March, Vol 1; John Lewis’s graphic memoir of the 1960s Civil Rights movement.
Hack:
We have probably not heard the last of last week’s Twitter hack. At first it was funny, especially when Twitter blocked all verified (blue-check) accounts while they worked to solve the problem; now that we learn that there was a data breach as well, it’s slightly less laughable. Here’s what NPR knew as of last Friday.
Obituaries:
The son of sharecroppers, John Lewis was a champion of equality and justice even when it meant risking his life, a voice for all Americans and a model of integrity, fairness and strength. The Congressman represented the 5th District in Georgia from 1987 until his death last week. His graphic-novel memoir March, about the start of the Civil Right Movement, should be required reading in every school in the USA.
Joanna Cole, author of the MAGIC SCHOOL BUS series and many other books, also died last week.
Housekeeping:
Next week’s column will be a links column. I’ll probably post something single-topic, since I’ll be spending the week preparing for the MCWC three-day online workshop.
Awards:
In the Totally Deserved Category, Colson Whitehead was awarded the Library of Congress Prize for American Literature.
Books and Writing:
CNET shares an interview with William Gibson, who talks about his thoughts on technology and the future.
The RNS charts the rise of Muslim women fantasists in this article, and introduced me to a couple of writers I didn’t know.
It’s time for a Best Of list! (Because when isn’t it?) Grimdark shares their thoughts on the best books of the first half of the year.
Scholar Maria Tatar collected beautiful girl/jealous mother or stepmother fairytales from all over the world.
Powell’s Books, one of the west coasts best loved stores, faces hard choices as the pandemic continues.
TV and Movies:
Ars Technica reviews the Netflix adaptation of the Arthurian retelling, Cursed.
IO9 is less than thrilled with Warrior Nun. (How did I miss a show called Warrior Nun?) An earlier review is even harsher.
Video:
We haven’t heard from Henri, the morose French cat in a while, so here he is.
This seven-minute video from Voces 8 teaches you how to sing along. (I only did the percussion.)
Poor Henri!
Henri suffers so much.