Hip-hop at the end of its tired decade

Before I began writing this entry, I read Simon Reynolds's "Notes on the noughties" series for The Guardian online, and was struck by his insights and odd sense of humor. (Beards as signifiers of musical authenticity, anyone?) I'm surprised at how much I agree with him, and somewhat annoyed and relieved that he put together observations that have been bothering me these last few years. Following the same vein, I'm going to put down my own thoughts on the decade in an effort to make sense of it all. For this first part, it might help to read the New Yorker article by Sasha Frere-Jones about hip-hop before continuing.

Wildlife year/decade in review OR My year in lists

I create a list of alternative Christmas songs for this week's WildLife. Twisted Sister, unfortunately, did not make the list.

I contribute to WildLife's list of the best movies of the decade. Of course, I am willfully different in my choices.

Finally, I give my list of the year's best comics and graphic novels.

Tags: writing, journalism, reviews, music, Christmas, art

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Decade in Review

I contribute to the Daily Wildcat's Decade in Review issue, which was an interesting issue. (A shame it didn't have campus stories.) Of the four entries I wrote, only one made it to print while another was misattributed to me mistakenly. The rest went unpublished for various reasons too mundane to mention. Here's what I wrote:

Top National Stories - Contested Election of 2000

While this was not the most contested presidential election in U.S. history — that honor goes to the 1876 election between Rutherford Hayes and Samuel Tilden — the 2000 election was significant for several reasons.

It saw a major shift in the judicial branch’s power. Despite numerous media organizations declaring Democratic candidate and then-vice president Gore as the winner based on exit polls, by the end of Nov. 7, 2000, the U.S. still had no clear winner in the presidential race. It became clear that the contest hinged on the winner of the popular vote in Florida.

Gore called for a hand recount. The multiple legal moves left a nation of voters, many of whom had voted for the first time in a national election, anxiously awaiting a decision. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled 5-4 that the recount was unconstitutional, and could not be completed in time for the second deadline extension.

In the end, the U.S. had a new president, George W. Bush, who would have a profound impact on the decade, regalvanized Democratic and Republican parties and a new generation that discovered that every vote matters.

Chicano history comes alive at symposium

Brief week this time: a preview of an upcoming event by the UA's MEChA group.

Tags: journalism, events, concert, music, writing

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Scratching the surface of the Arizona State Museum

This week, I spent time behind the scenes at the Arizona State Museum to see how the people at the archeology repository do their work. My thanks to Patrick Lyons, Arthur Vokes, and Katie MacFarland for taking the time out of their busy schedules to speak with me, and thanks to my editor Justyn Dillingham and the Wildcat's copy desk for help with the editing.

Tags: writing, journalism, science, archeology, people, profiles

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Asterios Polyp - best graphic novel of the year?

Here's my argument for it.

Tags: writing, comics, art, design, books

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Look What I Received in the Mail Today

A copy of Shivering Sands by Warren Ellis, one of my favorite writers:

Tags: writing, books, comics, culture

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Daily Wildcat theft - the end?

I wrote an opinions column about the entire Daily Wildcat theft case, which is kind of a companion piece to Shain Bergan's column earlier this week.

Tags: writing, news, journalism, fraternity, crime, police

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Second annual Tucson Comic-Con

The second annual Tucson Comic-Con was great. I was able to get some wonderful interviews with many of the creators and vendors at the event. You can find the Wildcat's event coverage here. There are photos by the enthusiastic Gordon Bates and a video of my interviews that are edited by the wonderful Kelli Horan, who was able to read my mind and put together exactly the type of story I wanted to tell. Thank you guys!




Tags: journalism, video, audio, comics, photo

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Comic-entricity

I write a preview for the upcoming Tucson Comic-Con.

And I expound on the second graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award for a Comics Corner column.

Tags: comics, news, journalism, writing

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