I won’t be back!

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Reverend

Make not mistake about it, Todd Conaway is a force of nature when it comes to open courses. He made the Summer of Oblivion in so many ways, not to mention how awesome he was during the Spring version. And when I saw his latest post it led me to Michael Branson Smith’s post here which then led me to the genesis of the idea here. And then I realized it was already submitted as an assignment on ds106 by MBS on the ds106 site. How could I help myself?

This would have certainly made The Terminator a different movie, no?

ds106 is off an running for the Fall semester, let’s blow the doors off people!

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Minimalist Philosophy Posters

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Reverend

This is a layup for ds106. The minimalist post that moves beyond film and TV and takes on the world of philosophy. Kudos to British designer Gex, these are awesome.

Minimalist Philosophy Posters

I owe someone a kudos here for the tip, but I can’t remember who so I tweeted out the query in hopes that I can update this post with proper credit shortly. Credit for this link goes to Alan Liddell that came across it via this Technoccult post. Now I need to add this as an assignment to ds106 🙂

Posted in digital storytelling | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

My new mantra

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Reverend

I’m done with open, this is my new relationship to the world 🙂 Thanks to Misha for spreading the YouTube love, I just can’t get enough of this scene from Goodfellas. That said, you may want to “just say no” to this video if bad language is of issue…beware.

Posted in movies, YouTube | 1 Comment

James Baldwin on Education

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Reverend

Kudos to YouTube user youwhohear for editing parts of this longer discussion with the great James Baldwin  at UC Berkeley in 1974 into a few salient remarks about the crisis of education in the U.S. in  1974. What’s remarkable to me is how little the crisis has changed in almost 40 years. And how clearly Baldwin seems to see the issues surrounding education in relationship to corporate greed, racist institutions, and the attempts to try hanging all of a society’s problems on the backs of schools.  He briefly mentions a movement in the NYC schools from about 1970-1973 in which the approach was seemingly liberated and more positive, but I’m not sure specifically what he is referring to. Does anyone out there?

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The insanity of space in Kubrick’s The Shining

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Reverend
Image of The Shining animated GIF

Image credit: Mr Whaite's awesome work. Click image for link.

A few weeks ago Andy Rush shared a link to the following video essay on YouTube which features Rob Ager of Collative Learning discussing spatial awareness in Stanley Kubrick’s horor masterpiece The Shining. The video was so brilliantly done, and the reading so smart that I haven’t stopped thinking about it since so I figured I would try and blog it to see if that breaks the spell. Ager talks about how playing a modified level of Duke Nuke Em that was redesigned to replicate the Overlook Hotel got him thinking about some of the spatial impossibilities of this. All the more curious given how detail obsessed Kubrick was more generally about his films. What follows then, is a meticulous and intelligent reading by Ager of space in The Shining and how Kubrick might be using this seeming impossibility as a way to more subtly communicate the subconscious horror of space in this film. This is so brilliantly done, the model for video essays in my mind, plus the choice of film doesn’t suck 🙂

Posted in movies, YouTube | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Why hasn’t this sequel been made yet?

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Reverend

I watched The Blob (1958) again last night and the last 40 seconds of this film are a perfect setup for a global-warming sequel. I can’t believe no one has cashed in on this yet. I think it is time to re-value the Blob away from insidious 50s consumerism to represent the 21st Century crisis of sustainability. It is a simple transition: over he last 50+ years we thawed out the Artic and the Blob along with it—a layup. Then again, if the Artic starts melting we are pretty much screwed with or without the Blob.

Posted in movies | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

James Harding on Stages and Context of 9/11

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Reverend

In yesterday’s episode of DTLT Today, I had the pleasure of sitting down with University of Mary Washington professor James Harding from the English Linguistics and Speech Department. Professor Harding specializes in avant-garde theater and has published far and wide on the topic. For this episode we focused on a course he teaches at UMW titled “Stages and Contexts of 9/11: Dramatic Literature and Contemporary History.” Given the 10 year anniversary of this historic event, our conversation touched upon attempts to define terrorism over the last decade; ways in which artists have attempted to frame this event; as well as considering the technical and ideological contexts of terrorism in a globalized world.

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ds106 is back and it’s a journey to the center of the internet!!!

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Reverend

Michael Branson Smith has an awesome vision for what ds106 is going to be this semester. What’s more all of DTLT is playing along with his classes up at CUNY’s York College and you can too. If you are interested in taking this creative journey to the center of the internet check out the following video and sign-up on the google form below.

Posted in digital identity, digital storytelling | Tagged | 24 Comments

Killer Shark Class

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Reverend

I am not sure if Sam O’Brien is trying to be funny or ironic (I forgot the difference) with his piece “A Professor’s opening lecture for ‘Intermediate Killer Shark Genre'” in McSweeney’s because in mind that is exactly how courses should be taught at the college level. No question: killer sharks, f-bombs, and threats of bodily harm….it is the one true way at knowledge transfer. Here’s a taste:

So you all think you know a thing or two about killer shark films, hmm? Well, take out your notebooks because here’s your first lesson: you fucking don’t know shit about killer shark films. Write that down three times. Then circle it and draw some jagged teeth protruding from the top and bottom so it looks like a shark is eating your notes. That is the format all of your essays should be in, by the way, with little teeth and dorsal fins all over the place. I don’t care if Word doesn’t have a shark font. Make it happen. [Read the rest here.]

Brilliant, thank you Tom Woodward for passing it on, it fits perfectly on the bava.

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Claudia Emerson on the “poetics of preservation”

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Reverend

We had our first DTLT Today episode (#33!) that actually featured a UMW faculty, and we were fortunate to get none other than Claudia Emerson, who is not only an amazing poet, but also as cool as they come. She sat down on and talked with us today about everything from her recent Guggenheim fellowship award to her forthcoming book Secure the Shadow (LSU Press), as well as a book she is just beginning. Later this academic year Claudia will be traveling to Italy to convene with the well preserved dead in Sicily as you prepares her next book that is focused on the poetics of preservation. Claudia is without question on of the most amazing people I have met since coming to UMW, and listening to her share her unique way of seeing the world is truly a pleasure. And I think all of us at DTLT she this as just the beginning of huge archives of discussions with the professors and students that make UMW an awesome place to be.

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