Monthly Archives: December 2012

stan lee cameos

Posted on by December 30, 2012
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  Two days ago, on 28 December 2012, ↑Stan Lee celebrated his 90th birthday: In collaboration with several artists, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, and many other fictional characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. Above is a montage of ↑his cameo appearances in Marvel superhero movies. A belated happy birthday to Stan Lee and many more cameo appearances to him! via ↑entry at ↑slashdot … Continue reading →

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who is diving?

Posted on by January 8, 2013
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zeph’s pop culture quiz #54 Who is diving down into the big blue?     Simply leave a comment with your educated guess—you can ask for additional hints, too. [Leaving a comment is easy; just click the ‘Leave a comment’ at the end of the post and fill in the form. If it’s the first time you post a comment, it will be held for moderation. But I am constantly checking, and once I’ve approved a comment, your next ones won’t be held, but published immediately by the system.] UPDATE 1 (02 January 2013): We had some fine guesses until … Continue reading →

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morgan freeman hoax

Posted on by December 17, 2012
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‘Write something insightful. Say Morgan Freeman said it. Win at Internet.’ Just found that quote, attributed to actor Morgan Freeman, on Facebook. I do not know if Freeman did say this or if he did not. But I know that the quote comes in the wake of another quote attributed to him. This latter quote currently runs through the social media like wildfire, but ↑Freeman definitely never stated its contents. Here is a snippet: You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here’s why.     It’s because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the … Continue reading →

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what is cited?

Posted on by January 5, 2013
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zeph’s pop culture quiz #53 Which movie is payed homage to by the scene about to commence in the screencap? Bonus question: Which other movies are cited in the movie the screencap stems from?     Simply leave a comment with your educated guess—you can ask for additional hints, too. [Leaving a comment is easy; just click the ‘Leave a comment’ at the end of the post and fill in the form. If it’s the first time you post a comment, it will be held for moderation. But I am constantly checking, and once I’ve approved a comment, your next … Continue reading →

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games as art

Posted on by December 7, 2012
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John Maeda’s opinion piece ‘↑Videogames do belong in the Museum of Modern Art‘ has spawned a series of comments, among them ↑this one by Dedwrekka: Actually GTA [‘↑Grand Theft Auto‘] could be easily described as art.     GTA is about the breakdown of the social contract. Given an open world that responds to their actions, but has no actual effect on them, most players tend to sit down and go on long rampages in a short amount of time.     Part of what makes games art is the interaction between game and player. In that sense, a person … Continue reading →

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who is dead?

Posted on by December 8, 2012
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zeph’s pop culture quiz #52 Who is dead?     Simply leave a comment with your educated guess—you can ask for additional hints, too. [Leaving a comment is easy; just click the ‘Leave a comment’ at the end of the post and fill in the form. If it’s the first time you post a comment, it will be held for moderation. But I am constantly checking, and once I’ve approved a comment, your next ones won’t be held, but published immediately by the system.] UPDATE 1 (07 December 2012): As nobody seems fit to guess anything when Google’s image search … Continue reading →

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war as text

Posted on by December 2, 2012
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Currently I am bit by bit re-reading Latour’s ‘We have never been modern’ (1993 [1991]). In one of the classes I am holding this term I am coercing the students to do this reading, and loyally I am joining in. Latour’s criticism of postmodernism induced an association inside me. Especially this paragraph: When we are dealing with science and technology it is hard to imagine for long that we are a text that is writing itself, a discourse that is speaking all by itself, a play of signifiers without signifieds. It is hard to reduce the entire cosmos to a … Continue reading →

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