HILOBROW’S 2011

By: HILOBROW
December 31, 2011

In 2010, TIME Magazine named HiLobrow one of the Ten Best Blogs of the year. We had an even better year in 2011!

Here are a few highlights from 2011.

BEST OF HILOBROW: 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 1Q2022 | 2Q2022 | 3Q2022 | 4Q2022 SNEAK PEEK.

• James Parker’s serialized swearing-animal novella, The Ballad of Cocky the Fox, with illustrations by Kristin Parker and an erudite/puerile newsletter (The Sniffer) by Patrick Cates. The serialization began in 2010; in 2011, we wrapped up the series, and produced hard copies (and t-shirts, and limited-edition art prints) for our Kickstarter backers. We have since published a few updates and additions, under the title The Cockarillion.

• Linda Linda Linda, a serialized novella — this one a “hollow-earth retirement adventure” complete with an original soundtrack and choreographed dances — by the multitalented Karinne Keithley Syers. Illustrations by Rascal Jace Smith.

• A series (Kirb Your Enthusiasm), edited by Joshua Glenn, in which 25 writers each examined a single panel by comics legend Jack Kirby. Douglas Rushkoff on THE ETERNALS | John Hilgart on BLACK MAGIC | Gary Panter on DEMON | Dan Nadel on OMAC | Deb Chachra on CAPTAIN AMERICA | Mark Frauenfelder on KAMANDI | Jason Grote on MACHINE MAN | Ben Greenman on SANDMAN | Annie Nocenti on THE X-MEN | Greg Rowland on THE FANTASTIC FOUR | Joshua Glenn on TALES TO ASTONISH | Lynn Peril on YOUNG LOVE | Jim Shepard on STRANGE TALES | David Smay on MISTER MIRACLE | Joe Alterio on BLACK PANTHER | Sean Howe on THOR | Mark Newgarden on JIMMY OLSEN | Dean Haspiel on DEVIL DINOSAUR | Matthew Specktor on THE AVENGERS | Terese Svoboda on TALES OF SUSPENSE | Matthew Wells on THE NEW GODS | Toni Schlesinger on REAL CLUE | Josh Kramer on THE FOREVER PEOPLE | Glen David Gold on JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY | Douglas Wolk on 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.

• A series (Epic Wins), edited by Matthew Battles, which asked HILOBROW’s contributors to translate epic poetry. THE ILIAD (1.408-415) by Flourish Klink | THE KALEVALA (3.1-278) by James Parker | THE ARGONAUTICA (2.815-834) by Joshua Glenn | THE ILIAD by Stephen Burt | THE MYTH OF THE ELK by Matthew Battles | GOTHAMIAD by Chad Parmenter

• Dozens of new HiLo Hero posts, written by contributors Alix Lambert, Lynn Peril, Gary Panter, Peggy Nelson, Mimi Lipson, Chris Lanier, Deb Chachra, Tor Aarestad, Luc Sante, Brian Berger, Greg Rowland, David Smay, Adrienne Crew, Tim Carmody, Franklin Bruno, Joshua Glenn, Mark Kingwell, Jason Grote, Patrick Cates, Tom Nealon, Tosh Berman, Kio Stark, Adam McGovern, Amanda French, Barbara Bogaev, and Mike Fleisch.

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• The following posts — among others — by HILOBROW’s Arts Editor Peggy Nelson, who…

…directed our gaze to artists with a particularly HiLobrow sensibility, including photographer Jan Lemitz in Future Imperfect, filmmaker Nick Rhombes in Do Not Screen, and collage/installation artist Michael Oatman, whose lengthy interview also inaugurated HILOBROW’s new #longreads series.

…joined Werner Herzog on a visit to our past of anamorphic cave art in 3D Graffiti, and peered into our present future with the digital glitch as part of her ongoing Eye Candy series.

…surveyed the multi- in media by examining the history of pop-up books, the hidden agenda of embedded video, and the sudden resurgence of the animated gif.

…in Our Amelia, channeled Amelia Earhart’s lost thoughts from her final flight, on the anniversary of her disappearance over the Pacific.

…in Quest/ions, featured Scryberspace, her online search oracle, in which queries were answered with time-motion mashups of web content.

…and in Reenacting Disaster, launched her Twitter novel @EShackleton, in which Sir Ernest tweets one of the greatest adventure stories of all time, his ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition Expedition of 1914-17.

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• The following posts — among others — by HILOBROW’s Joshua Glenn, who…

  

  … revealed the truth about Elvis’s Krishna consciousness in Blue Krishma!;

  

  … analyzed Mike Watt’s opera Hyphenated-Man in light of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights in Mike Watt: hilobrow;

  

  … distinguished between Rebooting (reviving the spirit of a phenomenon from the past and giving it contemporary relevance), and Retro (reanimating the phenomenon itself, forcing its spiritless corpse — the technical term is kitsch — to shuffle among us tragicomically), in Rebootiana;

  

  … identified the older dancer who introduces the Pogo in the Beatles’ movie A Hard Day’s Night as the pioneering social anthropologist Clifford Geertz, in Origin of the Pogo;

  

  … and, in Enter Highbrowism, he discovered a 1911 Radium Age science fiction story in which the highbrow is described as a mutant species — homo superior, except inferior at everything but striking radical chic poses and getting invited to dinner parties.

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• More exegetical commentaries on Jack Kirby comics: Chris Lanier on Kirby vs. Kubrick | Scott Edelman recalls when the FF walked among us | Adam McGovern is haunted by a panel from THE NEW GODS | Matt Seneca studies the sensuality of Kirby’s women | Danny Fingeroth figgers out The Thing.

• A series (4CP Friday), in which the following guest curators detected uniquely meaningful patterns (Grids! Creeps! Resolution! Monsters! Sins! White eyes! Shadows! Effacement! God’s wings!) within John Hilgart’s amazing 4CP collection of comic-book details: Joe Alterio, Matthew Battles, Deb Chachra, Scott Edelman, Danny Fingeroth, Joshua Glenn, John Hilgart, Chris Lanier, Dan Nadel, Annie Nocenti, Kristin Parker, Lynn Peril, Eric Reynolds, Greg Rowland, David Smay, Matthew Specktor, Dan Wagstaff, and Rob Walker.

• Installments in the following series: Annie Nocenti’s Goudou Goudou, James Parker’s Bolanomics, Joshua Glenn’s Shocking Blocking.

• And the following series: Joe Alterio’s much-viewed Cablegate Comix, James Parker’s Angusonics, John Hilgart’s 4CP FTW.

• And the following series: David Smay’s Early ’60s Horror, James Parker’s Mouldiana, Joshua Glenn’s LATF Hipster.

• And the following series: Tom Nealon’s De Condimentis (including: Vinegar, BBQ, Butter, Mustard, and Sour Cream), John Hilgart’s Meet the L.I.S., Max Glenn’s DC — The New 52.

• And the following series: Sherri Wasserman’s Rebooting Museums, Adam McGovern’s Fanchild, and Skrullicism.

• And also these series: Adrienne Crew’s P-Afrofuturism, James Bridle’s Bookfuturism, Joshua Glenn’s Pluperfect PDA.

• Comics written by Adam McGovern, including the sci-fi adventure Idoru Jones.

• Plus a few installments in these series: Cthulhuwatch, Fitting Shoes, Ceci est une pipe, Comically Vintage, and HiLo holiday gifts.

• The winning stories in our spooky-kooky fiction contest.

• And lots of other posts, too many to mention here.