Ten (or more) media industry news items you might have missed recently.
Read more »
Music
What Are You Missing? Apr 28 – May 11
The Power of Women’s Voices in The Great Gatsby
The female voices on The Great Gatsby's soundtrack channel the hard-won feminist power of past generations.
Read more »
On Sound (New Directions in Sound Studies)
The coordinating editors of The Velvet Light Trap are seeking submissions for a forthcoming issue that explores new directions in sound studies.
Read more »
Different for Boys: Frank Ocean and the “Problem” of Male Bisexuality
Frank Ocean's alleged coming out story never uses the word "gay" and his music expresses desire for same- and opposite-sex partners. So how do we make the leap?
Read more »
An Incomplete History: “Women Who Rock” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
I found myself in Cleveland last week. My friend Amy Rigby, a musician who plies her trade in one of the parallel music industries that I talked about in my recent post about the Grammy Awards, had things to do in Cleveland. I’d been threatening for months to take advantage of being on sabbatical...
Read more »
The Materiality of Media
As culture becomes increasingly digitized, arguments for the “dematerialization” of media are becoming commonplace. However, media have always been, and remain, embedded in and structured by material objects, networks, and practices that delimit their uses and meanings.
Read more »
You Have Friends That Want You Back Home
Treme’s focus on how its culture and cultural economies are created and presented through music and cuisine has meant a majority of its almost 22 narrative hours watching musicians struggle with bar owners, the recording business, the law and each other.
Read more »
Whatever Happened to the Devil’s Music?
Surely in the final minutes of the last day of the Glastonbury rock festival, people are supposed to look sick, bedraggled and filthy, following a weekend of unfettered debauchery, but those kids are just too clean!. Come to think of it, why is Beyonce headlining anyway?
Read more »
Tremé: Feels Like Joy and Pain
The challenge facing Tremé (and every other media representation of New Orleans) is finding a way to balance a celebration of the city’s unique cultural contributions with an acknowledgment of its more conventional, and often more damning, histories, memories, and contemporary realities. Week 6’s episode “Feels Like Rain” responds to this challenge, self-consciously,...
Read more »
Late to the Party: Let’s Get Small and A Wild and Crazy Guy
In the latest installment of Late to the Party, I familiarize myself with Steve Martin's classic stand-up comedy albums.
Read more »
Report From Internet Research 11
IR 11 is wildly interdisciplinary, tied together largely by research topic, leading to a number of fascinating connections, disjunctures, and challenges.
Read more »
“Listen. Do You Want to Know a Secret?”: Mad Men, Episode 10, “Hands & Knees”
The British invasion of Sterling Cooper at the end of season two has resulted in a noticeably different firm and a noticeably different direction to the series. This has also meant moments of audible change.
Read more »
Musical Performance Finally Gets Its Due in Treme
Dramatic television has rarely shown much affinity for musicians, and neither has it shown much artistry for dealing with musical performances within the narrative. This time, David Simon and HBO finally get it right.
Read more »
Glee Club: Performing Recordings
Some thoughts on the peculiar nature of Glee's soundtrack and why it both pulls me in and repels me from the program.
Read more »
SCMS + SXSW = ?
Media studies stands to gain from the consideration and analysis of new media and vice versa. Bringing two major conferences together, SCMS and SXSW Interactive, and seeing what that gets us seems like as good a place to start as any.
Read more »
