courses there while I was in high school, going to the degree shows each year or just visiting for the sake of it to see what’s happening, it was a regular haunt whenever I was in town, especially in later years; when I went back to Scotland for the first time in five years, I made a point of going up the hill just to see the building again, even though it was closed at the time I was there.
There’s something particularly heartbreaking about this news. It’s not just that a genuinely beautiful, unique building is likely destroyed – updates have suggested that the Mackintosh library has been completely gutted – but that it’s May! The degree shows, the final end-of-course work for the final year students, will have been either finished or about to be finished, and now all that work will have been destroyed as well. I can’t even imagine what it would feel like to see the culmination of four years of your life literally going up in smoke.
My heart goes out to everyone affected by this. It’s horrible. So, so tragic.