Tag Archives: popular culture

16 postcard-length meditations on the Game of Thrones ending

Posted on May 20, 2019 by Peter Schmidt

Does this really need a spoiler alert?  OK, spoiler alert.  Don’t have a meltdown. Dany touching the Throne of Swords in the snow in 8.6 completes one of the dream-visions she had in the House of the Undead in the … Continue reading →

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On Canons and “Headcanons” in Cultural Studies

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Peter Schmidt

Yes, “headcanons” (one word) is a term. Has been for awhile. Interesting conundrum: while the idea of an agreed-upon “canon” has been treated with increasing skepticism in literary studies (though not by all parties), the concept thrives in popular culture, … Continue reading →

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Freedom and Fate in Game of Thrones, “The Door”

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Peter Schmidt

For Game of Thrones fans, please don’t read this until you’ve seen Season 6, Episode 5 (“The Door”). Normally stories about time travel dramatize the power of human agency, our potential ability to know and intervene in past events and … Continue reading →

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On David Bowie’s Bluebird

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Peter Schmidt

Re David Bowie’s “Lazarus,” from his brilliant final album, Blackstar, the New York Times has this to say: “The song is a man in total distress, and then finding a way out, in his imagination, so he could still be … Continue reading →

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Reducing the Bull: the NYTimes Gets It Wrong Equating Apple Design and Picasso’s Art

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Peter Schmidt

Brian Chen’s NYTimes’ August 11th article on design training at Apple is fun and informative, particularly the anecdote about design decisions that led to a Google TV remote control with 78 buttons (all the design teams got what they wanted) … Continue reading →

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Sharing an essay by Leigh Alexander, from the Gamasutra website: The tragedy of Grand Theft Auto V

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Peter Schmidt

Gamasutra – Opinion: The tragedy of Grand Theft Auto V. For my own much earlier piece on the bizarre metaphysics of video games, plus one way to think about video games’ links to early animated cartoons, see Gamer (1999).

Posted in Other (including pop culture of all kinds), Uncategorized, Very Large Array (a multimedia digital project) | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Air Effects (on Proctor & Gamble Febreze TV ads)

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Peter Schmidt

Anyone else besides me creeped out by the Febreze air freshener commercials on TV, sponsored by Proctor & Gamble? Some of them feature various folks blindfolded and sequestered in gross spaces—ratty cars, moldy abandoned apartments with scuzzy old couches, etc. … Continue reading →

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