“I know the alphabet. Maybe I could be a writer”. With exactly these words began Hubert Selby’s Jr. career. Hailing from Brooklyn, the novelist decided to change the course of literature, which he actually did when publishing his first novel Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964). “It will explode like a rusty hellish bombshell over America and still be eagerly read in a hundred years”, said Allen Ginsberg about the book, and The New York Times fulfilled his prophecy by recognizing that “Selby’s place is in the front rank of American novelists”, and “to understand Selby’s work is to understand the anguish of America”. More…
His work is simply breathtaking. I’ve never seen anything like it! Jerry Uelsmann, a great fantasist and explorer of boundaries of photographic medium has convinced me to write more about great artists.
Uelsmann is best known for his experiments with complex multiple prints, negative imagery and other techniques in elaborating a totaly strange world: angels, floating trees, clouds, women converted in water and other personal mythology elements. More…
Lee Friedlander’s work is simply surprising. Whether is about self-exploration or cultural statements, Friedlander is always exploring the unseen part of the reality. More…
Johnny Depp was always considered to be a true talent in the acting business. And I truly agree with this statement if I remember all of his independent screen-plays that left me breathless. Lately he abandoned the so-called independent productions and embraced other projects, more comercial ones. More…
Rest in peace Heath, you will be missed.
Here’s one true journalist I admire: Ben Bradlee, the vice president and former executive editor of The Washington Post. His career reached the top when secret Pentagon Papers were published and also when Watergate affair was finally cleared out. Ben Bradlee decided to bring out government papers concerning The Vetnam War and also authorized Post staff reporters Bernstein and Woodward to work on Watergate story. Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, reporter Bradlee became close friend with Senator John F. Kennedy. In 1961, the journalist was promoted senior editor and then managing editor at The Washington Post. Nowadays he’s retired as executive editor, but continues to serve as vice president of the paper. More…
Critic, columnist, writer, blogger, Eric Alfred Burns is best known for his website, Websnark and also as the writer of the webcomic Gossamer Commons. Born and raised in Fort Kent, Maine, Burns identifies himself as a New Critic, although one can say he’s not a close reader of the works he is critiquing. Anyhow, Websnark is now a damn popular website, which manages to build an audience that ultimately reached the mid five figures daily. With a little bit of sarcasm and focusing on positive examples rather on unfortunated ones, Eric A. Burns also sees in Websnark an outlet for commentaries on philosophy and popular culture, although webcomics remain what the site is best known for.
On the other hand, american blogger has also archivist tendencies. He once was the proponent of using Wikipedia as a tool for centralizing information about webcomics. Burns ultimately suggested the creation of Comixpedia’s Webcomics Wiki. In 2005, Eric launched an artwork gag-a-day photo comic, The Adventures of Brigadier General John Stark, about the hero of the battle of Bennington (1777), and also became an editor for the webcomics collective Modern Tales, working with their free website untill august ‘05.