It’s the postmodernism, stupid

Wow. If you wanted to take an opportunity to collapse every workplace grievance you felt in one very public statement, this feature in The Australian‘s Higher Education lift-out today would seem to be a pin-up example. Let’s see: Cultural relativism = postmodernism / poststructuralism = cultural studies = Alan McKee & John Hartley = radical [...]

Stereotypes

To become dÃ©cor, to become ambiance, to become setting, to become stereotype, is not necessarily to be out of the picture. On the contrary: a living stereotype can always historicize, as well as appear in, the media image of any event. It stubbornly refers to the social conditions of its own appearance in space, and [...]

The frustration of foreboding

The class that can express its desires, rather than represent them, is the class that escapes the violence of the law. That which cannot be named, cannot be identified, cannot be charged, cannot be convicted. Reading Ken Wark’s Hacker Manifesto this week (an online version is here), I’ve been reminded of some of the arguments [...]

Unbecoming

“I really am getting bored in a way I think Brisbane either causes, or at least cannot resolve.” Eric Michaels‘ AIDS Diary is – scarily – the only accurate representation of Brisbane I’ve come across in print, so it shouldn’t be surprising that I found it for $1 in the half price bin at the [...]

Queensland – The Smart State

When I got my first set of Queensland number plates I was given a choice for the little slogan that goes along the bottom: either ‘Queensland – The Sunshine State’ or the more recent ‘The Smart State’. Given that I’m an academic, I went for the latter, figuring that if I didn’t, who else would? [...]

Of homes and buckets

‘I don’t really have a pool of men, it’s more of a Jacuzzi, or even a bucket.’ Lately I’ve been soothing feelings with noise – drowning or amplifying, depending on the urgency. Now the days are oh so quiet. I’m taking in new kinds of pleasures. So is the city. It’s raining for the fourth [...]

Vale 80s ideologue rock

Video Hits is giving me what I want this morning: a countdown to tonight’s ARIAs. The ARIAs are probably my favourite award ceremony. You get a bit more spirit than the film or TV ones, where the script, if it’s Australian, is usually about demonstrating the need for more money (the refrain that doesn’t seem [...]

Kracauer, cultural studies and the Left

Some of you have noticed that I recently had Joe Moran‘s Reading the Everyday in my currently consuming. Can’t remember if I mentioned that I set his chapter on ‘Workspace: Office life and commuting’ for my students in New Media. It’s a lovely reading of The Office, for one thing, but it’s also a nice [...]

NB. Don’t leave

So where the bloody hell are you?

A few of my favourite things

POLITICS IN THE PUB From Left to Right: Navigating the Political Spectrum in Contemporary Australia As parties confront challenging contemporary problems, listen to opinions on the evolution of the political spectrum. Explore the ideological basis to current policies & consider whether the concepts of left & right are as clear as they used to be. [...]

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