Steampunked environments

Picking up where Mr. Lukas left off, some fantastic videos about steampunk, well worth a watch. I love the way a 100 years or more of historical trends are rolled into this ... it's also an interesting reaction to the sparseness of a lot of everyday trends at the moment...




And here a convention ( I suppose this means it's already mainstream, right?) The costumes are just awesome...

Let it FLOW

Hey everyone!

I just came across this amazing website FlowTV. The description says it's a "critical forum on television and media culture published by the Department of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of Texas at Austin. Flow’s mission is to provide a space where the public can discuss the changing landscape of contemporary media." Some of the articles are crap, but I also found a whole bunch of very interesting ones. If you're looking for a thesis topic or some intriguing stuff on TV studies, check out this website. Praise postmodernism - and its anything goes principle!

The sendung mit der maus lol. For a five minute summary of the Disney book on core texts look no further...
Jonas brothers=teenie band





really really funny!!

Use of language and swearing

Today I came across a club who is against swearing. I wanted to see their logic so I went to the site and it really got me thinking. Lots of people on the site write about how we are allowed/supposed to use language and how certain words affect us (e.g. the argument "they're just words" vs the idea that words can actually hurt people).

http://www.nocussing.com/memberstories.html

Adaptation

It's probably too late for the John Adams class, but Salman Rushdie had a really interesting article on novel to film adaptation in The Guardian this morning.
It seems he was teaching a similar course to Adams at the same time! He mentions The Age of Innocence, No Country for Old Men amongst others, and he takes apart Danny Boyle's capitalist, colonialist, chauvanist, crowd-pleasing Slumdog Millionare.

Ideas for a Masterseminar?

Mr H said we should approach the dept with our suggestions for a seminar aimed at Master students. I think this is a good idea as it does present us with a possibility to have another class together next summer and I think we should do it. What are the ideas for topics? Someone mentioned conspiracy theories and I know a lot of us want to do media and popular culture. I wouldn't mind something on news dissemination (modern journalism and news programs) or the use of imagery in today's world.

Is Race 'Real'?

Hi everyone!

On my research for a term paper on the post-racial space, I came across a great site with high quality information, essays, etc., on race in relation to biology, genetics, and cultural construction. Maybe someone of you is interested in this topic as well. Enjoy!

http://raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/