Nearly everyone reported so many things wrong in the first 24 hours after the Sandy Hook shootings that it’s hard to single out any one news organization or reporter for criticism. Among the news outlets that wrongly reported major parts of the journalistic building blocks of “who, what, where, when, why and how,” were CBS, The Associated…
With so many unanswered questions, TV correspondents were left to set the scene and to convey the impact in words that continually failed them. However apt, the phrase “parents’ worst nightmare” became an instant cliche. And the word “unimaginable” was used countless times. But “imagine” was exactly what the horrified audience was helpless not to…
I have no patience for TV news, and feel my blood pressure rise when I see the fear-mongering (“What was the chemical spilled on Route 66 that 10,000 motorists drove over on their way home from work? Will it cause you and your family to die a horrible death? Janice will have that story after…
Historically it’s been nearly impossible for a new Christmas song to break the impenetrable monopoly of “Away in a Manger” (1885); “The First Noel” (1823); “Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful” (1743); “Silent Night” (1818); “Deck the Halls” (1862); “Jingle Bells” (1857); “We Three Kings” (1857); “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (17th century); “Hark! The Herald…
What we know: The package contained an incredibly detailed replica of “University of Chicago Professor” Abner Ravenwood’s journal from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. It looks only sort of like this one, but almost exactly like this one, so much so that we thought it might have been the one that was…
Leapin‘ Lizards! There are four versions of the adorable little orphan with the big voice in Stage Right‘s holiday production of everybody‘s favorite musical, “Annie.” They‘re not on stage at the same time, and John Noble, who plays the one-and-only Daddy Warbucks, says each of the girls adds a little something different to her performance…
“Reality TV” star is shocked — shocked — that his own show is faked. Storage Wars Sued By Its Star; Show Is Faked And Execs Were Confronted By Cast, Court Papers Charge | Radar Online. Similar:Time Squared (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 13)Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generatio…PersonalIn September 1999 I was blogging about Tom…
A Quick and Comprehensive Guide to Type Similar:Futuristic Acrylic Chair (Blender 3D Animation)Yesterday, I sketched a chair I found at…AestheticsAnother delightful caricature by Rebecca ScassellatiAesthetics19 Book Cover ClichésThis one is #3, “Man Lurking by Fence.” …AestheticsMale Supporting Characters in Recent Disney Princess Films Dominate the DialogueThe silly click-baity headline in the Wa…BusinessReal college classes have…
Face it—eBook sales are up, analog eBook sales are down. Pretty soon collectors are going to realize that normal people no longer share their bourgeois fascination with things like the bittersweet aroma of ink on paper, or the satisfying heft of a classic hardcover, or the fact that books don’t randomly turn off when you…
If you’re a veteran gamer you’ll remember the golden era of text-based adventures. The Hobbit, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Zork… titles that conjured whole worlds out of narrative descriptions and two-word player inputs. That genre never went away, of course – interactive fiction communities still thrive on the web (a good place to look is…
Bad Doggy — practicing “Tomorrow” with a human Sandy – YouTube. Similar:Chess tournament in Monroeville. Two losses, two wins.The boy’s personal best in terms of win-…CultureSettling in for a jukebox show (not my favorite genre but the Go-Gos are fun).PersonalPractice, practice, practice. Making many things in #Blender3D. Arranging them to make a t… AestheticsThe…
As the typewriter become popular, it was sometimes referred to it as a “literary piano,” or “the sewing machine of thought.” But the piano and the sewing machine both require a more complex interaction between fingers and machine parts than does the keyboard, which essentially requires you to press whatever button features the letter or…
Similar:Reading Literature on Screen: A Price for Convenience?Because all of my Seton Hill students ge…AcademiaOminous Darkness Descending On Webpage Portends Grim Age Of Autoplaying Ad To ComeFortune’s fool, I wagered I would be spa…AmusingA picture of puffy white clouds floating in a blue skyAestheticsCNN Profiles Former White House "Chief Calligrapher"Today was the last day of…
…Amherst thinks that there may be long-term gains — both for scholarship and the economics of academic publishing — by publishing books that are subject to traditional peer review, edited with rigor and then published in digital form only, completely free. Some university presses issue some of their works in free digital formats. And Rice…
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. “What was your favorite century of English literature,” I asked. But he hadn’t really focused on any…
Tonight we’ll be blocking my big scene as FDR in Annie. In this speech, delivered to students at UNC, Roosevelt is more playful than he is in his better known more formal speeches (his first inaugural “The only thing we have to fear” and the Pearl Harbor “A date that will live in infamy“). Here.…
John Paul II was a master of communication and enjoyed a special connection with youth. I’m curious to see how Benedict XVI will use this medium. Benedict XVI (Pontifex) on Twitter. Similar:I Cannot Begin to Tell You How Proficient I Am in Microsoft WordIs this satire? It doesn’t matter. It ga…AestheticsNetflix’s ‘The Piano Lesson’ adaptation…
What was the quality control process behind the creation of this logo? Should that be “Discover Your Interest” or “Discover You’re Interesting”? I’m not sure I associate owls with curiosity. Owl from the Christopher Robin stories is pompous and oblique. The owl from the Tootsie Pop commercial is impatient and destructive. The Owl in “I…
Increasingly book vendors provide options that allow us to purchase e-books instead of print when both are available. We’ve now formally committed to purchasing e-books when given that choice. —UMD Libraries Similar:My students seem increasingly confused by the difference between journal title vs. article… Sometimes students will submit bibli…AcademiaI sometimes snark at the @Turnitin interface,…
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. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivxfKoZmF5k All the technology Seton Hill offers to its students…