The Nightingale (WAOB Audio Theatre)

I haven’t done any audio theatre recordings in a while (thanks, coronavirus) and I miss it. Here’s my interpretation (recorded some time ago) of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Nightingale.” The nightingale is considered the most beautiful thing in the kingdom… until a mechanical nightingale wins over the citizens, and the true nightingale is banished. But…

Introduction to The Skin of Our Teeth (optimistic, absurdist metatheater; Thornton Wilder, 1942)

Similar:Steampunk officer uniforms — test #Blender3D #Unity3Dhttps://youtu.be/SDh4TW8ujNg The vide…AestheticsJournalism isn’t dying. But it’s changing WAY faster than most people understand.Think of journalism as falling into thre…BusinessCollege is not a commodity. Stop treating it like one.If we are going to treat college as a co…Academia12 Mistakes Nearly Everyone Who Writes About Grammar Mistakes MakesDescriptive grammarians rejoice.…

When People Only Read the Headline — Misuse of Journalism

The Society of Professional Journalists links to an interview with an MIT professor who’s studying misinformation on social media (which is not the same thing as bad journalism — some bad actors take journalism out of context in order to deceive). Responsible journalists are aware that sensational headlines can harm the public. The truth is…

Which of my colleagues wants attention?

Similar:ChatGPT took their jobs. Now they walk dogs and fix air conditioners.“In every previous automation threat, th…BusinessFoggy April morning on the hill.Personal30 years later, Sierra's Laura Bow mysteries are still a treasureWhen I was in college and grad school, a…CultureThe girl's entrance as Marley's Ghost.PersonalJournalists are vital to the health of a free nation. #firstamendnent…

In “World Drama” I’m adding the absurd, optimistic “The Skin of Our Teeth” (dropping bleak “Waiting for Godot”)

In light of current events, I’m dropping the bleak Waiting for Godot from my World Drama class (actually I’m making it optional; students could drop a different play) and adding Thornton Wilder’s absurdist but optimistic The Skin of Our Teeth.   Writing while World War II was still raging, Wilder depicts a representative American family…

Rhinoceros in Love (World Drama — China, 1999)

The blurb for a 2011 English version of the 1999 Chinese play I’m teaching this week: China’s most popular and provocative drama. A modern story of love and obsession, Rhinoceros in Love tells the story of a rhinoceros-keeper who develops a dangerous romantic fascination with the woman of his dreams: the uncompromising, unobtainable Mingming. Hear…

The Survivors (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Three Episode 3) Charming geriatric love and a pacifist morality play

Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. After the Federation colony on Raina IV is obliterated, the Enterprise discovers a perfectly preserved house with two elderly survivors. The standoffish Uxbridge impresses Worf by confronting strangers with a non-functional hand phaser, and the hospitable Rishon tells a charming story of how the two fell in love on Earth.…

What gives you comfort? I collect lights. Some of these have magnets!!

Similar:Details on the disappearance of the Utah monolith Mr. Bernards, 34, of Edwards, Colo., w…ArtSet design for Acts II and III of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) #blender3dDesignWatching a National Guard helicopter lift off after an EMS displayJust spending an August evening with the…PersonalI didn't ask for the AI icon on my Kindle app. I can't…

MoonBot is back. This time he fights a new adversary. #Blender3D physics practice.

I submitted midterm grades at about 11 last night, quickly modeled a new object, and let the animation render overnight.   Similar:When F. Scott Fitzgerald Judged Gatsby By Its Cover With a big Hollywood movie now in th…AestheticsMore #blender3d #steampunk goodness. #design #aesthetics #blender3dart AestheticsApple faces threat of legal action over ‘in app’ paymentsI haven’t…

How are you holding up? What difficult choices have you made? How can we all help each other get through COVID-19??

Carolyn and were recently cast in a historical film. I recorded my video audition last week, feverish with an upper respiratory tract infection, coughing and gulping from a mug of tea between lines. Our characters are in different time periods, but we each get to fight someone in a duel. Filming for our scenes was…

Confessions of a Nerdy Homeschooling Dad

Similar:I just discovered what will grind up a significant portion of my free time over the break.So Khan Academy now has a grammar unit. …PersonalMade it to the closing performance @quantumtheatreDramaEnglish Teacher Re-Titles Classic Poems As Clickbait In Last-Ditch Effort To Trick Student…Funny and clever. Via Excuse the Bananas…AcademiaInform 7 is now open sourceInform is…

Confessions of a Nerdy Homeschooling Dad

Are you unexpectedly home-schooling your kids? Every family is different, and every kid is different. But I think anxious parents who are in unexplored territory probably need to hear this: you won’t hurt your children if you don’t keep them academically occupied for a block of 7 hours. On a typical brick-and-mortar school day, kids…

Oedipus Tyrannos (Oedipus Rex) — Brief Introduction

My first lecture screencasts for my newly-online class. (Thanks, COVID-19.)     Similar:The Dish (2000 Australian comedy)I try to watch this every July to commem…CultureAuditioning in Pittsbugh (flanked by shots from recent performances).CultureThere’s No Longer Any Doubt That Hollywood Writing Is Powering AITwo years after the release of ChatGPT, …BusinessLetter to the editor: Setting record…

Trump, finally, takes the coronavirus emergency seriously

CNN’s Stephen Collinson praises the president’s Monday press conference. This version of Donald Trump will save lives. The President offered Americans something they have rarely seen from him in his latest and most somber press conference yet on the coronavirus pandemic on Monday. He dispensed unimpeachable information based on fact. He called for national unity and…

Kitchen utensils for my steampunk villain’s hideout. #Blender3D.

There’s nothing particularly steampunky or villainous about kitchen utensils, but I am glad I feel well enough to get back to Blender3D. Similar:Find yourself someone who makes you plomeek soup like Nurse Chapel makes for Spock.PersonalI think they mean typeface conference, but "Font Conference" is still amusing.I think they mean typeface conference, b…AestheticsPlanet of the…

Coronavirus Tribute to Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” (1942)

I found this image on Facebook (where it was being shared without attribution). Similar:The Pentagon has ordered Stars and Stripes to shut down for no good reasonStunning. The Stars and Stripes is much …CultureText, Speech, Machine: Metaphors for Computer Code in the Law : Computational CultureOn my to-read list once I post midterm g…BusinessI studied…