Happy Friday, everyone! This week’s been a good one for me, not least because absolutely everybody seems to really hate the new Netflix Iron Fist. The internet tried to warn you, Netflix!
“We try not to get too hung up on the split infinitive”: Here’s some charming stories about copyediting and style guides.
Gavia Baker-Whitelaw at the Daily Dot adored Logan and made me feel pretty sure that I will too.1 Likewise Emily Asher-Perrin at Tor, who does the excellent thing of saying a superhero movie is very good without trashing all other superhero movies.
Emily Yoshida wrote this thing about silent murder girls in Logan (and elsewhere).
Raise a glass to the spoilsport big sisters of literature.
YA author LJ Alonge on how to write black stories without catering to the white gaze.
Do not read this article if you have not yet finished season one of The Good Place and dislike spoilers (also, catch up on The Good Place!). But here is an interview with showrunner Mike Schur about how he crafted the season, and it’s aces.
I feel tingles of pleasure when I read negative reviews of Iron Fist, which sounds like a badly paced, badly directed, badly written mess. Yay. Maureen Ryan calls it “about as exciting as a slice of Velveeta cheese left out in the sun too long.” Kwame Opam describes it as a “boring, confused, and often offensive mess of a series.” Susana Polo says it was so bad she found herself “incredulously texting coworkers who also had screener access to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.”
This piece on The Learned Fangirl draws parallels between the WGN show Underground (which I haven’t seen yet) and Nisi Shawl’s superb work of what she calls AfroRetroFuturism, Everfair.
Buzzfeed ran a round-up of takes on the women’s strike and a round-up of reports from women on why and how they did or did not participate.
This profile of The Ripped Bodice, a romance novels bookstore in Los Angeles, made me happy in every possible way.2
Another links round-up, another Vulture piece by Angelica Jade Bastien making me happy. This one’s about Buffy the Vampire Slayer!
Have a wonderful weekend, friends. Stay brave!
- Ugh except I’ve seen like four separate reviews that said Logan made them really realize what metal claws could do to a person’s flesh, which — eurgh. ↩
- Except there’s a few spots where it’s condescending cause a non-romance-reader wrote it, like “they have enough perspective to recognize the inherent humor in their trade.” Shut up, sir. ↩