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I don't know how much my title fits, but I needed something. So much of Martinez's article felt a bit pearl-clutching with regards to "the youth" in ways which eclipsed the real salient points I felt he made. The real issues I think I take are the ways in which modern memory and remembering is … Continue reading Post-truth and Romanticizing the Enlightenment

After class on Wednesday, I was haunted by my inability to come up with a research topic relating ideas of post-truth to music scholarship. A critical making project would be the most obvious (see composer Kate Soper's project here: https://arts.ucdavis.edu/event/singing-your-pants-fire-musical-lies-post-truth-world). But I'm really, really, not a composer. If music is asymbolic and indexical, can it … Continue reading Musical Lies

Several essays we read for Wednesday mentioned that post-truth is nothing nascent and has existed for decades, or even hundreds of years. Looking deeper into the statement, it suggests that the soil for the post-truth to grow is always there but something in our modern world allowed it to dominate our time. Looking at 1989 … Continue reading Breeding Post-Truth Environment

As I was re-reading Antonio Garcia Martinez's Wired article in and then after class yesterday, I was struck by a paragraph that hadn't registered with me the first time around: "The post-internet generation, weaned almost since birth on touchscreens and fractious digital media, navigates this raucous world with an equanimity that we dinosaurs beholden to a … Continue reading “Ok, Boomer” and Post-Truth

Speaking of post-truth, my very first reaction is censorship. In a sense they both exert their influence on the circulation of information as well as the distribution of knowledge. Since I brought up censorship, I want to first briefly talk about China’s state censorship in the new media era. The main function of China’s state … Continue reading Censorship and Post-Truth

A Riot of Conspiracies: Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge and 9/11 Conspiracy Theories  “A Riot of Conspiracies” and its focus on the propagation of 9/11 conspiracy theories reminded me of Thomas Pynchon’s most recent novel, Bleeding Edge. Pynchon is an ideal chronicler of post-9/11 paranoia in many respects, as his work is generally focused on the network of technological and socio-political anxieties that underly conspiracy theories. As Jonathan Lethem describes … Continue reading A Riot of Conspiracies: Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge and 9/11 Conspiracy Theories

Alternate reality games have been criticized in the past as cynical, overelaborate marketing ploys, with their meticulously structured narratives only serving to advertise products. Blogger Annalee Newitz reacted against the then-burgeoning trend of ARGs in 2008, arguing that they amount to “walk-in commercials.” Newitz then questioned ARGs’ potential as games, claiming that “commercials can't really masquerade as games: It's foolish for entertainment companies to assume that they can get audiences to forget … Continue reading ARGs, Marketing, and Narrative

I have to say, I was pretty surprised that there wasn't more scandal, shock, or at least some polemic surrounding the reception of the Baudrillard essay in class today. Isn't one of his opening arguments basically that everyone secretly desired the symbolic effacement of the towers--i.e. their violent destruction? Isn't his point on trauma, following … Continue reading Wasn’t Baudrillard Kindof Scandalous?

(N.B. I was just looking through my blog posts, and I have no idea why this post didn’t go up when I originally tried to publish it, but I completely understand if I only get partial credit!) This weekend, rather than doing my readings or drafting essays like a good grad student, I binge watched … Continue reading Should I Want to be like BoJack Horseman?

Following from our conversation last class on teaching a lecture-based game studies course, I have been thinking about teaching some of the game-related readings we've done. Here are some thoughts on pairings and framings. Malsky - Casual and mobile games are a fruitful entry-point for engaging with and including a broader audience in the classroom, … Continue reading thoughts on a games course based on some things we’ve read