Category Archives: Popular culture

A song about sunscreen from Baz Luhrmann and some thoughts on Leo DiCaprio

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Katherine Wikoff

This “song” came on the radio when I was driving home from work the other day. Baz Luhrmann, of course, is the incredibly talented director of films like William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996), Moulin Rouge! (2001), The Great Gatsby … Continue reading →

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

The Snowy Day

Posted on January 17, 2023 by Katherine Wikoff

Is it just me, or does this Lands’ End catalog cover remind you of that beautiful childhood picture book classic by Ezra Jack Keats? Something about the bright red coat and stark, crisp, clean blocks of color contrast, I don’t … Continue reading →

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“When You’re Good to Mama” — Heard on a head-clearing coffee run to Starbucks

Posted on November 7, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

I have so much work to do! But as I finished one project and faced the daunting prospect of beginning the next one, I forced myself out of the door because I knew it would be good for me to … Continue reading →

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My first DALL•E art project

Posted on October 28, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

Because I teach courses on digital society and digital storytelling at Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), I have been reading and learning a lot about DALL•E, the new AI-based art generator, this fall. I had seen references to DALL•E all … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creativity, Digital society, Learning, Popular culture, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

500 tabs and counting down

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

Does anyone else have a tab hoarding problem? I have a habit of opening tabs on both my computer and my phone and then just leaving them open for easy reference instead of bookmarking them, which requires extra work on … Continue reading →

Posted in 500 tabs and counting down, Digital society, Life, Movies and film, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Some songwriting magic

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

Have you played the online game of Heardle? It’s obviously similar to the smash hit Wordle in that a new short puzzle appears daily. At some point in the last several months I began playing both of those games plus … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Life, Music, Popular culture | Tagged | 2 Comments

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

Fifty Years of the Corleone Family Onscreen

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

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

A chance encounter with “Tubular Bells”

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

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?

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

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