The Case Against Typewriters

By Jonathon Sturgeon on Nov 5, 2014 - Flavorwire

First, Tom Hanks shocked and awed us with “Alan Bean Plus Four,” a casual reminder of baby boomer tyranny masquerading as short fiction in the New Yorker (of all places). Next, Hanks revealed that he is working on a collection of these gems, a book inspired by his perverse fetish for typewriters. Finally, the conductor of the Polar Express completed his reign of terror, his omne trium perfectum, by reminding us that the whole thing — both the New Yorker story and the collection of typewriter porn — is nothing but a setup for Hanx Writer, his already-existing, bestselling typewriter app for the iPad. … Read More

“I Don’t See Anyone Asking Justin Bieber If He’s a Feminist”: Laurie Penny on Activism, Gender, and Her Book ‘Unspeakable Things’

By Elisabeth Donnelly on Nov 5, 2014 - Flavorwire

Laurie Penny is a wildly precocious 28-year-old journalist who knows how to shake up the system. As a prominent feminist, columnist for The New Statesman, blogger for her Orwell Prize-shortlisted site Penny Red, and contributor to august institutions like The Guardian, she’s a bright and sometimes controversial voice for the feminist left.

Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies, and Revolution, her new book on gender and power in the 21st century, comes off like a revolutionary call to arms. A witty, stylish writer, she starts with her own experiences — life online, her hospitalization for anorexia, dating today — and sharply relates how the mundane interactions of our lives are shaped by political forces: power, gender, and capitalism. Currently at Harvard as a Nieman Fellow, Penny discussed the issues and passions that spur her writing in an email interview. … Read More