He Took It All Pretty Quietly

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Reverend

We’ve been playing around with the in the Hardboiled course, and this post by Sarah Clay gave me the idea to further build on Michael Branson Smith’s idea to have students summarize each story with a 6wordstory. Here is what Sarah wrote:

In the field of Physics, there is a collective theory that in order to prove you really understand something, or that an aspect of our world is fully explained, the formula created must be able to fit cleanly on a t-shirt. If this were applied to English, Hemmingway [sic] would be like the Haynes-man or something, because he is so direct in his stories. I have no doubt that he would be able to fit the meaning of each of his stories on a t-shirt.

Take that, and lay that on top of Michael Branson Smith’s suggestion to have student use the 6wordstory concept to summarize each of the stories we read this semester, which I re-focused towards In Our Time, and you have an awesome assignment. My small contribution is to add an iconic image to the mix. So, what we have is 6x6x6: 6words, 6stories, 6shirts.

That’s right, students will be required to create six shirts for six stories from In Our Time, with six words and an iconic image that can be associated, however loosely, with the words. I did the above t-shirt on CafePress (which means there is no image editing overhead except getting the transparent icon from The Noun Project—I discuss this in the quick tutorial below). I chose the black text and black icon on a blood red shirt for added effect! How cool is this, using CafePress for an assignment in the Hardboiled course? Martha Burtis was wondering how I would begin to integrate ds106 into this lit seminar, and last night really felt like I was getting there. What’s cool is it really was Sarah And Michael that laid the groundwork (which is always the case when you open your ideas up to others), and I’m just wrapping it up and assigning it! Did I mention how awesome it was to talk about Hemingway’s In Our Time in a classroom setting? I’ve missed great literature! Here is the context for the above shirt from one of Hemingway’s greatest short stories “Indian Camp”:

“Ought to have a look at the proud father. They’re usually the worst sufferers in these little affairs,” the doctor said. “I must say he took it all pretty quietly.”

He pulled back the blanket from the Indian’s head. His hand came away wet. He mounted on the edge of the lower bunk with the lamp in one hand and looked in. The ndian lay with his face toward the wall. His throat had been cut from ear to ear. The blood had flowed down into a pool where his body sagged the bunk. His head rested on his left arm. The open razor lay, edge up, in the blankets.

You can read the entire story here.

So, late last night while trying to go to bed but still too excited about this assignment I got to thinking of another design for a t-shirt, this time for William Faulkner.

In Sanctuary there is a famous scene of a rape with a corncob. There is a story in Faulkner lure that someone asked him, “I hear that writers always insert themselves in their books through one of the characters. Which character from Sanctuary are you?” To which Faulkner replied, “I was the corncob.”

A Quick Tutorial
Using CafePress and The Noun Project to do this assignment. For the Hemingway-inspired straight razoe quote from “Indian Camp” I found this straight razor icon on The Noun Project thanks to Proletkult Graphik. This icons are highly recommended because they are vector graphic files and scale up seamlessly and have a transparent background (which makes the shirts look awesome). What you need to do is download the svg file from Noun Project, open in the the free image editing program GIMP, and resize it—probably to about 1500 x 1500 pixels) then save it as a PNG file with a transparent background.

After that, go to the CafePress site and click design a t-shirt. Pick your style and color, and then upload the icon image file and add some text. That’s it, you’re done. The only real work is converting the SVG file to the PNG format, but it is pretty simple, if you have an issue let  me know. Now go make some literary art, dammit!

 

Posted in Hardboiled | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Twin Oaks

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Reverend

That was when I hit this Twin Oaks Tavern. It was nothing but a roadside sandwich joint, like a million others in California. There was a lunchroom part, and over that the house part, where they lived, and off to one side a filling station, and out back a half dozen shacks that they called an auto court. I blew in there in a hurry and began looking down the road. When the Greek showed, I asked if a guy had been by in a Cadillac. He was to pick me up here, I said, and we were to have lunch. Not today, said the Greek. He layed a place at one of the tables and asked me what I was going to have. I said orange juice, corn flakes, fried eggs and bacon, enchilada, flapjacks, and coffee. Pretty soon he came out with the orange juice and the corn flakes.

James Caine’s The Postman Always Rings Twice

Posted in Hardboiled | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Lana Turner

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Reverend

Lana Turner is always hardboiled! I wanted to title this one Johnny Stompanato —if you don’t know the story of Turner’s turbid relationship with the LA Underworld you should (James Ellroy writes them both as characters in L.A. Confidential). This one is from The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) and if you know the film, you might also know in this scene she is planning to knock off her husband upstairs. NO MORE IRON!

Posted in Hardboiled | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reflections of Noir

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Reverend

Dick Powell plays an awesome Philip Marlowe in the 1944 noir Murder, My Sweet which is based on Raymond Chandler’s 1940 novel Farewell, My Lovely. I love this particular scene because the flashing lights and sinister reflections capture the aesthetic beautifully. What’s more, watching the thug Moose Malloy (played brilliantly by Mike Mazurki) appear in the reflection on the window was truly creepy while watching the film. I felt scared for Marlowe—brilliant stuff.

Posted in Hardboiled | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

John Carpenter’s The Thing Action Figures

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Reverend

I’m increasingly loving Tumblr these days, especially when a gem comes my way like the video above featuring a promo for action figures based on John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982). Seeing these I immediately thought, “Were there ever Escape From New York Snake Plissken action figures made?” [I refuse formally acknowledge that the abortion known as Escape from LA was ever made.] And, of course, there were—actually there is one available on ebay for $60. What’s trippy about that one is that it seems to be a custom made doll not released by any major toy producer—how cool. Indie toys #4life!

Also I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that The Thing toy promo came my way via Sarkos’ tumblr, far and away the best one I follow there—it’s a constant stream of awesome.

Posted in movies | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

September Cinema: This Month at the Packard

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Reverend

This month’s programming for the Library of Congress, Packard Campus Theater is particularly strong this month so I figured I would blog the original page on their site, what’s more I marked it up with links to all relevant Wikipedia articles and movie posters where available. Now, if I were the Packard Campus I would work out a way to be sure you could pull all relevant links and movie posters from a public site like Wikipedia automatically as a first referent for their readers. I did it here, and a half-way decent programmer could actually automate the links and visuals. The pages have no links, and if there is an issue with the Wikipedia page, have a reference resource of your own that you build with each month’s program. The work the Library of Congress, Packard Campus is doing with their programming is amazing, starting to figure out that the web is their best friend for promoting what they are doing, and it just might be the thing that builds their theater space into a cultural epicenter.

Thursday, Sept. 6 (7:30 p.m.)
Fahrenheit 451 (Universal, 1966)

Oskar Werner and Julie Christie star in this futuristic drama based on the science-fiction novel by Ray Bradbury. François Truffaut directed the story about a fireman who begins to question his duty to destroy all books.

 

Friday, Sept. 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Paris, Texas (20th Century-Fox, 1984)

German director Wim Wenders’ atmospheric story of a man who tries to put his life back together after being lost for four years won the Palme d’Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival. Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski and Dean Stockwell star in the film. Ry Cooder composed the musical score.

 

Saturday, Sept. 8 (7:30 p.m.)
Grease Sing-A-Long (Paramount, 1978)

The original high-school musical is back in a sing-along version with animated subtitles. John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John and Stockard Channing star in this rocking musical-romance directed by Randal Kleiser.

 

 

Thursday, Sept. 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Glory (Tri-Star, 1989)

Matthew Broderick portrays Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, commanding officer of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first formal unit of the U.S. Army to be made up entirely of African-American men. Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in this Civil War drama, which was directed by Edward Zwick. Glory is R-rated.

 

Friday, Sept. 14 (7:30 p.m.)

Mack Sennett

“Cruel and Unusual Comedy” (Various studios, 1913-1929)

The evening features a sampling of the film series “Cruel and Unusual Comedy: Social Commentary in the American Slapstick Film,” which has been presented annually at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City since 2009. Curated by Steve Massa and Ben Model, the program will include Mack Sennett’s “Their First Execution” (1913), starring Ford Sterling; legendary vaudeville comedian Bert Williams in “A Natural Born Gambler” (1916); and “Goodnight Nurse” (1929), directed by and starring British comedian Lupino Lane. The silent comedy shorts, courtesy of MoMA, will have live musical accompaniment by Ben Model.

 

Saturday, Sept. 15 (7:30 p.m.)
The Wedding March (Paramount, 1928)

Erich von Stroheim directed and stars in this silent drama about a roguish Viennese prince who agrees to marry for money and position to help his family. He then falls in love with a beautiful but poor girl. Ben Model will provide live musical accompaniment for this 2003 selection to the National Film Registry.

 

Thursday, Sept. 20 (7:30 p.m.)
Midnight (Paramount, 1939)

Claudette Colbert stars as a penniless chorus girl stranded in Paris who masquerades as a Hungarian countess to help a millionaire break up his wife’s affair with another man. Mitchell Leisen directed this sparkling romantic comedy that also features Don Ameche, John Barrymore and Mary Astor.

 

Friday, Sept. 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Thief (United Artists, 1981)

An expert jewel thief, who is also a hard-boiled ex-convict, agrees to take one last job before he goes straight—with dire consequences. Michael Mann directed this crime thriller starring James Caan, Tuesday Weld and Willie Nelson. The film is rated R.

 

Saturday, Sept. 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Grand Prix (MGM, 1966)

Outstanding racing cinematography in European locations is the star of this story that follows four Formula One drivers throughout a racing season. Directed by John Frankenheimer, the Technicolor sports drama features James Garner, Yves Montand, Antonia Sabato, Brian Bedford and Eva Marie Saint.

 

 

Thursday, Sept. 27 (7:30 p.m.)
Holiday (Columbia, 1938)

George Cukor directed Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in this romantic-comedy classic about a rebellious young heiress who finds a kindred spirit in her stodgy sister’s freethinking fiancé.

 

 

Friday, Sept. 28 (7:30 p.m.)
 Last Year at Marienbad (Astor, 1961)

This surrealist psychological drama is famous for its enigmatic narrative structure where it is difficult to distinguish between truth and fiction. Produced in French with English subtitles, the film was directed by Alain Resnais and stars Giorgio Albertazzi and Delphine Seyrig.

 

Saturday, Sept. 29 (10 a.m.)
“Saturday Morning Cartoons” (Various studios, 1933-1956)

This Saturday morning funfest features Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, Porky Pig, Pepe Le Pew, Tweety & Sylvester, Mighty Mouse, Popeye and many more. The program will include three titles from the National Film Registry—”Gerald McBoing Boing,” “Porky in Wackyland,” and “One Froggy Evening.”

Posted in Movie Lists, movies | 2 Comments

EdStartUp Intro: Innovating Around Syndication

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Reverend

Jim Groom’s EdStartup Intro Video from Jim Groom on Vimeo.

I finally did my introductory video for EdStartup 101, an online MOOC that is brilliant model of a distributed, syndication-based architecture that drives participation in the course. What’s more, the great Martha Burtis worked with David Wiley to figure out how to seamlessly get the sign-up process (which integrates with BuddyPress) to immediately populate and integrate feeds from the get go. So, without any extra labor on the part of the instructor, each person’s feed immediately pulls in, associates with the proper user, and starts syndicating their work. It’s such a beautiful thing, and you can see it working seamlessly on EdStartup here. In my mind this is a proto-type for an open, easily managed framework based on WordPress that any course could use. As of now it’s dependent on the premium plugin Gravity Forms, but hopefully there will be a completely free and open option soon. So, what I’ll try and be doing over the course of this semester is frame-out such an approach on an institutional scale that a university could embrace and pilot as a way to give its community members the ability to manage and control its own data, while at the same time building the technical infrastructure to make syndication and aggregation easier, more attractive, and architecturally sound.

Posted in edstartup | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

California Community Colleges Waitlist 470,000 Students

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Reverend

One of Sean Hartter’s many awesome designs for Murder University

Due to funding cuts, 470,000 community college students are beginning the fall semester on waiting lists, unable to get into the courses they need. Enrollments are down 17% from 2008, representing almost exactly the shortfall of 470,000 places. California’s community college system, the nation’s largest, has suffered about $809 million in state funding cuts since 2008. It faces another $338-million hit midyear if voters reject a tax measure on the November ballot supported by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Via Tony Bates, half a million students can’t get community college courses in California due to budget cuts. Jesus Christ! That’s an educational epidemic right there. I’ve told this story before here, I’m sure, but in 1991 I headed out to Long Beach, California to put myself through undergraduate. I attended Long Beach Community College for a year and a half at the total tuition cost of $105. That breaks down to $35 a semester. I remember this because I could pay my community college tuition after one night of bussing tables at Parker’s Lighthouse. This, in turn, enabled me to then apply and get guaranteed admission to places like UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkley, and UCLA—at the much more inflated price (at least at the time) of $500 a quarter, but I could still pay that with my job at Audio Visual Services in a semester. In our moment, you can’t even get into a class, it’s not an option, years of your life towards any idea of educational advancement are basically stonewalled. If there are any questions about the disinvestment of public higher education you really don’t have to look any further than California right now. It is a horror movie, and the tuition isnt the only thing that will kill you anymore.

Posted in edtech survivalist | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Week 1: Hardboiled Domains, #6wordstory, and Hemingway

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Reverend

Last night was the second night of the Hardboiled: US Detective Fiction course and we covered a few things ranging from A Domain of One’s Own pilot project to writing a #6wordstory on Twitter as a way to introduce the semester’s first author: Ernest Hemingway.

Paul Ward’s contribution to the hardboiled animated GIF love is legendary with Lee Marvin from the 1964 version of The Killers

It was nice to see that by the second class all but two of the hardboiled students had their domains up and running. The Domain of One’s Own pilot is proving remarkably seamless thus far, and for anyone who says it’s far too great a technical expectation of our faculty and students I would simply reply that everyone else’s expectations are far too low. UMW students and faculty are managing this pilot beautifully. What’s more, we have the support system in place to help them figure it out should there be any difficulties—which there will be—because we are, after all, a learning institution and this is part of what we should be supporting. Period.

After an overview of the web host options, I gave them a crash course for creating subdomains, installing WordPress, and managing their personal blog site. Once again there were no issues here, and students seemed absolutely unfazed by what I was asking of them. If we can acculturate anywhere from 100-200 freshman to become the sysadmins of their own educational platform from day one of their college careers then anything is possible—and this time next year it will be anywhere from 900-1000 freshman.

As a transition from the technical elements of getting their own sites up and running we moved to talking about Hemingway. I make no pretense that Hemingway belongs to the detective fiction genre per se, in fact Dashiell Hammett (along with various pulp writers for Black Mask) in the early 20s can claim far more influence over the 20th century incarnation of the genre in the U.S. Nonetheless, I do contend that Hemingway’s style and theories about writing play an important role in shaping the stylistic approach of detective fiction. What’s more, Hemingway’s short story collection In Our Time (1925) helps frame the larger cultural, historical context for a “Lost Generation” — a literary frame for understanding a generation that experienced the mechanized and fragmented horrors of warfare during World War I. Themes that would remain relevant up and until the Great Depression, but also remain a referent point throughout World War II. In effect, Hemingway gets us talking about these concepts and themes while Dashell Hammett’s Red Harvest introduces the class to the emergence of gangster culture viz-a-viz Prohibition, and John Fante’s Ask the Dust frames the Great Depression through the lens of Los Angeles: America’s emerging epicenter of culture and depravity (a theme that will dominate much of the fiction we read thereafter).

Anyway, before I got into all of that, I spent a moment looking at the meme that Mike Wesch turned me on to when I was in Kansas this past February. According to snopes.com, this meme attributes the following six-word story to Hemingway: “Baby shoes. Never worn. For sale.” While apocryphal, this example is a compelling way to think about minimalism as a style to communicate as much as possible in as few words possible. The first assignment for the hardboiled students, in addition to reading half of In Our Time, is to start a Twitter account and tweet out a six-word story. A couple of them have already done this, and it’s a fun way to make first contact, and also realize there’s already a rich #sixwordstory community on Twitter.

Hemingway photographed in Milan, 1918, dressed in uniform. For two months he drove ambulances until he was wounded.

Finally, I discussed a bit of Hemingway’s early biography. I’m fascinated by how young Hemingway was when he entered the world, so to speak. In 1917, when Hemingway finished high school and was exactly the same age of many of the students in the room, he wasn’t heading to college, rather he immediately entered the professional world of journalism and soon after shipped off for the Great War in Europe. At the age of 18 he was severely wounded while serving in Italy as a member of the Red Cross. Despite his severe wounds, he managed to carry another wounded Italian soldier to safety which earned him the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery. Did I mention he was still just 18? By his mid-20s he had already become part of possibly the greatest international literary scene of the 20th century in Paris and would soon after publish three of his most important works: In Our Time, The Sun Also Rises (1926), and A Farewell to Arms (1929). Say what you will about Hemingway, his first 30 years were pretty impressive!

 

Posted in detective fiction, Hardboiled | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The Roach Motel

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Reverend

I had the distinct pleasure today to give an impromptu and rather  impassioned presentation to Jess Rigelhaupt’s Freshman Seminar about their participation in the Domain of One’s Own project. My tact for this presentation was to start by talking about Facebook and how it was similar to a Roach Motel. But, as is often the case with my 70s and 80s popular culture allusions, none of the students really knew the reference. So, in order to counteract their pop culture ignorance I quickly jumped on the internet and brought up the 1978 commercial featuring the classic “Roaches check in, but they don’t check out” tagline. I often use this quote to frame the way Facebook, and other third party services, make it next to impossible to truly control your own data. I understand it isn’t a perfect analogy, but I just love calling Facebook a Roach Motel to a room full of students who live there 🙂 A Domain of One’s Own is on like Donkey Kong!

Posted in Domain of One's Own, pop culture | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments