MALONE-MAIL No. 10: Technofuturism

Man, I am really terrible at sending this in a timely fashion, aren't I? Here's hoping my lack of punctuality doesn't mean your unsubscription. (I mean, at least you're not paying for this, right????) Nothing wild and wacky to report this time around, except that I'm very angry that it's been raining a bunch here. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, April showers, ALL RIGHT I GET IT but haven't we been weather-punished enough??)

Here's what I've been writing:

Made a massive Orphan Black cheat sheet for WIRED, for all you latecomers out there.
Also for WIRED, interviewed a dude who made some really cool 8-bit art in tribute to Studio Ghibli films.
Started writing for T Magazine, the New York Times' style mag! First piece was on Courtney Barnett's rising star, and the second was about the wonderfully academic bent of King avriel's alt-R&B.

Here's what I've been reading:

I'm getting to a mix of old and new this month, it would seem! Recently digging the work Noah Berlatsky's doing at the Atlantic about race and sci-fi (here and here). Finally got to Kate Losse's excellent piece about social media's intensely gendered structures from January, 100% worth the wait. There's a great new Ellen Willis essay collection coming out this week, and Flavorwire posted what's probably going to be my favorite piece from it, her hilarious dystopian marriage satire. (Who, me? Predictable?) This great piece by Judith Donath for WIRED about why pseudonyms and alternate identities are still so important online. Here's a thing you need to read if you think we're adopting technology faster than we've ever done before. Here's a thing you need to read if you're an editor in a hiring capacity. And lastly, I picked up Tiny Beautiful Things last weeked, at last; this particular entry about writing like a motherfucker made me tear up a little.

Here's what I've been listening to:

Boots' Beyoncé-featuring song "Dreams" is magical and proceeds are going to anti-teen-domestic-violence nonprofit Day One, so maybe definitely buy it. King avriel's stuff, obviously. Also really digging this song "Ridin' Round (Sky High)" by this great new artist Fatima. The forthcoming album by Shabazz Palaces, Lese Majesty, is pretty good, so stay tuned for that (I believe it's out in June). Other than that, I've been listening almost exclusively to this Scandal Spotify playlist, which is basically a fantastic funk/soul collection b/w random Album Leaf tracks. Seriously, who knew the Fitz-and-Olivia theme was an Album Leaf song?

AND THAT'S THE BALL GAME (I SOMETIMES FORGET BASEBALL EXISTS)

xo,

Devon

P.S. (Parting Shot):

I attended that Theorizing the Web conference in Williamsburg over the weekend; if you're at all interested in Internet culture, I would highly recommend watching some of the archived panel videos, here. (Especially recommend "Sex Work and the Web" and "Race and Social Media.") I took lots of notes and the whole thing made me feel like this: