The Best-Of Round-Up

I'm currently on a bus trip with my students to Bali, so I can't bring the best of the LongReads for the week. But here are some "Best of 2012" Lists to keep you busy.

#Comedy

The best stand up specials of 2012 from Vulture.

#Feminism

Huffington Post brings the Best "Women's Interest" Articles of 2012... I wish \we would stop divyying up lifestyle interests by gender. If you're of the male persuasion, these articles are very pertinent to you too.

#Film

International Business Times has five of the best movies nobody watched.

Entertainment Weekly rounds up the best young adult/child performances of 2012.

Best film moments of 2012 from The Guardian, and over all the Critics Picks of 2012.

Media source Vulture published film critic David Edelstein's favorite films of 2012, and some bonus round ups at the bottom of the article.

From BFI , the top eleven films of 2012.

Zero Dark Thirty has been named Best Film of 2012 by both the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board Review.

#Literature

NPR has several Best of Lists going around the site... my favorites are Best Historical Fiction and "Finders Keepers: Books to Hang On To."

New York Times has its annual big fat list of 100 Notable Books of 2012. (May induce overwhelming so many books, so little time anxiety). Also, there is a much more succinct list of the Top Ten Books of 2012, and the Notable Children's Fiction of 2012.

A list with some fresh titles from The Atlantic: Top Five Books and Ten Runner Ups.

#Music

From Flavorwire, "The Year in Controversial Album Covers." [NSFW]

Salon brings the best musical numbers in 2012 Television.

For the audiophiles, Spin ranks the 50 Best Albums of 2012.

LongReads Round-Up Volume Eleven

#Economy

Evaluating welfare programs in Britain that have now lasted an entire lifetime http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2012/11/cradle-grave

Into the holiday shopping subconscious http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-27/why-holiday-gifts-receive-more-ughs-than-oohs-.html

#Family

Essay http://therumpus.net/2012/11/osiris/

Community surrounding a woman who embarks on single motherhood http://therumpus.net/2012/11/the-we-of-single-motherhood/

#Feminism

Suzanne Venker’s job is telling other women they shouldn’t have jobs: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/11/24/war-on-men/

Excellent response article from Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/the-war-on-men--straw-feminism-101/2012/11/26/0ae5c158-37da-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f_blog.html

Another response from CNN http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/29/living/war-on-men/

Devious straw feminists will burn your bras http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=341 #comics

Mary Miller has a hard time getting along with women http://therumpus.net/2012/11/i-am-sorry-women/

The panic of women’s issue think pieces, and sexism in journalism  http://nplusonemag.com/the-intellectual-situation-issue-15

#Film

Review of Rust and Bone  about an affair between a kickboxer and a legless orca trainer http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2012/11/rust_and_bone_starring_marion_cotillard_reviewed.html

New Vinterberg film on small town hysteria and false accusations http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2012/11/hunt-film-about-society-thrall-its-children

El Médico won the New York International Latino Film Festival award for best documentary, about a Cuban doctor who also wants to be a reggae star http://therumpus.net/2012/11/the-rumpus-review-of-el-medico-the-cubaton-story/

Attica Locke on writing for Hollywood vs writing fiction and post racial America  http://www.themorningnews.org/article/attica-locke

The karmic outlook of Bill Murray http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/movies/bill-murray-star-of-hyde-park-on-hudson.html

#Health

A company in Denmark has developed programs to employ autistic adults for specialized tasks http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/the-autism-advantage.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&

Forget diamonds. Jellyfish are forever. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/can-a-jellyfish-unlock-the-secret-of-immortality.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all

#History

Essay on the Oracle of Delphi http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/voices-in-time/deconstructing-the-oracle.php?page=all

#Humour

Ideas for the “traditional bride” to honor her “traditional background” http://therumpus.net/2012/11/funny-women-91-shower-gifts-for-the-traditional-bride/

Who needs a fictional apocalypse when we're living it? http://www.themorningnews.org/article/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-the-apocalypse

#Literature

Publishing off the grid of the mainstream cultural hotspot (is Brooklyn mainstream hip now?) http://www.themillions.com/2012/11/dispatch-from-the-edge-of-literary-culture.html

The cultural retreat of Catholic writers http://www.themillions.com/2011/11/where-have-all-the-catholic-writers-gone.html

On Evelyn Waugh's conversion to Catholicism in life and literature http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2012/11/evelyn_waugh_as_catholic_novelist_brideshead_revisited_and_helena.single.html

The “scandal” at the center of Percy’s National Book Award boils down to a misinformed article http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2012/11/_1962_national_book_awards_scandal_the_story_behind_the_moviegoer.single.html

I love Kate Zambreno, I love Kate Zambreno, I love Kate Zambreno http://therumpus.net/2012/11/the-sunday-rumpus-interview-kate-zambreno/

The history of queer literature http://www.themillions.com/2012/11/the-march-of-progress-is-never-neat-merle-miller-and-on-being-different.html

Bonus: 50 Queer Writers of Color http://zahrawithaz.livejournal.com/12471.html

Tracking the effects of university literary theory classes in literature http://nplusonemag.com/the-theory-generation

The Post Catastrophe novel http://nplusonemag.com/the-end-the-end-the-end

Review of Edmund Love’s 1958 memoir on living on the streets and the eccentric transients of the NYC subway system http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/11/29/twilight-people-subways-are-for-sleeping/

The Millions rounds up some of the NYTimes top 100 books and reviews http://www.themillions.com/2012/11/the-notables-2012.html

#Music

When Kathleen Hanna mentions Kathy Acker calling her an idiot for being a one dimensional feminist and Hanna owning up and I totally fangirl over it all http://www.avclub.com/articles/kathleen-hanna-on-bikini-kill-being-feminist-icon,88912/

Discovering an extensive collection of recorded performances of the Grateful Dead http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/11/26/121126fa_fact_paumgarten?currentPage=all

Sufjan loves Christmas, has feelings about commercialization, made a GIANT boxed cd set about it http://stereogum.com/1201912/deconstructing-sufjan-stevens-and-christian-music/top-stories/lead-story/

Eighteenth century essay on the transcendence of harpsichord music http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/voices-in-time/synesthesia.php?page=all

Who is the greatest rapper of all time? http://www.theawl.com/2012/11/andre-3000-vs-biggie

Best of Lists are the Best http://www.spin.com/articles/best-albums-2012 

#Politics

The Hillary Dynasty http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/11/hillary-clinton-2016.html

What does American democracy really mean?http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/preamble/feast-of-fools.php?page=all

#Religion

Statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury regarding sexual violence against women and the Church's responsibility http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2012/11/more-prayer-faith-communities-response-sexual-violence

Explaining the big step back for progressive religious leadership http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/11/the-fear-of-women-as-bishops.html

What's the queer student at a Christian college to do? Also, underground LGBTQ support groups. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-southwick/is-there-hope-for-queer-s_b_1829246.html (can speak from experience as an ally of the fledgling group at Grove City College, its a rough, less than Christian loving road to inclusion and support)

Church leadership is patriarchal because the Godhead trinity is patriarchal http://diannaeanderson.net/?p=1255 #sexism 

http://killingthebuddha.com/mag/confession/reading-the-st-louis-edicts/

Moderate Muslims are not an exception to the rule http://killingthebuddha.com/mag/dispatch/dear-america-moderate-muslims-exist/

#Sexuality

A frequenter of Australian brothels assembles the most memorable exchanges http://therumpus.net/2012/11/things-women-have-said-to-me-in-brothels/

Roxanne Gay writes about the complicated world of oversexualized children, especially girls http://therumpus.net/2012/11/eleven/

#Technology

“The iron Phone” and other battlegrounds in the kingdoms of Wester-net http://www.economist.com/news/21567361-google-apple-facebook-and-amazon-are-each-others-throats-all-sorts-ways-another-game

Hacking the cyberwar between Syrian government and revolutionists http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/82480-the-hackers-of-damascus

#Television

“[The Bachelor] is this generation’s Stanford Prison Experiment.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/the-life-lessons-hidden-in-reality-tv.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all

#Travel

Underground supper clubs hosted out of Los Angeles apartments are another evolution of the aging restaurant model http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/12/03/121203fa_fact_goodyear?currentPage=all

Partaking in the 685 mile dog sled race across Russia’s tundra http://www.themorningnews.org/article/twilight-on-the-tundra