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What Could Have Entered the Public Domain on January 1, 2013?

Current US law extends copyright for 70 years after the date of the author’s death, and corporate “works-for-hire” are copyrighted for 95 years after publication. But prior to the 1976 Copyright Act (which became effective in 1978), the maximum copyright term was 56 years – an initial term of 28 years, renewable for another 28 [...]

Amusing | Culture | Drama | Literature | Modding | PopCult | SciFi

A Klingon Christmas Carol

Performers Ali Kidder-Mostrom (L) and David Coupe perform a fight scene as a translation of their dialogue is projected on a screen during a performance of “A Klingon Christmas Carol” in Chicago, December 20, 2012. –A Klingon Christmas Carol

Academia | Business | Culture | Ethics | Humanities | Literature

Losers exist. Don’t hire them

The headline is provocative — I wouldn’t have phrased it that way, but this anecdote was certainly interesting.

[W]hen I asked him about his BA in English, which he had earned about five years earlier, he got nervous. [...]

Academia | Aesthetics | Culture | Cyberculture | Design | Education | Humanities | Literacy | Literature | Media | Modding | Nature | Philosophy | Psychology | Religion | Rhetoric | Social_Software | Technology

A Message from Hester Prynne (Student Video)

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Have I mentioned lately that I have awesome students?

For a “Creative Critical Presentation” in my online American Literature survey, English major Tyler Carter created A Message from Hester Prynne, a 9-minute video that explores Hester’s psychology and spirituality, through music, dance, poetry, and cinematography.

All the technology Seton Hill offers to its students [...]

Academia | Amusing | Cyberculture | Language | Literature | Technology

“What irrational person would argue against your claim that hoe is a Gothic punk?”

Dictating student feedback, I said “Would a rational person argue against your claim that Poe is a Gothic poet?”

My Mac typed: “What irrational person would argue against your claim that hoe is a Gothic punk?”

Cyberculture | Design | Games | History | Literature | PopCult

Author of 80s classic The Hobbit didn’t know game was a hit

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The Hobbit stood out from the adventure games of the day in three ways, the first of which was its use of graphics. Many scenes in the game included a colour image that may have drawn at painfully slow speed but still offered a far richer experience than the text-only adventures of the day.

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What Could Have Been Entering the Public Domain on January 1, 2012?

Current US law extends copyright protection for 70 years after the date of the author’s death. (Corporate “works-for-hire” are copyrighted for 95 years after publication.) But prior to the 1976 Copyright Act (which became effective in 1978), the maximum copyright term was 56 years (an initial term of 28 years, renewable for another 28 years). [...]

Amusing | Culture | Humanities | Literature | Writing

Hemingway: The First Draft of Anything…

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Culture | Current_Events | Drama | Humanities | Literature | Writing

BBC News – TS Eliot’s widow Valerie dies aged 86

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She guarded her late husband’s literary legacy following his death in 1965.

Valerie Eliot also allowed Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats to be based on TS Eliot’s whimsical verses, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.

The stage show became a global hit that brought in huge sums for the Eliot estate, [...]

Culture | Essays | Humanities | Literature | Rhetoric | Writing

Open Letters: An Open Letter to the Phrase “Having Said That.”

I’m talking about you, Havingsaidthat. You have wriggled your way into the mouths of every Letterman, every shiny-tied anchorman, every political pundit who can now read one poll every way but sideways, every Fox News body language “expert,” and every reality talent show judge. Even the humble weathermen and subway station apocalypto (2013 end of [...]