Some good reading and some good fun

by J J Cohen

The semester begins and every faculty member has a class that is overcrowded or assigned to a broom closet located within an obscure nook of the campus. And who do they think can reduce the number of living students enrolled in their course, or move their classroom out from the janitorial supplies and into some posh penthouse with a view of the Jefferson memorial? That'd be the department chair.

So in lieu of a post, I offer some links. No rhyme or reason behind them: they are simply sites or stories that have struck my fancy.

• The altered picture of Tiny in Peril was created through a website called Tilt Shift Maker, the effect of which is to render an ordinary picture an image of a seeming miniature. The problem is that the Tiny Shriner is fairly miniature already, so the net outcome is like reducing nanobacteria to nano size: i.e. you are finished before you begin. You'll find a much better selection in the site's Photo Gallery.
  
• Through Gil Harris, I've discovered and now very much like Julia Lupton's Thinking with Shakespeare. The site combines blogging, course links, high theory, design and DIY. You might start with the manifesto, which includes "Scenes of Thought" and "Big Ideas" -- violating the copyright that In the Middle has on both these things.
  
• Gladiators may come back to the Coliseum, at least if a certain person obsessed with their musky sweaty earthy aroma (Umberto Broccoli by name) has his way.
• Dan Kline pointed out in the comments to an earlier post that a Wiki exists where those on the job market can share information about various interactions they've had with institutions. This site seems like a great idea to me, especially because so many schools are so bad about communicating where they are in the search process.
• Another blog I've been reading recently is Jonah Lehrer's Frontal Cortex. Lehrer is the author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist, and had a perceptive review of a book on art and evolution that doesn't seem all that perceptive in Sunday's Washington Post.