Saving this for the next time I teach Death of a Salesman, in which Willy misunderstands what makes a person “liked.” Summary: charismatic people don’t obsess over what they can’t control. Instead, they focus on what that they can do. Similar:ALL ABOUT 'ARCHIE' – Jason Robert BrownA few years ago, my daughter got to perf…CultureComputer…
Much of what Krystal writes about the novel also applies to drama, but the difference is that theatre presupposes a community. The writing, editing, manufacture, sale, and criticism of books is, of course, a communal endeavor, but the novel as an artifact can be experienced in isolation. Fiction, speaking very generally, is about the individual…
Similar:A picture of puffy white clouds floating in a blue skyAestheticsYork Corpus Christi Pageant, Toronto, June 7I’ll be in Toronto next week to observe …AcademiaKitchen utensils for my steampunk villain's hideout. #Blender3D. There’s nothing particularly steampu…AestheticsThe Geekling Worked a Shatner/Nimoy Tribute into GodspellMy geekling daughter, who in Willy Wonka…AmusingMS-Word's helpful "View -> Focus" mode delays…
Similar:Looking forward to this! @thepublicpghLooking forward to this! @thepublicpghDramaRhythm of the Dance (Irish dance, song, and music touring show)My family thoroughly enjoyed this perfor…AestheticsThoroughly enjoying Collaborators at Quantum Theatre.PersonalOnly a Dad (Edgar Guest poem, read by Carolyn and Peter Jerz for WAOB Audio Theatre)Carolyn and Peter Jerz recite “Only a Da…CultureLooking in on the officers'…
Similar:It's Not Cool to Overreact: How Normalcy Bias Will Define Our FutureDuring moments of crisis, I’ve certainly…CultureLego goes steampunkBe still, my nerdy heart. Steampunk —…AestheticsI'm really enjoying seeing how my students are responding to Hamlet.As part of a class assignment, one stude…AcademiaThe Great Gatsby Character Map SomethingSoSam.AestheticsBattle of New Orleans Ended 200 Years Ago TodayThe Battle…
I was not a fan of this show, but I am a fan of this paragraph: I was a teacher in 2004. I coached our school’s chess club. I saw how my students were picked on, bullied. I tried my best to defend them, but I couldn’t be everywhere. My students were smart, huge nerds,…
“When it comes down to it, life is really all about finding a hashtag for yourself and sending hilarious emoji on Venmo,” Packard said, and then, after a moment of reflection, added: “Lena Dunham.” […] “You’ve gotta ask yourself: Would you downvote the Yik Yak of your own life?” Delaney mused. His mood quickly soured.…
Hardcore Twitterers have the savvy and patience to continuously tune the array of accounts they follow. They even train the nuances of their visual attention to notice only what they care about when scrolling rapidly. However, new users usually get lost in the rough before they have a chance to find any diamonds. The next…
Rake-thin and bearded, Dorsey radiates a sense of composed quietude. Walking and talking around Twitter’s offices, he has the air of a docent showing off a collection of Donald Judd sculptures. He wears a white T-shirt, black jeans, and laceless, orange high-tops that look like they’ve been painted from a bucket of melted creamsicles. “What’s…
We went through a Lloyd Alexander phase at my house a few years ago; I read through the whole Prydain series and a few of his stand-alone works. I did enjoy Disney’s The Black Cauldron, which is technically impressive, and ambitious in its storytelling, but made a muddle of two of the five Prydain books.…
Elsinore is a game where you play as Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. She’s stuck in a time loop, a la Groundhog Day or Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. Her goal? To prevent Hamlet, a Shakespearean tragedy so tragic that it borders on ludicrous, from ending tragically…. As Ophelia, you gather information and interact with people…
The words we use and the ways we refer to people mirror — and shape — our perceptions, our attitudes, our behavior. So where to begin? The “r” word has fallen out of use and good riddance. “Handicapped,” too, for the most part. Generally we don’t refer to people as “disabled,” as in “he’s a…
Similar:You can be a Trek fan without loving TOS. But if we think tolerance and empathy are good t…I was born in 1968 and grew up with reru…CulturePinkalicious — "Buzz Off"My daughter plays the Bumblebee in “Buzz…AestheticsA Christmas Carol — new audio adaptationBooksMy simulation project does not require me to master medieval daub and wattle…
ME (a couple years ago): Okay, students. Get your iPads, go out there and record some interviews, edit them into a news story, and upload it to YouTube. STUDENTS: … ME: You have 50 minutes. STUDENTS: … (Time: the present.) ONE OF THOSE FORMER STUDENTS (by email): I just accepted my first full-time job with vacation…
My daughter just trounced me in a pun war. In high school, I often tried masking my social awkwardness by making puns. Not just random puns, but stupid chains of rapid-fire puns, all on the same general subject. I had these mental lists of puns related to bland subjects like photography (“Lens be serious.” “That…
Similar:New Voices For The Voiceless: Synthetic Speech Gets An UpgradeWonderful, inspiring article that uses t…CultureWhy liberal arts and the humanities are as important as engineeringWe learned that though a degree made a b…AcademiaRemember Who The Enemy IsGood article on Catching Fire. (I haven’…BooksTom Bissell writes a letter to Niko Bellic about Grand Theft Auto VI…
This is an amusing little story about how politics affects the English language. An obscure word that politicians and pundit like to use to refer to their opponents has faded in and out of use. The “wrong” move was removing the word from the dictionary recently, after which it made a comeback. (I’d still never…
I just ordered the book Lang mentions in this article. In my experience — having observed many dozens of college courses over the past two decades — most faculty members eye the final minutes of class as an opportunity to cram in eight more points before students exit, or to say three more things that just…
A photographer blogged about taking photos inspired by Wuthering Heights. Note please the dark clouds and the wall of rain looming in on us…. We were racing against the impending drenching, and chuckling at the comments from a family of climbers “oh how beautiful! I think they just got married!” We had to break the…
No actor says “My character does this and says that because he is evil.” How many voters wake up in the morning saying, “I support this candidate because I am evil, stupid, and/or racist”? Nobody votes “against women’s reproductive rights” or “against unborn babies.” Those are labels provided by the opposition, not the identity claimed…