LongReads Round-Up Volume Five

#Comics

Really gonna let my nerd show with this one. This is an interview of webcomic phenomenon Homestuck author Andrew Hussie by the author of the Scott Pilgrim series, Brian Lee O'Malley. I've yet to delve into the 5000 page back archive of Homestuck, but I'm well aware of the intense fans thanks to Tumblr:  http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/10/02/homestuck-interview-andrew-hussie-bryan-lee-omalley-ms-paint-adventures/

#Environment

Not for those who once had a panic attack after watching The Day After Tomorrow (aka this blog author): http://www.alternet.org/visions/wake-our-world-dying-and-were-all-denial?paging=off 

#Feminism

On bullying and the sexual fixation on breasts in the Western world: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/pointless-shame-the-english-speaking-worlds-issue-with-womens-breasts/263585/

#Film

Two pieces relating to the new Ben Affleck film Argo, about the CIA taskforce that staged a film company to rescue American hostages from Tehran:

First, the Wired article from 2007 that originally reported the story: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2007/04/feat_cia/

Second, the Slate piece that examines the veracity of the film: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/10/12/argo_true_story_the_facts_and_fiction_behind_the_ben_affleck_movie.html

An interview with the director of upcoming film Sassy Pants: http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/interview-with-coley-sohn-writer-and-director-of-sassy-pants #Women in Media

#Health

Connecticut legislator reevaluates mental health policy that he implemented in the seventies that now affects his son's life: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/my-son-is-schizophrenic-the-reforms-that-i-worked-for-have-worsened-his-life/2012/10/15/87b74a98-eadd-11e1-b811-09036bcb182b_print.html?src=longreads&buffer_share=ceb93&utm_source=buffer #Policy

Fat? Healthy? Can it be both? http://therumpus.net/2012/10/fat/ 

The "restorative" powers of the sensory deprivation tank: http://www.theawl.com/2012/10/new-yorks-last-sensory-deprivation-tank  

#International

Vice Docs are always intense: http://www.vice.com/vice-news/crime-and-punishment-in-the-gaza-strip-part-1 #Video

Really beautiful essay on the healing women need in Pakistan: http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/humera-afridi-malala-yousufzai-and-the-bonesetters-alchemy/  #Malala

#Literature

TPR's Southern editor offers some flawless reading recommendations: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/08/31/dear-paris-review-john-jeremiah-sullivan-answers-your-questions/ 

Literary Absurdity: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-love-song-of-j-alfred-capslock #AltLit

A great survey of the dark enchantments of Angela Carter: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/10/17/chamber-of-secrets-the-sorcery-of-angela-carter/

Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall was one of the best books I've read in 2012. She's revitalizing historical fiction/literature: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/10/15/121015fa_fact_macfarquhar?currentPage=all

I love mixtapes. And reading. This is a mixtape of reading: http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/a-mix-tape-of-chapters-from-novels/

Hell is Other Bloggers: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/shouts/2012/10/le-blog-de-jean-paul-sartre.html  #Humor

#MMA

Its an article on mixed martial arts that opens with a Karl Marx quote. You want to go to there: http://www.vice.com/read/fightland-weightless-history

#Photography

The rise of the studio portrait photograph: http://www.theawl.com/2012/10/the-uncanny-art-of-studio-photographys-heyday

Photo essay on love and intimacy: http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/rose-lichter-marck-circling-the-sea/

Collection from award winning embedded war photo journalist: http://www.motherjones.com/photoessays/2009/08/2nd-tour-hope-i-dont-die/01 #War

#Technology

The case for outing internet trolls: http://jezebel.com/5952522/publicly-outing-trolls-and-predators-isnt-a-distraction-its-a-solution (see last week's Gawker article revealing the identity of a Reddit contributor)

Psychiatrist Sherry Turkle talking about how the over connectedness of the internet is making us lonelier: http://www.npr.org/2012/10/18/163098594/in-constant-digital-contact-we-feel-alone-together?sc=fb&cc=nprbooks&device=iphone #LongListen

"The Mindy Project" Round-Up

Last week, Mindy Kaling's new show, "The Mindy Project," premiered on Fox. This is a Big Deal for Women in the Media, as Kaling is creator, star, and head writer of the tongue in cheek rom-com lampoon of  a show. 2011 had a surge in female-led comedies ("New Girl," "Whitney," "Two Broke Girls") but "The Mindy Project" is different right out of the gate: our heroine is a thirty-something OB-GYN woman of color, while last years shows centered on aimlessly drifting white girls.

Here are some articles on "The Mindy Project," also a #LongListen from NPR, and a piece Kaling wrote for The New Yorker last year about rom-com tropes:

from Salon: http://www.salon.com/2012/09/24/mindy_kalings_entitlement_project/

from The New Republic: http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/107812/mindy-kaling-tvs-smartest-airhead

#LongListen from NPR: http://www.npr.org/2012/09/25/161745528/mindy-kaling-loves-rom-coms-and-being-the-boss

The New Republic asking, where are the female writers? http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/107818/the-woman-project

By Kaling for The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2011/10/03/111003sh_shouts_kaling?currentPage=all