The anti-maskers are right when they say masks aren’t 100% effective. The pro-face-touchers are right when they say not touching your face isn’t enough. The bar-hoppers and close-talkers and eaters-in-crowded-diners are right when they say social distancing alone won’t stop the spread of a pandemic. The “98.2% survival rate” crowd is right that most people…
Similar:York Plays 2025: Five cameras, adding up to ~100 hours of footage.Five cameras, adding up to ~100 hours of…AcademiaMy journalism students just gave me this wristband: "What would Jerz do? / Verify or duck…. AestheticsThank you, anonymous person who left a container of Oreo minis outside my door.PersonalTerm grades submitted. Homeschool son graduated. Time to…
I’m going to have to watch this one again. Similar:How I Learned What I Learned (featuring Wali Jamal)Carving out some time to enjoy this show…AwesomeThink Like A Journalist | Kelsey Samuels | TEDxPlano CulturePICT's production of Jane Eyre has its first preview tonight.PersonalHow iPhone Apps Steal Your Contact Data and Why You Can't Stop ItNothing…
Similar:More split-screen actinghttp://youtu.be/EGgeZWskEs8DesignMonument Valley: Minimal story, but an engaging world and a satisfying ending.I was in no rush to finish the beautiful…AestheticsFamily, I Hear You. I Love You. Go Away. This Weekend, I'm Marking Papers.No, I don’t want to see the new jacket y…AcademiaI regularly teach A Raisin in the Sun but haven't seen a…
Rewatching ST:TNG This flipside episode, told entirely from the viewpoint of a civilization on the verge of discovering warp drive technology, documents a visit from members of a federation of space-faring aliens who wear brightly colored pajamas. An ER team with serious forehead bumps admits a patient with serious head injuries. They are first confused,…
I still have odd jobs to tie up, but I’m about to put a pause on this J-Term course that starts in December. Similar:On UVa rape story: Rolling Stone editors "regret the decision to not contact the alleged a…Rolling Stone, how about you apologize b…AcademiaCelebration of Writing My freshman writing students…AcademiaThe girl performed musical commercials for…
Stunned by Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman and the rest of the cast in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Loved the documentary aesthetic in the opening sequence. Loved the intimacy of the cinematography and acting. Some of my favorite monologues were cut or trimmed, but I recognize a movie can express in a montage or a camera…
Similar:They grew up in a mostly analog/paper world and squirmed with joy the first time they clic…Today’s students have many strengths. Th…AcademiaAnd if my point of view is somewhat misty-eyed…And if my point of view is somewhat mist…AestheticsPhysician: "My career of treating patients has ended"Very painful Reddit thread. Culture“People are much more frightened than they…
We’ll cover all 10 plays, but each student will only be responsible for reading an overlapping list of six plays. The movie adaptation of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom opens on Netflix this weekend, and we’ll be covering that play on Monday. Similar:Why Love Lyrics LastI am inclined to agree with the “favorit…AcademiaEnglish teaching: Johnson: Talking…
In May, NBC published a “Fact Check” challenging President Trump’s prediction that there would be a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year. Â NBC was factually reporting the answers they got when they asked experts. Those experts didn’t say there would be no vaccine, they said it would be extremely unlikely. The fact…
Just as the technological innovation of the mass-produced book paved the way for the new storytelling medium called the “novel,” technological innovations that allow audiences to rewatch TV shows and binge-watch whole seasons have changed the whole medium of episodic video storytelling. (Babylon 5 did it early and did it well — but the article…
Similar:Bureaucrats Put the Squeeze on College NewspapersFew school newspapers are financially in…AcademiaA Note to My Remaining Students at the Close of the 2021 Fall SemesterOf course, the power outage meant that w…AcademiaMesmerizing Video of a Printer Terminal Running "Adventure" on a PDP-11/45After spending several days clicking but…AcademiaShe was a musical ingenue Sunday, filmed a…
A new handout, based on the opening lecture I give in every literature class. I’m trying to uncouple this chunk of content, which never changes, from the “intro to the course” lecture, which is topic-specific. Your high school teachers probably praised you for summarizing what you read and perhaps relating it to your own life…
You may be surprised to learn that of the trio of long-awaited coronavirus vaccines, the most promising, Moderna’s mRNA-1273, which reported a 94.5 percent efficacy rate on November 16, had been designed by January 13. This was just two days after the genetic sequence had been made public in an act of scientific and humanitarian generosity…
Ahh-aaggh! Similar:Boy, this sort of thing sure makes some racist people very angry.https://twitter.com/steelers/status/1305…CultureLie to Me: Fiction in the Post-Truth EraI’m trying to remember what it was like,…BooksA fleet of drones performs a light show in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day. I can’t help thinking of the b…AestheticsAll three shows have been sold out for over…
Rewatching ST:TNG After the crew blacks out, Picard investigates Data’s mysterious behavior. Although I haven’t seen this episode since it first aired in 1991, I remembered it as a strong episode, with a script that respects the audience’s intelligence. I didn’t remember the Dixon Hill holodeck sequence, which was longer than necessary. Instead of showing…
Imagine a scenario in which circumstances outside your control confine you to a single room for an indefinite period of time — and you have basically nothing to do but stare at the walls. Available activities are strictly limited; you aren’t allowed company; you can’t really go outside; time collapses in on itself; and your…
Similar:Same photo, two different interpretations.This is why I spend time teaching my jou…PersonalI may have mentioned that I have a daughter who does things. @frontporchtheatricalsI may have mentioned that I have a daugh…CultureAfter some long-delayed recabling, these are the bits I culled from my work setup.PersonalLooking forward to this! @thepublicpghLooking forward to this! @thepublicpghDramaDrinking milk…
In December 2000, I was blogging about Typeface snobbery (The Onion) Videogames as gendered play spaces (Henry Jenkins) Who wouldn’t want to trade in the confinement of your room for the immersion promised by today’s video games? …. Perhaps, my son finds in his video games what I found in the woods behind the school,…
Oh no. First YouTube institutes a “COVID-19 Medical Misinformation Policy” and starts deleting videos that tout fake cures or discourage people from following the medical advice of the WHO; then, YouTube takes a stand against any video that “misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential…