In the wake of the pandemic, the entertainment industry created a new position on set to help keep outbreaks at bay. […] The demands of the job are big: sanitization, testing, safety equipment and distancing. Cast and crew are split into different zones, based on the frequency of testing and ability to wear masks. The…
I’m proud of the daughter for her involvement in this Equity audio production. (Some of the screams mentioned by the reviewer are hers.) One would be hard-pressed to find a more perfect production for the pandemic, as the radio drama comes with no visuals and forces one to shut out the outside world for the…
https://youtu.be/CWcEABVWbfA Similar:Audisee Presents: The War of the WorldsAs new age synthesizer music, a rich bar…BooksPersonality Profiles: Prize-Winning Student Journalism SamplesThe personality profile is a staple of i…CultureJoe Biden gives the media a desperately needed lesson about Donald TrumpPerhaps I should have been shocked at th…EssaysThe Masterpiece Society (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 13) Space…
Bits and pieces from a news article that summarizes recent scholarly studies. Some moderately good news, and a reminder that increased testing means finding more cases, and finding them earlier, which means people get medical treatment sooner. (More testing means less suffering and fewer deaths. For those of us who care about such things.) Over…
My big finish as Alquist in a Zoom-based production of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). Similar:Thank you, anonymous donor of Mardi Gras candy.Okay, on closer inspection I see the red…AestheticsThe internet’s memory is fading in front of us. Preserve what you can. Long, self-indulgent essays from a wri…BusinessInmates in a Brazil prison shorten their sentences by…
Rewatching ST:TNG. The plot, such as it is, quickly gets Picard and Wesley separated from the Enterprise and in the company of a mining shuttle pilot who challenges Picard’s authority. After a few on-location scenes in a bleak desert, the story shifts to the standard generic cave set, where some falling chunks of foam and…
I wish I had the time or energy to get out the telescope and camera, but I did go out for a walk in the neighborhood and got an eyeful of this in the sky. Similar:Opinion | Defiant, Now Infected: Trump Is a Morality TaleFrom Frank Bruni, NYT It’s a measure …Current_EventsThe Fantasticks (Oct 18-27)PersonalWhite…
In October 2000, I was blogging about The F. Scott Fitzgerald Short story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” (background; full text) A biography of Virginia Woolf The precarious status of English as a global language A call for papers for a special issue of Text Technology devoted to interactive fiction (I have a copy on my shelf…
There are some sound pedagogical reasons for turning cameras on. Thus, I suggest sharing those reasons with the students before giving them the choice of what to do about their cameras. Explain why you are making your request. For example, being able to see students’ faces gives instructors a quick and easy way to discern whether students are finding the material engaging, at least in smaller classes. One instructor told me that “I asked students to turn their cameras on to say hi to their classmates at the beginning and end of class, and those were the best moments of the class.”
Similar:Proper commenting is an important part of coding any project, especially in an educational…Proper commenting is an important part o…PersonalA pleasant Independence Day photo shoot with the daughter.AestheticsI almost cried when I saw this entrance to the children's section of the Kansas City …PersonalEnjoying a soul food dinner in honor of #blackhistorymonthPersonalThinking about physical therapy…
Similar:Here's how Maria amuses herself on the ride home from dress rehearsal. #WestSideStoryPersonalTouch Me Now: York Plays 2025A cast of hundreds participated in a pub…AcademiaA familiar performer choreographed and dances the "Canaan Days" tango in Stage Right's Jos…AestheticsAnother square of #steampunk control panel eye candy. #blender3d #blender3dart #design #a…AestheticsMy colleague @crissycp once again left…
Obviously I would have preferred to see it live, but the pandemic-era video presentation — with clever graphics that indicate stage actions and pop-up text that augment the recorded performances — was subtle and touching. Similar:"Shakespeare in Love" with the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra and Stage Right!When I teach Shakespeare, I will from ti…CultureR.U.R. (Rossum's Universal…
Similar:Half of my students have never read Hamlet. (I told them not to get too attached to any of…We focused just on Act I today — the ope…PersonalThe Last Jedi: Oh, the Feels.No spoilers here. (I managed to avoid al…MediaI spent Thanksgiving break building a #trimsheet for steampunk control panels, because why…AestheticsMy brother set my…
The daughter plays Laertes in Seton Hill’s free, live Zoom production of Hamlet (with a film noir theme) which opens tonight at 8. (The first half will be performed tonight and next Friday; the next half will be performed Saturday and next Saturday.) Free tickets to Seton Hill’s livestreaming video production of Hamlet Through the…
From The Brookings Institution (non-profit, deeply sourced factual writing; has been accused of both conservative and liberal bias; is cited in Congress about equally by conservative and liberal politicians; leans a bit left in terms of loaded language): American institutions are not perfect, of course. We all should want to improve scientific practices, remove bias…
Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 anti-fascist novel adapted for radio by Berkeley Rep. Similar:Captain, the Fake News Detectors are Offline! Slate has a good article about Willi…CybercultureThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (workshop premiere of a new musical by Greg Kerestan) I really enjoyed seeing the first work…CultureMore Americans now see the media’s influence growing compared with a…
It was a reporter’s bodyguard, not an anti-fascist activist, who shot and killed a right-wing demonstrator who had assaulted him. The viral spread of those false claims apparently alarmed the Denver Police Department, which had taken Dolloff into custody along with the journalist he was guarding and quickly determined that they were not left-wing…
Similar:Principal fires security guards to hire art teachers — and transforms elementary schoolThe school was plagued by violence and d…ArtStanford to offer new undergraduate majors integrating humanities, computer scienceTraining humanists who can code like a t…AcademiaThe complex geometry on this wedge building took me all weekend. #blender3d #medievalyork…The complex geometry on this wedge build…AestheticsParamount Erases Archives…
For my birthday I treated myself to Episode 2 of RUR (Rossum’s Universal Robots) — the play that introduced the word “Robot” to the world 100 years ago. Similar:Death to high school English”There’s such an emphasis on keeping stu…AcademiaStudy confirms that ending your texts with a period is terrible.Language evolves, so oldsters like me sh…CybercultureDate…
Similar:The Icarus Factor (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 14)Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generatio…PersonalA quick Sunday visit to #fortligonier with my history-loving son.A quick Sunday visit to #fortligonier wi…CultureIf you like bloody, singing, punning demons you will love this show.If you like bloody, singing, punning dem…AmusingI just looked up the context for the bald guy…