Discourse Chronicle

May 04, 2008

Gaming helps students hone 21st-century skills (eSchool News)

Studies of the brain have pointed to data suggesting that repeated exposure to video games reinforces the ability to create mental maps, inductive discovery such as formulating hypotheses, and the ability to focus on several things at once and respond faster to unexpected stimuli. -Laura Devaney

[From Elizabeth. The article focuses on possibilities with Second Life in a classroom.]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)

April 07, 2008

Acceptance [International Journal of Comic Art] (Discourse Chronicle)

[Today I received my copy of the Internaional Journal of Comic Art (Vol. 10, No. 1, Spring 2008) which contains my exhibit review of The Golden Age of American Political Cartooning at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, OH! BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2008

Three Writers are Drawn by the Allure of Comics (NPR)

As comic books — or, in more highbrow parlance, graphic novelizations — nudge their way onto the shelves of bookstores and the pages of literary magazines, some well-known writers are trying their hand at the genre. Pop-culture icon Joss Whedon, best-selling novelist Jodi Picoult and rapper Percy Carey are among those feeling the lure of comics. -John Ridley

[From Elizabeth. Comics and graphic novels transition easily from page to screen using storyboards, but a storyboard is different from a comic panel, which Scott McCloud explains in Understanding Comics and Making Comics. I remember strongly disagreeing with associating comics and film in a portfolio paper for my MA degree, but Mark C. Rogers presented a similar argument at last year's National PCA with "Wile E. Coyote Still Died for Your Sins: Intertextuality and Continuity in Sandman and Animal Man". BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2008

National PCA 2008 Recap (Discourse Chronicle)

[Elizabeth and I returned from presenting in San Francisco on Saturday. Both of us presented well and I am always pleased with how National PCA keeps getting better every year as I celebrate my fifth consecutive year presenting at that conference. Here is a recap about our trip:

Day 0

• Our friends David McClure and Suzan Aiken provided a ride to the airport despite learning about us flying out of Cleveland two days beforehand

• Continental Airlines kindly served a small breakfast with cereal, milk, and fresh fruit along with a snack

Day 1

• Elizabeth and I caught up with my comic scholar colleagues Area Chair Nicole Freim, her husband Jason Tondro, and Amy Nyberg at dinner

• I attended and supported fellow BGSU PhD student Jeff Geers as he panel chaired for the first time

• I caught up with other comic scholar colleagues such as Gene Kannenberg, Jr. and his wife K.A. Laity (author of Jane Quiet)

Day 4

• Elizabeth and I attended each other's presentations and believe we did well

• My keyring with laminated sheets using "15 min.," "10 min.," "5 min.," and a giant "STOP" sign received good praise as a timekeeping device

• I briefly caught up with Rey Valdez, a PhD student colleague from Texas A&M, who presented on Saturday

• I caught up with John Shelton Lawrence and he asked me to comment on an article he is submitting to a magazine about comics

• I also caught up with Erica Benson, an English professor from UW-Eau Claire, who knows Patrick Day (a professor-mentor of mine from undergraduate work)

• I won "The Korvie" from The Institute for Korvac Studies (a parody panel poking fun at academia and comic scholarship by comic scholars)

One conference down and one more to go. Elizabeth and some of our colleagues are presenting at the 4 C's conference and facilitating a half-day workshop for college writing programs next week. I am going with them as moral and tech support since videotaping is involved with the workshop. I look forward to it because the 4 C's is a major conference in the field of Rhetoric and Composition and being there will also give me a chance to catch up with professor-mentors I have not seen in years such as Dennis G. Jerz. I do remember, though, that techies dress in black! BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 08:51 PM | Comments (0)

March 18, 2008

National PCA 2008 (Discourse Chronicle)

[No blog this week. I am presenting "Community, Rhetoric, and Poetics in Superman: Birthright" at the National Popular Culture Association conference. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 02:55 AM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2008

National PCA 2008 Updated (Discourse Chronicle)

[Elizabeth's presentation moved again due to a conflict with our flight leaving San Francisco. Here is her presentation as printed now in the program:

Friday, March 21, 2008, 8:00am - 9:30am
Golden Gate Hall Salon C2
406 Gender Studies VI: The Monstrous Feminine in Popular Fictions
Chair: Kirsten T. Saxton, Mills College

“Good Hair and Bad Girls: Depictions of Female Depravity in Popular Literature”
Kathryn Stull, Mills College

“Gods and Models: Chuck Palahniuk’s Feminized Revision of the Ubermensch in Invisible Monsters”
Adrienne Cacitti, Mills College

“Of Smug Marrieds (ugh) and Singletons (v.v.g.): Bridget Jones’s Subversive Grammar and the Constraints of Discourse”
Elizabeth Fleitz, Bowling Green State University

“Mommie’s Bloodlusting and Vamping: Dracula as the Autogamous Mother in Bram Stoker’s Dracula”
Joe McDermott, Mills College

I feel bad about setbacks Elizabeth experienced due to her Area Chair because I plug National PCA hard since I always have a great time with it. I know things happen without warning, but like bad customers in retail, people talk and negative feedback makes everyone working on popular culture suffer. Unfortunately, most presenters do not return after having a bad experience with PCA. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)

March 09, 2008

Students 'should use Wikipedia' (BBC News)

"You can ban kids from listening to rock 'n' roll music, but they're going to anyway," he added. "It's the same with information, and it's a bad educator that bans their students from reading Wikipedia."

In 2005, at the height of the controversy over the site's accuracy, Mr Wales told the BBC that students who copied information from Wikipedia "deserved to get an F grade". -Alistair Coleman

[Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales's take on citing Wikipedia now and then. An important distinction is made here in that college attempts teaching students how to conduct research in an academic environment toward producing a new or overlooked argument. The constantly changing accuracy or possibility of inaccuracy robs students from finding niches and innovating older ideas. I continue banning my students from citing Wikipedia and I know I am NOT a bad educator. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:25 PM | Comments (4)

Naïve Teacher Believes In Her Students (Onion)

"I remember when I started here," said Jim Hawes, who has taught math at Bishop Kelly for 11 years. "I thought I could get the kids to appreciate the symmetry of math and the intrinsic beauty of a balanced equation. That got beaten out of me midway through my second year, when my car was keyed, my house was TP'ed, I got 12 magazine subscriptions I never ordered, and someone phoned me at 1:30 in the morning and called me a faggot. Now, I'm just happy if they can parrot back the quadratic formula and don't put soap in my coffee." -The Onion

[Amen! I honestly love teaching English in college, particularly composition, but bad students ruin everything for everybody. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 06:41 PM | Comments (2)

March 08, 2008

Jim Gaffigan and Hot Pockets! (YouTube)

[From Jim Gaffigan's Beyond the Pale comedy special. Hilarious! BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 07:35 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2008

STUDY COMICS: Graphic novel journalism explains the news better (Street)

Look at this list of award-winning graphic novels. Especially if you want to understand another item in the news, like Kosovo peeling itself away from Serbia (graphic journalist Joe Sacco's Balkan War novels shed ink and insight on the region. To understand what's popping off in Palestine, check out Sacco's book of the not-quite-a-recognized-country's same name.) And how else would a layman understand the 9/11 Commission's report? -Kell Dailey

[Here at BGSU, freshman students are required to take two composition courses, Eng 111: Introduction to Composition and then Eng 112: Varieties of Writing. I am currently teaching Eng 112 and students gain exposure to reading academic articles while learning to argue in writing, but they often complain that articles are not entertaining enough. I wonder if students might be more interested in composition and English as a subject if a textbook presented material in graphic novel format like Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 08:00 AM | Comments (1)

Freeverse unveils iPhone gaming plans (Macworld)

Freeverse's first idea is for a line of "Flick Sports" products for the iPhone and iPod touch -- 3D games that utilize the device's unique input controls for immersive gameplay. Freeverse said it's working on golf, bowling, soccer and baseball games to start. -Peter Cohen

Posted by kuechebj at 07:52 AM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2008

U of M gets major collection -- of comic books (MinnPost)

There's no debating the logic of donating the comics. They'll be far safer in the high-security, fireproof library. And besides, I keep telling John, books are meant to be read, not sit in our basement. People will be able to study John's books in the Andersen reading room, as long as they leave their packs outside, use only a pencil or a computer to take notes, and wear white cotton gloves while handling them. That's a far cry from the days when my son read his copies in the bathtub. -Judith Yates Borger

[I also consider having my collection donated to a university library when its time comes, but I imagine that will span more than one and a half five-shelf bookcases then. I believe a great retirement plan for me in the future is owning and running a comics shop after spending most of my life as a college English professor. I am currently 27. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 07:29 AM | Comments (1)

March 01, 2008

VG Cats #248: Humble Suggestion (VG Cats)

[I found this webcomic hilarious because I know Elizabeth's research is on cookbooks and cooking. However, I imagine from a feminist perspective, many things are going wrong in these three panels. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 08:34 PM | Comments (0)

February 19, 2008

Sony killing 80GB PS3, introducing 120GB or 160GB model with Dual Shock 3? (Engadget)

According to Ars Technica, Sony has some big plans for a PlayStation 3 refresh, starting with a phase-out of the 80GB model. According to an "inside source" -- which Ars claims has been consistently right on video game-related predictions -- the console-maker's new plot is starting to take shape, holding fast to a two-SKU approach on packages, upping the hard drive capacity on systems, and including the Dual Shock 3 controller. The new bundles will take the high / low road, with the source stating that the 40GB model will remain on shelves, while the 80GB, Spider-Man 3-inclusive system will disappear, only to be replaced with a 120GB or 160GB configuration. Of course, right now these are just words on a screen, though in light of Best Buy's recent stock changes, there certainly is an air of movement over at Sony. -Joshua Topolsky

[From Elizabeth. She asks "If the DualShock controller gets any stronger, will anyone be able to still hold on to it? Plus who really needs 160GB of saved games?" and I am not sure the vibration function on the controller is strong at all. I imagine that players who play the MMORPGs like Final Fantasy XI probably need that much hard drive space, but maybe PS3 games are larger files compared with PS2. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 08:20 AM | Comments (2)

February 07, 2008

National PCA 2008 Update (Discourse Chronicle)

[Elizabeth is presenting with me in March at the National Popular Culture Association conference here:

Saturday, March 22, 8:00am - 9:30am
Golden Gate Hall Salon B1
341 Gender Studies VIII: Resistance and Subversion of Gender Identity in Contemporary Popular Novels
Chair: Catherine S. Cox, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown

Of Smug Marrieds (ugh) and Singletons (v.v.g.): Bridget Jones's Subversive Grammar and the Constraints of Discourse
Elizabeth Fleitz, Bowling Green State University

“Not only what society has made them”: Re-inscribing Hegemonic White Masculinity in Contemporary Women’s Chick Lit
Katie O’Donnell Arosteguy, Washington State University

A Tension in Contemporary Femininity: Psychoanalysis and Phoebe Gloeckner’s The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Allison Lakomski, Simmons College

Signatures of Gendered Subjectivity in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home”
Catherine S. Cox, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2008

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to Perform at Superbowl XLII Halftime Show (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)

Broadcast to nearly 1 billion people in over 230 countries and territories worldwide, the Super Bowl is the marquee event of American sport and television.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will rock this year's Super Bowl Halftime Show as legendary talent such as Prince, Paul McCartney, and The Rolling Stones have in recent years.

Superbowl XLII will be broadcast on FOX on February 3, 2008. -Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Official Site

[I watch Super Bowl Sunday each year for its commercials, but this year will be an extra treat now! BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 09:50 PM | Comments (3)

January 21, 2008

National PCA 2008 Comics Panel Chair (Discourse Chronicle)

[I noticed today that National Popular Culture Association placed its tentative program online and my request to be a panel chair in the Comics area again passed. The conference is being held in San Francisco this March and both Elizabeth and I will be presenting. Here is my session:

Friday, March 21, 2:30-4:00pm
Golden Gate Hall Salon B2
292 Comic Art & Comics XIV: Comics and Community
Chair: Bobby Kuechenmeister

“Critiquing Racism, Homophobia, and Homogeneity: How the X-Men Comics Reflected and Advocated Social Change for American Society”
Tim Rodenberger, University of North Dakota

“American Comic as a Global Ideological Container: Hegemony, Imperialism, and Hybridization in Superhero Stories”
Estefanía Martínez, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale,

“The Sandman: World Citizen, Global Text”
Manuel-Julian R Montoya, Emory University

“Community, Rhetoric, and Poetics in Superman: Birthright”
Bobby Kuechenmeister, Bowling Green State University

I look forward to panel chairing again because last year I performed my duties and presented with a cold. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 07:06 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2008

Knight Rider Announcement (NBC)

Executive Producer Doug Liman ('The Bourne Identity' Franchise and 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith') and Executive Producer David Bartis ('The O.C' and NBC's 'Heist') have joined together to bring back the 1980's television classic "Knight Rider." The two-hour movie event brings KITT and a talented cast of young and seasoned actors into the 21st century with speed, drama, love and triumph. David Hasselhoff as a special guest star returns as Michael Knight. -NBC.com

[Awesome! I remember the original Knight Rider was my favorite show as a kid and I watched both movies, Knight Rider 2000 (based on the series) and Knight Rider 2010 (loosely based on the series), so I will definitely check this one out. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:01 PM | Comments (2)

December 29, 2007

James Bond stamps to be launched (BBC)

The centenary of the birth of James Bond creator Ian Fleming is to be marked next month with six extra-long UK stamps, Royal Mail has said.

Each stamp has been lengthened to show a number of different Bond novel covers, with first-class stamps featuring Casino Royale and Dr No. -BBC News

[From Eden. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2007

"Superbad" DVD Pulled From Wal-Mart (G4)

Remember Superbad, and how that McLovin dude got a fake Hawaiian ID? Yeah, well, apparently the Hawaiian gentry aren't too happy about that ID being on the cover of the DVD, so they got it pulled from Wal-Mart in their state. See, they don't want kids to know what a Hawaii driver's license looks like, so they can't replicate one. -Gizmodo

Posted by kuechebj at 08:08 PM | Comments (2)

November 29, 2007

Sneak Peak of James Blunt on Sesame Street (You Tube)

[Our Introduction to Composition professor watches a lot of Sesame Street with his young daughter and constantly references this version of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful". A good adaptation intended to teach kids about triangles, but nowhere near as hilarious as the "My Cubicle" parody. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 05:30 AM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2007

Man uses Wii calendar to catch cheating wife (Gamepro)

"[In Nov.] I flip through the Wii menu and visit the Mii Channel so I can peruse the many friends that I have created with the guys that I played with in Iraq," writes Tony in an email to GoNintendo. "As I go through the characters, I see there is a Mii that I have not created. It's a guy strikingly similar to my wife's [alleged lover].

"To be sure of this, I went into the Wil Message Board and click on the Calendar option. Through this menu I was able to identify the many nights my wife's Mii and this 'other' Mii Character played Wii Bowling together." -Blake Snow

[According to the article, Tony is an Armed Forces member who returned home after serving a tour in Iraq and passed time playing games on his Nintendo Wii. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 08:41 PM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2007

New Graphic Novel: Say "No" to Internet Piracy (Wired)

Initially, I was skeptical about a comic strip deploring online file sharing. But the 18-page story does what the NCSC set out to do: explain the court system in an interesting way. I guarantee you I wouldn’t have been able to read a black and white document on this stuff but I whizzed through it in its graphic novel format. -Miyoko Ohtake

Posted by kuechebj at 03:15 PM | Comments (0)

Superman Writers Won't Return (IGN)

Things aren't looking super-duper for the next Superman movie, after Warner Bros. announced Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris - the writers from Superman Returns - don't want to pen the follow-up.

[...]

However, Singer's future has now come into question too because of his long-running collaboration with the Dougherty and Harris - stretching back to 2003's X2 - although this has been denied by the studio. Warner also unveiled that Brandon Routh is donning the iconic red Lycra underpants again, as expected. -Orlando Parfitt

[New writers may benefit Warner's investment in its Superman franchise on the big screen, which works with many other successful franchises such as James Bond, but not so much with others like Star Wars. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)

October 12, 2007

In Some Schools, iPods are Required Listening (New York Times)

The Union City district, which has a $197 million annual budget, places a priority on bilingual classes because more than one-quarter of its students are learning basic English skills. District officials said the stakes are high; 4 of the district’s 12 schools have been identified as needing improvement under the federal No Child Left Behind law, largely because not enough bilingual students have passed the state reading and math tests. -Winnie Hu

[I theorized that my language skills, although I am a native speaker of English, derive from constantly listening to music on the radio and personal devices (Sony Walkman and Discman) and I thought if people struggling with learning English followed suit, then perhaps language acquisition would be easier. Now I see my hypothesis is right. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)

September 30, 2007

Miss Moneypenny passes away at age 80 (Actress Archives)

Lois Maxwell played Miss Moneypenny in 14 films from 1962’s Dr. No to 1985’s A View to a Kill and passed away in Fremantle Hospital, according to the BBC, after a battle with cancer. -Actress Archives

[Miss Moneypenny may be the only woman from James Bond movies who never slept with Bond. Interesting. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)

September 27, 2007

Adventures in Macland (Discourse Chronicle)

[A few days ago, I finally replaced my 512MB RAM Hewlett-Packard desktop computer with a new iMac, which completes my conversion from PC. Transitioning from Windows proved relatively painless aside from experiencing empty folders when I burned a copy of my transferred files. For some reason, my iMac saved my files, but did not copy them on my CD-RW.

The only annoying thing about switching to Mac is reformatting my fourth-generation iPod because doing so means ripping my entire CD collection again (currently 2100+ songs), but now my iPod may be used as a portable hard drive. My only criticisms about the new iMac is that it does not come with the OS X Leopard operating system and its keyboard's USB cable is not long enough. I am loving it anyway! BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 09:07 AM | Comments (2)

September 23, 2007

Film slams book on silly librarian stereotypes (Journal Gazette)

A new movie, though, is taking on that stereotype. “Hollywood Librarians,” a documentary, takes scenes from movies that involve librarians – scenes that usually portray them as harsh, mousy, mean, angry, too focused, boring or sexless – and mixes interviews with real-life librarians.

It is probably the first time any film has focused on the profession.

If you haven’t seen it, don’t feel left out. Practically no one’s seen it yet. It won’t premiere until next week, during Banned Book Week, in selected locations around the country. In Fort Wayne, the movie will be shown at 8 p.m. Oct. 5 at the Gunderson Auditorium in Achatz Hall at the University of Saint Francis.

Posted by kuechebj at 07:54 AM | Comments (0)

August 23, 2007

Agatha Christie Gets the Graphic Novel Treatment (iF Magazine)

From the BBC comes the rather unusual news that the works of famed mystery writer Agatha Christie will be adapted in a series of 83 – count ‘em, 83! – graphic novels, the first twelve of which will be released next month to coincide with Agatha Christie Week, September 9-15. -Tony Whitt

[My officemate, Eden, told me about this upcoming adaptation since she does research on mystery genre literature and detective fiction. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)

‘Batgirl’ flap reopens debate over sexism in comic books (Nashua Telegraph)

So why the sexism charge? Well, originally the book was solicited with the 1967 cover to “The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl” on the front, a standard shot of Batgirl running toward the reader with the Dynamic Duo reacting in the background. But when the book arrived, another cover had been selected – the first page of “Batgirl’s Costumed Cut-Ups” (“Detective” No. 371, 1967), where Batgirl is depicted as being more concerned with her lipstick than fighting crime. -Andrew A. Smith

[Smith points out that the chosen cover image is slightly misleading since "Cut-Ups" shows Barbara Gordon / Batgirl overcoming doubts about being both a woman and a crime-fighting superhero. However, fans reactions are divided by gender, with men saying "What’s the problem?" and women saying "If you don’t see the problem, that is the problem." BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2007

Animator vs. Animation (alanbecker)

[Flash animation of stick figure vs. cursor. From Toby. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)

August 11, 2007

Simulated Relationships Offer Insight Into Real Ones (Science Daily)

Vicary and Fraley modeled their study on a 1979 Random House interactive fiction series, "Choose Your Own Adventure," which allowed the reader to select from multiple options at critical points in the story. Each choice directed the reader to a new scenario.

This approach appealed to the researchers because earlier studies of individual behavior in relationships asked participants to make choices based solely on descriptions of isolated events. The sequential nature of the new study was more like an actual relationship, Vicary said, in that it involved ongoing interactions with the same partner.

[From Jerz's Literacy Weblog. I found this finding particularly fascinating: “It is interesting that even when highly insecure individuals experience responses as a direct function of their actions, they are still relatively slow to adopt beneficial relationship choices,” the authors wrote. “It is possible that insecure individuals simply do not realize the detrimental impact that their actions have on their relationships.”

The reason is because after reading the first statement, it may be possible to understand its message as saying one cannot teach an old dog new tricks. However, taken together with the next statement the message changes into one that emphasizes how important communication is in a relationship. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 05:08 PM | Comments (0)

July 31, 2007

Eight is Enough (Limachips - will expire)

A recent expedition to the Twin Cities uncovered this 8-man reggae band. Irie Sol is a tight unit with a live show that will blow your joints out. Their horn section is D-Nice... takin' out suckas and you don't know how they did it. Their eponymous debut CD drops this fall and they love the L:imachips community so much they're giving up a free download of their first single, "Senorita Linda." Enjoy. GET YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD ON!

[Joel Pace, featured third from the right, is a close friend of mine and one of my mentor professors from undergraduate work. During my time at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, I listened to Irie Sol perform many times and experienced the pleasure of meeting its band members at gigs and respectable local establishments. From Joel Pace. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 08:51 AM | Comments (2)

July 29, 2007

Supersize Me—and All My Friends (Scientific American)

Supersized portions and a lack of exercise may not be the only reasons for the spread of obesity in the U.S. A new study finds that having an obese friend makes a person 57 percent more likely to develop a bulging waistline too.

The effect was strongest for close friends but also occurred if friends of friends—or even their friends—gained weight, suggesting that obesity spreads as a kind of social contagion, the same phenomenon popularized in the 2000 book The Tipping Point as an explanation for fads from trucker hats to management philosophies. -JR Minkel

Posted by kuechebj at 09:22 AM | Comments (2)

July 27, 2007

Starbucks "Glen" Survivor Commercial (You Tube)

[Best commercial or greatest commercial? A hilarious parody of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" from Rocky III. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 07:56 AM | Comments (0)

Disney to cut smoking from movies (Canada)

Disney president and CEO Robert Iger told Ed Markey, that concerns raised by the lawmaker about cinema’s influence on underage smoking prompted the action. Disney also plans to place anti-smoking ads on DVDs of films in which the actors light up. -Brooks Boliek, Reuters

Posted by kuechebj at 07:29 AM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2007

Vibrating GPS rings could make traversing foreign lands easier (Engadget)

The rings vibrate in a variety of manners to instruct the wearer which direction to go, which could certainly help an English tourist in Japan feel a lot more at home. Granted, even the inventor admits that the current design is entirely more suited for a lady, but we can envision quite a few macho gents putting their pride aside in order to refrain from being lost. -Darren Murph

[I recently returned from a vacation visiting my parents in Wisconsin and left my Aggie Ring at home, so this invention is probably not for me. From Elizabeth. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2007

30-Second Bunnies Theatre Library (Angry Alien Productions)

[Hilarious re-enactments of great movies like Superman, Spider-Man 1 and 2, James Bond, and Star Wars along with others! From Monty Ernst. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 04:08 PM | Comments (1)

July 17, 2007

Confessions of a Teenage Fug Queen (Go Fug Yourself)

Before we elect her the official ambassador of "how our society should be educated on," however, we thought we should put this budding young teacher to the test by taking a red pen to her screed**. And, sure, everyone makes mistakes now and then -- we certainly are not immune -- but we do feel that anyone calling us to educational arms (among other things) should be fairly well outfitted with weapons herself. -Heather

[A two page composition critique of an email sent from Lindsay Lohan's Blackberry. From Elizabeth. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2007

Automatic Toilet Tissue Dispenser Ready (Yahoo! News)

A year in the works, the electronic tissue dispenser is being rolled out to the masses by Kimberly-Clark Professional as it seeks to capture more of the $1 billion away-from-home toilet paper market. The company believes most people will be satisfied with five sheets -- and use 20 percent less toilet paper. -Greg Bluestein

[Interesting invention that makes me think of "The Stall" clip from Seinfeld. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)

July 06, 2007

Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend sued (Monsters and Critics)

Songwriters Tommy Dunbar and James Gangwer, members of The Rubinoos, allege Lavigne's hit 2007 single 'Girlfriend' is strikingly similar to their 1979 song 'I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend'. -Monsters and Critics: People News

Posted by kuechebj at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)

July 03, 2007

Colbert’s comics coming soon (Quillblog)

Entertainment Weekly is giving the world a sneak peek at Stephen Colbert’s new comic book series, entitled Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen. The five-issue series features art by Scott Chantler, of Northwest Passage fame, and follows the intergalactic adventures of Jansen, the hero of a sci-fi novel that Colbert’s Comedy Central host character claims to have written. The title is a nod to William Shatner’s TekWar series. -Megan Grittani-Livingston

Posted by kuechebj at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)

Kwik-E-Mart Comes to Life (ABC News)

While fast food tie-ins are still a major part of generating hype for a new film, today Hollywood seeks larger and more creative means to create buzz. Call it organic, viral or guerrilla marketing.

The latest incarnation came this week when 7-Eleven transformed 12 of its convenience stores into caricatures of the Kwik-E-Mart as part of a promotion for "The Simpsons Movie." -Scott Mayerowitz

Posted by kuechebj at 03:51 PM | Comments (0)

July 01, 2007

Supergirls in comics (Times of India)

Comic-book writer, Gerry Conway, responsible for the death of Gwen Stacey (Spiderman) and rape of Cinder (Cinder and Ashe) says, "Male creators of comics act out subconscious adolescent male hostility toward women in their art." Samarjit Choudhry, VP Gotham Comics (India) disagrees, "Superheroines are killed as often as the superheroes." -Himank Sharma

[Sharma claims a lack of female readership among comics due to preferences for "humorous, light hearted comics" over "high-action, superhero-versus-the baddie-in-mid-air drama." I disagree with Sharma's apparently black-and-white assessment on why women read fewer comics. The description given for superhero comics is also true for manga and an increasing number of women are attracted to that format. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)

Marvel Comics Will Bury Captain America on Thursday (Associated Content)

In the issue that came out on March 7th of this year, Captain America was shot by an assassin's bullet. This outraged many fans of Marvel's oldest superhero. It also made many fans realize the political connotations of the storyline that led up to one of their favorite hero's deaths.

The current storyline for Marvel Comics centers around the Superhero Registration Act. The goal of the act is to have all of the superheroes officially register with the government, and to reveal their secret identities. -L. Vincent Poupard

Posted by kuechebj at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)

May 08, 2007

Six Flags Over Texas (Alliance Wake)

The University of Texas won the Spring 2007 Collegiate Team Challenge hosted by Texas A&M and North Texas on April 28-29 in Beaumont Texas at Set-x Lake. The weather could not have been more perfect with blue skies, temperatures averaging 85 degrees, and zero wind. Six schools represented in the event including North Texas, Texas A&M, Texas, Texas Tech, Louisiana Tech, and Steve F. Austin. The tournament was pulled by Texas Tige with their new 2007 RZ2. The first day of the event was packed with competitive riding from all of the teams. Key riders in the first day included John Aulick (Texas A&M), John Marshall (Texas Tech), Mark Heger (Texas), Joram Hadden (Louisiana Tech), Slayt Ebeling (Texas A&M), and Clint Hibbard (SFA). -Leo Lasecki

[Leo was a freshman in my Composition and Rhetoric course this semester and he shared his online publication with me soon after our course ended. I understood teaching as a thankless job from an earlier time, but once in a while, instructors see things like this come around. The best feeling is knowing that maybe I had something to do with it. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:39 PM | Comments (1)

May 04, 2007

Spider-Man 3 (Sony)

[I am definitely impressed with Spider-Man 3, despite some casting reservations about Topher Grace as Eddie Brock / Venom, but Grace's performance is a perfect counterbalance for Tobey Maguire. Fan buzz points toward potential actors and actresses to replace Maguire (Peter Parker / Spider-Man) and Kirsten Dunst (Mary-Jane Watson) if they opt out from Spider-Man 4. Losing Maguire and Dunst is risky since both performers present true representations of their characters, but Spider-Man 3 is a logical departure point. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)

May 03, 2007

Dagwood’s Sandwich Shoppe coming to Lakewood Ranch (Herald Tribune)

A Dagwood’s Sandwich Shoppe is scheduled to open this summer at the San Marco Plaza in Lakewood Ranch, the first of its kind in this region. The chain — using a concept conceived of by second-generation “Blondie” illustrator and writer Dean Young — has opened three restaurants, all in Florida. Four more, including the San Marco site, are expected to open this summer. The aim is for 50 restaurants by year’s end. Steve Kreesevich is the “market partner” for the Southwest Florida territory, which stretches from Naples to Bradenton. -Staff Report

Posted by kuechebj at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)

April 29, 2007

Beam Me Up, Scotty (ABC News)

James Doohan, famous for his role as Scotty on "Star Trek," is one of about two hundred people whose ashes blasted off from New Mexico's Spaceport America on Saturday. "This is the best final tribute for someone like James Doohan," said Charles Chafer, owner of Space Services Inc., the company behind the launch. "Really, it was James's wish to join his buddy Gene [Roddenberry] in space." -Wendy Brundige

Posted by kuechebj at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2007

Webslinger to Become Web Singer (Comic Book Resources)

"The Hollywood Reporter" reports that Marvel Studios is assembling personnel for "Spider-Man: The Broadway Musical" with Tony-winner Julie Taymor and U2 members Bono and The Edge writing new music and lyrics for the show. -Michael Patrick Sullivan

Posted by kuechebj at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)

Graphic novel draws out history of Israel (Cleaveland Jewish News)

Starting from biblical times, the small volume condenses the entire history of the Jewish people into a few pages of illustrations, with the majority of the work focused on the recent epoch in which the modern state of Israel was created. While this abbreviated account might offend the sensibilities of some religious scholars, it reveals, practically at a glance, the historical connection of Jews to the Holy Land and the basis for Zionism. -Alan Smason

[A.David Lewis's Lone and Level Sands comes to mind here. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:45 AM | Comments (1)

Police: Burrito Packing Super Hero Turns Villain (CBS 4)

A Brevard County doctor dressed up like a super hero was treated more like a villain after he was arrested for groping a woman during a pub crawl with friends over the weekend. [...] Things went from bad to worse for Adamcik at the police station. While being held at the police station, an officer reported catching Adamcik trying to flush a marijuana joint down the toilet. -CBS4

Posted by kuechebj at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)

Be Careful Of The Kryptonite, Superman! (CBS 4)

He said that the mineral's chemical formula, sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide, was the same scientific name written on a "case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film "Superman Returns".

Learning that the chemical composition of the material was an exact match to an invented one from comic books and movies "was the coincidence of a lifetime," he added. -CBS4

[Unfortunately, Krypton is already an element on the periodic table with no relation to Superman, so Dr. Chris Stanley named his mineral Jaradite. -BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2007

Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats (You Tube)

[Here is something I notice about this video that really bothers me. According to CMT, this song hit #1 on Billboard's Country charts and helped Underwood's album go five times platnium last year, but now this song is shooting up the pop charts as DJs and VJs herald it as a "new" song. Naturally, appearing on Country and Pop charts makes Underwood a successful crossover artist like Shania Twain, but what bothers me is that DJs and VJs are treating her as if she is brand-new whereas before they were aware of a crossover artist's previous success. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:33 PM | Comments (2)

GTA IV's setting sparks outrage in NYC for being too close-to-home (Gamepro)

Based on the game's highly-publicized trailer, examples include such spot-on pixelated representations of famous New York landmarks as Coney Island's Cyclone roller coaster (renamed as the "Screamer") and the MetLife Building (renamed "GetaLife"). Many of the other examples require no such clever name changes, including the city's iconic Statue of Liberty, the world-famous Brooklyn Bridge, and the distinctive architecture of the Flatiron Building. -Gamepro Staff

[Jeff Gertsman, editorial director at Gamespot.com, is quoted as saying "We've seen games that have been set in real cities, and that has been a weird route to take. By setting it in Liberty City they can get away with that satire" in the report by NY Daily News. Gertsman is right about fictional settings based on real-world equivalents and how commentary may be made using that method, but Erich Auerbach discusses that phenomenon in Mimesis: Representation of Reality in Western Literature and Aristotle also talks about mimesis in his Poetics long before Gertsman. Comics are notorious for using mimetic settings and the best example is probably Marvel since almost all of its heroes reside in New York City (Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Avengers, Daredevil). BK

Posted by kuechebj at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2007

Analysis: Why Did Sony Cut the 20GB PS3 Production? (Playfuls)

Dave Karraker, Sr. Director, Corporate Communications at SCEA, explained Sony’s decision in an interview with GameIndustry.biz: “At launch, we offered two separate models of PLAYSTATION 3 to meet the diverse needs and interests of our PlayStation fan base. Initial retail demand in North America was upwards of ninety percent in favor of the 60GB SKU, so we manufactured and shipped-in accordingly. Due to the overwhelming demand for the 60GB model from both retailers and consumers, we have ceased offering the 20GB model here in North America. In addition to the larger internal hard drive, the 60GB PlayStation 3 features added storage media slots and built-in Wi-Fi not found in the 20GB system. Based on retailer and consumer feedback, we have decided to focus our current efforts on the more popular 60GB model.” -Dan Nicolae Alexa

Posted by kuechebj at 09:00 PM | Comments (0)

First Screen James Bond Dies (CBS News Showbuzz)

Nelson first played 007 in a one-hour TV adaptation of "Casino Royale" in 1954, eight years before Sean Connery played the British agent in the big screen adaptation of "Dr. No."

The occasion was the CBS series "Climax!" which had purchased the rights to the first James Bond novel from author Ian Fleming, reportedly for $1,000. The live broadcast on October 21, 1954 featured Peter Lorre as the card player Le Chiffre. -CBS | AP

Posted by kuechebj at 08:51 PM | Comments (0)

Record biz sends piracy warnings to universities (Reuters)

"Without question, this new enforcement initiative has invigorated a meaningful conversation on college campuses about music theft, its consequences and the numerous ways to enjoy legal music," said Steven Marks, executive vp and general counsel for the RIAA. "The question we ask of students is this: With high-quality legal music options available for free or deeply discounted, why take the twin risks of exposing your computer to viruses or spyware by downloading from an illegal site or exposing yourself to a costly lawsuit?" -Brooks Boliek

[I honestly do not understand the appeal of downloading music. I still buy CDs and new albums bought on the release date result in a cheaper cost per song than if I downloaded it, but then again, I also like having a backup in case a file becomes corrupted on my iPod. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 07:01 PM | Comments (0)

April 13, 2007

Indy Dumps Short Round for Shia (E! News)

"We are excited about bringing Shia into our Indy family," director Steven Spielberg said in a statement. "His talent has impressed not only his audiences throughout his young career but the directors, producers and fellow actors who have worked with him in his television career and now his film career."

In his short career, LaBeouf, 20, has become one of Hollywood's most sought-after young talents, with credits that include the kid-friendly Holes and key supporting parts in I, Robot, Constantine and Bobby. This year he'll star in two major releases for Spielberg's DreamWorks, the thriller Disturbia, opening today, and this summer's Michael Bay-helmed blockbuster, Transformers. -Josh Grossberg

Posted by kuechebj at 05:24 PM | Comments (0)

Distinguishing Comic Strips, Comic Books, and Graphic Novels (Discourse Chronicle)

[Today I appeared in a colleague's class as a guest-speaker presenting about comic books, so I used an opening lesson about comics from my time as an undergraduate TA, which begins with distinguishing three genres of comics: comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels. All three are different and those differences are dependent upon length and content. For me, graphic novels are NOT "collections of comic books that are bound together in book form" because that is what I identify as a trade paperback since those issues are released individually in serial format first.

Defining a graphic novel in my mind only requires understanding the two words in its name: "graphic" (which describes content) and "novel" (which describes length and also means "new" in Latin). Therefore, a graphic novel is a new book-length comic containing graphic content not found within regular monthly comic books. I know a debate exists about comics and comix as well as some creators referring to their own works as "comic books" while others call them "graphic novels," but each category is uniquely different, so I do not know why addressing those differences is difficult.

During my trip to Boston, I launched this debate in a question and answer session after hearing a paper call Art Spiegelman's Maus a comic book, which is also how Spiegelman classified his own work. However, comic scholars and fans call it a graphic novel. I believe one reason differences like that exist is because Spiegelman (like Scott McCloud) is not a scholar and may not be aware of discussions resulting from scholarship, but we love their work and use them in our own projects. Now, some people argue back saying such knowledge is specialized I am inclined to believe it, but only if its context is a geek session.

Comic scholars and comic book readers are not some secret society holding meetings in the most remote places in the world. Non-comic scholars should probably be aware that scholarship exists on comics and that might reduce the number of dabblers in the field. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 04:40 PM | Comments (0)

Apple's iPhone Delays Mac OS X 10.5 (NewsFactor)

While Apple is promising several new features in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Mac fans won't be able to get their hands on the Leopard OS until later this year as a result of Apple diverting Leopard engineering and testing resources to the launch of the highly anticipated iPhone, which couples iPod-like functionality with smartphone capabilities. -Barry Levine

[Darn! I hoped to buy an iMac over the summer since I thought Leopard would be released by then, but I guess my 256MB RAM desktop gets to live longer now. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)

April 12, 2007

National Popular Culture Association Conference 2007 Recap (Discourse Chronicle)

[Here is a recap of my trip to Boston:

Day 0

• Continental Airlines showed Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness during the leg from Houston to Boston. An excellent movie and definitely inspiring given my string of rejection letters from PhD programs.

• Boston experienced unseasonable weather equivalent to that of a Wisconsin winter. I packed the wrong long leather coat and froze that night.

• In-room internet is still too expensive given that wireless internet is free in the hotel lobby.

Day 1

• I purchased an appropriate long leather coat and umbrella before learning that the conference item this year was a travel umbrella.

• I met up with fellow comic scholars and heard panels on comics.

• I recounted my MA experience thus far at dinner and thankfully other comic scholars encouraged me to continue studying English and comics.

• I caught a cold as a result of shock from Boston weather.

Day 2

• I bought necessary cold medication at a nearby grocery store and began medicating myself.

• I supported my fellow rhetoric colleagues Ryan Malpurs and Jen Haley by listening to their papers.

• I witnessed and participated as an audience member in a parody comics panel devoted to the Institute of Korvac Studies (hilarious!).

Day 3

• I visited Newbury Comics and found myself disappointed since it stocked no back issues.

• I bought my Dad a Boston Harley-Davidson T-shirt in Quincy Market as I always do whenever I go to a conference.

• I visited both Cheers bars (one used for exterior shots on the show and another featuring a replica interior from the set on the show).

• I presented and fulfilled my duties as a panel chair.

I must say that I experienced another successful conference despite catching cold that I am now almost completely over except for some congestion. Next year is being held in San Francisco. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)

The Physics of Superhero Comic Books (Dr. Dobb's)

For instance, as Kakalios recently pointed out in his lecture "The Uncanny Physics of Superhero Comic Books" that was part of the MIT Physics Colloquium Series, when the Green Goblin kidnapped Spiderman's girlfriend, Gwen Stacey, and pushed her from the George Washington Bridge to her death, was it the fall that killed her or Spidey's attempt to save her by catching her in webbing mid-fall, causing her neck to snap? In fact, this was a question Kakalios posed to his students in an introductory physics exam.

The answer? According to Kakalios, if Gwen has a mass of 50 kilograms, fell 300 feet, and acquires a velocity of 95 mph, there would be 10g of force on her body, which she could potentially survive. But stopping short against all that force in half a second would break her neck. In other words, when she hit the web, the impact on her body would have been 10 to 20 times the force of gravity. "That proved -- mathematically at least -- that Gwen Stacey died of a neck snap when Spider-Man caught her in his webbing," he says. -Jon Erickson

Posted by kuechebj at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)

Eva Marie Saint to Give Benefit Performance (Bowling Green State University)

The award-winning actress, who graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1946 along with her husband, noted producer and director Jeffrey Hayden, will present “On the Divide: An Afternoon with Willa Cather.” The readings of Cather's works, which will benefit the Eva Marie Saint Scholarship Fund, will be held April 14 at 2 p.m. in the Eva Marie Saint Theatre at BGSU.

The couple's performance will honor the late Dr. Elden Smith. Saint, who followed her older sister to BGSU, was majoring in elementary education when her Delta Gamma sorority adviser urged her to try out for the play “Personal Appearance.” As the story goes, Smith–who was the sorority adviser's husband–needed a girl who looked like an actress. Saint was a campus beauty queen and looked the part.

[Eva Marie Saint became the latest actress to portray Martha Kent with her performance in Superman Returns. BGSU is where I will be next fall beginning a PhD program in Rhetoric and Writing. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)

April 03, 2007

National Popular Culture Association Conference 2007 (Discourse Chronicle)

[No blog this week. I will be presenting "Superman's America: History, Reception, and Imperiex" at the National Popular Culture Association Conference in Boston, MA. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:35 PM | Comments (0)

January 30, 2007

Going Graphic (Deseret News)

Graphic novels are a loose genre comprising lengthy comic books — often hundreds of pages long — that contain literary elements such as a plot and characterization. Some graphic novels feature favorite comic figures, such as Superman. Others are fantastical adventures, Japanese comics, or attempts to retell Shakespeare.

[....] He recommends adults curious about graphic novels start with "Maus: A Survivor's Tale" by Art Spiegelman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the author learning about his father's experiences as a Jew in Poland during the Holocaust. -Laura Hancock

[I wonder what "loose" means here because both comic books and graphic novels are capable of achieving unity in an Aristotelian sense, although I believe graphic novels accomplish that task more successfully due to its independence from serials, but I notice nothing is said here about the content.

I commend Dr. Stephen Gibson for choosing Maus as an option for graphic novel reading, but as a starting place, I might suggest Will Eisner's A Contract with God instead since that title is an "original" graphic novel. I recently fielded questions from friends and colleagues about how graphic novels might be incorporated into college English classes. For Introduction to Literature-type courses, I suggested titles such as Watchmen, Maus, Sandman, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen along with McCloud's Understanding Comics and Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art. For Creative Writing, I recommended those same titles, except I would use Eisner's Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative and McCloud's Making Comics. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:14 PM | Comments (1)

January 23, 2007

Superman Musical Card (Hallmark)

Hallmark has released a new range of musical cards with a selection ranging from Movies, Songs, and Television. Included in the Movies range is a Thank You "Superman Returns" card that features Brandon Routh on the cover, with the John Williams "Superman" theme played by the card. The cards are available at your local Hallmark Gold Crown store. -Steve Younis

Posted by kuechebj at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)

Buddhist Channel Examines Superman (Buddhist Channel)

Yes, Superman (played by Brandon Routh) is not enlightened after all. He can only save physical lives, and not save individuals' spiritual lives - though he might inspire many with his compassion in action. Superman was featured almost in a god-like way with a host of archetypal comic book super powers, while Lex Luthor (played by Kevin Spacey) comments that "gods are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don't share their power with mankind." Well, it's not so much that he doesn't want to share, but that he can't share his power, it being his self-earned karmic birthright! Similarly, the enlightened cannot literally make us wise, but can only share with us their wisdom on how to become as wise as them. -Shen Shi'an

[Many of us graduate students choose Analyzing Visual Rhetoric as our first paper units when teaching freshman composition. Here is a brief visual analysis of the Superman Returns movie poster through a religious studies lens using Buddhism. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:48 PM | Comments (2)

January 12, 2007

Duck Dodgers - The Green Loontern pt2 (YouTube)

[What if Duck Dodgers picked up Hal Jordan's Green Lantern costume at the dry cleaners by mistake? Hilarious! BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2007

Keep it in the panels (Orlando Sentinel)

Admittedly, Moore has good reason to be grumpy. Movie producers have butchered four of his books or characters over the years with varying degrees of gore. (Five if you count Swamp Thing; Moore won't.) Unfortunately, his tends to be a lonely voice in pop culture, where fanboys endlessly debate the casting of the next big superhero movie as if it were a foregone conclusion. -Tod Caviness

[Caviness continues with a list of graphic novels which should never be adapted to film: Alan Moore's Watchmen, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, David Lapham's Stray Bullets, Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey, Rob Schrab's Scud: The Disposable Assassin. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)

Creativity's in the bag (Des Moines Register)

Jennifer Mahr: Designs From Mahrs

[...] Last spring, Mahr, who works in corporate relations at Principal Financial Group, looked for a new purse and couldn't find one she liked.

She decided what she wanted most was a purse with Death on it.

"So the first purse I made was for me," she said. "It has all my favorite themes. And from there people saw it and said, 'Oooh, can you make me one?' and it's turned into quite a little business." -Erin Crawford

[Death from Neil Gaiman's Sandman graphic novels. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)

Apple to Launch Music Cellphone (The Street)

The new iPhone features 8 gigabytes of storage, a 2-megapixel camera but just one button; for most functions, users rely on its 3.5-inch touchscreen.

The device, which will be carried by AT&T's Cingular Wireless unit, also includes other intriguing features, such as a proximity sensor, which shuts down the screen when a user puts it up to his face. -TSC Staff

Posted by kuechebj at 12:46 PM | Comments (0)

December 31, 2006

'Indiana Jones' to Begin Filming in 2007 (Washington Post)

George Lucas said Friday that filming of the long-awaited "Indiana Jones" movie will begin next year. Harrison Ford, who appeared in the three earlier flicks, the last one coming in 1989, is set to star again. Lucas said he and Steven Spielberg recently finalized the script for the film. -Alicia Chang

Posted by kuechebj at 01:22 PM | Comments (0)

More than doodles to this story (Buffalo News)

From there, Brunetti arranges about 80 comic strips - everything from a few simple panels to snippets from full-length graphic novels - in a rough parallel to the evolution of a work of graphic fiction. We move from simple drawings and sight gags to densely illustrated, or experimental, examinations of sex, economics and the human condition. -Dan Murphy

Posted by kuechebj at 01:16 PM | Comments (0)

December 30, 2006

Jim Rugg Aims to Catch Your Eyes with "Plain Janes" (Comic Book Resources)

As DC Comics recently announced, the comic book company behemoth announced a new line of comic books aimed at the broader female audience, with a new imprint called Minx. The first book scheduled to hit in May is the 176 graphic novel "Plain Janes," from writer Cecil Castellucci and artist Jim Rugg. -Arune Singh

Posted by kuechebj at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)

December 27, 2006

1 vs. 100 (NBC)

To stay in the game, the player must answer trivia questions and get every one right -- wrong answers from the mob eliminates them from the game, driving up the cash prize for the player. If the player can eliminate all 100 members of the mob, which will also be stacked with surprise opponents, such as geniuses, valedictorians, grandmothers and other game show champs, he will go home with the $1 million top prize. However, if the player gets one answer wrong, the game is over and "the mob" will split the player's winnings up to that point and a new contestant gets to take on "the mob."

[Here is another interesting game show from NBC hosted by Bob Saget alongside Howie Mandell's Deal or No Deal. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 02:20 PM | Comments (2)

December 04, 2006

Acceptance - National Popular Culture Association Conference 2007 (Popular Culture Association)

This letter is a formal acceptance of your paper, "Superman's America: History, Reception, and Imperiex," for the 2007 national meeting of the Popular Culture and American Culture Associations. The conference will be at the Boston Marriott Copley Place, April 4-7, 2007.

Posted by kuechebj at 02:41 PM | Comments (2)

November 17, 2006

Casino Royale (Sony Pictures)

[Sweetness! Casino Royale is released today. I am a huge Bond fan and I attended opening night for each movie since Tomorrow Never Dies. Here is my list of Bond actors from best to worst: Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Sean Connery, George Lazenby. We will see how Daniel Craig fits after I see this new Bond movie later tonight. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:20 PM | Comments (3)

November 15, 2006

Final Fantasy III (Square Enix)

[All right! Here we go again...Final Fantasy III for Nintendo DS released today. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 06:22 PM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2006

Spring 2007 Book Order (Discourse Chronicle)

[Here is my list of assigned textbooks for my freshman composition students next semester with rationales:

Writer's Harbrace Handbook (Third Edition)
Texas A&M University uses the Harbrace Handbook as a standard adoption, but our department is not switching to third edition until next year, due to custom cover requests. Despite that, I received permission to assign this new edition early because I learned about a new chapter on visual rhetoric after a recent meeting with its author, Dr. Cheryl Glenn.

Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers (Fifth Edition)
An excellent collection of popular culture essays about topics ranging from Barbie dolls to comic books and film. I chose this text as my reader because my students provided feedback wishing for in-class examples that may seem more familiar to them. I may develop lessons from its readings, but more importantly, I am assigning oral presentations about them as a means of encouraging in-class participation on a regular basis. I am also able to speak better on popular culture than some other topics, thus improving my teaching due to increased confidence over material.

Understanding Comics
Scott McCloud's text discussing comic books in comic book format. I assigned a few chapters from this book already and students responded extremely well and claim McCloud's presentation helped them learn difficult concepts such as Aristotle's Model of Argument (Ethos, Logos, Pathos). Many of its chapters relate with our four paper topics and will act as a supplement to our handbook readings.

Writing Traditions
A compositional exercise workbook containing sample student essays and covers concepts such as summary and paraphrase, plagiarism, MLA format, peer review, and others. Non-negotiable.

Typical American
Gish Jen's novel about Ralph, a Chinese immigrant graduate student working on his PhD in Engineering, and how him and his family become Americanized. Non-negotiable. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 12:49 AM | Comments (2)

November 03, 2006

The Day the Music Died (Wired)

Gene Luen Yang is a teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area who also happens to be a fine illustrator. He produced a graphic novel (or "comic book," as we used to call them), American Born Chinese, which has been nominated for a National Book Award in the young people's literature category.

I have not read this particular "novel" but I'm familiar with the genre so I'm going to go out on a limb here. First, I'll bet for what it is, it's pretty good. Probably damned good. But it's a comic book. And comic books should not be nominated for National Book Awards, in any category. That should be reserved for books that are, well, all words.

This is not about denigrating the comic book, or graphic novel, or whatever you want to call it. This is not to say that illustrated stories don't constitute an art form or that you can't get tremendous satisfaction from them. This is simply to say that, as literature, the comic book does not deserve equal status with real novels, or short stories. It's apples and oranges. -Tony Long

[From Ted. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 02:53 PM | Comments (2)

October 31, 2006

Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix)

[Happy Halloween! Here we go! Final Fantasy XII for PS2 today and Final Fantasy III for Nintendo DS on November 14. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2006

Look What I Learned! (Newsweek)

An FAS study released this week, titled “Harnessing the power of video games for learning,” reports that best-selling games are built in surprisingly pedagogical ways. Players improve at their own pace. Beating a level requires experimentation, failure and learning from mistakes. -Nick Summers

[From Nick. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:48 PM | Comments (2)

October 13, 2006

See You in the Funny Papers (NY Times)

His strip also conveyed a Midwesterner’s goggle-eyed perspective on the metropolis. “Little Nemo in Slumberland,” which took over The Herald’s Sunday supplement cover in 1905, married something of Muybridge’s stop-action photography with Lewis Carroll to invent a phantasmagoric vision that guided a viewer’s eye seamlessly across differently shaped candied panels. They magically blended to make a collective cogent abstraction out of the page: the essence of comics art. -Michael Kimmelman

[Thanks to the Comix-Scholars-List and Dr. Stephanie Kerschbaum. I knew Winsor McCay sounded familiar to me and then I remembered how much work Gene Kannenberg, Jr. does with McCay and Nemo. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)

Sanders lives life full of books (Salt Lake Tribune)

No, Sanders has full-fledged bibliomania. The bookstore owner exhibits all the classic symptoms of the disorder listed by Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia: buying "multiple copies of the same book and [the] accumulation of books beyond possible capacity of use." -Lynda Percival

[Joel Pace, an undergraduate mentor and friend of mine, experiences bibliomania often and frequently as he collects rare books for his research with Wordsworth and Transatlantic Romanticism. I remember him smelling his books and that seemed odd to me because I cannot smell. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:22 PM | Comments (2)

Read Comic Books on Your Nintendo DS (Joystiq)

Joystiq's sister site DS Fanboy recently posted about a homebrew effort called Comic Book DS that lets you transfer comics from your computer and read them book-style with the DS flipped on end. You don't have to conceal issues of Action Comics underneath an old copy of Newsweek that you swiped off your dentist's waiting table on your commute any longer. Now people will think you're doing some serious work on your stylish PDA while you secretly use the touchscreen to pan and zoom on comic panels -- pure genius. Comic book fanboys can rid themselves of their secret shame. -Kevin Kelly

[I may disagree with concealing comic books, but when Kelly mentions "Final Fantasy XXXIV: Tax Time," I find it hilarious. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)

No Undergrad Left Behind (NY Times)

Take a look at what passes for subjects of scholarly and instructional focus on campuses. Should taxpayer dollars really go to underwrite courses in such things as the history of comic book art? Policy makers and tuition payers need to be made aware of what sorts of courses institutions consider appropriate to fulfill core academic requirements, if anything resembling an academic core even exists. And there needs to be a greater emphasis on teaching students what they need to know, rather than what faculty want to talk about. -Eugene Hickok

[Thanks, Ted. I am obviously going to give an emphatic "Yes" to funding courses like history of comic book art. Comic studies are interdisciplinary and its applications are probably as flexible as rhetoric. However, increasing awareness and encouraging disciplines to dialogue with one another is a current goal, evidenced by the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate. I also disagree about faculty interests conflicting with students learning necessities. I always try and incorporate my research interests with comics and popular culture into my lessons as examples when teaching essential concepts such as composition or literature. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)

October 10, 2006

Google Snaps Up YouTube for $1.65B (AP | MyWay)

Internet search leader Google is snapping up YouTube for $1.65 billion, brushing aside copyright concerns to seize a starring role in the online video revolution. -Associated Press

[From Jerz's Literacy Weblog. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 04:51 PM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2006

Online video running wild (Market Watch)

If Google reaches a deal with YouTube, the combined company would be a more potent force against MySpace, the social-networking Web site that has become the No. 1 provider of video on the Internet, according to comScore Networks, a market-research firm. -Ben Charny

[I know lots of people use Facebook, MySpace, or both, but MySpace as number one for online video? I always wish MySpace would develop more aesthetically pleasing and usable pages. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:12 PM | Comments (2)

Starship Enterprise fetches $770,000 (ABC News)

The Enterprise top lot has garnered one of the highest prices ever paid for any piece of Hollywood memorabilia and set a record for a piece of Star Trek memorabilia.

The 198-centimetre model of the Starship Enterprise-D, used extensively in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series, has sold for 20 times the predicted sale price.

It was bought by a determined, unidentified private American collector bidding via telephone. -Reuters

[I thought for a moment that bidder on the phone might be Dennis G. Jerz, an undergraduate mentor and friend of mine, but then I remember he chose Kirk over Picard =) BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:01 PM | Comments (2)

Graphic novels find niche at Essex High (Burlington Free Press)

Comic book superheroes have successfully fought their way onto the shelves of public libraries in the form of graphic novels. Time-resistant superhero Wonder Woman, along with such newbies as Spy Boy, Black Panther and X-Men, have hit the shelves of Essex High School library and are garnering reader wait lists that have their classic counterparts green with envy. - Emily Guziek

[A colleague in the English department mentioned a current discussion within the American Library Association about how to classify graphic novels and comic books in the Library of Congress system. Another quote I support from this article is: "It's a misconception to assume the graphic novel is a comic book," said Steve Dowd, co-chairman of the Essex High School English department. "It's a particular genre, and we recognize the role graphic novels can play for us. They can't even keep those books on the library shelves." BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 10:49 PM | Comments (0)

September 25, 2006

Tom Petty - Saving Grace (You Tube)

[People who know me know I am a Tom Petty fan. "Saving Grace" is the first single from his new solo album, Highway Companion, following up Full Moon Fever and Wildflowers. Sweet! BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)

September 22, 2006

Colbert Report - The Word - Superman (YouTube)

[Favorite Colbert line: "...he disguised himself as the one thing farthest from a hero - a journalist." Favorite bulletpoint: "Like get a comics page" (To the New York Times). BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)

MTV acquires Harmonix for USD $175 million (Games Industry)

"The acquisition of Harmonix advances MTV Networks' strategy of connecting with target audiences by creating immersive, multi-platform environments that extend to every device they use," said Judy McGrath, chairman and CEO, MTV Networks.

[Every device except my TV because MTV rarely plays music videos anymore. Harmonix makes the Guitar Hero games for PlayStation. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 04:52 PM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2006

Nintendo's Wii taking on Playstation (New York Daily News)

"Wii reinvents games for the devoted player, but more importantly, Wii breaks the wall separating players from nonplayers," said Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime at yesterday's Chelsea Piers unveiling.

The sleek, white Wii unit is decidedly more iPod than Mario Brothers, and features a two-handed remote controller - one a standard Wii Remote, the other an attachable joystick called a "Nunchuk" - that separates controls to both hands. -Julian Kesner

[Apparently interactive movement is what separates players from nonplayers. I remember switching from Nintendo to PlayStation during my third year of undergraduate and I never looked back. However, I continue watching Nintendo from a distance and it seems like the company's lack of recent success is not due to its technological innovations, but instead the lack of a strong game library. Almost all of the video game series I played on Nintendo from elementary school to middle school switched to PlayStation (Final Fantasy, Mega Man, Castlevania) and many of them never looked back either. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)

Our Father, who art in MySpace (Telegraph)

The campaign, which is run by the ecumenical charity Churches' Advertising Network, aims to provoke debate about God among young people this Christmas.

[...]

The group, which has no formal links with the Roman Catholic Church or the Church of England, has ruffled feathers in previous years by depicting Jesus as Che Guevara. It has also portrayed the Last Supper as a boardroom meeting of multinational companies, with Judas as Microsoft.

The latest image of Jesus among the beer dregs is supposed to highlight the trend for finding religious faces in ordinary objects and selling them on eBay. Examples include the Virgin Mary on a toasted cheese sandwich. -Amy Iggulden and Alex Wellman

[I dislike blogging on religious issues or stating my faith publicly (especially in Texas), but here is an advertisement with rhetorical merit. I might use it when I teach English 104 again in the spring. Iggulden and Wellman also point out an accompanying MySpace page featuring this Jesus ad. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 02:58 PM | Comments (0)

Graphic novels the hot new library item (Braeden Herald)

Books in graphic format can be fiction or nonfiction material. "Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island: the Graphic Novel" adapted by Tim Hamilton, and "Anna Sewell's Black Beauty: the Graphic Novel" adapted by June Brigman, are examples of fiction classics. While "Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad" by Michael Martin, and "Battle of the Alamo" by Matt Doeden, are nonfiction subjects presented in graphic format. -Libby Rupert

[Will Eisner adapted Moby-Dick, Don Quixote, and The Princess and the Frog. Eisner also presented Fagin the Jew (from Dickens's Oliver Twist) and Sundiata. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)

'Tweens' curl up with graphic novels (Christian Science Monitor)

Not everyone is impressed by graphic novels. Some teachers refuse to assign them to their students, claiming they aren't challenging to read. But many librarians and teachers stand by the books.

"Reading graphic novels leads to reading other things," says Robin Brenner, a young-adult librarian with the Brookline Public Library in Massachusetts. "There's a value in and of themselves, not just as a bridge to reading 'real books.' " -Randy Dotinga

[Believing graphic novels are not sophisticated reading is a serious mistake and teachers who are refusing to use graphic novels on those grounds must be members of an uninformed persuasion. I am convinced people holding such an attitude are hindering scholarly progress each time I read an article making a similar statement.

I am wrapping up a four-week unit on Analyzing Visual Rhetoric with my freshman composition students next week and two things made it especially hard. First, high school curriculums divorce rhetoric from composition and only focus on the latter which leads to value being assigned to the final draft (product). Second, students lack a necessary background in rhetoric to discuss analysis and argument, so instructors must fuse rhetoric and composition again and emphasize the writing process. Theoretically, if we improve the process our students use to produce the product, then the product is improved as a result.

Brenner's comment fuels the unnecessary negative stigma associated with comics and graphic novels by alluding to these texts as if they are gateway drugs, which may be an apt metaphor, if we substitute books for drugs. Comic books and graphic novels are capable of leading young readers to read increasingly difficult texts if we are willing to make connections between literature and comics or graphic novels, but I am thinking the answer lies in encouraging people to read. I know one reason I became an English major to begin with is because I knew if I did not, then I may never read texts most people encounter, but I also love reading. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 02:14 PM | Comments (0)

Marvel Partners with Dabel Brothers Productions to Adapt Best Selling Novels into Comics (Comic Book Resources)

The first new project to be released under the agreement features New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton. Based on Hamilton’s most famous creation, Anita Blake, Marvel and The Dabel Brothers will release a thrilling new comic book series called Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter in Guilty Pleasures in October 2006.

[...]

Additionally, in the coming months Marvel and The Dabel Brothers will be bringing to comic book form George R. R. Martin's Hedge Knight series, Orson Scott Card's Red Prophet, and Raymond E. Feist's Magician: Apprentice (part one of the Riftwar saga). -CBR News Team

Posted by kuechebj at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)

September 12, 2006

Truth, justice, American way (Plain Dealer)

"If Superman must be classified, then he is best aligned with the Democratic Party," said Bobby Kuechenmeister of the English department at Texas A&M University. "In 'Vote Lex 2000' [the storyline in which Lex Luthor is elected president], Superman reacts negatively after placing his faith in voters."

Kuechenmeister notes that Superman's reaction to Luthor's unexpected victory was similar to the reaction of many Americans to the confusing Bush/Gore election debacle. -Michael Sangiacomo

[Last spring, I presented an article titled "Superman's America: Audience, Reception, and President Lex" at the National Popular Culture Association 2006 conference and Brad Ricca (who moderated our Superman panel) passed my name along to Sangiacomo, who contacted me about being interviewed over the summer. I remember asking fellow comic scholars at the conference about how we know that our scholarship is getting better. I got my answer right here. BK]

Posted by kuechebj at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)

Carrey and Carrell to Voice Horton! (Coming Soon)<