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Sunday, February 23, 2020
PR: Meet Ben Percy, the writer of WOLVERINE & X-FORCE today at Third Eye Annapolis!
Friday, February 21, 2020
Commentary: Alexandra Bowman of Georgetown's "The Hilltop Show" Responds to Callout and Critics
by Alexandra Bowman
Ms. Bowman is a 19-year-old student, political cartoonist, and humorist at Georgetown University. We interviewed her last December. When I met her in person last weekend, she told me about a minor university controversy about a pulp paperback book collection in a GU dorm library that had started to go national due to Brietbart picking it up. I offered her space at ComicsDC for her response. For the record, I'm in my mid-50s and grew up with many of the books pictured in the Georgetown Review story around the house, I have read some of them, and I personally do not find them generally offensive myself. However, I do believe that she and her colleagues have a right to make their opinions known without being trolled. And at least one of the books, The Cunning Linguist, is genuinely hardcore pornography. - Mike Rhode
Launched in fall 2019, The Hilltop Show is Georgetown University's political comedy show. Our team aims to make current campus, national, and international events accessible and entertaining to those who might not typically engage with the news - including not only students but the broader Georgetown community and beyond. In line with this mission, we publish journalistic pieces as well as comedic sketches and interviews with political practitioners and comedians.
I founded the show last April. I write sketches and "informational monologues" (the thing John Oliver does), conduct and coordinate journalistic investigations, organize film shoots, edit videos in Adobe Premiere, and conduct outreach and PR for the Show. I create our graphics, drawing many by hand with traditional and digital media, like our Season 2 poster:
I founded the show last April. I write sketches and "informational monologues" (the thing John Oliver does), conduct and coordinate journalistic investigations, organize film shoots, edit videos in Adobe Premiere, and conduct outreach and PR for the Show. I create our graphics, drawing many by hand with traditional and digital media, like our Season 2 poster:
The Hilltop Show meets in a study space in a dorm that would be more accurately described as a glorified broom closet. Until a few weeks ago, the space included a bookshelf, on which were hundreds of books have been there since 2003 when the dorm opened and an alum donated them. During a weekly team meeting, we noticed one book that caught our eye, entitled Cherokee, which depicted a young Native American girl on the cover illustrated not only in an objectifying way but also with blood on her clothes. Upon further inspection, we realized that at least one of the books was hardcore pornography, but many others of them included derogatory racial elements and glamorized rape, including that of underage girls. We asked the university and multiple organizations if they were aware of the books and if they had any background knowledge of their origins, and within hours of one of our emails being sent, every book disappeared from the dorm library.
The Hilltop Show partners with an independent student media publication on campus, The Georgetown Review, and we worked with them to publish a journalistic report based on The Hilltop Show's research and the events that had transpired. The Show also filmed and published a sketch (a Goodfella's parody) on the same day the books were removed.
Shortly thereafter, the university newspaper, The Hoya, published an article that included a statement from me, with some remarks indicated as representative of the team's views and some as my own. As I noted to them, "While some were simply raucous crime noir murder mysteries representative of the literary and cultural time in which they were written, other books included extremely problematic and damaging elements, including the glamorization of rape, including that of underage girls. Completely naked women of all races were frequently featured on these books' covers. Further, many books fetishized young nonwhite women."
The books were typical of the time in which they were written, but our main question was whether the university knew that they were present considering that the books' racist and pornographic content, regardless of when the books where written, could be harmful to those who read them. Several young children under the age of ten live in the buildings where these books were kept, not far out of their reach.
I'd point to how Disney has approached the issue of many of their older films containing culturally outdated and racist elements. On the new streaming service Disney+, films with these elements have warnings in their descriptions. For example, on the 1967 film "The Jungle Book," the following lines are included in the description of the film: "This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions." I believe that even a small plaque on the walls of the McCarthy and Reynolds library with a similar sentiment would have been enough. When we reached out to the university, we didn't want the books to ultimately be removed. We wanted them to be contextualized in a similar way to how Disney has handled such content typical of mid-20th century media.
Conservative higher education news site The College Fix published a laughably biased article, which was not based in fact nor particularly concerned with providing much context for the situation whatsoever. Breitbart apparently then noticed this article and then wrote one of their own based on the College Fix's report.
I'd point to how Disney has approached the issue of many of their older films containing culturally outdated and racist elements. On the new streaming service Disney+, films with these elements have warnings in their descriptions. For example, on the 1967 film "The Jungle Book," the following lines are included in the description of the film: "This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions." I believe that even a small plaque on the walls of the McCarthy and Reynolds library with a similar sentiment would have been enough. When we reached out to the university, we didn't want the books to ultimately be removed. We wanted them to be contextualized in a similar way to how Disney has handled such content typical of mid-20th century media.
Conservative higher education news site The College Fix published a laughably biased article, which was not based in fact nor particularly concerned with providing much context for the situation whatsoever. Breitbart apparently then noticed this article and then wrote one of their own based on the College Fix's report.
Breitbart reported the story in a way that suits the narratives popular with their reader base. Their report paints the story thus: liberal snowflake college students complained when something offended them, and the university folded and banned the books those students whined about. The image accompanying the article, a photo of books engulfed in flame, has prompted thousands of commenters to compare what we did - which was to raise questions to the university regarding the presence of dime novels that glamorize rape and pedophilia - to Nazi book burnings.
Brietbart's article has been shared over 38,500 times as of February 20th. Over 11,000 comments have been left.
The Hilltop Show has released a statement via a tweet commenting on the Breitbart article:
"First, we didn't want the books removed altogether. We wanted them contextualized. Censorship? Nope. Second, if you're a fan of keeping books around that glamorize rape and pedophilia, we have Some Concerns. Something tells us you didn't read @thegureview's actual report."
"First, we didn't want the books removed altogether. We wanted them contextualized. Censorship? Nope. Second, if you're a fan of keeping books around that glamorize rape and pedophilia, we have Some Concerns. Something tells us you didn't read @thegureview's actual report."
I'd like to conclude by saying that we are more entertained by our Breitbart callout by anything else. After all, Breitbart has now called the Hilltop Show a "crack research team." Rest assured that "Crack Research Team Member" T-shirts are currently being designed. Cheers.
More information about The Hilltop Show can be found on our website, hilltopshow.com where you can also sign up for our newsletter. Our YouTube channel is linked here. We post updates, political cartoons, memes, and more on our social media pages: we are @hilltopshow on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. As our slogan states, we will continue to #capitalizeonthechaos.
Feb 26: Pixar's Head of Story, Kelsey Mann at Corcoran
Onward: Meet and Greet with Pixar's Head of Story, Kelsey Mann
Meet Kelsey Mann, Head of Story at Pixar, on Wednesday, February 26 at 4 p.m. in the Hammer Auditorium. Kelsey was the story supervisor on the 2013 feature film, Monster's University and has worked on Toy Story 3 and The Good Dinosaur. He will be talking about Onward, released in theaters on March 6, 2020. RSVP here.
Set in a suburban fantasy world, Disney and Pixar's Onward introduces two teenage elf brothers who embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left out there.
Set in a suburban fantasy world, Disney and Pixar's Onward introduces two teenage elf brothers who embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left out there.
[We've talked to GWU's organizer and there are spaces for non-students available]
Latest Liz at Large in print and online at City Paper
Liz At Large: "Growing"
Plant the seeds.
Liz Montague
Washington City Paper Feb 20, 2020
Pop Culture Happy Hour on Sonic the Hedgehog
'Sonic The Hedgehog' And Fan Service
Pop Culture Happy Hour February 21, 2020
Ben Schwartz voices the titular Sonic in the new movie Sonic the Hedgehog.
The new movie Sonic the Hedgehog is about this hedgehog — who runs fast. Ben Schwartz voices the Hedgehog, Jim Carrey is the evil Dr. Robotnik, and James Marsden is also in there somewhere. When the film's trailer first dropped last fall, Sonic's appearance — the legs! the teeth! — creeped a lot of people out. The studio went back and redesigned the character completely, which got us thinking about the power of fan reaction.
Dead Reckoning's Churchill reviewed at ICv2
ICv2 Stars: 4.5 (out of 5)
Posted by Nick Smith on February 21, 2020
Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "Jackpot!"
From Mike Flugennock, DC's anarchist cartoonist..
"Jackpot!"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=2928
What happens in Vegas isn't staying in Vegas THIS time, folks. The word is out about The Skanky App Developed By The Skanky App Developers Partially Funded By The Buttigieg Campaign. This time, it's another off-the-shelf Google product — an allegedly "secure Google web form" running on a batch of iPads purchased by the DNC, or "dPads", as it were.
An associate professor of CompSci at the University of Iowa promptly went into "OK Boomer" mode, blaming the age of the poll workers (70) instead of perhaps considering their over-engineered with built-in security vulns cheesy-ass Google "app" which is basically a hammer in search of a nail, and a disaster waiting to happen so obvious that it's got a goddamn lampshade hanging on it.
Gotta love this closing paragraph, though, with the money quote from some flack at the Alliance For Securing Democracy (spit) — basically, "if you're cynical about the state of American 'democracy' and refuse to participate in elections, then the terrorists win":
"Regardless of the challenges that may exist in administering the election, I think it's incumbent on any Nevadan who wants to participate in the caucus to do so," Levine said. "If you are not participating for that reason, that's a win for our adversaries, both domestic and foreign."
D'ahh, fuck this noise; I'm gonna go check out Lou Rawls at the bar...
--------------
"Campaigns Warn Of Chaos Ahead Of Nevada Caucuses", Washington Post 02.18.20
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/nation/nevada-caucuses-trump-democrats-iowa-20200217.html
"Tech for Nevada Caucuses Under Scrutiny after Iowa debacle", The Hill 02.17.20
https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/483202-tech-for-nevada-caucuses-under-scrutiny-after-iowa-debacle
"Not a great look: Failed Iowa caucus app is deeply linked to self-declared winner Buttigieg… and Hillary Clinton", Danielle Ryan at
RT, 02.04.20 https://www.rt.com/op-ed/480068-buttigieg-iowa-app-shadow/
Alliance for Securing Democracy, https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=2928
What happens in Vegas isn't staying in Vegas THIS time, folks. The word is out about The Skanky App Developed By The Skanky App Developers Partially Funded By The Buttigieg Campaign. This time, it's another off-the-shelf Google product — an allegedly "secure Google web form" running on a batch of iPads purchased by the DNC, or "dPads", as it were.
An associate professor of CompSci at the University of Iowa promptly went into "OK Boomer" mode, blaming the age of the poll workers (70) instead of perhaps considering their over-engineered with built-in security vulns cheesy-ass Google "app" which is basically a hammer in search of a nail, and a disaster waiting to happen so obvious that it's got a goddamn lampshade hanging on it.
Gotta love this closing paragraph, though, with the money quote from some flack at the Alliance For Securing Democracy (spit) — basically, "if you're cynical about the state of American 'democracy' and refuse to participate in elections, then the terrorists win":
"Regardless of the challenges that may exist in administering the election, I think it's incumbent on any Nevadan who wants to participate in the caucus to do so," Levine said. "If you are not participating for that reason, that's a win for our adversaries, both domestic and foreign."
D'ahh, fuck this noise; I'm gonna go check out Lou Rawls at the bar...
--------------
"Campaigns Warn Of Chaos Ahead Of Nevada Caucuses", Washington Post 02.18.20
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/nation/nevada-caucuses-trump-democrats-iowa-20200217.html
"Tech for Nevada Caucuses Under Scrutiny after Iowa debacle", The Hill 02.17.20
https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/483202-tech-for-nevada-caucuses-under-scrutiny-after-iowa-debacle
"Not a great look: Failed Iowa caucus app is deeply linked to self-declared winner Buttigieg… and Hillary Clinton", Danielle Ryan at
RT, 02.04.20 https://www.rt.com/op-ed/480068-buttigieg-iowa-app-shadow/
Alliance for Securing Democracy, https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Library of Congress opens Anne Mergen’s Editorial Cartoons
Ready for Research: Anne Mergen's Editorial Cartoons
Martha H. Kennedy
Robin Ha interviewed for The Beat
INTERVIEW: In ALMOST AMERICAN GIRL, the universal language of comics connected Robin Ha to her new culture
Coming-of-age in the South and learning to embrace the Korean-American identity
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
March 14: Local comics collective Square City Comics public meeting
MAR 14 2020
- Saturday, March 14, 2020 at 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM
- National Gallery of Art East Building4th and Pennsylvania Ave, Washington D.C. 20565DetailsCome hang out for our March monthly meeting. Come talk shop with your fellow DMV area cartoonists. We will meet in the Terrace Cafe at the National Gallery of Art, which is located in the East building. Note: Large bags have to be checked at the front desk, so if possible try to limit your bag size to a backpack, or allow for extra time. And we are bumping back the start time by a half hour to try to avoid the lunch rush. See you there!
Here is a link to the Terrace Cafe site for your reference:
https://www.nga.gov/visit/cafes/terrace-cafe.html
March 7: Strange Adventures Signing w/ Tom King and Mitch Gerads at Fantom Comics
Update 3/4/20: Mitch Gerard won't attend due to illness.
MAR 7 2020
MAR 7 2020
- Saturday, March 7, 2020 at 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
- Fantom Comics
2010 P St NW, 3rd Floor, Washington D.C. 20036
Tom King and Mitch Gerads reunite for Strange Adventures, telling the story of Adam Strange as a man of two worlds. We're happy to announce that Tom will be returning and Mitch will be here for the first time! Signing will follow a podcast discussion with Julian Lytle of IGNORANT BLISS. We ask that all attendees limit themselves to 2 items per person for signing with a possibility that the creators may have time to let folks back in line for other items.
Strange Adventures #1 will be released Wednesday, 3/4 and is available for pre-order at Fantom Comics now!
Amy Reeder Returns to Baltimore Comic-Con in 2020
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