Category Archives: media

Why was Casey Anthony news?

Curious to hear your opinions on this. It’s easy to see why she’s news now: the verdict stretches “reasonable doubt” in a lot of people’s minds. But why was any of this important before? My brother argues that this is the new media generation’s “O.J.” Social media and the Internet supposedly played a big part …

July 5, 2011 – 10:35 pm | By ashok | Posted in media | Comments (3)

See Paul’s Work

I know – I’m breaking my promise not to post. But a friend makes magnificent religious art and I thought all of you might want a look given the nature of this holiday season. He makes icons, which you can read a little about here: On Iconography Some of his work: Rublev’s Pupil on Flickr …

December 22, 2010 – 1:46 am | By ashok | Posted in media | Tagged | Comments (1)

Quotable, 12/10/10

From Joel Stein’s “The Year of the Leak,” in the Dec. 20, 2010 issue of Time: …my request for 2011 – or the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, as it’s known in David Foster Wallace’s novel Infinite Jest, in which every year is sponsored by an advertiser – is for everyone to handle leaks …

December 10, 2010 – 5:56 pm | By ashok | Posted in media | Comments (0)

Things Overheard on Philadelphia Sports Talk Radio This Week

With the Lions/Eagles game today, I thought it might be worth recapitulating some of the “highlights” voiced by the fan base here. To understand Philadelphia sports fans, all one has to do is remember the time the hockey player Eric Lindros received a concussion during a game that made nearly everyone who watched it gasp. …

September 19, 2010 – 12:08 pm | By ashok | Posted in media | Comments (3)

Comment on Cowboy Bebop, “Jupiter Jazz” (Sessions 12 and 13)

Spoilers galore ahead Cowboy Bebop, “Jupiter Jazz” (video – part 1, part 2) | episode guide (part 1, part 2) “There is nothing in this world to believe in.” – Vicious 1. These two episodes are haunting, beautiful, and present some of the deepest characters I’ve ever seen on television. I can’t think of a …

June 26, 2010 – 9:36 am | By ashok | Posted in media, writing | Tagged | Comments (3)

Comment on Cowboy Bebop, Session 11, “Toys in the Attic”

Spoilers galore ahead Cowboy Bebop, Session 11 (video) | episode guide This was the first episode of Cowboy Bebop I saw, because a friend knowledgeable about the series (and who had superlative taste in anime) said it was an excellent introduction to the series as a whole. He’s exactly right, and the episode not only …

June 20, 2010 – 3:45 am | By ashok | Posted in media, writing | Tagged | Comments (3)

Online Culture and Mike Judge’s “Idiocracy”

1. Paul recommended “Idiocracy” to me a while back, and I regret not seeing it immediately then. I saw a good portion of the film on Comedy Central yesterday – I picked up at the part where Luke Wilson was in line to go to prison. If you haven’t seen the film, all you need …

June 14, 2010 – 2:25 am | By ashok | Posted in media, movies, politics | Comments (4)

Comment on Cowboy Bebop Session 10, “Ganymede Elegy”

Spoilers galore ahead Cowboy Bebop Session 10, “Ganymede Elegy” (video) | episode guide 1. Plot: The crew of the Bebop drops off a bounty at Jet’s home, Ganymede. Jet has his ex-girlfriend on his mind; she walked out on him, leaving him a note that only said “Farewell” and a pocketwatch. Jet kept the latter …

June 13, 2010 – 4:57 am | By ashok | Posted in media, writing | Tagged | Comments (2)

MTV’s Jersey Shore, or the Impossibility of Enlightenment

The last two or three days I’ve been writing drafts for blog posts on the topic of academic cheating. I wanted to address how it seems to me our very culture encourages people to cheat, how valuing a piece of paper more than actual knowledge has become the default way we value anything. Of course …

December 12, 2009 – 11:47 am | By ashok | Posted in education, media | Comments (6)

Briefly Noted: David Carr, “Reality TV’s Glare Hits High Office”

The article in question is by one David Carr at the nytimes; we’ve noted the President’s overexposure before – see “The Olympics, Obama and the Permanent Campaign” – but it might be more prudent to look away from the President’s explicit political ends and focus only on the means: When Barack Obama became president, he …

December 7, 2009 – 3:48 pm | By ashok | Posted in media, politics | Comments (1)