Conspicuous Acts of Cultural Consumption

Where I talk about books, movies, television, art, pro-wrestling and other forms of culture and pop-culture

Read This: Riding the White Bull, Caitlin Kiernan

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If you’re a writer and you’ve never read Caitlin Kiernan’s work, you should probably rectify that at some point. She’s an extraordinary writer who basically looks at all the things we think of as rules, throws them out, and creates deliciously dark and beautiful fiction. Easily one of my three favourite writers active in the world today, and an author whose books I think up without question every time there’s a new release.

And if you haven’t read Kiernan before, I strongly recommend head over to Clarkesworld this month, as they’ve just reprinted one of the best of Kiernan’s stories, Riding the White Bull, in which she moves away from her usual brand of Lovecraft-tinged darkness and toward…well, go see for yourself.

 

 

Recommendations Wanted: Web Comics

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One of my favourite webcomics, Girls with Slingshots, finished up its run a few weeks ago. Some of the others that make up my regular weekly reading have announced their conclusion is coming up in the near future.

This means I’ve got some gaps in my weekly reading schedule that I kinda want to fill in, since I’m a fan of the webcomic format and interested in seeing what people do with it. And since I am old and set in my ways, I don’t really go searching for new comics all that often.

So I’m turning to you, dear peeps – recommend me some of your favourite webcomics in the comments and I’ll go check ’em out.

To save some time, I’ve already got a regular reading list that I hit pretty consistently: PVP, Something Positive, Questionable Content and XKCD are habitually daily reads; Dumbing of Age, Girl Genius, Least I Could Do, Weregeek and a handful of others get a weekly read-through when I’ve got the time.

Strips that do awesome T-shirts in addition to being consistently entertaining get bonus points.

Follow Friday: The Tardis Guy

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So my friend Allan makes some extraordinarily cool, highly-geeky shit in his alter-ego of The Tardis Guy. Case in point, check out this picture of one of his replica Thor hammers:

And his holy shit, I really want one of those Captain America shields:


Al’s recently launched his official TARDIS GUY website, which is still a work in progress, but the real fun is watching his facebook or instagram feeds, where you can track his works in progress and see the new projects as they come to life. Even if you’re only mildly geeky, the props he makes are truly beautiful bits of work, ranging from full-sized TARDIS’s through to customised Captain America Shields or Bat-Signals.His work is loved by a bunch of cosplayers, has been exhibited in galleries and exhibitions, and is basically coveted by any nerdy person who comes across it and feels a sudden pang of oh, hell yeah, I’d love to own one of those.

Trust me on this. I am the least let’s decorate my house with geeky stuff geek you’re ever likely to meet, and my first response when I acquired my own flat was to email Al and find out how much his shields cost (my second response, sadly, was to go well, after the mortgage is paid off a little, but until then I covet those shields like a Gollum covet’s the one ring).

If you’re interested in cos-play, cool geekery, or just seeing a highly talented craftsman make cool shit, hit up one of the feeds above or go check out The Tardis guy’s stall at one of the upcoming Supanovas in your local area. Definitely worth your time.