Category Archives: News

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

Posted on March 28, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

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

Look for the Union Label (some thoughts prompted by the Alec Baldwin on-set shooting incident)

Posted on October 24, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

When I saw this “poster” today, I realized that I haven’t seen any union promotions in a really long time. It also put me in mind of this old TV ad. I’ll bet every American above a certain age still … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies and film, News, Political Analysis, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

When seeing is disbelieving

Posted on July 6, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

Sitting in a waiting room this week, I picked up the November 2017 issue of National Geographic and opened to the cover story about “happiness.” It was a good article, and I was reading and learning and taking it all … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, News, Political Analysis | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

You knew me when :)

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

Oh hey, I’m famous sort of.  I’m quoted in an article that went out over the AP wire nationwide today about the new Foxconn plant that just broke ground in southeastern Wisconsin. It’s so strange how this all came about, … Continue reading →

Posted in News | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

The Weather Channel’s amazing new “Immersive Mixed Reality”

Posted on June 24, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

The Weather Channel this week introduced new technology that will add astonishing visual effects to their broadcasts. Check out this Co.Design article, with video, where you can see a demo in which the anchorman barely escapes being crushed by a … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, News, Popular culture, Technology, Television | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Unleashing the potential of VR (virtual reality)

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

Virtual reality (VR) is going to shape itself into an art form that is quite different from contemporary cinema. We can’t really predict yet how things will turn out, although my bet is that movies as we know them are here … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Learning, Life, Movies and film, News, Popular culture, Teaching, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The humanitarian disaster looming in Yemen

Posted on November 9, 2017 by Katherine Wikoff

You probably haven’t seen this bit of news, and with any luck at all the situation will be resolved before becoming a major story you can’t avoid. This past weekend, Houthi rebels fighting in Yemen against the internationally-recognized government of … Continue reading →

Posted in News, Political Analysis | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Can membership-based community journalism thrive in the U.S.?

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Katherine Wikoff

Another “journalism” post as a follow-up to my last one. I’ve heard rumblings previously about this community-created, membership-driven model of journalism from The Netherlands’ De Correspondent (click on the “English” button at the top of their page), and today I found this intriguing … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Milwaukee, News, Political Analysis | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Al Jarreau as “The Jazz Singer” (SCTV)

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Katherine Wikoff

Among my favorite moments from Al Jarreau (who was born in Milwaukee and passed away yesterday) is this parody of Neil Diamond’s 1980 remake of The Jazz Singer. You know it’s going to be great the moment you see Sid Dithers … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Milwaukee, Movies and film, News, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments