Nothing cleans the palate like a good KISS lip-sync video

COMM 229 goes in a slightly different direction today, as we talk about fan-created videos--discussions surrounding doglover199709 and her Katy Perry video point to other preadolescent hijinx.  Which leads me to my next skeleton in the closet--my KISS fandom.

I will just say that as an enthusiastic 4th grade fan of KISS, I did not understand what they meant when they sang "You pulled the trigger of my... love gun!"  That is too blatant to even call it a double-entente.  That is what you gotta call a single-entente--hilarious in its crude artlessness, which is I guess why I still like KISS, despite it all.  

There is another Bjorn Ingvoldstad (well, Björn Ingvoldstad) I have met over the web (yes we're related--a 3rd or 4th cousin in Sweden), and he's sent me video his son has made of his son & buddies IN FULL KISS MAKEUP doing a lip-sync video for "Detroit Rock City."  This is SWEDEN in 2009 for God's sake.  I attach it here--the best stuff is actually the curtain call in the last minute.  Amazing.

And if I had the technology back in 1979, I would have done the same thing.  I hope!  To mix my 70s rock references, for those about to rock, we salute you....

Gates' arrest: "...a local issue..."?

My COMM 229 summer web class is discussing race and media representation this week, and the arrest Dr. Gates in Cambridge has certainly enlivened discussion.  Here's the latest snippet I posted to our discussion board, complete with ongoing tie to local sports-talk radio station WEEI (which does great local sports coverage, but way too often veers off into right-wing political diatribes--listen to their 6-10am morning show on the web in the next few days to get a taste of how they're discussing the issue).... 

Did you all catch the Obama press conference last night?  If not, here's the Yahoo article from this morning w/ relevant quotes, plus the rebuttal from the Cambridge officer.... as quoted on WEEI!  Unreal....  

In view of our discussion on the phrase "playing the race card" this week (it's not about race until Gates says it is), I want to highlight something the officer said that again shows the lack of understanding of the context of this issue:

"I support the president to a point, yes, I think it's disappointing that he waded into what should be a local issue and something that plays out here," Crowley told WEEI. "As he himself said ... he doesn't know all the facts."

So not only would this not be about race (if Gates would have JUST SHUT UP), but it would also not be of national attention (if The [national / liberal (ha!)] Media and/or Obama would JUST SHUT UP).

There is the event itself, and there is the perception of the event.  And there is the discourse surrounding the event, which is part of a larger discourse on race in the USA.  The pattern I see emerging from the Right is the attempt to not only refute any perception of racial injustice but as well any possible linkage from this to any wider social context.

Nothing to see here, folks--drive on by.  Wow. 

Every picture tells a story...

One of the interesting threads on the COMM 229 discussion board this week has to do with our textbook's use of photography to unpack notions of both  semiotics and narrative.   This dovetails nicely with a recent find from the Sandwich Public Library: a book of color photographs from the late depression years, part of the FSA/OWI (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information) archives, now housed at the Library of Congress (click here to access their online holdings and search engine).

The attached photo is part of the collection--a color shot of the office of the Brockton Enterprise which still publishes some 15 minutes north of BSC.  Note the two-colored, hand-printed headline thumbnails in the corner window--the poor man's scrolling LED display!

The book, nicely titled Bound for Glory (hip points for COMM 229 students that can identify the allusion), is striking in its ability to bring color to an era that, for those of us who didn't live it, is mostly frozen in black and white.  It's eye-opening to see pre-WWII farmsteads in Pie Town, NM or street scenes in Lowell, MA in living color.  Do yourself a favor and see if you can find it in your town library--it's a trip. 

Fish, Céline, Audrey, and (yes) Michael

The word from Wing-Kai in Shanghai is that blogs are still being blocked in China, making Fish's blog on his BSC study-tour a moot point.  However, you just have to think that this could be the seed for a new media / int'l media policy senior-sem kind of paper, right?  In the meantime, if anyone reading this knows Eric Fischer, and is looking for China blogs, you might be best served to check his facebook a/c instead for updates.  We might get a deluge of stuff on the blog once he's back...

In the ever-growing "Things We Like About Toronto" file, let us now praise the 33 1/3 night bringing together readings and discussion on the series' books on Céline Dion and Elliot Smith.  Those who took COMM 399 ("Popular Music, Communication & Culture") with me last fall are nodding knowingly--the rest of you need to check out Carl Wilson's book (subtitled A Journey to the End of Taste) now.  If anyone has read Matt Lemay's book on XO, I'd love to hear what you thought...

Caught a charming little film called How to Steal a Million (1966) last night--Hepburn & O'Toole are solid together, and seeing Hepburn into any number of chic '60s outfits (the dresses!  the hats!  the sunglasses!--seriously!) and one hell of a red subcompact (see above) is worth a look...

And what would this week's blog entries be without yet another MJ reference?  Mowing the lawn and listening to podcasts yesterday, I noted yet another King of Pop moment from left field.  This time it was This American Life, which organized their show in four acts, each named by a Jackson song, topped by the "Man in the Mirror" outro.  I believe the show was sent out on Saturday, so this must have been something of a last-second choice (unless they recycled this particular old show on the basis of the MJ organizational principle).  It was understated, and more poignant for it...