I read largely science fiction and comics with some non-fiction mixed in. I'm warming up to mystery with Bosch and the Slow Horses books.
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Before there was Kate Beaton, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of Hark A Vagrant fame, there was Katie Beaton of …
Before there was Kate Beaton, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of Hark A Vagrant fame, …
Holy shit!!
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory is a 2018 book by anthropologist David Graeber that argues the …
This is an interesting read. It was interesting to me as someone aspiring to not have a job and close to making that happen. The look at "why have jobs?" and "why treat them as so sacred?" really hit home.
I have long said that this reverence for having a job is rooted in Puritanism. Recently I am wondering if it is more deeply internalized capitalist frames. Graeber's viewpoint is that it is some of both, which I found interesting.
This book was a good companion piece to Chokepoint Capitalism
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory is a 2018 book by anthropologist David Graeber that argues the …
This is an interesting read. It was interesting to me as someone aspiring to not have a job and close to making that happen. The look at "why have jobs?" and "why treat them as so sacred?" really hit home.
I have long said that this reverence for having a job is rooted in Puritanism. Recently I am wondering if it is more deeply internalized capitalist frames. Graeber's viewpoint is that it is some of both, which I found interesting.
This book was a good companion piece to Chokepoint Capitalism
Before there was Kate Beaton, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of Hark A Vagrant fame, …
Bought this at Heroes Aren't Hard To Find while we were in Charlotte.
Bought it from Verso Books deep sale.
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory is a 2018 book by anthropologist David Graeber that argues the …
Hey, my library just bought this after I recommended it. I shall now read it!
Nothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our …
This is a good book that helps to reframe my thinking around what I owe the world for productivity. Combined with Chokepoint Capitalism these books are helping give me a worldview with less obligation to churn out, to colonize, to produce, to give attention to the things of modern life. Choosing to live my boring life at whatever speed I desire regardless of how much ROI that generates is a fine goal in itself.
It is a bit slow going, which should shock absolutely no one. I did enjoy it and found it quite valuable and relaxing. Unlike the aforementioned book, this one did not leave my blood boiling so in a way it can be considered a spiritual antidote.
The definitive cult, post-modern novel – a shocking blend of violence, transgression and eroticism. When …
I enjoy Waters' movies so I thought I would give this book a try. The one good thing about it - it was a breezy quick read.
The story is absurd but not in the fun goofy way I was expecting. It was just ... off in very fundamental ways. From blocking that just made no sense to motivations that came from nowhere, this books is a mess. That is to say nothing of the wandering viewpoint that hops around randomly to tell something then hop back. And the telling. "Show don't tell" is not advice that was heeded for this book. Waters at every point lets you know exactly what you should think by just splatting it out there. I didn't expect subtlety, but I did expect narrative competence.
Overall, I cannot recommend this to anyone. I think the time to read this book would better be spent watching …
I enjoy Waters' movies so I thought I would give this book a try. The one good thing about it - it was a breezy quick read.
The story is absurd but not in the fun goofy way I was expecting. It was just ... off in very fundamental ways. From blocking that just made no sense to motivations that came from nowhere, this books is a mess. That is to say nothing of the wandering viewpoint that hops around randomly to tell something then hop back. And the telling. "Show don't tell" is not advice that was heeded for this book. Waters at every point lets you know exactly what you should think by just splatting it out there. I didn't expect subtlety, but I did expect narrative competence.
Overall, I cannot recommend this to anyone. I think the time to read this book would better be spent watching two or three of his films.
I have been following Drew Friedman on and off since he did the portraits of game show hosts in the 80s. I bought this book on the pre-Xmas sale at Fantagraphics, almost on a whim.
I was impressed at the older, more mature art style. These portraits are lusher, more restrained than the pointilistic dots of his younger work. The ink wash feels different from the manic energy in a good way. I found myself pausing to take in each page for a long while before reading the bios.
I have very little of the referenced material but now I have an interest to dig in deeper. It was interesting to see the people mentioned commonly in others bios. One could map out influence by just reference count alone.
I liked everything about it other than the intro by Marc Maron, which seemed pretty slight by comparison with the rest …
I have been following Drew Friedman on and off since he did the portraits of game show hosts in the 80s. I bought this book on the pre-Xmas sale at Fantagraphics, almost on a whim.
I was impressed at the older, more mature art style. These portraits are lusher, more restrained than the pointilistic dots of his younger work. The ink wash feels different from the manic energy in a good way. I found myself pausing to take in each page for a long while before reading the bios.
I have very little of the referenced material but now I have an interest to dig in deeper. It was interesting to see the people mentioned commonly in others bios. One could map out influence by just reference count alone.
I liked everything about it other than the intro by Marc Maron, which seemed pretty slight by comparison with the rest of the work. The history of underground at the end by comparison is great!
I recommend the book highly, whether you know all the players or like me were just tangentially aware of them.
I have so many books going now, but this is different. It is full page gorgeous illustrations of underground cartoonists and a shot bio each. It is less reading and more appreciating this lush art.
Posthumously-published short narratives about characters encountered by Pekar on his way to West Virginia.
This book was fine as late era Pekar work goes. It would be above average for most people but it feels relatively slight here.
Harvey is a minor presence as he largely tells the story of people he knows. The problem is that I didn't care that much about them nor find them that interesting. The very last story was my favorite, the title story. That was Harvey centric which made it better to me.
The Summer McClinton art was generally good if inconsistent. Some pages were straight up beautiful while others looked rushed. I have The Beats but have not yet read it. She has art in that book that I want to see now.
Overall this book is worth reading for any Pekar fan, just don't expect a masterpiece.
A call to action for the creative class and labor movement to rally against the …
Just got to Part 2, the prescriptive part about how to fight against anticompetitive big tech. That's good, I was not eager to read any more case studies. We got it.