Links for the week

14th October 2012

I hardly deserve the honorific ‘fan’, but I enjoy traditional American science fiction, especially from the immediate post-war years. So I am excited to see that the exemplary Library of America series (their beautiful volumes of Henry James grace my shelves) has published American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s, edited by the academic Gary K. Wolfe. There are treasures here by, among others, Theodore Sturgeon, Richard Matheson and James Blish. What’s more, the LoA blog has a thoughtful interview with editor Wolfe plus there’s a terrific complementary website (a detail from which is above), with essays, audio of related tales, and appreciations by contemporary writers such as Neil Gaiman, William Gibson and Connie Willis. Back here, as is traditional, a selection of disparate links is across the jump (with thanks for Twitter tips from, among others, @annehelen, @Chi-Humanities, @mia_out and @TheBrowser).

• Evoking the object – physicality in the digital age of music: Primus Luta on music, memory and the material.

• And the future of storytelling is…: Deep Media‘s Frank Rose reports from a conference where a bot tells him a story

• An intimate portrait of innovation, risk and failure through Hipstamatic’s lens: a compelling Fast Company series by Austin Carr inside the photo sharing start-up.

• Michael Darlow – in his own words: an interview by the Channel 4 and British Film Culture research project with the redoubtable producer and writer who was so influential on the shape of the of the channel in its early years.

• The 25 most powerful TV shows of the last 25 years: an eccentric and provocative choice – and note the adjective – of international television from mental_floss.

• It happened today: valuable thoughts on ‘what is news?’ from Luke McKernan at The British Library.

• Amplification and the changing role of media: more on how news in changing from Om Malik at gigaom.

• Cultural practices of intermediality: a lovely online exhibition from McGill University Library about the interactions of print with the stage and the visual arts between 1700 and 1900.

• Marlborough Fine Art tries to throw off burden of the Rothko scandal: a fascinating piece by Tim Adams for the Observer about the ‘re-launch’ of the esteemed yet tarnished gallery.

• The greatest fake-art scam in history: Vanity Fair‘s Joshua Hammer has a great tale of an art world con.

• Raoul de Keyser obituary: I spent a memorable afternoon in 1992 filming with the Belgian abstract painter who has died – Christopher Masters writes on his life for the Guardian.

• The anthropologist in the museum – what is a museum?: Dustin (oneman) reflects productively for the anthropology blog Savage Minds.

• The dead are real: Hilary MacFarquar for The New Yorker on the wonderful historical novels of Hilary mantel.

• Factory girls: also for The New Yorker, John Seabrook on the east-west mash-up that is K-pop.

• The death of Osama bin Laden: a compelling edited extract from The Finish: the Killing of Osama bin Laden by Mark Bowden, courtesy of the Guardian.

• Looper clip-o-matic trailer: … and as a last treat, here’s the no-budget trailer that Ryan Johnson put together to pitch his truly smart sci-fi movie Looper.