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Archive for the ‘visual culture’ Category

AIDS Artwork and Activism

Posted in advertising, illness, LGBT, photography, politics, visual culture, tagged , , on November 30, 2009 | 3 Comments »

To those of you blaming tryptophan for your Monday morning lag, Tomorrow, December 1, marks World AIDS Day, which seems like a good moment to point to some online resources about the history of the illness, its impact, and the art and activisim it inspired. The Carpenter Center here at Harvard has organized an extraordinary [...]

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A Thanksgiving Feast (of Archives!)

Posted in books, cartoons, food, humor, visual culture on November 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Dear preemptive vacationers, I realize there’s been a lot of food in these dispatches lately, perhaps in subconscious anticipation of Thanksgiving this Thursday. I don’t know about you, but when I think about Thanksgiving (or Turkey Day, as I’ve heard it called), I think about sweet potatoes with marshmallows, fresh roasted turkey, grandmotherly love—and that’s [...]

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The Wonders of Coffee

Posted in advertising, commerce, commercialism, domesticity, economics, food, leisure, shopping, video, visual culture on November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

To students seldom awake before ten, Like many scholars, I’ve relied on coffee as a lifeline for most of my academic career. By senior year of high school, I was already bringing a plastic mug full of instant Maxwell House (terrible, I know) to class. In college, I even considered footnoting the local convenience store [...]

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Musketeers, Cowboys, and Stop-Motion Desecration

Posted in film, humor, visual culture, tagged on November 16, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Dear readers suffering from archive-related-asthma, Allow me to introduce you today to the fabulous Europa Film Treasures, which brings together rare archival movies from 28 of the best collections across the continent. But don’t let the name fool you: you need not be a Franco-, Russo-, or Swedophile to appreciate these silents and talkies. A [...]

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Wheelchairs and Weddings

Posted in advertising, disability studies, film, television, visual culture on November 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

To my fellow homebodies, If you, like me, have found yourself reluctantly addicted to FOX’s high school dramedy Glee, then you know that this week’s episode shined its bemused spotlight the show’s wheelchair-riding, background singing Artie Abrams. The character has raised the ire of some disability advocates because he’s played by a nondisabled actor. But what [...]

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Card Catalogs and the Environment, Conserved

Posted in books, cartoons, environment, libraries, visual culture, tagged , on November 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Dear last-minutes-before-class loiterers, Like some of you, I’m just old enough to remember the days of ye olde card catalog—when finding a book required more than a quick Google search. No, the dedicated researcher pulled out drawer after wooden drawer—even stacked them in a dangerous Jenga-like tower—and then flipped endlessly to find the perfect book [...]

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Gold in Them Thar Hills

Posted in photography, visual culture, tagged , , , on November 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Dear manic Monday dreaders, Think your week is tough? Imagine digging for gold in the heat and hills of California! (Or maybe that sounds like fun to some of you writing dissertations.) Calisphere (from the University of California) offers a remarkable window into the history of California, including the highs and lows of the Gold [...]

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Trick-or-Treaters and Headless Horsemen

Posted in books, cartoons, musicals, periodicals, photography, visual culture, tagged on October 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Dear idling experts, I’ve lived in Massachusetts for three Halloweens now, counting tomorrow, but I’ve yet  to trek to Salem for their ghoulish festivities. From what I hear, they’re a real hoot—if by hoot, you mean a gross misappropriation of the past. Why worry about Puritans persecuting each other when you can visit  a psychic [...]

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The Dangers of Sugar and the Joys of Steak

Posted in advertising, commerce, film, food, visual culture, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Dear snooze-button specialists, Eating may be one of the more delightful ways to delay work. People who don’t spend their lives in libraries and classrooms for a living might, in fact, be surprised at how many lunches, teatimes, coffee breaks, iced coffee breaks, brownie breaks, suppers, dinners, desserts, and happy hours you can fit into [...]

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Fiddling Pigs and Finely-Dressed Foxes

Posted in books, children, visual culture, tagged , , , , on October 19, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Dear power nappers, On Saturday, David and I headed to the vertical Long Island—that is, New Jersey—to meet my new nephew Sammy, a beautiful little boy who has the eyes of his father (my brother), the ears of his mother, and the sleep patterns of a lazy-scholar-to-be: he spent the majority of our visit napping, waking [...]

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