Higher Ed Taglines

I'm having the print copywriting students develop ads for "Salem State University" today. I came across a great resource: "HigherEdTaglines.com," a database that collects slogans and mottoes from colleges and universities. Most higher ed taglines are pretty sad, revolving around cliched themes ("journeys") and/or overused keywords ("excellence"). Salem State's current slogan (one of the few actually tagged as a service mark) is "Educating you for life." This line has the benefit of focusing on SSC's mission of supporting life-long learning (unsurprisingly, a very common theme among institutions of higher ed). It is interpreted differently, however, by students who have been here for five years without graduating....

Vasily Aksyonov

There was a time I was deeply into late-cold war Russian literature (I have a box of books--Alexander Bitov, Yuri Trifonov, Fasil Iskander, Andrei Voznesensky et al--in my basement to show for it). I owe this interest to Vasily Aksyonov, who died yesterday.

As dramatized in his book, In Search of Melancholy Baby, Aksyonov shamed my class of aspiring writers at JHU into being more interested in literature beyond our borders. Each class he introduced us to one of his friends--he had surveyed them about the creative process in preparation for the class. [I got name-checked in his book for my paper on Iskander, which was super cool.]


My favorite moment in the class, though, was the day he brought in a scratchy old record by Vladimir Vysotsky, which we listened to on an ancient AV cart turntable, drinking champagne, dreaming of being part of a real literary scene.

The internet is making me smarter (and dumber).

My favorite podcast is Robert Harrison's Entitled Opinions (about Life and Literature). Each week Harrison, himself a renowned Italianist and eco-critic, converses with a colleague at Stanford. Recent topics have included: Friedrich Nietzsche; "The Re-enchantement of the World (with a guest host); "Brazil and Nuance." I approach this show with the giddy undergraduate feeling that I might just learn something that transforms the way I look at everything. (One example, a show last season about the philosophy of moods--defined as ways of being attuned to the world-has proven to be a good cure for solipcism). And Harrison really likes birds (not so much consumerism).

I am also a frequent visitor to popurls.com, which comprises the most popular RSS feeds on a single page. It is a good way to survey the day's web memes. I feel obligated, given my academic area, to know what is going on. But it doesn't make me feel smarter. On the contrary, for me it is an IQ sink rewarding the shallow, easily stimulated parts of my brain. This despite the fact the feeds include some relatively nourishing content (New York Times, Slashdot, Metafilter). My only explanation is the headline/link nature of the site, which demands a mode of evaluation that can only be superficial. Or the fact that I am too easily tempted by fark-style dumbness. Regardless, off it comes, today, from the bookmark toolbar. Begone, popurls.

Yoshimi for Glico

Two of my favorite things have come together. Boredoms music and Japanese snack food commercials.

Lily and I were cruising my old CM links (it's been a couple of years) and we stumbled upon this commercial for Glico's Karujaga (titled "Potato Trance"). We watched it over and over, transfixed. Later I checked out "the artist" link at the bottom of the page, and sure enough the music was by Yoshimi (complete with links to both the Boredoms and OOIOO homepages). The animator, Goto Shoji, worked with OOIOO on a video a few years ago. The video, for the song "UMO", features similar characters and similar tribal music.

The original has more eco-apocalyptic fantasy and fewer potato sticks; the newer one is actually more kinetic than the original, and it looks like the chief drummer has switched genders. And, most importantly, in the commercial, the trance word "UMA" has been repurposed as "UMAI" ("delicious"). (This is a pun freely offered by Thrill Jockey, OOIOO's American label).

Marketing the Trustees of Reservations

Noteworthy Globe piece about a Bentley University partnership with Trustees of Reservations. The goal is to find ways of connecting with "Gen Y," to grow membership among young adults. Making the Trustees "sexy"--I'm looking forward to seeing the results... [Seriously, given SSC's closer proximity to the Trustees' headquarters, I'm thinking this is a relationship we might try to cultivate]

Quick, what's different about these three photographs?

Answer: Each was chosen by a different head photo editor [Vincent Amalvy (AFP), Santiago Lyon (AP), Jim Bourg (Reuters)] as an image that captured the "character" of Bush and his administration. Errol Morris interviews each about the reasons for choosing these and other photos.

Obama Blingee

Myspace Glitter Graphics



(This isn't mine, by the way). I think it's significant that there is a special blingee Obama genre.