HiLobrow 3Q2016

By: HILOBROW
October 1, 2016

Here’s what HILOBROW published in July, August, and September 2016. Enjoy!

First-time HiLobrow contributors, during 3Q2016: Molly Wright Steenson, Drew Daniel, Brandi Brown, and Anshuman Iddamsetty. We’re very grateful to our contributors, old and new.

BEST OF HILOBROW: 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 1Q2020 | 2Q2020 | 3Q2020 SNEAK PEEK.

QUIRK YOUR ENTHUSIASM

During August, we published our latest ENTHUSIASM series. QUIRK YOUR ENTHUSIASM featured 25 brilliant posts, by 25 brilliant contributors, on the topic of our favorite New Wave songs from c. 1977–1982. Here’s the lineup.

Mark Kingwell on Soft Cell’s TAINTED LOVE | Joanne McNeil on Gary Numan’s METAL | Devin McKinney on Suicide’s FRANKIE TEARDROP | Douglas Wolk on Family Fodder’s SAVOIR FAIRE | Elina Shatkin on Marianne Faithfull’s BROKEN ENGLISH

Steph Burt on Altered Images’ HAPPY BIRTHDAY | Greg Rowland on Jilted John’s JILTED JOHN | Gordon Dahlquist on XTC’s RESPECTABLE STREET | Adrienne Crew on D-Day’s TOO YOUNG TO DATE | Jonathan Lethem on The Blue Nile’s I LOVE THIS LIFE | Josh Glenn on Tim Curry’s I DO THE ROCK

Molly Wright Steenson on Missing Persons’ WORDS | Anthony Miller on The Nails’ 88 LINES ABOUT 44 WOMEN | Luc Sante on The Normal’s WARM LEATHERETTE | Mimi Lipson on Dolly Mixture’s HOW COME YOU’RE SUCH A HIT WITH THE BOYS, JANE? | Tim Carmody on Talking Heads’ LIFE DURING WARTIME

Ingrid Schorr on Ian Dury’s CLEVOR TREVER | Adam McGovern on Lene Lovich’s LUCKY NUMBER | Deb Chachra on Rough Trade’s HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL | Tor Aarestad on Oingo Boingo’s LITTLE GIRLS | David Smay on The B-52’s’ DANCE THIS MESS AROUND | Jessamyn West on Blondie’s HANGING ON THE TELEPHONE

Drew Daniel on The Human League’s MARIANNE | Erik Davis on Tuxedomoon’s TIME TO LOSE | Dan Fox on Thomas Dolby’s EUROPA & THE PIRATE TWINS.

Josh Glenn edited the QUIRK YOUR ENTHUSIAM series.

MORE ENTHUSIASM SERIES at HILOBROW

GROK MY ENTHUSIASM

We continued to publish GROK MY ENTHUSIASM, a weekly series of enthusiastic posts contributed by a rotating cast of HiLobrow regulars. GROK installments added during 3Q2016 include the following.

Chris Spurgeon on WALLACE AND GROMIT | Mandy Keifetz on BENEFICIAL MICROBES | Annie Nocenti on MARKS ON WALLS

Molly Sauter on THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF | William Nericcio on LAND OF THE LOST | Dan Fox on “VOICE OF GOD” RADIO DJS | Brandi Brown on WIKIPEDIA TALK

Claire Lehmann on THE APPARATUS REVEAL | Alice Boone on COSTUME JEWELRY | Colin Dickey on WIDESPREAD PANIC

Anshuman Iddamsetty on THE FULL BODY PROJECT | John Hilgart on MAKING GRATEFUL DEAD ALBUMS | Rob Wringham on STEVEN UNIVERSE.

Josh Glenn is editor of the GROK MY ENTHUSIAM series.

THIS:

During 3Q2016, Adam McGovern added a dozen new installments to his freewheeling column, THIS:. 3Q2016 THIS: installments include the following.

JULY: DEPENDENCE DAY | WORLD REBUILDING | ACTION BUILDING | DADDY GETS HOME.

AUGUST: CRASH COURSE | THE FADE-UP | STRANGERS WITH EAR-CANDY | HISTORY IN PIECES | DOWNTIME.

SEPTEMBER: NIGHTMARE PROJECTS | MOTHER’S NIGHT | CODE TALKER.

MORE POSTS by ADAM McGOVERN: OFF-TOPIC (2019–2024 monthly) | textshow (2018 quarterly) | PANEL ZERO (comics-related Q&As, 2018 monthly) | THIS: (2016–2017 weekly) | PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HELL, a 5-part series about characters in McGovern’s and Paolo Leandri’s comic Nightworld | Two IDORU JONES comics by McGovern and Paolo Leandri | BOWIEOLOGY: Celebrating 50 years of Bowie | ODD ABSURDUM: How Felix invented the 21st century self | CROM YOUR ENTHUSIASM: C.L. Moore’s JIREL OF JOIRY stories | KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Data 70 | HERC YOUR ENTHUSIASM: “Freedom” | KIRK YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Captain Camelot | KIRB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Full Fathom Five | A 5-part series on Jack Kirby’s Fourth World mythos | Reviews of Annie Nocenti’s comics Katana, Catwoman, Klarion, and Green Arrow | The curated series FANCHILD | To see all of Adam’s posts, including HiLo Hero items on Lilli Carré, Judy Garland, Wally Wood, and others: CLICK HERE

PLANET OF PERIL

Each month, HiLobrow friend and contributor Lynn Peril contributes a new installment in the series PLANET OF PERIL, which is devoted to historical fads and figures with which Lynn has become obsessed. 3Q2016 installments in the series include the following.

LINCOLN ASSASSINATION BUFFS. Death, sex, conspiracy, and Victorian creepiness galore.

I’M YOUR VENUS. The Ouija Board murder of 1933.

THE DARK MARE. A novel that predicted a female presidential candidate… in 1952.

MORE LYNN PERIL at HILOBROW: PLANET OF PERIL series | #SQUADGOALS: The Daly Sisters | KLUTE YOUR ENTHUSIASM: BLOW-UP | MUSEUM OF FEMORIBILIA series | HERMENAUTIC TAROT: The Waiting Man | KIRB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Young Romance | CROM YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife | HILO HERO ITEMS on: Tura Satana, Paul Simonon, Vivienne Westwood, Lucy Stone, Lydia Lunch, Gloria Steinem, Gene Vincent, among many others.

STUFFED

On October 13th, HiLobrow friend and contributor Tom Nealon’s first book, Food Fights and Culture Wars: A Secret History of Taste, will be published by the British Library! We’ve seen an advance copy, and can honestly report that the book is brilliant, not to mention gorgeous. Click here to pre-order the US edition, which will be published by Overlook Press in January.

Food Fights and Culture Wars grew out of Tom’s food-history writing, published right here at HILOBROW. During 3Q2016, Tom added the following new installments to STUFFED, his current HiLobrow series:

ALMONDS: NO JOY. Tracing the craze for almond milk back to the 14th century, and trying to understand why we continue to be so nuts for almonds.

GARNISHED. The rise and fall of the curly-leafed parsley garnish. Why did we start using it to separate our meat from our potatoes?

REVUE DES MENUS. Who collected this treasure trove of menus?

THE KALEVALA

Since January, HiLobrow friend and contributor James Parker has been bastardizing THE KALEVALA, a Finnish sequence of folkloric songs, runes, and charms. 3Q2016 installments in this series include the following.

RUNE 31 (223–300): “The Screaming Axe”. “No husbandry, no arboriculture. / Here’s your wood — if your woodsman is a vulture.”
RUNE 6 (1–114): “Therapy Session”. “Sadder than sad with my old-man spigot./Can you dig it?”
RUNE 11 (1–138): “Introducing Kyllikki”. “A neck-nape to send you on a week-long bender.”

ALL INSTALLMENTS: INTRODUCTION: Laughter in the Womb of Time, or Why I Love the Kalevala | RUNE 1: “The Birth of Vainamoinen” | RUNE 2 (departure): “Vainamoinen in November” | RUNE 3 (1–278): “Wizard Battle” | RUNE 4 (1–56): “A Failed Seduction” | RUNE 4 (300–416): “Aino Ends It All” | RUNE 5 (45–139): “An Afternoon Upon the Water” | RUNE 5 (150–241): “The Blue Elk” | RUNE 5 (departure): “Smüt the Dog Praises His Seal Queen” | RUNE 6 (1–114): “Therapy Session” | RUNE 6 (115–130): “Joukahainen’s Mother Counsels Him Against Shooting the Wizard Vainamoinen” | RUNE 11 (1–138): “Introducing Kyllikki” | RUNE 17 (1–98): “The Dreaming Giant” | RUNE 23 (485–580): “The Bride’s Lament” | RUNE 30 (1–276): “Icebound” | RUNE 30 (120–188): “The Voyage of the Sea-Hare” (Part One) | RUNE 30 (185–188): “Losing It” | RUNE 30 (departure): “Across the Ice” | RUNE 30 (departure): “Song of the Guilty Viking” | RUNE 30 (departure): “The Witch’s Dance” | RUNE 31 (215–225): “The Babysitter” | RUNE 31 (223–300): “The Screaming Axe” | RUNE 33 (1–136): “The Cowherd” | RUNE 33 (73): “Song of the Blade: Kullervo” | RUNE 33 (reworked): “The Breaking of the Blade” | RUNE 33 (118–284): “The Cows Come Home” | RUNE 34 (1–82): “The Pipes of Kullervo” | RUNE 45 (259–312, departure): “The Wizard’s Secret”.

ON BEYOND ZARATHUSTRA

Earlier this year, John Holbo unearthed Nietzsche’s abandoned graphic novel, On Beyond Zarathustra, later cannibalized for the author’s philosophical prose-poem, Thus Spake Zarathustra. According to Holbo, this ur-text prompts us to ask: Do the townspeople ignore Zarathustra because his proposed transvaluation of values is too radical? Or is it because, like Dr. Seuss’s Gerald McGrew or Morris McGurk, he tends to rattle on and spiral off?

In September, HiLobrow began publishing 15 original installments — never before published! — in this series. The series will continue through October 9th.

HOLBO AT HILOBROW: On Beyond Zarathustra — a double parody | Sugarplum Squeampunk — Christmas cards by deranged Victorian “cthuligrapher” Albert Wedge-Wheskit | Not Trash, Pop — a celebration of forgotten midcentury gag panel artist Susi Steinitz Ettinger | CROM YOUR ENTHUSIASM: The Conan Mythos | HERMENAUTIC TAROT: The Heaviest Heads.

SÉRIE NOIRE

Each month (almost), HiLobrow friend and contributor Alix Lambert contributes a new installment in the series SÉRIE NOIRE, which revisits the crime movies which most influenced her as a child and young adult. 3Q2016 installments include the following.

Wanda (1970), directed by Barbara Loden. Loden has described Wanda as a woman who doesn’t know what she wants, “but she knows what she doesn’t want.”

Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), directed by Anatole Litvak. Slow pans through the huge, dark, empty house punctuated by sounds of bygone phone culture.

THE BOURNE VARIATIONS

Since January, James Parker has also been contributing a cycle of poems, THE BOURNE VARIATIONS, inspired by scenes from the Jason Bourne movie franchise. 3Q2016 installments in this series include the following.

“Fairy Story”. “One day a death squad comes for her.”
“Watching the Jason Bourne Trailer”. “Watching the trailer, I sense an absence of the great theme — / of Bourne moving through his Treadstone dream.”
“The Bourne Travesty”. “It bloats the franchise./It increases its pantsize.”

ALL INSTALLMENTS: “The Goddess of Memory Speaks to Jason Bourne” | THE BOURNE IDENTITY: “The Duellists”. THE BOURNE SUPREMACY: “Congratulations, You Have Just Met Jason Bourne” | “The Graduates” | “The Murder of Agent Daniel Zorn, in Berlin, by CIA Section Chief Ward Abbott”. THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM: “Big Daddy” | “The Assassination of the Journalist Simon Ross” | “Full Priority Situation”. THE BOURNE LEGACY: “Alaska, Alone” | “Aaron Cross to the Wolf” | “Fairy Story”. JASON BOURNE: “Watching the Jason Bourne Trailer” | “The Bourne Travesty”.

CURATED SERIES

HiLobrow curated three reprint series, during 3Q2016. We are very grateful to the authors, all of whom are HiLobrow friends and contributors, for permitting us to gather and republish their work.

KEEPERS. HiLobrow friend and contributor Steph Burt is a literary critic, poet and a professor, who teaches at Harvard University. In July, we published 10 of Steph’s poem’s about everyday objects and pop-cultural phenomena.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM. HiLobrow friend and contributor Colin Dickey is author of Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places, among other terrific books. In August, we reprinted six essays he has published, here and there, over the years, about… animals!

ALL MY STARS. Each week, we reprint Joanne McNeil’s ALL MY STARS newsletter, which tracks and reacts to her latest movie, TV, book, music and exhibition input.

ONGOING ORIGINAL SERIES

During 3Q2016, we published new installments in the following ongoing original series.

BEST ADVENTURES — a series chronicling Josh Glenn’s attempt to read and identify the 10 best adventure novels of each year, from 1904 through 1983. During 3Q2016, we published: 10 Best Adventures of 1951: From Nicholas Monsarrat’s The Cruel Sea to Geoffrey Household’s A Rough Shoot. | 10 Best Adventures of 1956: From Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination to Henry Treece’s The Golden Strangers. | 10 Best Adventures of 1961: From Elmore Leonard’s Hombre to Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris. | 10 Best Adventures of 1971: From Richard Stark’s Slayground to Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal.

GOLDEN AGE SCI-FI 75 — a series chronicling Josh Glenn’s attempt to read and identify the best science fiction novels published during the genre’s so-called Golden Age (1934–63). During 3Q2016, we published installments on Jorge Luis Borges’s The Aleph, Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, Boris Vian’s Foam of the Daze, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides, John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids, Robert Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters, Bernard Wolfe’s Limbo, Hergé’s Explorers on the Moon, Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and many others. The complete Golden Age Sci-Fi 75 list is here.

Chris Page (middle) and Kent Modesitt (right), Red Rocks, August 1987

JOSHENILIA — a series exhuming the juvenilia and significant objects, no matter how trite or embarrassing, of HiLobrow’s editor.

SERIALIZED FICTION

During 3Q2016, we wrapped up our serialization of Victor Bridges’ 1915 hunted-man adventure, A Rogue by Compulsion: An Affair of the Secret Service.

Stay tuned!

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BEST OF HILOBROW: 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 1Q2020 | 2Q2020 | 3Q2020 SNEAK PEEK.

HiLobrow 3Q2016

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