Hyperarchivalism
Jason Schreier, “It Took Two Years To Make Final Fantasy VII‘s Midgar in Minecraft.”
And more in huge fantasy worlds created in Minecraft: Laura Hudson, “How Fans Created Game of Thrones in a Minecraft Map the Size of LA.”
And I think this may very well be the death-knell of the age of superhero blockbusters (but also a megatext I’ll be writing about in, say, 2022): Dee Lockett, “DC Announces 10 New Superhero Films in Next Six Years, Including Wonder Woman“ (and Suicide Squad [!?] and Shazam [!?] and Cyborg [!?] . . . this can’t go well).
Literature and Culture
Sarah Brouillette, “Literature Is Liberalism: The Nobel Prize’s Wish to Separate Literature from Politics Isn’t Just Misguided. It’s Impossible.”
Zachary Loeb, “Program or Be Programmed,” a review of Wendy Chun, Programmed Visions: Software and Memory (MIT Press, 2013).
LM Sacasas, “Our Very Own Francis Bacon,” a review of Peter Thiel, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future.
In news revolving in a Pynchonian orbit: Markus Krajewski, “The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy.” The Phoebus cartel engineered a shorter-lived lightbulb and gave birth to planned obsolescence. (Poor Byron.)
Ian Bogost, “Why Anything But Games Matters: On Isolationism in Game Development.”
Kyle Wagner, “The Future of the Culture Wars Is Here, and It’s Gamergate.”
Nick Wingfield, “Feminist Critics of Video Games Facing Threats in ‘GamerGate’ Campaign.”
Briana Wu, “No Skin Thick Enough: The Daily Harassment of Women in the Game Industry.”
The abandoned mall in Gone Girl (dir. David Fincher, 2014).
Adriana E. Ramirez reviews Ghosts in the Machine: A Short Story Anthology.
And my colleauge at Pitt, Dana Och, and others debate the return of Twin Peaks.
The Hyperarchival Parallax 