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Guilty Pleasure #1: The Venture Brothers

The video above is a series recap on the “Venture Brothers”, one of my true guilty pleasures. It is one of the few series in which I own every available dvd boxset. This season will mark the fifth series for the dysfunctional “Team Venture”. Not many younger viewers realize that the “Venture Brothers” is actually a spoof of the old Hanna Barbera cartoon series from the sixties, “Jonny Quest”.

While new episodes started on June 2nd, the Cartoon Network has made the first episode of the fifth season Continue reading “Guilty Pleasure #1: The Venture Brothers”

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I am calm. No, really. I’m good.

Starting a new job always causes me a slight amount of anxiety. It has happened to me every time that I have made a transition to new responsibilities. However, I don’t have that feeling as I get ready to take over the Academic Directorship of the Communication and Media program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies. I find myself feeling excited but yet surprisingly at ease. Maybe it is because I don’t start until the Fall and September is a long time off. Or maybe it is because I have been ready for a new challenge for a while. However I think it maybe something very simple, like it just seems like a cool place to work.

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Prepare for the Smackdown!

A few months back I was interviewed on the occupational activities of former LaGuardia Media Studies student and Cannes filmfest participant, Girard Tecson of Dayside Productions. The interview appeared in a new documentary on Girard’s unusual decision to make a career shift from independent Filmmaking to professional Wrestling. I wish him luck in his new endeavors. At 5’5″ and 150 lbs, I think he is gonna need it.

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VHS Massacre Interview

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Today I was interviewed by the producers of the upcoming documentary, VHS Massacre, which chronicles the rise and fall of physical media from the origin of film all the way through the video store era and into digital media. The filmmakers wanted to question me on my take about how digital distribution, the proliferation of high speed data connections, and online piracy has hastened the demise of physical media like vhs tapes and CD-Roms. Much of the documentary focuses in the impact of the changes on B-movie and cult films.

The documentary is directed by indie filmmakers Thomas Edward Seymour and Ken Powell, two of the same gentlemen that produce the NewYorkCine Radio podcast on pop culture and film. VHS Massacre is scheduled to be released sometime in 2014.

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New Media PPR Presentation

As I mentioned in an earlier post, every five to seven years academic degree programs in the CUNY system have to undergo a process called a Periodic Program Review (PPR). Because I am the sole full time faculty member for my program, the research and drafting of the report for the New Media Technology degree became my responsibility. Last week I shared some examples of the process and action plans emerging from the PPR at the annual Instructional Staff meeting.

The following video is my presentation of the PPR report findings to the LaGuardia Community College faculty.

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CUNY SPS here I come!

SPS Faculty and Staff

Not many people know this yet, but starting in the Fall of 2013, I will be taking over the Academic Directorship of the Communications and Media (B.A.) program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies (SPS). It is a four year online degree program that offers an interdisciplinary focus on issues related to communications and the convergence between new and traditional media.

I had my first meeting today with the Deans and the other Academic Directors at SPS. In truth, I was a bit overwhelmed by the enthusiastic reception that I received from everyone. I was offered the position a few month back and jumped at the opportunity because I believe that online programs are destined to play a big part in the future of education.

I was very happy and excited to meet my new colleagues and I look forward to helping them enhance an already amazing series of programs.

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He changed the conditions of the test!

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Once again I was interviewed by the team over at New York Cine on topics related to technology and pop culture. This time out I was asked to specifically talk about the new film by director JJ Abrams, “Star Trek: Into Darkness”. I was not a fan of the first movie. I thought that Abrams essentially damaged the franchise by implementing huge changes in the source material. However I was willing to give his take on Star Trek a second chance.

The movie was visually Continue reading “He changed the conditions of the test!”

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iOS Code training

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am finally getting around to learning Objective C. It has been a few years since I have worked with a language like C. I knew it was time to rededicate myself to coding, however I was nervous that time away may has taken a bit of a toll on my skills. The brain is like a muscle in some regards. I am having to use parts of my brain I haven’t used in a long while. I guess I have focused too much on academic publishing instead of coding and pure development lately. When you combine that with programming within Continue reading “iOS Code training”

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The 2013 LaGuardia Publishing Reception

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Yesterday I was happy to be counted among the scholars from the LaGuardia Humanities Department that were celebrated for academic and creative accomplishments. The 2013 President’s Publishing Reception is an event that is held every year to acknowledge academic excellence. It was also the first time that the definition of scholarship was expanded to include some of the digital presentations and research in which I have been engaged.  However while my presentations were recognized, many of my scholarly pursuits in the areas of application design and development were still looked at as supplemental work. As I stated in my recent article, it appears that there is still necessary work that must occur in order to change long held academic beliefs.