mbf tod@y

Buzzati's graphic novel

 
 

in italia sono tutti maschi

Link: Luca De Santis

Asterios Polyp

she keeps finding herself stopped

Quimby The Mouse

Quimby The Mouse from This American Life on Vimeo.

2009: My Top 13 Highlights (music, films, games, books, mags) - updated

- Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis - book (TBC) (never mind, release date is now 2010)

- The Informers by Gregor Jordan - film (MAY)

- The I.T. Crowd Boxset (MAR)

- The first new album by Grandmaster Flash in 20 years (FEB) - music

- Cities XL (FEB) - game

- The Road by John Hillcoat (FEB) - movie

- The launch of Wired Italy (JAN) - mag

- "Weather Underground" by Massive Attack (TBC) - music

- Lost, Season 5 (JAN) - television

- Manage by Ewan Morrison (JUN) - book

- DJ Hero by Activision (JUN) - game

- Free: The Past and Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson (JUL) - book

- Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon (AUG) - book

related links: Fiction 2009

Transmedia storytelling: where are the critics?

"What's most interesting about the rhetoric around transmedia storytelling is the pervasive sense of cheerleading from its proponents, both in academia and industry. While everyone can cite good and bad examples of transmedia storytelling, nobody questions whether it's a good or bad thing in general. The whole discourse has a feel of (professional) fan(boy)-driven enthusiasm, where it's cast as win-win (TPTB promote their franchise/IP/content across multiple platforms and media -- some with their own revenue streams! -- while fannish audiences get a supposedly richer, more complex & immersive experience -- with the bonus of coming to them pre-authenticated as canonical by the copyright holders!)." (Crypto, LiveJournal)

Rock and roll, Crypto!

Read more (via Haddock)

L'Oltresecolo del fumetto (IULM, Milano, 15 Ottobre)

Perfect timing.

I love you, Valentina

"valentina by guido crepax exhibition at triennale milan

at: triennale bovisa, milan, italy
from: september 21, 2008 to february 9, 2009

"Guido Crepax was one of italy's most well known Italian comic artists, famous for creating the character  of valentina rosselli in 1965. originally a minor character in the comic series neutron valentina became  the sole protagonist. illustrated in black and white her character a milanese photographer displayed the changes in time of the sixties, seventies and eighties. a new exhibition will open dedicated to the thirty year  work of crepax and his character of valentina. the exhibition displays the evolution of valentina through  original drawings, large scale drawings and projected images. visitors are also given an inside look into  the workings of crepax and subjects such as history and politics that influenced his storylines displayed  through a collection of art works, magazine articles, interviews with his close friends and snippets of movies." (read more here) (via DesignBoom, Cut & paste Blog)

Gosh, I'm there! Triennale is pretty much the best Milan has to offer - never fails

How long is it going to take before videogames take over comics in Hollywood?

"Graphic novels--long comic books for grownups--have always had mostly cult appeal. Last year's most successful, the 13th volume in a Japanese manga adventure series--Naruto, by Masashi Kishimoto--sold 80,000 copies, far short of 2007's hottest novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, which sold more than 1.5 million copies. The point of the comics was largely their transgressiveness. "They're the last pirate medium," says Millar, a Scottish writer who consults for Marvel Comics on more mainstream fare, like Iron Man. "They're the last medium for a mass audience where you can do anything you want." (Rebecca Winters Keegan, TIME)

Full disclosure: I hate super heroes movies. I cannot stand them. Give me Persepolis. Give me Ghost World. Give me Art School Confidential. But spare me of super powers, magic armors, and uber villains! Spider-man should be shot on sight. Iron Man makes me want to puke. The Incredible Hulk is utterly boring. I would take Resident Evil any given day. If there is a medium "where you can do anything you" that's the videogame.

Read more

Jim Miles writes: "Mat. Mat Mat Mat Mat Mat. I fear you've fallen victim to the "you pays your money, you takes your choice" way of all-or-nothing thinking. (All or nothinking, if you will, which you won't.) As a cultural conoisseur, you can't claim to hate all superhero movies, any more than you can claim to hate all romantic comedies. You must judge each on its strengths within the genre, and adjust judgements accordingly. Sometimes a genre movie (and I concede without reservation that the superhero movie has become a genre, in the negative sense) can excite and break out of its limitations to be something so much more. I offer you: ... ... Catwoman. ... Okay, maybe you have a point."

Point taken. I agree that my condemnation was rather generic and, gasp, idiotic (no surprises here). However, for reasons that I cannot properly explain, I have the tendency to despise a priori super-heroic narratives - this is why I find the ending of The Matrix rather unpleasant. Paradoxically, I am much more tolerant of other fantastic elements, e.g. zombies. Dunno why. Finding the solution would require years of therapy. It is got to be related to unresolved issues in my troubled childhood. There is hope. Or maybe not. Who knows. Who cares. Anyway, I am looking forward to see Zack Snyder's Watchman. Give me something meta and I will be happy forever.