I've been listening a lot to Judas Priest lately. I never listened to a lot of metal growing up because I was a clueless little snob, but over the past few years I've seen the errors of my ways. Anyways, Sin after Sin is one of my favorite priest albums, and I especially love the song "Diamonds and Rust," which was written by none other than Joan Baez. What's awesome about this song is that it was written for Bob Dylan after he unceremoniously dumped her and treated her generally like dirt. Whenever I listen to the Judas Priest version of this song, I picture Rob Halford in full Priest leather get-up singing to Bob Dylan at the height of his Rolling Thunder weirdness. So my friend and band mate Ryan Thomas Becker sent me this image that he made in honor of my rock and roll fantasy.
About 18 months ago I was introduced to the performance group My Barbarian by my friend Colleen who sent me a link to a video for a song called "Unicorns LA." I subsequently discovered that it was mentioned in boingboing about three years ago, but somehow I missed it. Since then I have become obsessed with their somewhat singular take on post-ironic performance art. The only way I can describe them is as if Bob Fosse choreographed a Renaissance Faire to be filmed as an after school special to be shown at an early 70s Californian hippie commune, then you have a vague idea of what this group is about.
The most bizarre thing about them is that they somehow manage to project both sincerity about what they are doing, while still being completely self aware of the ridiculousness of their performance. I don't know what to call this approach. "Sincere irony" perhaps?
My interest in them comes partially from my interest in the way popular culture interprets the medieval world. I study medieval art history and I am always confronted by people who misinterpret what I do. I don't know how many times I have been asked if I go to Renaissance Faires, or if I "dress up" in medieval garb. How come nobody asks Egyptologists if they put on Pharonic headwear? Anyway, I do understand that medievalism has a particularly geeky/fanboy subculture aura around it, and it is this aspect that initially attracted me to My Barbarian. I think that possibly only Civil War buffs maintain the same level of intense fandom around their historical subject as medievalists do.
My Barbarian explore so much more than medievalsim. Their whole shtick is an examination of/commentary on, and weird embracing of 1970's Southern California new age culture and its interests. What I love most about these guys is the way they can both satirize this culture for its excesses while also embracing it for its hopefulness and sense of possibility.
This is pretty darn cool. iTunes along with the makers of the upcoming Watchmen movie have just published the first chapter of an animated webcomic of the Alan Moore classic graphic novel. While I still have my doubts after seeing the new preview for the 2009 film version made by the guy who brought us 300, I'm quite excited by this animated version.
A comix artist named Rich has created a surprisingly good Doctor Who fan comic featuring all ten Doctors. The art and the story are both very good, and are in some ways more entertaining than the last season of DW.
