Category Archives: Popular culture

“Smart” is kind of creepy

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

Today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a story headlined “Madison software firm Solomo develops customer-tracking technology.”  Yes, I’m creeped out, although seeing this story just pulls together a lot of things that have been creeping me out for a while now. Basically … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, News, Popular culture, Science, Technology, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Art -vs- Science: An Artificial Divide

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

I was paging through the weekend Wall Street Journal this morning and practically jumped out of my chair when I saw Walter Murch’s face looking out from the “Review” section. Murch is an Oscar-winning film editor who has worked on … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education, Life, Movies and film, Nature, News, Popular culture, Science, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Lana Del Rey: Robbed of the Oscar, as her Maleficent follow-up confirms

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

I was astonished when Lana Del Rey’s haunting “Young and Beautiful” from The Great Gatsby wasn’t even nominated for Best Song. “Young and Beautiful” should have won!  Just one more reminder that awards are not the final arbiter of quality. … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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“He’s coming back” – Sherlock mini-episode appetizer

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

It’s been a long time since the last episode of BBC One’s Sherlock, but tomorrow night marks the return of our favorite sleuth to American television in “The Empty Hearse,” a clever nod to Conan Doyle’s “The Empty House,” the story … Continue reading →

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Countdown to Downton Abbey (1 day to go!) – The Rise and Fall of the English Country House

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

“History is bunk,” Henry Ford once said. What he meant was that most history, as written in textbooks and taught in schools, has little to do with life as lived by ordinary people.  War and politics are on the periphery … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Popular culture, Television, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

What it takes to keep your New Year’s resolutions

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Katherine Wikoff

Today’s Wall Street Journal has a really good article on what it takes to keep your New Year’s resolutions, “More Rational Resolutions,” by Angela Chen. My main takeaway was a technique called “pre-hindsight,” which is part of a three-day workshop hosted … Continue reading →

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Countdown to Downton Abbey (7 days to go) — Cora’s fortune

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Katherine Wikoff

I knew that it was common near the end of the 1800s for American heiresses to go hunting around Europe for impoverished noblemen.  It was the perfect win-win in some ways: an aristocratic pedigree for America’s nouveau riche and a … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments