Leroy Anderson's ''The Typewriter''
Amusing orchestral piece that features an unusual solo instrument. Various
Red-Hot and Filthy Library Smut
By “library smut” I am in no way referring to the photo books on native peoples, or the illustrated health manuals, or any of the other volumes which, in your childhood, you lurked about the library aisle to find with the sole purpose of sneaking guilty glances at naked bodies. Nor am I referring to…
The Shaving Cream Racket
There are many thing that are true — the state is a parasite on society, private property would solve most social problems, rock music is tedious and stupid — but are nonetheless not generally known or applied. The truth that shaving cream is a racket should be added to this. —Jeffrey A. Tucker —The Shaving…
Professionalism Lost
I started out by trying to be the easygoing candy civilian instructor — “No, just write your name anywhere, pen or pencil is fine” — answering all the questions, and then a couple of the jokers decided to tweak things a bit more: “Sir, cursive or print?” And I couldn’t not be the smartass in…
My Love Affair With Star Trek
There was no separating the two Treks, the vacuous and the visionary. It’s no coincidence that one of the most legendary episodes — “The Trouble with Tribbles” — was essentially a comic take on the show’s established themes. Given some distance from the moment, I realize this is actually an entirely healthy attitude. It’s the…
Becoming Mary Poppins: P.L. Travers, Walt Disney, and the making of a myth
The story’s happy ending depends on a signal fact: the Banks children will no longer be brought up by servants. Henceforth, their own mother — corralled homeward through the beneficent intercessions of Mary Poppins — will do the job herself. “Mary Poppins” advocates the kind of family life that Walt Disney had spent his career…
How travel has changed
When I look back through my old journals and photos, I’m struck by how much travel has changed since 1994. These days, I take it for granted that the Internet keeps me in touch with friends and family, even from far-flung places like Mongolia and Patagonia; in 1994, contacting a single person from Montana or…
Girl Moved To Tears By Of Mice And Men Cliffs Notes
In what she described as “the most emotional moment” of her academic life, University of Virginia sophomore communications major Grace Weaver sobbed openly upon concluding Steinbeck’s seminal work of American fiction Of Mice And Men‘s Cliffs Notes early last week. —Girl Moved To Tears By Of Mice And Men Cliffs Notes (The Onion (Satire)) And I…
Extreme Makeover: Star Trek Edition
Battle sequences, ship exteriors, galaxy shots and landscapes (which previously came courtesy of matte paintings) will be given more shading, depth and computer-generated believability. The original Alexander Courage-composed score has been rerecorded in stereo and, perhaps best of all, William Shatner’s opening monologue has been remastered, so that “Space, the final frontier…” will sound better…
Wired News: Star Trek Submissions
—Wired News: Star Trek Submissions (Flickr) What a cool idea! Wired News has created a Flikr account, and invited readers to sumit their Star Trek memorabilia photos, in preparation for Star Trek’s 40th anniversary. Similar:A Tribute to a Journalism FavoriteAs my news writing students work on seve…AestheticsThat Much-Despised Apple Ad Could Be More Disturbing Than It…
Why I Registered on Facebook
Adolescence was a long time ago. Grad school taught me to relate to others more as colleagues than friends. If I need reassurance of my students’ esteem, I need look no further than my course evaluations (Ha!). So my sparse friend count doesn’t normally bother me. But when I first opened my account, it read…
End of an Affair
Nevertheless, it now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame’s CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming — falsely, as it turned out — that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to…
”[P]lease do not dumb down or slow down the class for me”
I know I sound completely backward, but please do not dumb down or slow down the class for me. As time goes on, I know I will become much more proficient and I am sorry if I am off to a clumsy and bumbling start…As I said before I learn fast and once I get…
books.google.com
—books.google.com Google’s latest offering is the ability to download full-text versions of out-of-copyright books, and to sample the contents of many other books. Similar:How it feels to watch a user test your product for the first time Jonathon Shariat.AmusingWhat's in this old box from the student newspaper office? Why, it's a vintage Polaroid cam…HistoryYour Letters…
Weighing Anchor: CBS Photo Trickery Takes a Load Off ‘Slimmer’ Couric
In a picture widely distributed to the media last month, a normal-looking Couric wore a frumpy light gray suit and her trademark smile. But thanks to Photoshop, the popular editing software, the same photo, printed in a CBS magazine, shows her looking much, much thinner – and her suit has become a few shades darker.…
Ibsen 2006
Ibsen.net is the official Internet site for Ibsen year 2006 and is by far the largest website about Henrik Ibsen on the world wide web, as regards both sheer volume of information and number of users. —Ibsen 2006 (Ibsen.net) A portal for world-wide activities recognizing the 100th year of Ibsen’s death. A theatre faculty member just…
10 O'Clock News Team Relying Heavily On Work Of 6 O'Clock News Team
Despite claims from the TV news outlet to offer “nonstop news” and “coverage you can count on,” an Onion investigation has uncovered hundreds of instances in which KAMR Channel 4 10 O’Clock Eyewitness News team relied almost exclusively on news reports, weather forecasts, and even special-interest features already generated by the station’s 6 O’Clock Eyewitness…
Star Trek's a thesis
Among the dark corners where Dr Baker’s thesis – titled Broadcast Space: TV Culture, Myth and Star Trek – shines light is the changing link between the starship Enterprise’s intergalactic adventures and the real world’s space race. Shatner’s monologues were inspired by the visionary speeches of JFK, advocating greater exploration. Thirty years on, the roles…
Can Your Students Read TV?
Of course, students already know how to read the highly emotional and symbolic language of television. They learned it informally by clocking in an average of 5000 hours in front of the set before they reach school age — the same amount of time it takes to jet around the world 148 times, or orbit…
Dinky Pluto loses its status as planet
“It’s disappointing in a way, and confusing,” said Patricia Tombaugh, the 93-year-old widow of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh. “I don’t know just how you handle it. It kind of sounds like I just lost my job,” she said from Las Cruces, N.M. “But I understand science is not something that just sits there. It goes…