Author: James

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American Expendables Interview

Tom Seymour, the director of the VHS Massacre documentary series, asked me to sit down and talk about his newest project in which I appear. This was my third documentary collaboration with Tom, having previously appeared in VHS Massacre and VHS Massacre Too. The film is called American Expendables and is a deep dive into the impact that B-movie action stars like Bolo Yeung, Bill Blanks, and Cynthia Rothrock had on the martial arts genre.

Tom interviewed me because of my martial arts background and love of Kung Fu movies from the 70s and 80s. This is a project that he worked on for several years. The documentary has won many major film festivals, including becoming a Gold winner at the 2024 Telly Awards.

American Expendables film is currently streaming on the Amazon Prime and Fandango platforms!

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Starting a new semester at CUNY SPS

As I embark on another academic year at the CUNY School of Professional Studies, I thought I would share how I’m kicking things off with my students. Since my courses in digital media are fully online and asynchronous, I created a video introduction highlighting my background, the passions that fuel my teaching, and the interests that will drive the journey with my students.

This semester I am teaching courses in Visual Communication and Social Media. Both classes are recently redesigned courses I created for the program to help bring the curriculum more aligned with industry trends. I restructured the course content of both classes to a greater project-based method of instruction. I hope that a more practical and hands-on focus will benefit the students.

Over the summer, while redesigning these classes, I concentrated heavily on implementing effective pedagogy. My teaching approach fosters meaningful connections and a dynamic learning environment. As I begin my 24th year of teaching within the CUNY system, I look forward to guiding my students through this semester and learning alongside them.

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Guess who won their first Telly Award?

Since I returned from vacation in Norway I have been feeling a bit down. Thankfully, I received some good news in the mail yesterday. A documentary in which I played a part, American Expendables, was a Gold Winner at the 2024 Telly Awards in the Long Form Documentary category. In addition to appearing on camera, I also served as a producer on the project.

American Expendables is the brainchild of Thomas Seymour, director of the award-winning VHS Massacre film series. The documentary explores the martial arts video craze in the U.S. during the 70s, 80s, and 90s. The film celebrates the unsung action stars Cynthia Rothrock, Bolo Yeung, and Billy Blanks. Tom asked me if I would be interested in being a part of his new documentary because of my background in martial arts and love of B-rated action films.

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Graduation Day at CUNY SPS

The perfect way to end an academic year is to celebrate the accomplishments of our amazing students. It has been a genuine honor to serve as the Interim Academic Director of the Communication and Media Program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies (SPS) this year.

This was a role I previously served in from 2013 – 2016. Due to my previous experience with the institution, the administration at SPS asked for me to serve in an interim capacity while the current Director was on research leave. I am happy to say that I will be staying on through the Fall while the current Director puts the finishing touches on a completed manuscript.

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It is good to be back at CUNY-SPS!

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dean Jorge Silva-Puras for an interview on my role as the Interim Academic Director of the Communication and Media program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies (SPS). During the session, we discussed what it is like to head up one of the only fully online four-year degrees within CUNY. The talk ventured into how the asynchronous nature of the program benefits students wanting to earn a degree, and what it takes to break into the field.

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CUNY ASAP STEM Career Event

A few months ago a former student of mine, Caroline Mendez, reached out to me to see if I would be interested in participating in a LaGuardia virtual event to promote STEM professions to students of color. Caroline studied digital media with me back in the early 2000s shortly after I made the switch from corporate IT to academia. She is currently an Academic Advisor for the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) and is tasked with helping students, particularly students of color, find their way by providing intensive academic advisement, career development, tuition scholarships, textbooks, and transportation assistance. Since I love reconnecting with former students, I eagerly agreed to join the panel discussion on STEM career opportunities.

Continue reading “CUNY ASAP STEM Career Event”
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New Media Alumni Profiles – Arin Soukoule

This is another in a series of former student profiles that I am putting together. Arin is an alumnus of the LaGuardia Community College New Media Technology Program and a former student of mine. During the pandemic, they were kind enough to speak with me via Zoom and talk about their experience as a former student of the program to assist current students in finding their way to a post-LaGuardia world.

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New Media Alumni Profiles – Will Domingue

Will is an alumnus of the LaGuardia Community College New Media Technology Program and a former student of mine. During the pandemic, he was kind enough to speak with me via Zoom and talk about his experience as a former student of the program to assist current New Media students in finding their way to a post-LaGuardia world.

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Mentoring Black Males in STEM: an interview

During the height of the pandemic, I was approached by a colleague to be interviewed for an article she was writing on the trials and successes of mentoring young black males in the STEM and STE(a)M fields. The video above is a part of the discussion we had on the subject.

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VHS Massacre Too is still getting noticed!

My friend Tom Seymour hit me up today to let me know that he was interviewed about his award-winning documentary, VHS Massacre Too, on the Music is Life Podcast. I was fortunate enough to be featured in the documentary and spoke to issues of Blaxploitation Films and the state of the independent film industry. Tom made it a point to let me know that I got shouted out during a few points in the interview.