Ways I use Twitter #1

This morning I am in a cafe where I will begin to work after reading the paper (the physical paper paper that I picked up by the dirty dishes bin) and browsing my Twitter feed for stories that interest me.

Here's the harvest of about five minutes of scrolling back in my Timeline, in the order  I clicked on links to open these stories up to read later, after I've been good and brought my Inbox to zero. The mix is both trivial and serious.

I read Alan Sepinwall's reviews of TV shows because he is a big Community fan, and a good TV writer; he is reviewing a new show called Bent. Should I watch it?.

One of my favorite dancers, Harry Shum Jr, is on the cover of Bello magazine (he's also on Glee, but I like him for his work with the online series, Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. He's too young for me, but my high-school self would have been madly in love with his fine self.

DanceSpirit magazine has an article on Bob Fosse's choreography:
"It’s crucial that you develop an ability to control your movement while still maintaining a strong sense of intention." LOL at these captions on his "Mexican Breakfast", the dance that inspired Beyonce's choreo for "Single Ladies." She has always acknowledged this influence, by the way.
Fosse dancing with Gwen Verdon:

RuPaul's Drag Race is one of our new favorite shows! we watched Season 2 on Netflix, and are breathlessly awaiting an explanation of WHY Willam was unexpectedly kick off the show this week for "breaking the rules." DRAMS! Our S2 favorite Pandora Boxx is doing show recaps, yay!

For more serious visual culture blogging, I usual find something interesting on The Sociological Cinema blog: today it's a story on the gender policing of young boys.

I want to watch this documentary on indigneous people in Argentina, Runa Kuti. The filmmakers have generously made it available to watch online, and I'm going to order a copy for our library.

The President of the University of Minnesota drew my attention to the existence of SERU, the Student Experience at the Research University survey, which he is promoting on Twitter (and of course through other means) to get of all undergraduate students to provide insights for both administrators and reseachers. I had never heard of it before; now I plan to check out some of the data from past surveys.

PBS announces its line-up of documentaries in its POV series. There are quite a few of interest from or about Latin America, that might end up in my teaching portfolio. I've already seen the mGraniagnificent film Nostalgia por la luz, and I'm excited to see Granito, a film I missed in a recent film festival, about bringing the Guatemalan dictator Rios Montt to justice.

In Digital Humanities news, the WSJ has story about how the Folger Shakespeare Library is becoming a model of how to combined the traditional archive with digital access and outreach in an article about "Shakespeare in the digital Age.

Why has the Pentagon tried to scrub the web of information about the man accused of massacring Afghan civilians in their beds? His family has had to be relocated for their protection. They are also his victims.

Atlantic blogger Ta-Nehisi Coates digs deeper into how the Florida "Stand Your Ground law," already a bad idea in and of itself,  has been further perverted in its application by the courts  to mean "the last man standing is right:"Your side is irrelevant if you are dead." Following up, opponents of the law predicted how it could be used to justify racially-motivated killings like that of Trayvon Martin when it was passed.

OK, to work!

PBS Online Film Festival

I'm really excited about this short film showcase that PBS is sponsoring. The playlist on YouTube is one way to watch these films. Watch them, and then vote for your favorite in each category. The other way is to go to PBS's page where you can also watch the films, and vote for your favorite in each category. Today, I watched the "Girl Power!" category.

Cardinal songs

The trees are still bare, so when I hear one of the cardinals singing, I can often spot it at the highest point. In this video, you get to hear four different calls: the "water sprinkler" song, the "squeaky toy" song, the "pew! pew! pew! pew!" song, and the "bu bu bu chip chip chip chip chip chip chip chip" song.
In this next clip, you can see both the male and the female as they sing together.

S-L-U-T slut

"I went to school,
I speak my mind,
I'm responsible for my behind!"

Music and Neuroscience

Bobby McFerrin is magical. This video is the first of ten parts, which you can find on YouTube.
Here is the description of part 1:
"Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus"

Is our response to music hard-wired or culturally determined? Is the reaction to rhythm and melody universal or influenced by environment? Join host John Schaefer, scientist Daniel Levitin and musical artist Bobby McFerrin for live performances and cross cultural demonstrations to illustrate musics note-worthy interaction with the brain and our emotions.

This segment features an impressive display of improvisational harmony from Bobby McFerrin.

This event took place on June 12, 2009 in the Gerald Lynch Theater at the City University of New York. This is the first of ten segments.

Please visit us at worldsciencefestival.com!

canzone

Frederice von Stade sings "Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming"


"I wonder as I wander" and Kathleen Battle "Mary Had a Baby"

Watch "8: The Play"

The homepage is  "8" The Play.
The actual words from the Prop 8 case transcripts are used in this play by Dustin Lance Black.   Here's a response to the reading.

Christine Lahti Jamie Lee Curtis and the two actors that play Eliot and Spencer have a wonderful scene at about the 1'30" mark. At the end of the performance, the actual plaintifs, their lawyers, and the real-life Spencer and Elliot are acknowledged on stage.