Driving Blind: Austerity, Street Art, and Books

Ethan Gach

I write about comics, video games and American politics. I fear death above all things. Just below that is waking up in the morning to go to work. You can follow me on Twitter at @ethangach or at my blog, gamingvulture.tumblr.com. And though my opinions aren’t for hire, my virtue is.

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22 Responses

  1. Mike Schilling says:

    All you need to know about conservatives is that Erick Erikson, the guy who called Justice Souter a goat-fishing child molester, was considered one of the reasonable ones.Report

  2. NewDealer says:

    What’s interesting about the Italian bookstore article is the mention that France (and possibly Italy) think culture is worth saving and are willing to use law and government to save it. I imagine a Matt Y and the neo-liberal brigade tut-tutting against this and praising Amazon and tisk tisking about the end of retail.

    Because god forbid that anything be more important than economics!Report

    • dhex in reply to NewDealer says:

      the thing i like about that bill morris piece is that he’ll raise taxes in some areas for bookstores of all things but then essentially ban tourism because something something something? has he ever lived here? i know it’s a tongue in cheek not really grrr thing but c’mon. that’s as silly as presuming people barricade themselves in their apartments because of tourists. we hate them, but it’s a thing you gotta live with, like mosquitoes or locavore martinis.Report

      • NewDealer in reply to dhex says:

        I think the Bill Morris piece was largely sarcastic. I was commenting on the Charles Kelly piece anyway.Report

      • Brandon Berg in reply to dhex says:

        Pretty sure it’s a joke. Though the one about bookstores is disturbingly difficult to distinguish from actual left-wing proposals. The only real giveaway is the low rate of the proposed tax.Report

        • dhex in reply to Brandon Berg says:

          i know it’s a “joke” but it’s not really a joke. like the locovore martini, it is something that is both too silly to be true yet entirely real.

          after all, mr. dealer is no doubt serious about propping up bookstores – aka typeset welfare queens – with public funds. as are the french, obviously. it’s just plain weird.

          people genuinely think like that. i think i married one of them. it causes me, if not consternation, perhaps unease? i do not know, but i’ll check my phone’s kindle library later for the answer.Report

    • Brandon Berg in reply to NewDealer says:

      All you need to know about leftists is that Matt Yglesias got excommunicated for reading an econ textbook.Report

  3. zic says:

    Very grateful for This is Colossal. The steel-ribbon sculptures a few posts below are a wonder.

    It’s up there with Brain Picking, a blog on graphic arts.Report

  4. BlaiseP says:

    RE: Not getting paid: never, ever threaten a client with legal action. Just do it. No warnings. No promises. Just slap them so fast and so hard they never knew what hit them. Been consulting a longlong time. Never make a threat. Just act.

    That whole article sucks wind. Attempting to ruin some via social media doesn’t work: everyone knows a griefer’s review can hurt a business and will be Exhibit A in the lawsuit to follow.Report