From the desk of…
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Joshua Ferris To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
Joshua Ferris first came onto my radar in 2010 with the publication of The New Yorker’s ‘20 Under 40’ collection. Among that group of young authors, Ferris stood out with his engaging style and witty banter.
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Game of Thrones Slavery and its Discontents
In modern popular culture, the depiction of slavery usually involves stories set in the Deep South. The fantasy genre is not the place where one would expect to see it explored, but on HBO’s Game of Thrones, slavery has become a driving force not only for the ongoing and multivarious plotlines, but as another front in the battle between good and evil.
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Mad Men Mad Women
Are the most important characters on Mad Men indeed men? Don Draper’s handsome insouciance. Roger Sterling’s rakish sass. Pete Campbell’s receding hairline. All have been central to television’s reigning drama, but the other side of the gender line has something to offer as well. And as this season gets underway, a fundamental shift may be occurring.
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Game of Thrones At long, long last he's gone!
(Sunday’s night episode “The Lion and the Rose” bade goodbye to a major character. Spoilers after the jump.)
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Get Ready, California A Mad Men Preview
As the sixth season of Mad Men drew to a close last June, it appeared a new beginning was afoot. Sunkist was on board as a client, and a Los Angeles branch of the firm was set to be opened by none other than Don Draper himself.
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Game of Thrones Two Swords
The lords and ladies, knights and whores of Westeros are back for an as-always highly anticipated season of Game of Thrones. While a few main characters and plot threads weren’t present-notably Bran, Stannis, and Theon-the others were back in the full swing of things.
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Zadie Smith Michener Center for Writers
Zadie Smith was in Austin Thursday for a talk sponsored by the Michener Center for Writers. She brought with her a new short story, much good humor, and interesting thoughts about the link between her teaching and writing.
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The Grand Budapest Hotel A Review
My basic inclination is, like many, to like every new film from Wes Anderson. He had me had Bottle Rocket, and even the ones I haven’t enjoyed as much (Life Aquatic, The Darjeeling Limited) haven’t pushed me away.
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Color: American Photography Transformed
When William Eggleston arrived on the scene with his seminal Guide, many considered this to be the beginning of color photography, initially including John Rohrbach, senior curator of photographs at Ft. Worth’s prestigious Amon Carter Museum.
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SXSW 2014 What I Heard
Music got short shrift this SXSW, and I can only count four bands among my adventures. My work as a photographer for the festival got me into Interactive and Film events, but not music. Still, I made one day show, one night gig and some corporate parties. Oh, and some street music like this sax player.