Over the Christmas break, I’ve been churning through Khan Academy math drills, so that I can be a more effective homeschool parent. It’s actually kind of fun watching my score go up, and earning badges. In the way that birds who are trained to peck buttons for food think it’s fun to peck their little beaks bloody. As a grad student ploughing through…
Similar:Saints and Poets, Maybe They Do SomeI wrote the following in 2004, when my s…DramaFrom Shakespeare to Sondheim to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, everything you "dew�…PersonalGeometry and color maps for wooden desk tray. #Blender3D #practiceThe blue image is a “normal map,” which …Aesthetics"Chores" — Clip from Snow White: The Musical (Stage Right Greensburg, Sept 2012)Here’s what it…
Similar:My crazy Friday night involved tweaking the graphic for an #MLAstyle instructional web pag…AcademiaJesus Christ SuperstarI have a daughter who does things. Her n…CultureThe daughter looks stunning in pink. AestheticsQuick visit to see my mother and siblings.AestheticsJerz Nerdcation 2013On a visit to the Washington DC area for…CultureWe were pretty even for about 25m, but I…
I haven’t read Pride and Prejudice in about 25 years. I always liked Mr. Bennett, though now that I have been married for more than 20 years, I can more fully appreciate his line from Chapter 1: “You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I…
The headline is silly clickbait — of course Rey is a role model, but not *just* for little girls. Aside from that, Mike Adamick writes lucidly and passionately about a key scene in The Force Awakens. Very important if there are young girls in your life, or if you are interested in the relationship between…
Similar:Thoughtful Gestures Sometimes Speak Louder than WordsShe ended up waiting out the light cycle…AmusingThe 22 rules of storytelling, according to PixarMy favorite: “Once upon a time there was…ArtReally enjoyed watching Your Name with the family. Visuals hooked me, but the story kept m…AestheticsHow Not To Make Professional ContactsTowards the end of my year-long radio ne…AmusingClever…
Update, Dec 2020: We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun: Dear Editor— I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If…
These are not the rhetorical choices I would make in order to convey this message to my own students, but I can certainly identify with the author’s evident frustration. My own syllabus has a FAQ section, and in the first week or so of classes I usually assign an open-notes “Syllabus Quiz” so that students…
The consequences weren’t as serious as the infamous Palm Beach County Butterfly Ballot; however, Eric Thomas has taken it upon himself to redesign the illogical “Miss Universe” results card. First, I’ve updated the brand to match. Just because this is simple and utilitarian doesn’t mean it can’t match the rest of the show. After that, I…
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) recently captured a unique view of Earth from the spacecraft’s vantage point in orbit around the moon. “The image is simply stunning,” said Noah Petro, Deputy Project Scientist for LRO at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The image of the Earth evokes the famous ‘Blue Marble’ image taken by Astronaut Harrison Schmitt during Apollo…
How did Reuters happen to get a picture of the arrest of Martin Shkreli (the pharmacy bro who bought the rights to a drug and raised the cost an obscene percentage)? Why is that question at least as important as what Martin Shkreli looks like while being arrested? There are two subjects on which Reuters…
At a glance of the edited footage, it’s tempting to think that Gertie was brought down by resonance, given the vivid visual evidence of a bridge that undulates before it collapses, not unlike the wine glass that shatters under the vibrations of a singer’s voice…. How did the incorrect explanation persist for so long? In their…
Similar:Computer Interfaces in Star Trek's "Assignment Earth"I was watching classic Star Trek with my…CybercultureMystery Science Theater 3000: The Definitive Oral History of a TV Masterpiece The show was awash in quick, smart wis…HistoryMy brother is visiting to play a game of chess with his nephew and watch his niece perform…GamesAn apology to Donald Trump, from…
Today is Carolyn’s day off from Oliver Twist… the show’s final week starts tomorrow, and ends with two shows on Saturday Dec 19. Now, the iconic story of Oliver Twist makes its U.S. premiere in a production with local ties and significance for one Pittsburgh-based theater company. If you have yet to catch PICT Classic Theatre‘s Oliver Twist—which opened on…
Over the past four centuries, the brutality of Shakespeare’s plays has become the subject of endless academic study, but his contemporary critics didn’t approve of the on-stage gore. Michael Dobson, director of the Shakespeare Institute, said that Elizabethan drama was known for being gruesome: “The English drama was notorious for on-stage deaths; they were thought crass.…
Similar:If I don't design the control panels for my fantasy #steampunk project, who will? #blender…AestheticsThis Is What Summer Vacation Is For: Designing a Steampunk Airsloop with Blender 3DSummer vacation means if I am telling my…AestheticsAdventure | T.M. CampGreat story of nerdiness and discovery a…CybercultureEnjoying a visit to the Carnegie Science Center with my son.…
For WAOB Audio Theater, my family spent an afternoon recording “The Little Match Girl,” “Papa Panov’s Special Day,” and a new story, “The Executioner.” Already online — Ozma and the Little Wizard, and The Monkey’s Paw. Similar:When we play Star Trek Monopoly, I am the Captain’s chair. GamesThe girl has gotten progressively more dedicated over the…
Post-Gazette.com – Homer, Shakespeare, Cervantes – whatever their genres, the great authors were always great storytellers. Victorian novelist Charles Dickens (1812-70) belongs in that elite company, and although he wrote little for theater, he had a very high dramatic sense and there have always been those to adapt his wonderful stories for the stage. ‘Oliver…
Kicking around ideas ranging from an uptick in child kidnappings to a new link between laptops and cancer, senior CNN staffers held their regular daily meeting this morning to decide which topic viewers should panic about for the rest of the day. —The Onion Similar:Vanessa Otero's Complex vs. Clickbait, Liberal vs. Conservative Media ChartUpdate, June…
So it turns out the “YouTube voice” is just a variety of ways of emphasizing words, none of which are actually exclusive to YouTube—people employ these devices in speech all the time. But they generally do it to grab the listener’s attention, and when you’re just talking to a camera without much action, it takes…