Just as an FYI - I intentionally wrote my piece on portrayals in women in comics earlier this week before getting into the reading for the course I'm taking.
The course is: Gender Through Comics Books at Canvas.net and originating at Ball State.
Anyway, I work in higher education, currently in libraries, but from 1997-2006 I worked in Distance Education at large public research universities, UT Austin and Arizona State University. From 2007-2008, I worked at a smaller eLearning company here in Austin that developed mostly corporate training materials with the occasional foray into creating materials for educators.
When I left university distance learning, it wasn't because I was tired of the field. I thought eLearning was in its toddler-hood, but we were taking a leap to return from Arizona to Austin, and there weren't/ aren't that many positions out there for this, even with my sterling credentials. Working in a media shop developing stuff for corporations was a great experience in many ways, and I learned a tremendous amount I doubt I would have gained at The Academy (as we like to say when we're wearing tweed and drinking hot tea from small cups).
Back in 1999 or so, I remember watching a clip from 60 Minutes on The Future of Education. At the time, University of Phoenix was a rising star and talking heads were proclaiming that UofP had cracked the code. In a few years we'd all be taking our courses through them, and there was no point in resisting progress. They predicted (and were clearly relishing the term way, way too much) the concept of "rock star faculty", folks who would be THE faculty voice for a generation talking about America History 101, etc... Nobody was sure how it would work, but they were certain it was just around the corner.
It didn't happen.
Film. Comics. Sci-Fi. Superheroes. Pulp. Noir. History. Superman. 20th Century Archaeology.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Reed chimes in on the whole 10 Years of Blogging Business
I've known Reed since... man, probably 1984 or so. If anyone was there when I passed the curve from "mild interest" in comics to full blown comics nerd, it was he. He was also the guy i knew who actually owned copies of Death in the Family, and so, one day while he and Jason were listening to Van Halen albums or something, I sat on his bed and read the whole run.
Anyway, Reed has been with the blog for years, though he only usually chimes in to defend his beloved Texas A&M Aggies (who are having a pretty good time of it these days). But he's always around... somewhere....
Congratulations on 10 years of blogging!!! It's hard to believe. It's hard to believe my oldest will turn 8 in 2 months, that Jas and I are 40 years old, and that my dad is 70! My dad turning 70 is actually the hardest to come to grips with.
Anyway, here is what I have appreciated the most about The Signal Watch (and The League of Melbotis):
* Your captions with photos and images. Whether it's crazy 1950-60s Superman covers, photos of your family, or images from Hollywood, you have the best captions!
* Your commentary and dialogue about your family (especially with and about your brother). I always check the comments section. Of course, I'm biased having known your family for so long.
* Daily Dose of Good Cheer formerly Dames in the Media That The League Once Dug. I never realized that it was originally done to increase web traffic on your blog. Regardless of the reasons, I'm a big fan.
* Your movie reviews. You have helped keep me from making poor decisions at the movies. Especially when you pan comic book movies. That usually seals it for me.
* I stopped collecting comics after I graduated high school so it's been nice to stay in the general loop of the industry through your blog.
* Your general writing. I am constantly amazed at not only the quantity, but the quality of the writing and how you keep things fresh on your blog for over 340+ days a year (you rarely take days off from your blog).
Again, congratulations on 10 years and here's to 10 more. Thanks for providing an entertaining break during my work day.
Anyway, Reed has been with the blog for years, though he only usually chimes in to defend his beloved Texas A&M Aggies (who are having a pretty good time of it these days). But he's always around... somewhere....
Congratulations on 10 years of blogging!!! It's hard to believe. It's hard to believe my oldest will turn 8 in 2 months, that Jas and I are 40 years old, and that my dad is 70! My dad turning 70 is actually the hardest to come to grips with.
Anyway, here is what I have appreciated the most about The Signal Watch (and The League of Melbotis):
* Your captions with photos and images. Whether it's crazy 1950-60s Superman covers, photos of your family, or images from Hollywood, you have the best captions!
* Your commentary and dialogue about your family (especially with and about your brother). I always check the comments section. Of course, I'm biased having known your family for so long.
* Daily Dose of Good Cheer formerly Dames in the Media That The League Once Dug. I never realized that it was originally done to increase web traffic on your blog. Regardless of the reasons, I'm a big fan.
* Your movie reviews. You have helped keep me from making poor decisions at the movies. Especially when you pan comic book movies. That usually seals it for me.
* I stopped collecting comics after I graduated high school so it's been nice to stay in the general loop of the industry through your blog.
* Your general writing. I am constantly amazed at not only the quantity, but the quality of the writing and how you keep things fresh on your blog for over 340+ days a year (you rarely take days off from your blog).
Again, congratulations on 10 years and here's to 10 more. Thanks for providing an entertaining break during my work day.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Oh, Did You Just Figure Out That Maybe Disney Buying Star Wars Means Everything You Liked About Star Wars is Going to Getting Demolished?
Shoemaker sent me this article from i09. It's basically about how, the afterglow of Disney's purchase of Star Wars and the sudden lay-offs, etc... start to settle in, someone realized that Disney probably doesn't give two Jawa farts about the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
As I said in my email response to Shoemaker: no kidding
Even when the first Expanded Universe stuff hit the shelf when I was in high school, I didn't read it. I guess by the time those books arrived, I was pretty well aware that studio executives weren't going to care that some sci-fi authors wanted to write Star Wars books when it came time to make new movies, and those studio execs were going to include George Lucas and his associates. When movies that moved past the conclusion of Return of the Jedi did happen, they'd be so much bigger than a series of fantasy books, that the books would just sort of disappear into the ether as non-canonical, leaving a herd of nerds wondering how to reconcile the irreconcilable, narratively speaking, in their minds.
Of course, for two decades we had Uncle George backing up the books - which I doubted he ever read, but he knew that without his stamp, those books wouldn't be taken seriously nor purchased by Star Wars fans. And that meant less dough, so best to just approve them and worry on it later.
As I said in my email response to Shoemaker: no kidding
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| once again, your avatar for what will happen to everything you once loved |
Even when the first Expanded Universe stuff hit the shelf when I was in high school, I didn't read it. I guess by the time those books arrived, I was pretty well aware that studio executives weren't going to care that some sci-fi authors wanted to write Star Wars books when it came time to make new movies, and those studio execs were going to include George Lucas and his associates. When movies that moved past the conclusion of Return of the Jedi did happen, they'd be so much bigger than a series of fantasy books, that the books would just sort of disappear into the ether as non-canonical, leaving a herd of nerds wondering how to reconcile the irreconcilable, narratively speaking, in their minds.
Of course, for two decades we had Uncle George backing up the books - which I doubted he ever read, but he knew that without his stamp, those books wouldn't be taken seriously nor purchased by Star Wars fans. And that meant less dough, so best to just approve them and worry on it later.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Carmine Infantino Races into The Infinite
Reports are coming out that Carmine Infantino, original artist of the Silver Age Flash comics - and so, so many other comics - has passed.
If you can, pick up the Flash Chronicles books or the Showcase Presents: The Flash collections. It's not just the stories that are great (and they are), but it's Infantino's visualizations of Barry Allen's powers brought to life, managing the panel-by-panel aspect of comics to keep the reader on pace with Barry when necessary and coming up with other techniques - like the "many Flashes in a single panel" technique that was even spoofed in an early episode of The Big Bang Theory.
Roger Ebert Merges with The Infinite
Film critic, commentator and historian Roger Ebert has passed.
As co-worker Kristi said "he and Siskel had the last, old school intelligent criticism show on TV". I agree. Even after Siskel passed and Ebert had to take a side-line role on At the Movies after he'd grown ill, I liked the various folks who were on, but I really missed the original formula. Smart, tweedy guys taking an art form seriously. Back when studios were arguably trying to participate in film as an art form and less as a commercial product.
Ebert found the internet, and as recently as a few days ago he was online, blogging, talking about how he'd been ill again, but that he and his wife, Chaz, were planning new ventures and what was to come for his film festival in Chicago. He was massively influential online, straying from movies and into politics and sociology.
I liked Ebert most of my life, but the past few years I came to respect the hell out of the man who wasn't just confined to giving movies a thumbs-up or down, who had a wide ranging field of interest, who had become somehow more verbose once stripped of his voice, and whose decades of reviews were available online for me to consider.
We lost Gene Siskel too soon when he passed more than a decade ago, and we lost Ebert just as he was really getting his engines humming for his career's second act.
His website is still up, and hopefully his team of critics is still out there doing their jobs.
No Post Thursday - what I've been doing (class, books, end of the yearly cycle)
This evening I went to the gym, watched an episode of Mad Men Season 5, did some pre-ordering of comics, and got pretty far along with the first unit of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) I've started through Canvas.
When I get through the first week, I'll post some personal and professional observations as someone who (a) has read comics for a long, long time - including a good chunk of the assigned reading, (b) who actually does care about gender representations in media - but maybe not in a particularly prescribed way, and (c) who worked in distance education for a decade before moving on to digital libraries. As bonus featurea (d) I already went through five years of undergraduate education in narrative media studies, and (d) I sort of have my opinions regarding scholarly writing when it comes to social criticism, so... it's turning out to be an interesting experience already.
It's going to be a long post, and only, likely, I will care about it, so... look for THAT.
Speaking of gender in comics and pop-culture, yesterdays post on why it's okay for Power Girl to have a "boob window" got a fair number of hits. By that, I mean, we were around 95 last I checked, which is, like, HUGE for this site. I never know what's going to get traffic. I fully expected upwards of 18 clicks.
I am making a commitment to just admit I am going to just read all the Richard Stark novels and nothing else that is not a comic until I finish the Parker and Grofield series. And then I have, literally, ten books to get through.
As I said on the Facebooks today, I need more time to read.
So, no recommendations for a bit. My plate is full.
Jamie's birthday is passed, and mine is next Friday, so if you're around and want a cocktail, email me. We may be doing something about drinks on the 13th.
We have a yearly cycle that starts at Halloween and ends with my birthday. Really, from Halloween, it's something every few weeks, including Valentine's Day, then March - the months of birthdays, etc... And, of course, Easter and Mother's Day take us into May. At this point I'm used to it, but it does seem like it compresses time into the various observances. Summer has become my holiday from holidays, except for July 4th, which includes explosions and hamburgers and is thus becoming one of my favorite holidays.
My folks are headed back to Kenya for missionary work/ putting eyeglasses on Kenyans. Always proud of them in their volunteer efforts.
Mad Men Season 6 starts Sunday night, so, leave a brother alone while he does his thing.
When I get through the first week, I'll post some personal and professional observations as someone who (a) has read comics for a long, long time - including a good chunk of the assigned reading, (b) who actually does care about gender representations in media - but maybe not in a particularly prescribed way, and (c) who worked in distance education for a decade before moving on to digital libraries. As bonus featurea (d) I already went through five years of undergraduate education in narrative media studies, and (d) I sort of have my opinions regarding scholarly writing when it comes to social criticism, so... it's turning out to be an interesting experience already.
It's going to be a long post, and only, likely, I will care about it, so... look for THAT.
Speaking of gender in comics and pop-culture, yesterdays post on why it's okay for Power Girl to have a "boob window" got a fair number of hits. By that, I mean, we were around 95 last I checked, which is, like, HUGE for this site. I never know what's going to get traffic. I fully expected upwards of 18 clicks.
I am making a commitment to just admit I am going to just read all the Richard Stark novels and nothing else that is not a comic until I finish the Parker and Grofield series. And then I have, literally, ten books to get through.
- I'm about a quarter way through the Larry Tye Superman book Nathan gave me, so that might get read while I work through the Stark novels.
- Dark City Dames by Eddie Muller - a book with bios of a handful of noir sirens, including sections on Audrey Totter and Marie Windsor
- Altered Carbon - as recommended by Steven
- the next three Barsoom novels starting with Thuvia, Maid of Mars
- Doc Savage, Man of Bronze - personally recommended by no less than Chris Roberson
- The Big Screen - a non-fiction book on the history of cinema
- The Killer Inside Me and After Dark, My Sweet, that I've been putting off for, literally, almost twenty years
- the new Glenn Wheldon Superman book
- a Dashiell Hammett collection
As I said on the Facebooks today, I need more time to read.
So, no recommendations for a bit. My plate is full.
Jamie's birthday is passed, and mine is next Friday, so if you're around and want a cocktail, email me. We may be doing something about drinks on the 13th.
We have a yearly cycle that starts at Halloween and ends with my birthday. Really, from Halloween, it's something every few weeks, including Valentine's Day, then March - the months of birthdays, etc... And, of course, Easter and Mother's Day take us into May. At this point I'm used to it, but it does seem like it compresses time into the various observances. Summer has become my holiday from holidays, except for July 4th, which includes explosions and hamburgers and is thus becoming one of my favorite holidays.
My folks are headed back to Kenya for missionary work/ putting eyeglasses on Kenyans. Always proud of them in their volunteer efforts.
Mad Men Season 6 starts Sunday night, so, leave a brother alone while he does his thing.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
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