Anomie Pop

I have the first of my two or three class meetings for British Popular Culture planned out: a powerpoint giving a basic “crash course” in British popular culture, followed by an episode (probably episode 1, or else the Pub Quiz episode) of The Office, with some discussion interspersed. For the second lecture, I’m thinking we could discuss sport culture, and I have a great episode of the TV program Life on Mars which deals with soccer, hooliganism, and all kinds of 70s pop culture. The third (maybe, probably) meeting, I’m thinking we could watch some of Brassed Off, and I …

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Neighborhood Unknown

This week’s Friday Five question is once again mine: Tell us about five local places (in your neighborhood, town, or city, or region) that you have never visited, but would like to go to sometime… if you ever get around to it? I think, considering how many other people have quit doing them, that I may also give in to that lurking urge to give up on this Friday Fives series. I have plenty to post about without it, and while I used to enjoy the challenge of new questions, most of the ones in the rotation machine are mine, …

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Pre-F5: Necessary Skills?

Back in September 2003, long before I joined the Friday Five, I noticed friends doing it. I even answered a question, ages ago, and then saved it to my drafts and left it. I saw this on my friend Adam’s site, a violently executed plan blog, and I figured that in the 20 minutes before my next class, to the sound of a classroom of men singing what sounds like some sort of religious sea shanty across the hall. “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, design a building, conn a …

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This week’s F5

I don’t know why, but I cannot load Rob’s F5 question blog at my home. I mean, I can do it with an anonymous proxy like unipeak, but not without one. I cannot imagine why Hanaro Telecom would choose to block Rob’s site, so I’m guessing it’s some glitch in another blockage, which I can’t do much about. But anyway, I’ve had trouble connecting there and I’ve also been dreadfully busy, which is why I haven’t posted anything lately under the Friday Five section of the blog. But today, I’m picking up with the most recent question, a headache of …

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Foregone Involvements

In a blast of highschool gossipy mood, I submitted the Friday Five question that came up this week: Please tell us about five people you liked, or who liked you, but with whom you never became involved. Explain why not. This shouldn’t be too hard. Maybe that’s why I wrote the question, in fact; I knew it would be very easy to answer. But you know, in thinking about this topic, after I thought about the really big hurts, I realized that there were plenty of other times when I could have, but did not, get involved with someone for …

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