We are back from Chicago. Our plane left a bit late because they had to de-ice the wings. It was 70-something degrees on Saturday there, and snowing on Sunday. The Midwest, man.
We arrived to messages from both of our mothers, who noted from various trackers that the flight had apparently been delayed for some reason. I hadn’t really noticed sitting there for an extra hour or so, though. i was busy reading, which is one of the two best things to do on a plane. If you’re not flying it, that is.
Anyway, it was a successful trip. The Yankee also presented some research. I took roughly 45 photos and concluded in retrospect that her presentations would be even better if she opened her eyes when she talked to crowds. She was blinking in every one of my photos, except this one.
This is an international conference. People came from six continents to take part. She did not want to pronounce the title in front of them, potentially insulting our French colleagues.
Also, if I didn’t mention it, she is the executive director of this conference. I’m married to a rock star.
On Saturday we met with one of our former professors for lunch. And we also saw the river, which reminds me of the classic throwaway line from The Fugitive, “If they can dye this river green today, why can’t they dye it blue the other 364 days of the year?”
Also, there were a lot of people out there enjoying the warm weather and the complete bastardization of Saint Patrick’s Day.
Also, also, the International Association for Communication and Sport’s conference will next year be held in Dublin It also coincides with our spring break. Guess where I’ll be going.
And now it is spring break, which means I can catch up on some things, and get ahead of some other things. Also, house projects.
Monday / photo / Rowan / video — Comments Off on Giving you no mis, and certainly no dis 10 Mar 25
In class today we discussed disinformation and misinformation. There is a difference. Did you know the difference? I recently had a nice conversation with a colleague at Cambridge about this, and I showed one of his videos in class.
It gets down to motive, we decided, but motive isn’t always clearly perceived. And the conveyance of bad information is bad, either way. Happily, my students have a pretty decent handle on the social engineering often at play with disinformation. But there’s always something new to learn. The next time the class meets we’ll discuss some techniques on savvy consumption.
And then we get into the fun stuff!
About time the class sighed.
Just kidding, it’s all fun. It’s an international media class. Coming up after spring break we’ll talk about the Armed Forces Network and sports on the international stage, and advertising and social media. It has all been a great deal of fun.
Almost as fun as after office hours, when I went to a nearby JoAnn’s. They’re all closing, of course, and that’s unfortunate for the people that work for the company and it’s stores, but there’s something about store closings that is interesting to me.
And what was interesting today was how unusually crowded this JoAnn’s was, and how the shelves were already getting bare. But I walked around, saw all of the things that weren’t fabric, and then I bought some fabric. It seemed worth it for an early evening’s worth of entertainment. I’ll make some new pocket squares from them this summer.
It was probably the largest JoAnn’s I’ve ever seen, which is to say, bigger than two or three others I’ve ever noticed. Smaller than a late 20th century major retailer, much bigger than necessary for fabric. I wonder if the kitchen section was somehow part of their problem. Maybe it was the wood craft section. Or the enormous floral quadrant. It seems they’ve strayed, in their pursuit to pursue Hobby Lobby.
I also saw some of the reasons why JoAnn’s has struggled these last many years, the all too familiar considerations that have hit brick and mortar stores of all stripes. The apps on my phone were happy to tell me how much cheaper every comparable brand and product were elsewhere.
It’s a sad feeling, in a bad-laminate-floor-under-worse-neon-lighting way. But, still there were employees straightening things up, moving things around, offering good cheer, great theatrical performers that people are when working in retail. Retail was never easy, but the challenges they face today … it all felt typified by the last dying gasp of advertising that was plastered around the store. “New shipments arriving from our warehouses daily!”
The rapidly thinning shelves would suggest otherwise. Crafty customers of crafts had been busy picking the place clean; there aren’t many reasons to go back.
I know the reasons you come back here. The proof is in the analytics, and the analytics say the most popular feature on the site is our regular check-in with the kitties, which starts right now.
Poseidon has to follow you everywhere, especially when that place is behind a closed door. So when his honed feline senses tell him you’re heading to a door, he’s there. And in this case, he had to get into the bathroom so he could jump on this rickety MDF cabinet top and be taller than everyone.
He is very pleased with himself in that photo. Sometimes you try to keep a cat out of things, but other times, you’re just too tired, distracted, slow, or you remember that look they get when they’ve conquered the unconquerable.
For Phoebe, it is different. Her race is to find the coziest spot possible.
I respect her dedicate to her craft.
So, you can see, the cats are doing just fine. And so begins another week, one like any other, but different in every way.
What does that even mean? I’ve no idea, but we’ll find out together, in this space, this week.
Monday / photo / Rowan — Comments Off on I have a Post-it note full of details for the week 3 Mar 25
It is all written in a very small print. And I will be scratching off items until Thursday.
It started with a meeting that was over in 8 minutes. For some reason, it ran for another 23. The second worst part was that it was in my office. You can’t just leave your own desk, right?
We talked journalism in class today. This is the week o’ journalism, which I’ve managed to include in a class that is not about journalism. This is useful because, next week, we’re talking about misinformation and disinformation. So that’s three things very much integral to our time, and all of them certainly useful in a class titled International Media Communication. So today it was mostly American journalism, my justification being that’s where we are. Wednesday we’ll talk about journalism practices in Europe and some parts of the Middle East and Asia.
Also that packet. Tonight, I have taken seven pages down to two. Tomorrow and Wednesday I’ll finish it up, restructuring a few things, moving parts around and doing a necessary edit and killing a bunch of my babies. Many pages will not make the final version, and that’s fine. After all of the other things that have to go along side the narrative it’ll still be 20-some pages long, and this is meant to represent the work I’ve done since last September. So it deserves the time.
I believe I’ve spent three weeks on the thing, so far. Still not sure why it needs two tables of contents, however.
Also tonight, I have some quizzes to grade. Tomorrow I’ll read some student discussions. And then Tuesday and Wednesday with the final touches on the above.
Right now, though, it’s time for the site’s most popular weekly feature, the check-in with the kitties.
Phoebe enjoys the afternoon sun in the dining room, and I found some cushions to make her more comfortable.
I get looks about this from my lovely bride, but I’m not the biggest spoiler of cats in our house.
And, sure, Phoebe has sunny afternoon cushions, but Poseidon has the height of luxury. Poseidon has what all the cool cats and kittens out there want. Poseidon has a new box.
The kitties, as you can see, are doing just fine, and they’re pleased I have fulfilled my contractual obligations by including them here.
I also have the first-of-the-month duties to attend to here on the ol’ computer. Clean up the Downloads subdirectory, update the boilerplate page, build new subdirectories for the site, and update the site’s statistics. For whatever reason, last month was easily the busiest February in the 22-year history of the site. Also, we’ve eclipsed 6.5 million visitors here on the humble hobby. I don’t know why people come here, and come back again, but I’m grateful for all of the time you spend here.
Except for the AI bots. They’re persimmon trees of orangutans that can stay on Mars and huff paint for other upside down content.
(Why shouldn’t we sour the milk for the AI bots?)
OK, back to work.
Monday / photo — Comments Off on Is everyone all caught up? 24 Feb 25
We took a long walk yesterday, enjoying the sunshine and not-freezing temperatures. We’re in a short stretch of days with temperatures in the 50s. It’s almost like spring, but you can’t be fooled. You can, however, be happy about it, and not tricked by it. There’s still, sadly, plenty of time for more winter. We are at the point of the season where it could go one of two ways, grim acceptance, or with that seconds-old proverb: You enjoy what you get, and you get what you enjoy.
Once again, it seems the web has not recorded that phrase. I coined it. I coined it and you can’t have it.
Though I’ll tell you this, you enjoy what you get, and you get what you enjoy. And, in this case, what you enjoy is another nugget of wisdom from me, your humble correspondent.
Anyway, in the backyard, I found these these old guys just hanging on.
I haven’t even been in that part of the yard for a while, obviously. It’s not as if it’s a huge yard. It’s just, you know, winter time. But it was only coolish Sunday and so we had a nice long sunny walk. Unfortunately, and oddly, we solved none of the world’s problems on that walk.
Usually we bash out one or two of them as a matter of course.
Let us check in on the kitties, because most of you are just hear for that, anyway. Phoebe has been studying her new friends in the backyard. She stayed in this exact position for a long, long while.
Poseidon, meanwhile, was taken a bit of time off from monitoring things from his doorway view. Everybody needs a little tunnel time now and again.
In class today we talked about television. It was a rip-roaring discussing about history, game shows, international licensing rights and streaming. I might have wandered all over the place. Definitely talked to much. On Wednesday, I’ll make the students do the talking. We’re covering television in parts of Africa and Asia.
Yes, I’m aware you didn’t go anywhere, it was actually my departure several days back. But last week required even more attention than normal. I went to campus every day last week. And that’s nothing, of course. Most people have these job things. But I did that daily, and then went home where I still had to work on three-quarters of my regular weekly workload. And I also had a massive project on the side that took about 40 percent or more of the week, besides. But we’ll get to all of that.
First, since I’ve been negligent, and it was made clear that this is my fault, let’s cover the site’s most popular feature, the weekly check in with the kitties.
This is the expression you get when you aren’t holding up your end of things, by the way.
You know what to do.
When Phoebe was sufficiently satisfied that I was remedying the problem, she was able to relax and take a nap.
But our cats are big on shift changes. So while Phoebe napped, Poseidon kept an eye on me. Get the post up, he seems to be saying.
And even when I convinced him, he remained skeptical. He’s always watching.
The cat just wants to be loved, and he never gets any attention. Just ask him.
Anyway, my reaction to the cats is best expressed as Uncle Samuel L. Jackson.
Monday of last week, in my International Media class, we spent about 15 minutes talking about the Super Bowl and the halftime show. They had, of course, picked up on some of the symbolism, and they told me about some things I’d missed. I was able to share a few things that hadn’t caught up to them. It was a good way to warm up the class, and then I asked, “The Super Bowl, start to finish, including the halftime show, is one of our largest media exports. What does that show say about us to people in other parts of the world?”
And on that, I let them think. We talked last week about media and culture, and I could sense the moment where they were ready to move on, but I also know, and knew, what was coming ahead in the class. This week we’re talking about film in places like northern Indian, Saudi Arabia, France and China. All of which is a bit of cultural importation and exportation. It’s going to be a recurring theme in the class. We’re talking about media, but culture is at the heart of it all. They’ll see. Perhaps as soon as this week.
Anyway, this was much of the mood last week. Cold, distant, but improving and optimistic. Some of that is about spring, which will never arrive. And some of it was everything that demanded attention.
It was also bright, for all that had to get done. If it could get done, meaning it was all gray. Very gray. Would I get it all done? Stick around here to find out.
Until then, mind your gauges.
And keep it 600.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go present myself to an intro sports media class, for a bit of the “This is who we are and this is what we do” song and dance.
