Before long, Santiago could be a city full of electric vehicles charged by “smart” power grids, many of them driving on highways equipped with traffic-reducing automated variable toll pricing. Perhaps a new arrival to the Chilean capital would go for the chance to found a technology company, incentivised by programmes like the state-backed, foreigner-friendly Start-Up […]
Every weekday I write a post at Open Culture, usually to do with literature, film, music, art, television, radio, or language. Here are ten of my favorites from the more than 250 I wrote in 2015: Brian Eno on Why Do We Make Art & What’s It Good For?: Download His 2015 John Peel Lecture David […]
Every weekday I write a post at Open Culture, usually to do with literature, film, music, art, television, radio, or language. Here are ten of my favorites from the more than 250 I wrote in 2014: The City in Cinema Mini-Documentaries Reveal the Los Angeles of Blade Runner, Her, Drive, Repo Man, and More Close Personal Friend: Watch a 1996 Portrait […]
Every weekday I write a post at Open Culture, usually to do with literature, film, music, art, television, radio, or language. I’ve done over 1000 so far, but on this list (which I revise every so often) you’ll find a few of my favorites: All of Wes Anderson’s Cinematic Commercials: Watch His Spots for Prada, American Express, […]
Colin Marshall sits down in Knightsbridge, London with Jacques Testard, founding editor of the quarterly arts journal The White Review. They discuss the re-issue of Nairn’s Towns featuring past guest Owen Hatherley; London’s surprisingly small literary culture and what, before founding The White Review, he didn’t see getting published; the “deeply stereotypical Williamsburg existence” he once lived in […]
Every weekday I write a post at Open Culture, usually to do with literature, film, music, art, television, radio, or language. Here are ten of my favorites from the more than 250 I wrote in 2013: Blade Runner: The Pillar of Sci-Fi Cinema that Siskel, Ebert, and Studio Execs Originally Hated Hergé Draws Tintin in Vintage […]
Every weekday I write a post at Open Culture, usually to do with literature, film, music, art, television, radio, or language. Here are ten of my favorites from the more than 250 I wrote in 2012: Al Jazeera Travel Show Explores World Cities Through Their Street Food An Introduction to Yasujiro Ozu, “the Most Japanese of […]
From Donald Richie’s Japan Journals: Called a flâneur in print. Looked it up. “Witty, insouciant, man of the world.” Like that very much. Also, “not serious.” Like that even better. It is like being a dandy without having to pay tailoring bills. An element of pose and nothing, such as earnestness, to mar the effect. Also, […]
You can find all my old posts (but why would you want to?) going back to 2008-ish on colinmarshall.typepad.com, and going back to 2002 on colinmarshall.livejournal.com.
… is a Seoul-based essayist, broadcaster, and public speaker on cities, language, and culture. On my new Substack newsletter Books on Cities, I write long-form essay-reviews on exactly that. You’ll find my essays here. I write for outlets including the New Yorker, Guardian Cities, Open Culture, the Times Literary Supplement, the Los Angeles Review of Books (including its Korea Blog), […]