An interesting spin on Tetris. Similar:Teaching Composition with Interactive FictionI’m on a committee that is exploring a m…AcademiaIt's been a Dwarf Fortress afternoon. AwesomeGood Twitter thread on how confirmation bias leads to conspiracy theoriesSo why are so many people convinced that…CultureWhy fake news worksFake news works on our emotions, usually…CybercultureHow exactly do bridges bridge? How…
Google just got slightly less evil in my eyes. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at…
Why did Brian Wilson use Cooper Black on the cover of Pet Sounds? Why did Obama use Gotham for his election propaganda? It has long been apparent that typefaces reflect the character of the person using them, and that type choice, as well as the words that are typed, is a powerful conveyor of meaning. At…
Hero. No question about it. Miep Gies, who ensured the diary of Anne Frank did not fall into the hands of Nazis after the teen’s arrest, has died. She was 100. […] “More than 20,000 Dutch people helped to hide Jews and others in need of hiding during those years. I willingly did what I…
More online discussion of the digital humanities. This post helped me as I start prying some piece of my brain away from the 3-week online course on gaming I’m currently teaching, and thinking about the “History and Future of the Book” course I’ll be teaching in 2 short weeks. One of the essays I most…
Very catchy tune. I love the way the meter of the refrain sputters, not unlike the sporadic posts of a blog that won’t die. Similar:How Fake News Happens: It's simple! A governor tweets a Fox News graphic from a story that…How dare President Biden be invoked by a…CultureHow To Talk To Babies About Semiotics (and…
Afer extensive treatments for cancer, including the removal of part of his jaw, film critic Roger Ebert is still critiquing movies and writing, but he is unable to speak; he also can’t eat or drink. His recent column reflects on life without a mouth. One day in the hospital my brother-in-law Johnny Hammel and his…
Ian Bogost has stirred up some discussion with his post on how digital humanities has challenged the humanities at large. I’ve been very happy with the level of support I’ve received from my English colleagues, my humanities colleagues, and the dean, but all interdisciplinary, hybrid, and emerging fields rub against the sharp edges of the…
Similar:In one small prairie town, two warring visions of AmericaGreat writing and great photography in t…CultureStar Wars: The MusicalThe Walls are Closing In  It’s all …DramaOh dear, George Lucas! Why the Star Wars universe is going from bad to worseThough I always preferred a different fr…EmpathyClosing the Door on the Video Store Era…
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If that’s not good enough for you, try Similar:A #neovictorian #steampunk ship-of-the-line needs a dramatic flag and a conveniently locat…AestheticsWhite House photo access controls public imageRather than permit photojournalists to s…CultureI was part of a nerve-racking, thrilling attempt to break a world record I drove the girl and myself to the Pal…AestheticsWhen an Eel Climbs…
While reviewing proposals for a new games journalism assignment in my video game culture and theory course, I found myself thinking about Floyd the Robot, from Planetfall. Some students were commenting excitedly about the emotional impact of the airport scene in Modern Warfare 2 (you are infiltrating a terrorist cell, and the game requires you…
What are thou, Pez, that must needs be dispensed? T’ be merely wrapped would leave thee so incensed? T’were better still to leave the fingers sticky, Than be vomited up by the likes of Mickey. — Mark Janello Curtis Allina, 87, Put Heads on Pez Dispensers Similar:Here is an example of how I teach with…
What would be more awesome than a colorful display of iconic images from 100 beloved games? How about a colorful display of iconic images from 100 beloved games on cupcakes? Similar:Desk blotters, with procedural leather and wood materials by Blendermada. #blender3dAestheticsThe Comic Sans SongComic Sans is a typeface, not a font. I …AestheticsThank you, 1993 Dennis,…
Looks like the rumors of an Apple tablet are creating ripples… the HP tablet apparently has two hinged screens, which seems to put it into the smartbook category. On Wednesday, Mr. Ballmer, Microsoft‘s chief executive, will unveil a novel take on a slate-type computer during his evening keynote at the Consumer Electronics trade show in…
Americans’ print consumption has declined since 1960, but words delivered by computer have more than made up the difference. (Image courtesy of the University of California at San Diego’s Global Information Industry Center) Conventional wisdom holds that YouTube, videogames, cable TV and iPods have turned us away from the written word. Glowing streams of visual…
I’ve just finished my final training run as a nanotech-augmented super-agent. Nasty terrorists holed up in the ruins of the State of Liberty have captured one of my fellow agents, and it’s my job to get him out. In real life, it’s 2002, and I’m just a guy in Wisconsin. My four-year-old son is asleep…
My online three-week course will start tomorrow morning. It will lean heavily on blogging, so chances are I’ll be a bit more productive than usual in that area. Video Game Culture and TheoryThis course isn’t about learning how to “win” a game, nor is it about programming or design. In fact, according to a recent…
Thanks, John, for sending me this link. Smart phones are great. But I’m not going to blog on my Blackberry. Reading texts from my mom is easy, but I’d rather not read a New Yorker story she emails to me on a 1.5”-by-1.5” screen. The ability of smart phones to do pretty much everything doesn’t…
It’s a spoof, but it’s well-researched and contains plenty of insight. Similar:Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia School of Journalism ReportSloppy journalism can ruin lives. Check …AcademiaWhite House Bars Times and Other News Outlets From BriefingKudos to the reporters from Time and AP …Current_EventsBacon Starry Night MemeI’ve no idea where the “Bacon Starry Nig…AestheticsDid Google…