Do the spellings of cough & rough, pony & bologna bug you, too? English evolves organically, without our permission. Words that look similar but are pronounced differently generally came to the language from different sources and/or at different times, by an organic process that is not controlled by people in smoky board rooms. In our day,…
Mr. Sulu, set phasers to delicious! Which makes no sense, but hey, it’s a gingerbread starship Enterprise. Gingerbread USS Enterprise – Imgur. Similar:Overwhelmed? Start a new to-do list with "1) Breathe; 2) Make 'to-do' list" Felt momentarily overwhelmed by the da…CultureYour Frustration Is the Product (Intrusive marketing on publisher websites)You read two paragraphs and there’s…
A thoughtful, informative article on the importance of Roberta Williams, co-founder of Sierra Online (an adventure game titan from the 1980s). Drawing from both media archaeology and feminist cultural studies, this contribution first outlines the function Roberta Williams serves as a gendered subject of game history. The remainder of the essay is organized as three…
Rawitsch, a lanky, bespectacled 21-year-old with hair well over his ears, was both a perfectionist and an idealist. He started dressing as historical figures in an attempt to win over his students, appearing in the classroom as explorer Meriwether Lewis. By now he’d made it through to the western expansion unit, and he had in…
When we envisioned a journal of visual culture issue on ‘Internet Memes’ over two years ago, we sensed that the best way to be generous to our subject matter was to not presume to know what it would look like. Academic publishing – characterized by its long review periods and labored revision processes – habitually…
One day last year, David Lippman got an interesting Google Alert. 1,300 miles away, fellow math professor James Sousa had created free video tutorials for almost every example question in David’s basic math textbook. James did all of that without asking for David’s permission: David had already given permission by licensing his work under a…
“By drawing parallels between things and other, entirely different things, I not only further my own studies, but also encourage young minds to develop this comparative methodology in their own work,” said Windham, holding his left hand up to represent one thing, then holding his right hand up to represent a separate thing, then bringing…
A very clever interactive essay that uses embedded game-like simulations to show a point. Parable of the Polygons – a playable post on the shape of society. Similar:The boy wins once again. #chessGamesAs a plucky grad student, I walked in the door ready to negotiate with a department that n…I think enough time has passed…
“If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” In the most recent edition of New York, its annual Reasons to Love New York issue, the magazine published this story about a Stuyvesant High School senior named Mohammed Islam, who was rumored to have made $72 million trading stocks. Islam said his net worth…
Microchimerism most commonly results from the exchange of cells across the placenta during pregnancy, however there is also evidence that cells may be transferred from mother to infant through nursing. In addition to exchange between mother and fetus, there may be exchange of cells between twins in utero, and there is also the possibility that…
“Mobile journalism is … not something you’re going to succeed at super quickly,” Richardson said recently in a Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the practice. Mobile journalism is a process with a learning curve, she said. | Richardson trains youth to report the news using only smartphones,…
According to a source inside Rolling Stone, who insisted on anonymity to preserve an ongoing relationship with the magazine, Sean Woods presented a letter of resignation to founder and publisher Jann S. Wenner. Mr Wenner, said to be furious at the unraveling of what had originally looked like a massive scoop, declined to accept the resignation. Asked if…
My daughter, who plays Young Estella in Pict Classic Theatre’s “Great Expectations,” was interviewed on Tony Marino’s WCNS “Steppin’ Out” local arts radio talk show. I’ve embedded the 10-minute segment below. During the segment, she told a ghost story about the Charity Randall theatre, she said her favorite scene is the manners lesson Pip receives from…
It is a depressing certainty that this story will be used for years to come as a defense by those who do not want to believe rape victims’ allegations. But that is the wrong lesson to draw. Rather, this story should be a reminder of how difficult it is to accurately report on traumatic events…
I didn’t watch the show (our cable-less TV doesn’t get that channel), but I found his to be a fascinating take on what was wrong with both the concept and the execution of this show. All this forces the question of who the intended audience was for NBC’s production of Peter Pan Live, a three-hour…
The article doesn’t actually answer the question about this TV show, which ended in 1998. It was the last series I ever made time in my schedule to watch. Unlike Star Trek, which I watched so many times as a kid that I have whole episodes memorized, I’ve seen very little Babylon 5 in 15…
Rolling Stone, how about you apologize by disclosing the money you made by sensationalizing the under-researched UVa fraternity rape story, and donating it all to a women’s shelter and a journalism scholarship? To Our Readers: Last month, Rolling Stone published a story titled “A Rape on Campus” by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, which described a brutal gang rape…
My daughter Carolyn appears as Young Estella in PICT Classic Theatre’s Great Expectations, the first of NEXT Pittsburgh’s “Top 8 events not to miss in December” 1. PICT Classic Theatre’s Great Expectations: December 3 – 20, Stephen Foster Memorial Kick off the holidays with a timeless moral tale that begins on Christmas morning. Follow along with…
While watching classic science fiction films like Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey, do you find yourself distracted from the plot because you spend so much time studying the typography of the computer displays, the signs in public areas, and whether Ripley’s name really appears in Pump Demi in a nameplate in the main cabin…
I wonder what additional measurable benefits come from *performing* in live theater? Field trips to live theater enhance literary knowledge, tolerance and empathy among students, according to a study published this week by researchers in the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform…. “What we determined from this research is that seeing live theater produced…