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.
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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.
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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?
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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,...
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In the latest installment of Late to the Party, I familiarize myself with Steve Martin's classic stand-up comedy albums.
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IR 11 is wildly interdisciplinary, tied together largely by research topic, leading to a number of fascinating connections, disjunctures, and challenges.
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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.
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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.
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Some thoughts on the peculiar nature of Glee's soundtrack and why it both pulls me in and repels me from the program.
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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.
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American Idol contestant Siobhan Magnus is a veritable original who typifies the American spirit--and watching her succeed is really what the show is all about.
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Devo's forthcoming studio, long play release is their first in twenty years and return as a working act comes in a new era where "de-evolution is real and Devo is normal".
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In a sense, Mayer has become his own cultural intermediary. He is a meta-star text sustained in large part by his own mediatory endeavors. This has its benefits, but also poses problems for the many John Mayers jockeying for control over the text.
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Continuing with our series, what musical recordings (i.e. albums, singles) would you nominate as the most important of the decade?
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A few weeks ago, NBC announced a new feature: the NBC Artists in Residence Program. Sounds fancy, but ultimately it's just a shiny name for an exclusive promotional deal they signed with Jon Bon Jovi. The artist himself attributes the decision to the "shrinking media environment," a phrase that he was applying...
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