Author: James

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No Sleep ’til Brooklyn part deux

This was my first bike ride since returning home from Oslo. I have been getting over a cold for the past week or so. I think my body has been rebelling against the NYC air quality and humidity. I had trouble getting to sleep because my legendary insomnia was in full effect as a result of the new job. Since I was wide awake I decided to go for a little late night ride. I was still missing Oslo but I felt pretty good all things considered.

I had forgotten how much I love NYC at night. I stopped biking in the city more than a year ago after being Continue reading “No Sleep ’til Brooklyn part deux”

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CUNY SPS – New Office Space

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Today was my first day at the new office. There is a ton of work that needs to be done and I am looking forward to getting underway. I have been asked to take charge of the Communication and Media program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies and to help redefine the degree in light of the recent technological and societal shifts brought forth by digital innovation.

I must say that it was kinda weird to be Continue reading “CUNY SPS – New Office Space”

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Open letter to Ben Affleck, or please shut up Matt Damon

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Matt Damon was recently asked about his take on the Ben Affleck as Batman controversy. Damon, who is a long time friend of Affleck, stated that “Bruce Wayne is the more challenging part of the role, and Ben will be great at that”. He then went on to say that “Batman just sits there with his cowl over his head and whispers in a kinda gruff voice at people. Now I understand Matt Damon is just looking out for his boy, but the comments he made about how Batman isn’t a complex character came off as being more than a little ignorant and dismissive of the genre. In fact he only hurts Ben case by reinforcing a commonly held belief that Affleck doesn’t really take preparation for his roles seriously. I am hoping that Affleck does not share Damon’s feeling on Batman/Bruce Wayne or we could be in store for another Daredevil.

The studio isn’t going to back down so we are probably stuck with Affleck. So if I was to give Ben any advice it would be this; Continue reading “Open letter to Ben Affleck, or please shut up Matt Damon”

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You will be missed

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I was saddened to hear that Red Burns, founder of NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, passed away earlier this week. Red was my academic adviser and one of the first people that I met when I arrived to study at ITP in the late 90s. Oddly enough, despite her small stature, she was also one of the most intimidating people I have ever met. And I say that as a person that is not easily intimidated. My first impression of Red was that she was not someone to trifle with, piss off, or just generally wind up on her bad side. Over time I was fortunate to see that there was a kinder and gentler side to her. Red cared deeply for her students, but she demanded the best from them. She was a formidable personality and utterly fearless in her approach to life.

Over the past few days my Facebook and Twitter feeds have been inundated by posts from friends and fellow ITP students who were influenced heavily by Red. She was truly a pioneer in the fields of tech education and digital expression. The overwhelming theme that comes through in all of the posts is that Red, and the program that she created, changed their lives for the better. Continue reading “You will be missed”

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Affleck is Batman??? What da…….

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The news was just released that Warner Brothers has chosen Ben Affleck to be the new Batman in the next DC Comics inspired movie. I am crushed by this news. Seriously. I try to stay relatively informed on important issues of the day like the NSA revelations, the deficit, the Middle East, stop and frisk, and anything to do with improving the educational system. All the I ask for is a small bone every now and then. Can a brother just look forward enjoying a frivolous movie about a childhood comic book hero without Ben Affleck and his massive cranium mucking up the works? No really, look at his head sometime. It is enormous. My only hope is that they will have to recast the part because they couldn’t find a cowl large enough to slide over that freakish mellon.

I have been a comic book Continue reading “Affleck is Batman??? What da…….”

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Thanks Kendrick Lamar… I miss real Hip Hop

I don’t know if it is just a sign of me getting older but when it comes to just the music, I truly don’t understand what passes for hip hop today. Unlike graffiti and breakdancing, it seems as if the musical side of hip hop has fallen and can’t get up. The recent controversy surrounding the whole Kendrick Lamar Control verse has left me shaking my head in disbelief. I honestly did not understand what the fuss was about. Brothers are stating that Lamar’s verse on Control is going to shake up the game. If that is the case then hip hop is in even more of a sad state than I originally believed.

I don’t think Lamar has shook up the game as much as he has taken a page from MCs over 20 years ago. Back when competition was the word of the day. Back when lyrical content was more important Continue reading “Thanks Kendrick Lamar… I miss real Hip Hop”

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The Joy of it all

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Yesterday I was interviewed by Joy-Ann Reid, the managing editor of TheGrio.com and an on-air contributor on MSNBC. Ms. Reid is also a political columnist for the Miami Herald and editor of the political blog, The Reid Report. She is currently writing a book on the Clinton and Obama administrations and wanted to talk to me about critiques and observations of the Obama presidency that I posted on my website (www.JamesRichardson.net).  It appears she was intrigued by my comments on the impact of the Obama presidency and how he is viewed in the Black Community. Since I don’t consider myself  overly political I wasn’t sure of what I was going to add to the conversation. In truth I am far more comfortable talking about mobile apps and multimedia than about government policies. With that said, I agreed to an interview. I think it went okay. I guess I’ll see.

 

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Really dumb stuff I did over my summer vacation

Bicycling in Norway is very different from the riding that I familiar with in NYC. The bike routes in Oslo are particularly spectacular. You can go from the suburbs to the city and then to the country within the space of an hour. The trails are rarely flat because much of the Norwegian terrain is made up of hills. So you generally find yourself struggling up steep hills or flying down sharp mountain trails. With that said, I decided to go for a fairly challenging and long bike ride this afternoon.

I had recently purchased a ContourROAM Hands-free HD Camcorder to record my travels and document my bike rides throughout Scandinavia. For my first long ride I thought it would be best to select a Continue reading “Really dumb stuff I did over my summer vacation”

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New York Cine Interview: The Wolverine

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I was interviewed on the New York Cine Radio podcast again. It was the fifth appearance on the show and this time I was asked to give my take on the new Marvel Comic inspired movie. I had to Skype in for the discussion because I was in Oslo for my birthday, and as part of what I hope may become an ongoing tradition, the family had taken me to a summer blockbuster midnight premiere earlier in the week. The film was none other than “The Wolverine“. The Hugh Jackman spinoff of the popular X-Men franchise was the one of the most anticipated movies of the summer. It was also one of my last opportunities to see an enjoyable summer blockbuster after the disappointing Iron Man 3, Star Trek: Into the Darkness, and the heartbreaking Man of Steel. Luckily Hugh did not let me down.



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Game Changers: The Community College Journal Interview

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I had been so busy toward the end of the semester that I had forgotten that a few months back I was interviewed on the curriculum changes that I had put in place for the LaGuardia New Media Technology program. Steve Zurier of the Community College Journal contacted me to see if I would be interested in talking to him about some of the emerging technologies impacting digital media programs.

It appears that he wanted to feature my comments under a section on media literacy in his article. I agreed to speak with him and discuss the challenges in developing a technology based curriculum to address the changing economic and educational shifts facing college students. Since I had given a fair amount of thought on the subject over the past year due to having to draft the Periodic Program Review (PPR) for the New Media major, I hoped the interview would be painless. Luckily it was straight forward like I assumed. I am quoted in the piece on my approach to digital media curriculum design.

A digital copy of the article can be found here.