Dance crazes aren’t new, but the Harlem Shake appears to go beyond the twist, the conga, and the Gangnam, inspiring freedom in the Middle East. Like the horrified townspeople in Footloose, but with the ability to kill, certain self-declared authority figures are horrified that young people want to express themselves.
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A fascinating article at NPR (with audio) about Danish band Efterklang and how they spent nine days on the island of Spitsbergen, in an abandoned Russian mining town. The reason: to get ideas for their new album, Piramida. Aside from the good music, this is story that could be mined for a science fiction novel or novella, or any plans to send humans into outer space. Unable to bring pets with them, the workers had pictures of animals. And, the Danish band members’s biggest worry (aside from cold and loneliness)?Worrying about polar bear attacks. Though owned by Norway, the island of Spitsbergen now largely has been abandoned to the wild. As one of the band members said, “It’s a territory controlled by Norway, but it’s not really Norway.”
Not just 100 books, not even the top 10, but 1000 novels! The Guardian ran this in 2009, so many a couple more books since published might make the list some day. Grouped by genres rather than author, there are many repeat authors, and many omissions. Not a single Jack Vance novel, nothing by Tim Powers, James Blaylock, one of Robert Heinlein’s worst books makes the list and no other novels of his. As far as Terry Pratchett, rather than list one or two of five books (like Muriel Spark), they are grouped under “Discworld series” which has over 30 books. Nice cop-out, Guardian. Like any list, I suppose. Definitive is a subjective term.
From the Wall Street Journal, a review of several young adult novels. The first, Sally Gardner’s Maggot Moon, sounds enticing: “dystopia feels new again; it reclaims its power to shock.”
Good news from a great band. Four years after their last release, Scottish band Camera Obscura will release a new album later this year. 2013 Marks a good year for new releases, with music from My Bloody Valentine, Stripmall Architecture, The National, Daughter, Mew, and more.
An all-too-brief article on the current trend in young adult fiction: dystopian nightmares.
Recent article on what really drove Orwell to write 1984 (intellectually), and how many communists disavowed Orwell. both prior to and after the publication of the book.
Once I registered for the New York marathon through the lottery, but since they changed their rules I gave up on that big marathon. Now it appears that the Chicago marathon, whose initial registration system crashed when too many people attempted to register for the 25k spots, will switch to the lottery for the remaining 15k spots. Will they make this a permanent change? I think it’s likely, since marathons are becoming sold out everywhere now.
Greg Beato at reason has an article on how government turned comic books into propaganda. The campaign against comic books and their subsequent regulation through the comic book code killed off a large number of titles, mostly on hype and scare tactics. The power of comic books was recognized by the government, who ran cartoons and comic strips in the midst of World War II.
Homeland is Cory Doctorow’s sequel to Little Brother, and book that won the Prometheus Award a few years ago. Tom Shippey at the Wall Street Journal reviews Homeland, which sounds like a mix of dystopian fiction and idealist politics. It’s high on my list of books to read this year, though.
