Monthly Archives: March 2022

Why this year’s Best Picture award dooms the Oscars to irrelevance

The last film that students watch in my film and media studies course is whatever has won the Best Picture Oscar that year. I was a little nervous to see what won this year because some of the nominees were … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Higher education, Media studies, Movies and film, News, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Fifty Years of the Corleone Family Onscreen

Tonight is the Academy Awards broadcast. I saw somewhere that there’s going to be a reunion of The Godfather cast tonight, as this year is the 50th anniversary of that film’s release. Fifty years! What a masterpiece. And this movie … Continue reading

Posted in Media studies, Movies and film, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Oh dear, more Tosa Turkey drama!

Here in my old-school Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa the turkey drama continues. Now the flocks are dogging delivery trucks and pestering/threatening delivery drivers. I remember watching aggressive peacocks at the zoo about this time of year when my kids were … Continue reading

Posted in Life, Milwaukee, Nature | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Happy Accident

An accidental photo I took of a carpet. Not really sure how it happened, and it’s blurry because my hand was moving. (I intended to take a picture of a faraway sign so I could then enlarge the photo and … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Photography | Tagged , | 6 Comments

I can change my life!

I woke up before my alarm today. With faint morning light warmly hinted at through closed eyelids and still in that drowsy, relaxed process of awakening, I slowly became aware of a thought running through my consciousness. A thought fully … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Life | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

A chance encounter with “Tubular Bells”

Heard this old song on the radio driving home today. It has literally been YEARS since I’ve heard it or even thought about it. The song, “Tubular Bells,” was released in 1973 and went on to be used as the … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, History, Media studies, Movies and film, Music, Popular culture | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

One final allusion in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

I’ve never seen anyone comment on this before, but doesn’t the series of arches in the final moments of O Brother, Where Art Thou? remind you of the series of axe heads (the ring holes) that Odysseus (aka Ulysses, the … Continue reading

Posted in Movies and film, Popular culture | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Live feed of a California bald eagle nest

One year when my kids were younger, a local television station (PBS?) carried a live feed of a bald eagle nest in northern Wisconsin. One of our favorite things that spring was checking on the nest before heading out the … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Nature | Tagged , | 7 Comments

“You’re alone.” (Further thoughts on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine)

Just saw breaking news that Moldova and Georgia have filed applications to join the European Union. This coming just a few days after Ukraine made its own urgent application to join. Not to mention on the heels of an ever-lengthening … Continue reading

Posted in Movies and film, Political Analysis, Popular culture | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Charlie Behrens, Midwest Storyteller Extraordinaire

Check it out! Charlie Behrens filmed his “2 Types of People in the Parking Lot” video at the grocery store where I often shop. Did you notice the yellow-green awnings from these photos I took a few months ago. Behrens … Continue reading

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