Armchair phillosophy

Day 363: Understanding tools vs. talent

January 22, 2018 phillArmchair phillosophy

It’s the time in the winter term where final projects are coming in, and with that comes the time for me to repeat a normal refrain: when creating new media, there’s a difference between showing[…]

Day 362: You just really don’t need to be a dick about it

January 21, 2018 phillArmchair phillosophy

The last year has been bizarre. In America, politically, things have become more and more and more contentious. Our government is currently in a state of shutdown. I’m not sure how fast that will be[…]

Day 356: Stefon Diggs

January 15, 2018 phillArmchair phillosophy

Somewhere in Minneapolis, Stepon Diggs is having the best day of his life. This happened, just a few minutes ago, on national TV. I’m overjoyed for him, and for all the Vikings fans who have[…]

Day 354: A moment with Dan Harmon

January 13, 2018 phillArmchair phillosophy

On this week’s edition of Harmontown, Dan talked about an inappropriate interaction he had with a young female writer when he ran Community for NBC. The story is sad, with Dan ending up so in[…]

Day 353: Maybe we’re doing it wrong

January 12, 2018 phillArmchair phillosophy

Today I had the opportunity to sit on a small panel to discuss interdisciplinary work with one of my colleague’s classes. I enjoy such opportunities, and I’m glad I was able to stop in. I[…]

Day 350: On the Personal of visual rhetoric

January 9, 2018 phillArmchair phillosophy

We’re to the point in my current class where we discuss one of my favorite Anne Wysocki readings, and combining that with some other material, I talk to students about visual impressions of people. It’s[…]

Day 349: The difference between “educated” and “elite”

January 8, 2018 phillArmchair phillosophy

I’ve been thinking on this topic for a bit, and each time I start to write about it, I pull back, as I sense that some people will balk at it. So I want to[…]

Day 338: Just to follow up yesterday…

December 28, 2017 phillArmchair phillosophy

I know my post yesterday probably looked a touch pessimistic. It was, in a way, because the job market for PhDs IS pessimistic. We create more PhDs every year than we can employ in the[…]

Day 334: Being a fan of a bad team

December 24, 2017 phillArmchair phillosophy

I’ve been a Colts fan for as long as I can remember. For those of you who know how old I am, that means you realize I lived through eras with Jack Trudeau, Chris Chandler,[…]

Day 332: Why X-mas matters to me

December 22, 2017 phillArmchair phillosophy

Full disclosure– this might seem like a self-pity post. It’s not. Believe me, it’s not. But it’s a sad set of memories. Growing up, X-mas was a real hit/miss thing for me. For one thing,[…]