Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

Ocelopotamus header image 4

Entries Tagged as 'Fiction'

The ABC’s of Early 80’s Mo-Romance

February 15th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Culture, Fiction, Film, LGBT, Lit, Music, New Wave, TV, Video

And now for something a little on the lighter side — and a nice follow-up to Valentine’s Day. ABC’s “All of My Heart” + Brideshead Revisited = high school drama club heaven, circa 1982. Possibly the best combination since peanut butter and chocolate … the British horror of peanut butter notwithstanding. (Note: This may not […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Roundup: Flight of the Humpback Edition

November 19th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Flight of the Humpback Edition · Apple, Blogs, Books, Climate Change, Comics, Culture, Feminism, Fiction, Film, History, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Journalism, LGBT, Lit, Macintosh, Media, Music, Nature, New Wave, Politics, Religion, Software, Tech, The Economy, Stupid, Torture

Markos from Daily Kos has a new gig writing opinion pieces for Newsweek, and he’s been in rare form with his first couple of efforts. From this week’s column: “In his first Inaugural Address, Ronald Reagan remarked that ‘government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.’ While the quip has provided […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Chicago Notes: Spukt, Sweat Girls, Mr. Fluxus, Andy Bayiates, and More

November 10th, 2007 · Comments Off on Chicago Notes: Spukt, Sweat Girls, Mr. Fluxus, Andy Bayiates, and More · Astrology, Blogs, Books, Chicago, Comedy, Culture, Fantasy, Fiction, Foreign Policy, Fringe, History, Journal, Lit, Neo-Futurists, News, Performance, Politics, Theater

It’s been ages since I’ve done one of these little Chicago roundups, but there are so many head-splittingly good things going on this week that it seems like a dandy time to reinstate the tradition. • First up, this weekend is the opening of the brand-new Theater Oobleck show Spukt, written by the mercurial Dave […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Roundup: Where All the Corn Cobs Are Edition

October 29th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Where All the Corn Cobs Are Edition · Advertising, Books, Climate Change, Comics, Culture, Death Penalty, Fantasy, Fiction, Film, Food, Health, Healthcare Crisis, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Internet, Labor, Law, LGBT, Music, Nature, New Wave, News, Organic Food, Pets, Politics, Roundup, Science, Tech

In order to keep these roundups fresh as a spring daisy, I usually discard any links I’ve been keeping around that are more than a week old. But since this is OcPot’s first roundup in more than six weeks, I’m extending the freshness window slightly to include a few things that were just too good […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

No Backsies

October 24th, 2007 · 5 Comments · Books, Culture, Education, Fantasy, Fiction, Film, Human Rights, LGBT, Lit, Media, Politics, Science Fiction

I haven’t weighed in on the whole gay Dumbledore thing, partly because everyone is already talking about it, and I usually view OcPot as a place to post about things that deserve more attention than they seem to be getting. But Minnesota Malcolm brought it up in the comments to this post last night, and […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Of Dykes, Blankets, and Blockheads

October 23rd, 2007 · 2 Comments · Books, Comics, Culture, Fiction, Journal, LGBT, Lit

Via Roz, which Dyke to Watch Out for am I? Which Dyke to Watch Out For Are You?created with QuizFarm.com You scored as Mo You are Mo, a guilt-ridden, kindhearted liberal who doesn’t relax enough. You are ordered to buy a pint of non-organic, dairy ice cream and watch Comedy Central for a week. PBS […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

The Golden Compass: Official Trailer and Featurette on Daemons

October 12th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Books, Culture, Fantasy, Fiction, Film, Lit, Music, News, Science Fiction, TV, Ursula K. Le Guin, Video

The official/final trailer for The Golden Compass is out, and the more I see of this film the better it looks. I am somewhere between guardedly optimistic and completely geeked out.   Also, here’s a nice little featurette called “Defining Daemons,” which looks at the animal companion-spirits that accompany the characters on their journeys.   […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Russell Hoban News: New Releases and More

September 7th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Books, Culture, Fiction, Film, Lit, News, Russell Hoban, Science Fiction, Theater

I just updated the News page over at The Head of Orpheus, the Russell Hoban Web site I maintain, so I figured I might as well cross-post the info here as well (with a few slight formatting tweaks). Autumn 2007 is shaping up to be a great season for Hoban fans, with Russ’s next novel […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Review: Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin

August 28th, 2007 · 5 Comments · Books, Culture, Fiction, Film, HIV/AIDS, LGBT, Lit, Reviews, TV

I just finished reading Armistead Maupin’s newest book, Michael Tolliver Lives — well, inhaling it really, because reading Michael Tolliver Lives is less like reading a novel than it is like opening a richly detailed letter from an old friend you inexplicably lost touch with about 15 years ago, and suddenly here he is giving […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Roundup: Skydiving Baby Giraffe Edition

August 15th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Skydiving Baby Giraffe Edition · Activism, Apple, Books, Chicago, Comics, Culture, Death Penalty, Fantasy, Fiction, Film, Food, Health, Human Rights, Internet, iTunes, Journalism, Lit, Media, Meta, Nature, News, Politics, Roundup, TV, Ursula K. Le Guin

Out, damned spot! Fox News caught red-handed, laundering entries on Wikipedia. Keep on scrubbing, Lady MacFox, but those stains belong to you always. The GOP’s California strategy: winning the 2008 election by undoing California’s winner-take-all electoral system. Once the state goes piecemeal, the Repubs gain at least 20 electoral votes from safe GOP districts. Arianna […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

A Magical MASH-Up

July 27th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Blogs, Books, Comedy, Culture, Fantasy, Fiction, TV

Jim over at empty-handed.com finally figured out who this Harry Potter person everyone keeps talking about is. And he has provided no less than five new books chronicling the adventures of this popular character. The results are pure wizardry! With, um, surgical precision. And lucky you, I’ve giving you links to the whole five-book series. […]

[Read more →]

Tags:

Roundup: Return of the Mouse Edition

June 15th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Activism, Apple, Books, Comics, Culture, Fiction, Food, Hate Crimes, Health, Healthcare Crisis, HIV/AIDS, iTunes, LGBT, Lit, Macintosh, Music, News, Organic Food, Politics, Roundup, Tech, Theater

BOOKS: This week marked the release of Armistead Maupin’s new book Michael Tolliver Lives, which picks up the story of Michael “Mouse” Tolliver, the iconic character from Maupin’s Tales of the City series. Mouse is now in his mid-50s, living with HIV but happily married. Maupin says, “I wanted to tell the story of a […]

[Read more →]

Tags: