A few months ago, I was holding a book that I was going to review. I noted with a start the sheer pleasure of handling it. Everything – from the cover to the evocative illustrations to the quality of the paper to the clear typeface – was aimed at making this book an aesthetically pleasing experience.
In his book Seeing Things (2000), John Ellis hailed the emergent multi-platform environment of the twenty-first century as the ‘era of plenty’. When I ask my students to define what is meant by ‘plenty’, they invariably reply ‘a lot’. Well, yes – but that lacks one vital nuance. Plenty, I explain to them, means more than we need. Quite possibly, a lot more.
In New Zealand, where I’m lucky enough to have been stranded due to the pandemic, we’ve become accustomed to 1pm press briefings, where COVID-19 case numbers and any changes to public health measures are announced.
Okay girls and boys, gather round. Need your help here. Need your brains. Need your smarts. You’re clever people. Most of you have got a degree. Many of you have several degrees. And probably a fair few have gone on for the doctorates – which reminds me, that rash at the back of my neck hasn’t cleared up yet so maybe you could take a look at it when we’ve sorted out this vastly more important issue.
In Marvel Studios’ WandaVision , we are transported to a familiar television location: suburbia – in fact, we’re almost given a history of suburbia on-screen.
In June 2018, a stand-up comedy show called Nanette dropped on Netflix. Written and performed by the Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby, it would go on to attract overwhelmingly positive reviews in international media, to win a plethora of high-profile awards, including two Emmys, and to launch Gadsby into a transnational orbit of celebrification and adulation.
[Cue Bill Paterson’s silkily smooth voiceover] Today, The Repair Shop is visited by Jaded Academic, who has brought a precious artefact – some might say, a national treasure – in the hope that Jay and the team can restore it to its former glory.
September 2020 saw the establishment of the Future of Media Commission in Ireland, which is tasked with considering the various challenges to Irish media and producing a series of recommendations that include how to fund public service media in a difficult environment. Among the challenges being investigated by the Commission are the funding of media, the impact of new technologies and new audience trends and behaviours. Fig.
Many years ago – although possibly not as many as that – I did used to do quite a bit of artwork. Mainly pencil sketching and the odd bit of pointillism with black ink pens… if a piece needed to be published. Not much in colour though. Never very good at that. Possibly when it came to inks and paints I was always a bit too impatient… and the pigments ran and merged and mixed and blended.
Why is it so hard to get interviews with representatives from global media platforms, and what does the lack of access do to our research and scholarly debate?
