MALONE-MAIL No. 11: A Change Is Comin'

Whew! It's been a minute. So many things have happened since the last MalonE-Mail that I'm not quite sure where to begin! I'll take a stab at it, though: I'm thinking that MalonE-Mail is gonna turn into a monthly newsletter (who didn't see that coming?), coming out on the last weekend of every month.

Also, I'm moving! Going to be trekking back across the country to my native Los Angeles at the beginning of August. Why move back to California, you may ask, when you left so vehemently seven years ago? In response, I would ask you: If you were a freelancer with no ties to an office, the vitamin-D deficiency of a naked mole rat, and a budget that the New York real estate market spits upon, why wouldn't you? Plus, it's the last great city in America these days. Or something. Anyway, packing and shipping is gonna be a bitch and a half, so I'm at least gonna pay for that sunshine. But enough of that. TO BUSINESS:

Here's what I've been writing:

Over at WIRED, I wrote about Orphan Black's mini-musical (which is real IRL) and the forthcoming Jurassic Park soundtrack vinyl edition. Also, I did a double-header for my dystopia column this month: a 101 on the most important dystopian literature of all time and a piece about the stories most commonly mistaken for dystopian.

For Popular Science, I interviewed the theoretical physicists who figured out how to prove an 80-year-old theory about how light can be converted into matter.

At Pitchfork, I reviewed Yellow Memories, the lovely debut album from Swede/Brit electro/jazz singer Fatima, and over at Rookie, I interviewed Lykke Li about love and heartbreak and fluffy white sheets.
Also I started writing news for Billboard.com on Saturdays! If you want to keep up with what Ed Sheeran is doing (and what Tupac [supposedly] did!), check that stuff out here.

Here's what I've been reading:

Ayn Rand's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Mallory Ortberg, you goddess.
Amanda Hess on why it's so hard for men to see misogyny in their day-to-day lives.
Also, racism doesn't work the way you think it does. (This changed my whole frame of mind, BTW.)
Steve Kandell's absolutely gutting Buzzfeed piece about grief and tourist memorials.
Ta-Nehisi Coates on the really important topic of racists like Donald Sterling are not the real problem, and also, duh, the case for reparations (<—read this).
Experts are starting to express long-overdue worries about the Internet of Things and its potential issues, thank the lord.
M'girl Laura Hudson on how the fight against online harassment might start by looking at online gaming's efforts.
Also-m'girl Dayna Evans on the weirdest convention I've ever heard of.
Heather Havrilesky's explanation of what it's like to be a freelance writer is perfect. Luke O'Neil's freelance confessions, while more perfunctory, were also quite comforting.

Here's what I've been watching:

Since I haven't been listening to that much besides a bunch of randomly shuffled soul music, I figured I might as well share some other interesting things. This time around, I'll endorse TV: Have you watched Fringe? If you're a fan of (a) X-Files, (b) Orphan Black, (c) badass lady FBI agents crossing between parallel universes, and/or (d) the idea of an older, super-smart Pacey Witter, you should definitely binge a few episodes of this (it's on Netflix). However, you should not watch it if you're a scientist, because I've heard that the pseudoscience will drive you absolutely insane. It may or may not be eclipsing my social life currently, though.

That's all for this month! Thanks, as always, for listening.

xo,

Devon

P.S. (Parting Shot):

I rewatched Lilo and Stitch a couple weeks ago. If you don't remember, it was a really depressing movie about child psychology and the foster-care system! With an Elvis soundtrack. Good kids movie, y'all.