Short week, this week, what with the holiday coming up and all.
Had a marvelous weekend full of running around and reading books. My reading habits are fluctuating wildly these days between non-fiction, books on design, and comic books. Not too much interest in prose fiction at the moment, although I’ve been dipping into Oliver Twist (which is pretty hilarious, actually, and kind of like a verbal cartoon) here and there.
I spent a lot of this weekend watching football (!): Michigan vs. Ohio State, Notre Dame vs. Army, and the Browns vs. Steelers. This guy named Frank Caliendo does a hilarious John Madden impression. There’s something about John Madden’s voice that makes me depressed — all those wasted Sunday afternoons in front of the TV with my uncles.
[gv data=”OSc3e4RoYhA”][/gv]
Oh, and Taxi Driver was on AMC Saturday while we were at Meg’s parents. DeNiro is such an absolute joy to watch:
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This is a quote from a book called Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design:
Until now, language, especially written language, was the most highly valued, the most frequently analysed, the most prescriptively taught and the most meticulously policed code in our society. [If] this is now changing in favour of visual communication, educationalists should perhaps begin to rethink what ‘literacy’ ought to include, and what should be taught under the heading of ‘writing’ in schools. If schools are to equip students adequately for the new semiotic order, if they are not to produce people unable to use the ‘new writing’ actively and effectively, then the old boundaries between ‘writing’ on the one hand, traditionally the form of literacy without which people cannot adequately function as citizens, and, on the other hand, the ‘visual arts’, a marginal subject for the specially gifted, and ‘technical drawing’, a technical subject with limited and specialized application , should be redrawn.
Yep, double-spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman font is a straightjacket that I won’t wear any more. I won’t do it. No sir.
grant says
“[If] this is now changing in favour of visual communication, educationalists should perhaps begin to rethink what ‘literacy’ ought to include, and what should be taught under the heading of ‘writing’ in schools.”
I was just thinking about writing my master thesis on this very subject. I’;d be willing to be they still want it to be in 12 point font with no pictures. It looks more scholarly that way.
Austin says
Grant: I think that would make a great Master’s thesis.
As for the 12 point, let’s remember the words of Mr. Vonnegut on the fate of his own rejected Master’s thesis: “It was rejected because it was so simple and looked like too much fun. One must not be too playful.???
grant says
Let’s hope I can type my thesis better than I type comments! The last line should read “I’d be willing to bet they still want it to be in 12 point font with no pictures.”
Sheesh, too much fun with a lap top!
austin says
didn’t even notice