"People haven't gotten really mad--that annoys me."

In an effort to improve blogging sustainability, I continue to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Last week, BSC's assistant director of alumni relations sent a query email re: what faculty are reading this summer. Here's the skinny....

ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac....I'm mentoring Mike Gálvez's ATP grant project, which is to make a documentary film while driving across the USA. Kerouac grew up in Lowell, and this classic captures some of the crazy maddening bliss of an extended road trip...We're reading all of these books together, and then talk about them on iChat (me on the Cape, him on the Road)...

DEKALOG 1: ON 'THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS' edited by Mette Hjort.... Mike's film springboards off of THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS (2003), a superb collaboration between two Danish directors: Jørgen Leth and Lars von Trier--von Trier sets up a series of "obstructions" to push Leth forward as a filmmaker and as a human being. This thoughtful collection makes us go back to the film again and again...

DOGME UNCUT: LARS VON TRIER, THOMAS VINTERBERG, AND THE GANG THAT TOOK ON HOLLYWOOD by Jack Stevenson....Lars von Trier was principal instigator behind the Dogme95 film movement whose attempts to jump-start creativity through constraint quickly translated beyond Denmark and into something of a global contra-Hollywood strategy. Nothing says "student filmmaking" quite as succinctly as "creativity through constraint," right?...

LARS VON TRIER: INTERVIEWS edited by Jan Lumholdt....This collection allows us to see von Trier wrestling with ways to attack film form and style in thoughtful and direct ways. Sample banter: "Q. What are your comments on the reactions [your thesis film] has brought? A: Well, they've hardly been good enough, because people haven't gotten really mad. That annoys me. But we'll just have to hope that that happens a little later."...

~bpi

On The Road...online

One of my projects this summer is mentoring my student Mike Gálvez, who won an ATP research grant to make a series of short documentaries whilst on the Great American Road Trip with his buddy Trevor. One of the books we're reading this summer as part of his foundational research is Jack Kerouac's On the Road. And this time through, as I read this at HOME in my HOUSE that looks over a GOLF COURSE (what would JK say?!), I find myself using the Internet to make the book more of a hypertext: MySpace pulls up tracks like Charlie Parker's "Orinthology" (1946); Google Maps bring up towns like Ogallala, NE in an instant.
So now I just need to find the origins of the phrase "Pisscall!" on Wikipedia...
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Farewell, Amanda

This is an odd way to start the semester, but I just wanted to publicly wish my former colleague in the Department of Communication Studies, Prof. Amanda Brozana, all the best as she leaves Bridgewater State. Those of you who have worked with Amanda know about her passion for all things journalism--we will miss her as she pursues other projects.

By the miracle of facebook, you might even read this yourself, Amanda. Take care, and be in touch.

Summer "Vacation"

Well my friends, Summer I is in the books (more or less--a little editing left to do for the 220 short), and it's time to look forward to the next two months or so. Three major projects for the next two months... bear with me, and you'll get your Go-Go's payoff here in a minute....

1. The Book Proposal. A whole lot of sound and fury these past two years, but I really want to make this happen. My problem is that on top of the idea of turning the dissertation into a book, I have at least two other book ideas percolating at the same time. Typical! Ideas come exponentially, but the follow-through is linear. Still, to have a proposal out by Labor Day would be huge. It's time.

2. The Preps. No less than three new classes for the fall, including COMM 221 (Foundations of Communication Studies), COMM 290 (Videography) and COMM 399 (Popular Music, Communication & Culture). The Central Asian Cinema course for the spring is lurking in the background as well. A lot of new material to cover!

3. The Move. Looking to close on a house at the end of the month, so the third big project is packing up in Bridgewater and getting everything over to Sandwich in one piece. Anyone into hauling appliances around S.E. Massachusetts?

And as promised--cue Belinda!