Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow published a piece a few days ago in the NYT entitled “The Repurposed Ph.D.,” which served as my first introduction to the neologism “post-academic.” The abbreviated (and eminently hashtaggable) version of that term– “PostAc”– is something like the poorer, sadder and less pretty twin of “AltAc” (“alternative academic”), which has for the last…
Read More“SPEP is not a mini-APA.” –Anthony Steinbock, 25 October 2013 That quote is from a plenary address delivered this past weekend by Tony Steinbock, Executive Co-Director of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, entitled “SPEP and the Continental Divide.” SPEP is the second-largest organization for professional philosophers– the largest is the American Philosophical Association…
Read MoreI’ve never been in a fist-fight in my entire life but, yesterday, I received my first black eye. I got my black eye roughly 48 hours ago now, on what just so happened to be the last day of my College’s Fall break, which ended Tuesday evening. I spent the entire evening on Tuesday with…
Read MoreAs just-another college professor, it’s hard not to feel like the war against MOOCs is more than a little bit like the War on Drugs, or the War or Terror, or the War on Poverty. The “enemy” is largely nonspecific, nonlocatable, plural, mutable, incredibly powerful and often invisible. It’s hard to tell on which front…
Read MoreVince Johnson of the Plantation AllStars So, I promised to update you readers occasionally on the progress of the documentary film that my student Sophie Osella and I are shooting this summer about working Memphis musicians… but, to be honest, I’ve barely had a free moment to do so. As I said in the previous…
Read MoreToday’s is the easiest pick of the 31 Day Film Challenge by a long-shot. I really, truly, deeply and categorically cannot stand Matt Damon. As much as I wish I could, I cannot put a finger on exactly what it is that irks me so much about Matt Damon. I like many, even most, of…
Read MoreSo, I know I chose both a Jeff Bridges and a Coen brothers film just a couple of days ago, but I can’t help it. I’m doing it again today. Jeff Bridges is an unlikely pick, I know, but he’s definitely one of my favorite actors. And if I’m forced (which I am today) to…
Read MoreAbout eight months ago, when I was planning the syllabus for last semester’s Philosophy of Film course, I had exactly the same problem I’m having today trying to determine which is the “best” of the hundreds of truly great sports films. Here was (and is) my dilemma: when I think of sport as an important…
Read MoreMy “favorite Director” is, technically speaking, two directors: the brothers Ethan and Joel Coen. Although they are separate people, of course, who have talents distinct from one another, it is still the case that most cinephiles treat them as the single entity “Coen brothers.” It was hard to pass over many in the pantheon of…
Read MoreAs I mentioned a few days ago, I am in the process of making my first documentary film this summer, so I probably thought a good deal more about today’s prompt than I otherwise might have. There are so many different types of documentaries and the ones I like the most, I like for very…
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