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He lived long and prospered!

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Star Trek was such a huge part of my formative years. It is from this show that I first learned what would become my models for determination, friendship, tolerance, logic, courage and sacrifice. The portrayal of Spock by Leonard Nimoy was a large part of the reason that the show resonated so deeply with me and millions of others. At a time when people throw around the words like “iconic”, Leonard Nimoy’s Spock was exactly that.

The depth of the Spock character, and the philosophy inspired by the series, never Continue reading “He lived long and prospered!”

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NY Cine Radio: Spider-man & The Retron 5

Spider-Man joins the MCU

This week the New York Cine team talks about the recent news that Sony and Marvel studios have come to a deal that will enable Spider-Man to officially join the Avengers and become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In addition we also return with our special “Bit Rot” gaming segment in which we review the Retron 5, a console that plays NES, Super NES, Sega, and more! The guys and I Continue reading “NY Cine Radio: Spider-man & The Retron 5”

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Good-bye Space Ghost!

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A little bit of my childhood died this week. Gary Owens, the voice of Space Ghost from the Hanna-Barbera TV series, passed away yesterday. While most people that know me or follow my website are aware of my Batman obsession, one of the things that they may not know is that Space Ghost was one of the first characters that got me hooked on the superhero genre.

Space Ghost was kind of a cross between Batman, Superman and Flash Gordon. His Power Bands and Continue reading “Good-bye Space Ghost!”

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Black Males & Learning to Swim Upstream

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I had an opportunity to participate on a faculty panel at LaGuardia Community College to discuss the topic of Black Males in Adult Education this week. I was invited to sit on the panel and critique “Swimming Upstream: Black Males in Adult Education” by my LaGuardia colleague, Dr. Joni Schwartz. The book was the first volume in a series of books that Joni and her colleagues are writing to give voice to important social and pedagogical topics issues facing Blacks in America.

The turnout for the faculty panel discussion was fairly large and it appeared Continue reading “Black Males & Learning to Swim Upstream”

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Webinar: Creating Engaging Content

Here is the video from my recent webinar on “Creating Engaging Content for the Web and Social Media”. This was the second in a multi-part series of online seminars to educate potential students at CUNY School of Professional Studies about the field of new media. I decided to conduct the webinar because attracting users to build a sustainable social media presence for themselves or their organizations requires the Continue reading “Webinar: Creating Engaging Content”

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Happy Birthday to The Microphone Fiend

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Today is the birthday of William Griffith, better known in hip hop circles as Rakim, also known as Rakim Allah, a.k.a. the microphone fiend, a.k.a. the God MC, a.k.a the Greatest MC of ALL TIME in my humble opinion. He is turning 47 today.

Rakim took his name from Sun God RA and the ancient Egyptian kingdom of KIM. He was one of the first MCs to move from simplified verses into a style that blended complex metaphors with internal and multisyllabic rhymes culminating in a laid back delivery. At a time when other contemporaries like LL Cool J, KRS-One, and Run-DMC. delivered their vocals with screams and force, Rakim defied those conventions by developing a flowing style capable of verbally deconstructing an opponent all while making it seem like he wasn’t even breaking a sweat.

When he released the track “Follow the Leader” and I heard how Continue reading “Happy Birthday to The Microphone Fiend”

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New York Cine Video: Roger Corman and The Shooting

A few weeks back the New York Cine gang and I talked about filmmaker Roger Corman and his movie “The Shooting”. The footage above is a small video segment that we pulled from the earlier audio podcast. I consider myself fairly well versed in media and cinema studies topics but my knowledge about Corman was pretty rudimentary. One of the things that I truly love about being a part of this weekly podcast is that I always learn something new. It is great that each of hosts brings different interest and perspectives to the production.