[contextly_auto_sidebar id="nKnrC7PUeqDJC4RDR5siDCwLQPIJamEg"] OVER the last few years, as the traditional print media has fallen into a tailspin, a number of observers -- including very smart, canny ones -- have predicted that blogs would replace print as well as the more established websites. Andrew Sullivan, whose site The Dish was updated often and drew an enormous readership, was often … [Read more...]
James Ellroy, The Big Picture
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="oWUL3zIX6tkrbLbqzzcrPNH15S6oj1MP"] HOW does the new Ellroy novel, Perfidia, shape our thinking of his career? How has he changed as a writer? How does he fit in to noir's history, and has he changed the field? These questions were on my mind while I was writing a recent profile of the edgy novelist, so I asked J. Kingston Pierce, editor of The Rap Sheet crime fiction … [Read more...]
Photography on the Web: Getty Images Goes Free
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="wKTuBaBs4g6nEeAQFph8OgG0XKZQVL7g"] THE state of photographs and other images on the Web is fraught and confusing, and seems destined to become more of both with time. Vague tensions turn into lawsuits; the "free" crowd, sometime with tech-corporation lobbying, goes up against Hollywood lawyers, and on and on. I must admit, as someone who respects the need for … [Read more...]
The Slyness of Jeremy Denk
ONE of the coolest and most genuinely individualistic musicians I've ever met is the classical pianist Jeremy Denk, whose blog Think Denk is witty, sometimes loopy, and always provocative. He's an enthusiast of Nabokov and Proust, and a player of very deep feeling whose treatment of Ives has left some friends spellbound.HERE is my piece on Denk, who comes to town next week for two concerts with … [Read more...]
The Misread City Goes Into the Future
THIS week yours truly will be serving as guest editor for the blog io9, which is devoted to science, futurism, and science-fiction in all its forms. I'll be posting on some topics familiar to readers of The Misread City -- some news regarding author Ursula K. Le Guin, a new film based on a Philip K. Dick novel -- as well as topics largely new to me such as eco-tourism and UFO abductions. (Or … [Read more...]