tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37744652009-10-13T16:41:39.154-04:00Weblog for various purposesGaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-58245866378689390822009-01-29T07:08:00.003-05:002009-01-29T07:19:11.615-05:00

I was browsing Google images for shots of the inauguration, and on the third page came up with the image below:Here's the source:http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200802/r223675_883677.jpgNow, to insert an image using Blogger, have open the page with the link's URL. You open your compose window, click on the window, and follow instructions.To create a link using Blogger, click on the link icon. Note

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-69170088129484520232008-03-15T13:48:00.004-04:002008-12-09T03:38:02.427-05:00

I've just begun to re-read a novel I last read 10 years ago, Red Earth and Pouring Rain by the Indian / American writer Vikram Chandra, which opens in spectacular form when a disaffected young man returns to India and shoots a white-faced monkey that has carried off his jeans. The family bring the monkey inside, fearing a riot by followers of Hanuman, the monkey-god, and while being nursed, the

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-12796493732425063372007-09-05T08:17:00.000-04:002007-09-05T08:23:42.243-04:00

. . . several news sources are telling the same story, dropping in the same keywords, etc.? Kevin Drum observes this happening as we approach the announced date of the report on President Bush's Surge:One way you can tell when a PR campaign is gearing up is the sudden appearance of a raft of articles all telling a remarkably similar story. So here's the remarkably similar story that's suddenly

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-33982453486404331922007-08-30T09:45:00.002-04:002007-08-30T10:03:40.013-04:00

Fair's fair. If I'm asking students to keep a blog, I should reactivate my own.I'll be posting comments and reflections here, as well as links to items of interest. A couple of the latter for now:1. One of the continuing themes of the present administration is the habit of softening reports so that they are less critical of what is happening. A column in the Aug. 30 Washington Post offers yet

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-28718293037284596802007-08-30T09:45:00.001-04:002007-08-30T10:02:47.902-04:00

Fair's fair. If I'm asking students to keep a blog, I should reactivate my own.I'll be posting comments and reflections here, as well as links to items of interest. A couple of the latter for now:1. One of the continuing themes of the present administration is the habit of softening reports so that they are less critical of what is happening. A column in the Aug. 30 Washington Post offers yet

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-422849476167691532007-03-01T19:32:00.000-05:002008-12-09T03:38:02.857-05:00

I don't know what the copyright status of this is. The idea is to throw random Garfield panels together--judging by the results I've had tonight, they generally work better than the comic itself. Exhibit A:I found this at www.dougshaw.com, but if you Google "Garfield Randomizer," you'll find more.Another:

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1165157126407950762006-12-03T09:37:00.000-05:002006-12-06T10:12:13.540-05:00

NPR is encouraging listeners of its Weekend Edition Sunday program to send in lists of most loved or (more likely) hated Christmas music, with reasons why. I thought that would be a good subject for a blog post--I'll recommend it to my 212 class shortly--and if I decide to write in, here's what I'll propose:My "most hated" list is much longer than my "much loved" list, for reasons that have to do

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1163763764498496082006-11-17T06:30:00.000-05:002006-12-05T14:03:44.710-05:00

Major newspapers (The Washington Post and The New York Times) report on a French study saying that resveratrol, a minor component of red wine, not only helps counter obesity and diabetes, but improves endurance. An ordinary laboratory mouse will run one kilometer on a treadmill before collapsing from exhaustion. But mice given resveratrol, a minor component of red wine and other foods, run twice

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1163333954704443062006-11-12T07:06:00.000-05:002006-11-12T07:30:49.110-05:00

There's this guy, Daniel A. Moore, in Alabama. Been a fan for all his life, and has this thing he does which combines his football enthusiasm and his profession. He paints. He paints idealized versions of sports photos of big moments in the Crimson Tide's history, e.g., the Sack, when in '68 Notre Dame QB Steve Beuerlein (later to be Troy Aikman's backup in Dallas) was pretty nearly destroyed by

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1162471451899194412006-11-02T07:30:00.000-05:002006-11-02T07:44:11.913-05:00

Jacob Weisberg of Slate magazine has what seems to me a pretty good post on electoral mudslinging. One hears, so often, that "both sides do it," that it's worth seeing a corrective on this topic.The practice is very old, of course, but attained some modern highpoints with the infamous LBJ ad linking Goldwater to a nuclear explosion, to Dick Nixon's dirty tricks squads (culminating in the

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1161573377746137942006-10-22T23:10:00.000-04:002006-10-24T06:36:28.303-04:00

For those interested in political journalism, here's Rolling Stone's article documenting just how bad the 109th Congress has been. Rolling Stone is generally known for its treatment of pop cultural phenomena (originally rock music), but over the years has done some serious work.Also for the politically inclined w/in pop culture: interesting biographical piece on Garry Trudeau, cartoonist since

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1161385272736771932006-10-20T18:57:00.000-04:002006-10-20T19:01:12.746-04:00

I found it interesting to see comments from New Yorkers re who they plan to root for in the World Series. A certain proportion plan not to watch (sour grapes). Yankee fans seem to be rooting for the Tigers, because they're the American League team, so if the Yankees can't be in the series, they're rooting for the Tigers.The Mets fans seem to be motivated particularly as Yankee haters or Cards

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1160648251297536562006-10-12T06:04:00.000-04:002006-10-12T06:17:31.306-04:00

This from AP via ESPN--I heard it on the radio yesterday but couldn't quite believe it.What time does the White Sox game start? You could ask here.Yes, the White Sox have signed a deal with 7-Eleven to begin their evening home games next year at, yes, 7:11. "Every time the media announces the game's start time it willbe a gentle reminder of our sponsorship," Chabris said.We learned to accept ad

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1160133949103340692006-10-06T07:08:00.000-04:002006-10-06T07:30:18.783-04:00

I wrote most of this post last week, but then thought it should sit for a while. The starting-point was a column in early September by NY Times columnist and Princeton economist Paul Krugman on the image below (sorry, no link; Krugman is part of the Times Select category, meaning you have to subscribe to read his columns--another reason to pick up the free Times papers on campus):Krugman uses the

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1159374733756493402006-09-27T12:25:00.000-04:002006-09-27T12:40:46.056-04:00

Just found this blog, Marmaduke Explained. Strikes me as a funny idea . . . I don't know if the comments are all that good; it may be that it lacks something in the execution.Better, I think, is this sort-of-Freudian reading of the cartoon.Here's his general index, featuring analysis of Garfield, Dennis the Menace, the Born Loser, and other cartoons and comic strips of dubious quality.

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1158089380001883442006-09-12T15:26:00.000-04:002006-09-12T16:36:43.900-04:00

(think piece?) Most advertisements don't really penetrate the surface of our consciousness. They drop back to the level of background noise (perhaps because my impulse is to turn the volume way way down during ad breaks, if not muting entirely or channel-surfing). Ads that shout, particularly if the words being shouted are reproduced in all caps on the screen, are an attempt to break through the

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1157882234867107592006-09-10T05:42:00.000-04:002006-09-10T06:15:52.216-04:00

If you want some basis for despairing at the audience for television, or at least for television news, take a look at the comments on Katie Couric's debut as CBS News anchor last week. Before the internet, there was a certain threshold for audience input: it was necessary to write or type a letter, stick on a stamp, etc. New, thanks to comment sections, audience members can write and send more

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1157118186457063712006-09-01T09:11:00.000-04:002006-09-01T09:58:31.803-04:00

My attention was drawn to this story by a news report on NPR. Seems that the Maine National Guard has made a service available to soldiers and their families: they will take a high-rez photo of Daddy--or Mommy, as pointed out in the article and story--blow it up to life-size, and mount it on stiff foam so that the families missing parents, or children, or siblings, can have an image of the

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1156951450458875142006-08-30T11:21:00.000-04:002006-08-30T11:24:10.503-04:00

I haven't kept this kind of work up, as I'm not sufficiently into blogging per se, and have too many topics (often political in nature) to create a unified piece of work. This semester, however, I plan to keep a blog on popular culture: students are assigned to do this kind of work, so I'm going to do so as well.One of the key websites I use in connection with popular culture is the Internet

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1128419466147330272005-10-04T05:33:00.000-04:002007-05-15T18:12:20.743-04:00

I don't generally recommend Fark.com, as I find the number of posts too high, and the level of comments sophomoric. However, I do sometimes enjoy their (also sophomoric) Photoshop contests, which can be inventive and well done. One of these I linked to in my Engl 212 class yesterday was based on the premise of cartoon characters selling out.

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1128127723799821662005-09-30T20:44:00.000-04:002005-09-30T21:11:03.900-04:00

Courtesy of Metafilter, here's a site that lets you test settings for CSS display of text. The site is Typetester. I haven't played around with it all that much yet, but we'll do so in the next few weeks.Another site for font checks is STC Font Browser.Just for fun: Woogle. Type in a phrase and it will supply images (some NSFW).Signed,

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1127153098911372002005-09-19T13:57:00.000-04:002005-09-19T14:04:58.916-04:00

In "All My Life For Sale," John Freyer documents putting his stuff onto eBay for sale. It's easier to do that if you are an impoverished graduate student (or undergraduate), perhaps, than if you have accumulated a lot of stuff.There are photos of some of his materials on pp. 58-59--a modernistic ashtray circa 1950 on the left, some of what appear to be plastic cups with stripes on them on 59.

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1116767078618718852005-05-22T09:05:00.000-04:002005-05-22T09:06:17.160-04:00

OK, OK, it was my destiny to see this film. I saw and liked very much the first Star Wars film in 1977, when I was in grad school, so that's a kind of generational commitment. I buy into the consensus that The Empire Strikes Back is the best of the lot, as it keeps the sense of fun from the first one, and adds some depth, emotional coloration, and interest. Like others, I found Return of the Jedi

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1116551423734375042005-05-19T21:07:00.000-04:002005-05-19T21:10:23.736-04:00

Well, I didn't make it quite 48 hrs. I was messing around with dinner while the other occupant of the house had Bravo's West Wing week on, near the end of year two, with some really good bits, and I succumbed. So that was about 43 hrs. I'm OK with that--I was getting tired of playing early Beatles songs in my head. I was going to knock off a little early anyway to watch the Pistons game. Doing

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774465.post-1116436178355107762005-05-18T13:01:00.000-04:002005-05-18T17:43:25.306-04:00

I don't know why cold turkey gets a bad rap. Especially if it's smoked and sliced thin, it's not bad . . . For anyone who may stumble onto this weblog who is not in my spring Engl 212 class (Writing About Popular Culture), I've asked them to pick a 48-hr. period and go without mediated popular culture (TV, film, popular music, print media, internet sites that aren't principally between

Garyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14663895474545030061glt.svsu@gmail.com0