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:How Trump Is Making Journalism School Great AgainThis is an important time to teach peopl…AcademiaThink Before You Tweet In the Wake of an AttackSobering analysis. Would I be able to fo…CultureApparently Facebook Doesn't Know Me Very WellI’m actually rather happy at the thought…AmusingNo space for over-30s as relaunched MySpace erases its pastKeep a local backup…

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:Surprised by Mama Cass Elliott's "Different" — powerful folk-pop ballad in trippy 60's "H…I miss the convention in movies and TV s…CultureIOC spokesman: Journalists free to Instagram at Sochi Olympics  Journalists will be allowed to u…BusinessAfter my conference talk, a post-audition, pre-Jane-Eyre-performance dinner with the girl.PersonalFacebook Hired Journalists to Train Its Trending Topics AlgorithmRecently I…

The girl asked me to read R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) to her. #quarantine #partylikeaprofessor

Similar:A Dance Mom Gets Schooled by a Ballet Mistress Who Can WriteAvoid trying to publicly shame a ballet …ArtInfinite Scrolling: XKCD's Creative Insight on a Common Interface IndignityAmusingWhat does the girl do with my iPad while I try to jump-start her mother’s car at a gas sta…https://youtu.be/tOYQc8vByoYPersonalWhere No One Has Gone Before (TNG Rewatch, Season…

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:Spam: In Your E-Mail and on Your BlogSpam: In Your E-Mail and on Your Blog&nb…BusinessWhat It Means If You're A 'Paragraph Texter'A very fluffy article that does a good j…CultureWhat Can You Do With a Humanities Ph.D., Anyway?Victoria Blodgett, director of Graduate …Academia"Khan!!! the Musical!!!" (Star Trek Parody) 6-Minute Highlight Reel 2022https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrfLWDbJ…AmusingHow Social Media Silences…

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:KLINGON STYLE (Star Trek Parody of PSY – GANGNAM STYLE)Silly fun, just in time for the 25th ann…AestheticsHow hate and misinformation go viral: A case study of a Trump retweetOn Sunday night, President Donald…

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:Practicing with materials and geometry. The lamps and chair require hundreds of times as m… AestheticsOn Immigration, Poetry Isn’t Policy, but Poetry Matters, by David French, National ReviewThe conservative National Review offers …ArtDozens of Plagiarism Incidents Are Reported in Coursera's Free Online Courses”If we really are trying to teach the wo…AcademiaMore #steampunk #blender3d goodness. #design…

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:Dear Google: You Should Have Talked to Me FirstTeacher Jen Marten responds to Google’s …BooksHow Zuckerberg’s Facebook is like Gutenberg’s printing pressHistorian Niall Ferguson notes that Sili…BooksA Fistful of Datas (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 6, Episode 8) Worf Trapped in Western S…Rewatching ST:TNG…

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…

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

I found this image on Facebook (where it was being shared without attribution). Similar:It's Science! Carolyn Uses Anastasia's Lip Balm KitMy friend Anastasia gave me a home-made …AestheticsSummer Project: Responsive Web DesignI spent more time than I’d like to admit…AestheticsMy Teenage Son Does Not Know How To Mail A Letter – I Blame Technology –…