She was nervous about the dog misbehaving during “Tomorrow,” so I told her she could practice the number with me. (I did not behave. She kept singing.) This was Dec 2012.
Leapin’ lizards, the clip from the cabinet scene (where I played FDR) has 42k views on YouTube. Loved this set by Mark Kissner!
It’s Not Cool to Overreact: How Normalcy Bias Will Define Our Future
During moments of crisis, I’ve certainly noticed that feeling of paralysis and the desire to look around for anyone who seems to know what they’re doing. Creating the idea of a crisis in the minds of the public (they’re making it illegal to say “Merry Christmas,” they’re weaponizing pronouns to groom your children, those silly…
Prophet Motive (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 16) The Nagus’s eccentricities annoy, alarm Quark
Rewatching ST:DS9 Quark is enjoying an ear massage from a humanoid woman who is clearly more interested in a business deal when they are interrupted by the arrival of Grand Nagus Zek. In the B story, Bashir is nominated for a prestigious Federation medical award, yet he seems aggressively unenthusiastic. (Some good character bits, and…
The Gift of the Magi (by O. Henry; read by Dennis Jerz; We Are One Body Audio Theatre)
I recorded this oral interpretation of a delightful Christmas story.
Eco-critical Code Studies: Reconfigurations of nature in the born-digital artifact “Colossal Cave Adventure” from text to VR
Video game history is colliding: Sierra founders are bringing a seminal text adventure game to VR (The Verge) Colossal Cave Adventure (Crowther 1976; Crowther and Woods 1977) (photo credit) Photo of Ken and Roberta Williams; Wikipedia photo of Adventure on a CRT Sierra On-Line (Sierra Entertainment, Inc.); King’s Quest, Space Quest, Phantasmagoria; original publisher of…
Mariah Carey meets William Carlos Williams
i trained an ai chatbot on my childhood journal entries – so that i could engage in real-time dialogue with my “inner child”
I kept a journal from Feb 3 1983 (the day my freshman high school English teacher assigned a journal entry as homework) through about 1992 (when I was busy in grad school, though I did write long emails to my fiancee). As I was wrapping up my dissertation, I started blogging in 1999. At no…
Combating Shakespearean shrinkage – Shakespeare & Beyond
The worst reaction to Shakespeare’s complicated language, it seems to me, is thinking that it should be hard for an audience to understand. This will only cause Shakespeare shrinkage to expand, creating entire productions that are difficult to understand, not just occasional moments, and alienating audiences who have been disappointed too many times. Shakespeare should never be a…
Shakespeare portrait said to be only one made in his lifetime on sale for £10m
A portrait said to be the only signed and dated image of William Shakespeare created during his lifetime has gone on sale for more than £10m and is being displayed in London. The owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, is offering the piece for sale by private treaty without an auction. It is the work of Robert…
Another student matinee. So many excited kids for Frankenstein. @prime_stage
Critical Ignoring as a Core Competence for Digital Citizens
I used to spend a lot of time on Twitter. I’ve deleted the app from my phone, and check it a couple times a day from my laptop. I’ve been reading more news and fewer tweets. I followed a Twitter bot that reminds me to go do something else that’s not scrolling slack-jawed through tweets.…
Ushering for a school matinee. Love seeing the kids excited about @prime_stage Frankenstein (Support local artists in your community.)
The daughter joined the cast of this show a few days ago. As Safie, she sings a folk song and indirectly teaches the creature about language and belonging.
She says she got the email while at a cast party after the final performance of Pippin. Pittsburg’s Prime Stage Theatre reimagines “Frankenstein”
The Myth of ‘Learning Styles’
The discourse around “learning styles” (the idea that because some students prefer to learn visually, orally, kinesthetically, or through reading/writing, teachers should adapt their lesson plans to meet student preferences) has been useful to me in that it helped me to realize that some methods of instructions that seemed natural to me were actually choices…
Adobe steals your color
What a horrible situation. The Adobe monthly leases are way too expensive for a student paper that only prints a few magazines a term. The software costs more than the printing process, and about the same as the web hosting service. Just not worth the expense. We are making do with free alternatives. For people…
Media Bias Chart version 10 — Left / Center / Right; Fact vs Fabrication; (Ad Fontes Media)
The very useful “media bias chart” is one of several useful ways to classify sources of journalism. UPDATE: See the Media Bias Chart, v.11 While individual items published by any of these sources can vary considerably from the general location depicted in this chart, the takeaway message is that journalism can still be valid and…
Destiny (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 15) An ancient prophecy tests Kira’s faith and Sisko’s patience
Rewatching ST:DS9 The station prepares to welcome Cardassian engineers. While Sisko and Quark are hopeful, Downer Dax doubts the technobabble, and also notes Quark’s Cardassian booze has spoiled. The vedek Yarka warns Sisko that letting the Cardassians establish a relay link through the wormhole will fulfill an ancient prophecy that foretells doom. Kira finds his…
Heart of Stone (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 14) Odo tries to keep Kira’s spirits up as she is slowly consumed by a crystal; Nog seeks Sisko’s help to join Starfleet
Rewatching ST:DS9 In a runabout, Kira bickers with a grumpy Odo. Kira: You’re right. Next time we are invited out for dinner, I’ll make sure you are the one to say no. Odo: I’d appreciate that. There’s warmth under the snark on both sides, though as usual Kira isn’t aware of how much she means…
