Students aim for Broadway in musical with true-life focus

David Mahokey of Dunbar, a senior at Point Park University, and Greg Kerestan of Greensburg, a senior at Seton Hill University, wrote the 20-song score and script, respectively, for ″In Control,″ a musical that focuses in part on Mahokey’s real-life battle with bone cancer. Two free performances of ″In Control,″ directed by Anthony Marino, artistic…

Books Without Borders

The heartbreaking thing is that this fall, over 10,000 bookstore employees across America will be out of work. The way the publishing industry is going, many of those people won’t be able to find jobs that are even tangentially related to books anymore; they’ll go on to work in movie theaters and grocery stores and…

Karel Capek Slighted

The layout of this display at the Carnegie Science Center almost makes it look like the Maria duplicate in Metropolis came before Karel Capek’s play RUR (which was written in 1920, first performed in 1921). Similar:The Quickening #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 24) Bashir visits a planet where …Rewatching ST:DS9 After a comic opening…EmpathyEmergence…

Carnegie Science Center Model Train

The control panel. Similar:I’ve roughed out earthen embankments for the city walls. I know there was at some point a …I’ve roughed out earthen embankments for…CultureCandyland is a masterpiece of game design (John Brieger unpacks the specific cultural cont… AestheticsWhy Even Try if You Have A.I.? Now that machines can think for us, we have…

USS Requin

Images from an extended tour of a cold war submarine. (We liked the tour we took last year so much, my son and I came back.) [portfolio_slideshow size=medium trans=scrollHorz ] Similar:They Smiled Too!Victorians had to stay still for 3 secon…AestheticsStar Trek: Voyager Premiered 20 Years AgoI remember wanting to like Voyager a lot…CultureForgotten closet box:…

Stage Right Greensburg Wizard of Oz

My daughter, as the wizard, with her talented castmates, in our local theater school’s preteen summer camp musical. Similar:Party Like a Jerz My dad just made us root beer floats.PersonalOn my fantasy #steampunk cruiser, every uniform is a parade dress uniform. #Blender3D #ble… The first few weeks of Jun…AestheticsLotteries: America's $70 Billion ShameCan this be true?…

Bluejay Catching a Bug

My friend and colleague, Balázs Tarnai, shared these pictures of a bluejay catching a bug on his garage roof. Similar:Trimsheets baked with greebly texture goodness add eye-pleasing woodgrain & tech detai…AestheticsThe Child –Antoine Bardou-Jacquet –The Child…AestheticsThe Best Halloween Costume Is a Robot Halloween Costume – Atlantic MobileAwesome robot costume is awesome. The…AestheticsThe Princess and the…

LEGO figures flying on NASA Jupiter probe

LEGO figurines representing the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno and Galileo Galilei are flying to Jupiter. (NASA/LEGO) August 4, 2011 — They have launched aboard the space shuttle, visited the space station, and flown to Mars. Now, three more “very special” LEGO figurines are set to fly to Jupiter with NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The…

Textbooks for Fall 2011

Students are starting to contact me asking about books. I will have the course websites up in a week or two, but for now, here are the textbooks. LA101 “Seminar in Thinking and Writing” From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader, Second Edition (ISBN 978-0-312-60141-6) The SF Writer, Fifth Edition (ISBN 978-0-205-75197-6) EL200…

The 1982 Tron Holiday Special

Sides: split. Gut: busted. Milk droplets: transferred to computer screen via nasal passages. The 1982 Tron Holiday Special from Rip Taylor via The 1982 Tron Holiday Special from Rip Taylor, Scott Gairdner, Ryan Perez, PerryAdamSmith, Nick Mundy, Funny Or Die, dannyjelinek, BoTown Sound, and James Codeglia. Similar:Let's conſider ſome ſurpriſing old type: "Did you ever…