I've been toying with an assignment based on writing about films with films. Here's my essay:


Is He Bona Fide? from Daniel Anderson on Vimeo.

Writing along with my litcasting class, I've been trying to reflect on some teaching of late. The tweak to the course I'm fidgeting with is shifting the portfolios toward an outside reader. They still pitch projects toward fellow students, but the hope is that by selecting readers from outside the class the reflections might take on a more personal or focused approach.

Right now, I'm not sure that the approach is playing out as I imagined, but I'm eager to hear from students and outside readers after all is said and done. In that spirit, I post a link to my mid-semester portfolio which is based in the main on the work of the class so far. I'm curious to know 1.) people's thoughts on the assignments and projects collected here, 2.) ideas about the outside reader approach to class portfolios, and 3.) any reactions to my portfolio so far.

I got this message from YouTube the other day regarding a video made in one of my classes. I posted the piece because it was large for our blog and worth a look. After getting the take-down notice, I went back to look at the video and determined that it was not a violation or copyright, or at least it was clearly not an open and shut case. My dispute response was "The video offers commentary and critique regarding the relationship between humans and nature. The critique is part of an educational assignment, not for profit, using only the minimum amount of material necessary for such critique and appropriately citing all sources. It qualifies as fair use."

I'm not sure how the dispute will be resolved; I haven't heard back yet. In the meantime, to help educate I resuscitate the video and now pronounce it additional commentary on corporate overstepping and fair use decision making. The video is below for those wishing to consider these issues further. For reference, the disputed materials are the clips from Castaway.

My colleague Katie Shrieves passed along this link to a comparison of the technologies supporting the Web sites of the two presidential candidates. The analysis sheds some light on directions for Web development and the tech leanings of the two camps, but is also a humorous read for Webheads.

Any mashup fan would be remiss without mentioning the death of Don LaFontaine. Just that name suggests a kind of smooth talk that goes a long way toward making the movie trailer its own kind of composition. As homage, I embed Five Guys in a Limo and Voice Talkers. Voice Talkers is my favorite:

In announcing their new Chrome Browser, Google has enlisted the help of Scott McCloud. As usual, McCloud employs the comics medium at perfect pitch. The effort mashes conventional notions of purpose. Sure the piece is informative and persuasive, telling us about issues ranging from browser performance to security and convincing us that Chrome is the way to go. But the visuals kick in with additional narrative punch, holding the interest more than a similar white paper might.

I'm sure people will be watching the rising tide of google lifting or (depending on your perspective) smashing and carrying away more boats, but the mode of information delivery is also worth noting for its absence of the long linear block of text.

This NY Times piece on the pre-announcement editing of Sarah Palin's Wikipedia entry sheds light on the way Wikipedia functions in the larger media ecology, in large part based on its open structure and currency. That updates in the wee hours prior to a candidacy announcement might be the efforts of an insider comes as little surprise. But the way that such updates morph the site into a kind of engine for dissemination and creation of news shows that the combination of at-large editing and instant updating amplifies information sharing power enough that people need to adjust their expectations about where to find (and how to make) the news. As the Times reports, the Washington Post called it "another example of Wikipedia’s mysterious ability to predict about-to-break news, if we only knew to look there."

We covered Billy Collins last night in my American literature class. We talked a lot about the false dichotomy between poems that are reasonably direct and easy to take in and notions of intellectual complexity and depth. I love Collins, for thumbing the eye of such pompousness.

One poem that gave us particular insights was "Workshop" which is easy on the brain, but also as rich as any I've found in language about language, poetry about poetry, and similar abstractions that open levels of meaning beyond the surface message of the text. It's also funny. Really funny.

Another great thing about these poems is they still get the idea that poetry can move on an emotional level. Ever since I heard Collins read it a couple of years ago, "The Lanyard" has been one of my favorites. Again, funny, but also touching.

It also turns out that there is a small YouTube cottage industry springing up around composing animations set to Collins's poems. My favorite has to be "The Country." The visuals really do give the work an extra kick. In some ways, I sense a connection here as well with ideas about the future of English Studies. There are, for instance, somewhat similar videos set to Wordsworth's poems, but they lack the freshness, and I would guess relevance in forward time that I feel in these Collins adaptations. "The child [may be] father to the man," but "The Country" is winning the "Favorited" competition big time.

From my son Palmer's first live show. Palmer is on the right--the dark one.

How crazy is it that the new semester is starting and I haven't even posted anything reflecting (on) my summer teaching. Without further ado, I give you YouTube trailer film reviews by Susie Warden and Hannah Choe

and the mashup below by Jivan Achreja