Monthly Archives: February 2014

The marketing campaign that helped The Return of the King sweep the Oscars

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

Today’s Variety has an interesting article about how ten years ago The Return of the King was nominated for—and won—an astounding 11 Academy Awards.  Only two other films have won that many Oscars: Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997).  Even more significantly, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, History, Movies and film, News, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sweets for the sweet?

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

An article in today’s Chronicle of Higher Education describes new research on embodied cognition presented last week at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference. “Embodied cognition” is the idea that the nature of people’s minds is shaped by the form … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sunlit Gas Flame (photo)

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

Anyone who lives in Milwaukee or has driven on the elevated freeway loop south of Downtown knows the Wisconsin Gas Building, a beautiful Art Deco tower topped by a weather beacon in the shape of a flame.  The flame changes … Continue reading →

Posted in Milwaukee | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Winter Crab Apples (photo)

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

What’s this?  Up in our tree . . . ?  More crab apples! Remember when I wrote about our crab apple tree last September?  I guess I haven’t spent time in our yard since winter started (brrr!), but I was surprised … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Tosa All-City Read: Rocket Boys and October Sky

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

Wauwatosa, Wisconsin (an old-city inner-ring suburb of Milwaukee), is having its inaugural “all-city read” this month.  Children ages 8-12 are reading a fantasy adventure, and people ages 13+ are reading Rocket Boys, the 1998 memoir by retired NASA engineer Homer Hickam, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, History, Milwaukee, Movies and film, Popular culture, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

To survive, bookstores should be more like funeral homes (were)

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

Interesting post over at The Shatzkin Files, “The future of bookstores is the key to understanding the future of publishing.”  What will it take for bookstores to survive in an era of e-readers and online book purchasing?  One possibility mentioned … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, History, Life, Popular culture, Writing, blogging | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments