Recently Around the Net
This blog has slowed down a lot as I have shifted my attentions elsewhere. I will continue to post things that I would otherwise consider "uncategorizable" with my current endeavors, but have found outlets for most of my interests.

I had two academic book reviews published over the last several months. The first was over at the Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies, a newish journal out of Trinity College, Dublin. Their focus--as per the name-- is in horror and the Gothic, especially the Irish iterations of the two. Ireland has long had a Gothic tradition, and the sublime, sometimes ruinous landscapes of rural areas can invoke images of the 18th novel of terror. In the cinema, the most obvious torch-bearer is Neil Jordan, a director with an acute sense of the supernatural. Anyway, spend some time soaking up the sights of the latest issue. My piece is on Tony Magistrale's book Abject Terrors: Surveying the Modern and Postmodern Horror Film (2005, Peter Lang). I will likely have another review in the next edition as well, so stay tuned.

The other book review is over at Scope: An Online Journal of Film and TV Studies. Scope is hosted by the University of Nottingham in the UK and is a leading online journal of film studies (perhaps, along with eJump Cut, the leading online journal of film studies) and seems to be a central hub for current book reviews in academic film studies. I wrote a piece on Britain Colonized: Hollywood's Appropriation of British Literature (2006, Palgrave Macmillian), a really original and fasciating look at how Hollywood adapts British literature. While some of its claims are open to lively debate (indeed, they have already sparked it in some centers), it is a key text for film adaptation studies.

I've got a longer review essay planned for a future edition of Scope. Other book reviews on the horizon include something for the new (very new...they are scheduled to appear early in September) Southwest Journal of Cultures and something that will likely appear in the very next edition--in print and via database subscription services--of Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and the Humanities.

Speaking of book reviews, my own brainchild The Modest Proposal has recently re-invigorated its blog, with weekly "columns" by three of our regular contributors. Expect comment on a variety of topics, from issues in biology and economics through to DVD reviews and media analysis. Take note, too, that the Summer edition of The Modest Proposal was published last month and is absolutely packed to the brim with recent book reviews, essays, and the like. Great place to go to kill time whilst languishing at the office.

Speaking of blogs, cohort Bobby has recently started two new ones. The most purely bloggish is the GameCulture Journal blog, the live-publishing alternative to the obstinately-slow-to-produce journal. This is where Bobby hopes to tackle some issues that he notices vis his studies of games. Hell, I might make an occasional guest apperance. The other "blog" is the home to LowScore Podcast, a weekly games podcast hosted by J. (aka the letter "J", nee Jason) Ford and Mr. S. They have already bravely blazed for six weeks, but it is not surprise, since they ran the official podcast of the UVA Gamers Club for two years. In fact, myself and MP regular Jim Goodwin were guests on Episode 4, a fairly specific attempt at discussing the engendered nostalgia and allure of boardwalk arcades. Give 'em a listen!

Much more on the way in the way of reviews, essays, and news.  ¶ 6:38 PM 0 Comments