This student guide to every university in the UK includes advice on making an application, as wel... more This student guide to every university in the UK includes advice on making an application, as well as coping with living away from home, accommodation, and even beer and food! The 1997 edition includes entries for 30 extra colleges.
This student guide to every university in the UK includes advice on making an application, as wel... more This student guide to every university in the UK includes advice on making an application, as well as coping with living away from home, accommodation, and even beer and food! The 1997 edition includes entries for 30 extra colleges.
This student guide to every university in the UK includes advice on making an application, as wel... more This student guide to every university in the UK includes advice on making an application, as well as coping with living away from home, accommodation, and even beer and food! The 1997 edition includes entries for 30 extra colleges.
A brief consideration of how class and cultural biases affect our varying responses to celebrity ... more A brief consideration of how class and cultural biases affect our varying responses to celebrity deaths
A man careers down a water slide, then flies over the lip of a ramp and across a valley to land i... more A man careers down a water slide, then flies over the lip of a ramp and across a valley to land in a paddling pool. The slightest miscalculation would see him splattered across the hillside. This viral clip (if you missed it, search for 'megawoosh' on YouTube) seized the collective imagination back in August, for the few days it took until it was revealed to a concoction of spliced videos and convincing dummies; inevitably, it was also a commercial promotion, in this case for Microsoft. Of course it was faked, and of course there was corporate cash behind it. Who could have thought otherwise. But in those hundred hours of innocence we loved watching it and believing it: as Douglas Adams would have said, the stunt wasn't impossible, just highly improbable. Similarly the clip of the footballer Ronaldinho catching a rebound from the crossbar on his head (a Nike viral); the increasingly eerie lonelygirl15 videos (which turned out to be placed on YouTube by aspiring film-makers); and the letter to Richard Branson complaining about the "crime against cooking" served on his airline (a Virgin PR stunt, of course); blatant fakes that worked for a very brief while, and thus did their job. Ours is supposed to be a dour and cynical age, in which politicians and bankers and religious leaders are deemed to have only the basest and most venal intentions; climate change deniers and 9/11 conspiracy theorists pick away not just at our perceptions of reality but at our faith in institutions and people. And yet, when we want to, we can allow ourselves to believe the corniest, dumbest narratives. Is it plausible that the judges on the TV show Britain's Got Talent really didn't know that frumpy spinster Susan Boyle had such an extraordinary voice? When in October six
A consideration of the signifiers of "indie" that permit other musical and non-musical works and ... more A consideration of the signifiers of "indie" that permit other musical and non-musical works and individuals to be admitted to the genre.
This dissertation seeks to examine the canons of knowledge that have traditionally dominated West... more This dissertation seeks to examine the canons of knowledge that have traditionally dominated Western culture, and asks whether it is possible to maintain such a canon in today’s fragmented, relativist society, especially one in which huge quantities of information are available at the touch of a button. It studies not only the conventional indicators, such as school and university curricula, but also the questions used in successful, prestigious quiz shows on TV and radio. The changing emphasis of these questions, and the social assumptions that underpin them, are discussed in the context of thinkers such as T.S. Eliot, Harold Bloom and Pierre Bourdieu, as well as members of the Frankfurt and Birmingham Schools. Social class, gender and age are considered as factors that affect the knowledge of individuals and thus their status in situations where specific types of knowledge are valued; and the impact of neoliberal economics is also taken into account.
An overview of the most important news events of the 2000s and how social and geographical circum... more An overview of the most important news events of the 2000s and how social and geographical circumstances affect our perspectives on them
The religious journey of the Canadian writer and performer Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) as expressed... more The religious journey of the Canadian writer and performer Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) as expressed in his songs and his life.
An obituary for Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) and a discussion of how his theories had been (unwit... more An obituary for Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) and a discussion of how his theories had been (unwittingly?) taken up by the big geopolitical players of the time.
Considering the ethical and political ramifications of self-tracking, with reference to Apparatge... more Considering the ethical and political ramifications of self-tracking, with reference to Apparatgeist and the quantified self.
The processes that occur when individuals encounter media that is geographically or culturally "o... more The processes that occur when individuals encounter media that is geographically or culturally "other", with particular reference to expat media in London, and presentations of non-Japanese cultures in Japanese theme parks.
An examination of the extent to which some of the key cultural thinkers (Adorno, Barthes, Foucaul... more An examination of the extent to which some of the key cultural thinkers (Adorno, Barthes, Foucault, Baudrillard, McLuhan) of the second half of the 20th century might still have relevance today and in the future, given developments in technology and the possibilities of post-humanism.
Applying Pierre Bourdieu's ideas about the social construction of aesthetic taste to contemporary... more Applying Pierre Bourdieu's ideas about the social construction of aesthetic taste to contemporary graffiti culture.
Thoughts about the use of metafiction in British TV comedy in the early 21st century, with a focu... more Thoughts about the use of metafiction in British TV comedy in the early 21st century, with a focus on Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive (2006), Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach (2008), Grandma's House (2010).
Exploring the notion that all art – from the cave paintings of Lascaux to the present day - is c... more Exploring the notion that all art – from the cave paintings of Lascaux to the present day - is conceptual unless and until its underlying concepts become widely adopted
This student guide to every university in the UK includes advice on making an application, as wel... more This student guide to every university in the UK includes advice on making an application, as well as coping with living away from home, accommodation, and even beer and food! The 1997 edition includes entries for 30 extra colleges.
This student guide to every university in the UK includes advice on making an application, as wel... more This student guide to every university in the UK includes advice on making an application, as well as coping with living away from home, accommodation, and even beer and food! The 1997 edition includes entries for 30 extra colleges.
This student guide to every university in the UK includes advice on making an application, as wel... more This student guide to every university in the UK includes advice on making an application, as well as coping with living away from home, accommodation, and even beer and food! The 1997 edition includes entries for 30 extra colleges.
A brief consideration of how class and cultural biases affect our varying responses to celebrity ... more A brief consideration of how class and cultural biases affect our varying responses to celebrity deaths
A man careers down a water slide, then flies over the lip of a ramp and across a valley to land i... more A man careers down a water slide, then flies over the lip of a ramp and across a valley to land in a paddling pool. The slightest miscalculation would see him splattered across the hillside. This viral clip (if you missed it, search for 'megawoosh' on YouTube) seized the collective imagination back in August, for the few days it took until it was revealed to a concoction of spliced videos and convincing dummies; inevitably, it was also a commercial promotion, in this case for Microsoft. Of course it was faked, and of course there was corporate cash behind it. Who could have thought otherwise. But in those hundred hours of innocence we loved watching it and believing it: as Douglas Adams would have said, the stunt wasn't impossible, just highly improbable. Similarly the clip of the footballer Ronaldinho catching a rebound from the crossbar on his head (a Nike viral); the increasingly eerie lonelygirl15 videos (which turned out to be placed on YouTube by aspiring film-makers); and the letter to Richard Branson complaining about the "crime against cooking" served on his airline (a Virgin PR stunt, of course); blatant fakes that worked for a very brief while, and thus did their job. Ours is supposed to be a dour and cynical age, in which politicians and bankers and religious leaders are deemed to have only the basest and most venal intentions; climate change deniers and 9/11 conspiracy theorists pick away not just at our perceptions of reality but at our faith in institutions and people. And yet, when we want to, we can allow ourselves to believe the corniest, dumbest narratives. Is it plausible that the judges on the TV show Britain's Got Talent really didn't know that frumpy spinster Susan Boyle had such an extraordinary voice? When in October six
A consideration of the signifiers of "indie" that permit other musical and non-musical works and ... more A consideration of the signifiers of "indie" that permit other musical and non-musical works and individuals to be admitted to the genre.
This dissertation seeks to examine the canons of knowledge that have traditionally dominated West... more This dissertation seeks to examine the canons of knowledge that have traditionally dominated Western culture, and asks whether it is possible to maintain such a canon in today’s fragmented, relativist society, especially one in which huge quantities of information are available at the touch of a button. It studies not only the conventional indicators, such as school and university curricula, but also the questions used in successful, prestigious quiz shows on TV and radio. The changing emphasis of these questions, and the social assumptions that underpin them, are discussed in the context of thinkers such as T.S. Eliot, Harold Bloom and Pierre Bourdieu, as well as members of the Frankfurt and Birmingham Schools. Social class, gender and age are considered as factors that affect the knowledge of individuals and thus their status in situations where specific types of knowledge are valued; and the impact of neoliberal economics is also taken into account.
An overview of the most important news events of the 2000s and how social and geographical circum... more An overview of the most important news events of the 2000s and how social and geographical circumstances affect our perspectives on them
The religious journey of the Canadian writer and performer Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) as expressed... more The religious journey of the Canadian writer and performer Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) as expressed in his songs and his life.
An obituary for Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) and a discussion of how his theories had been (unwit... more An obituary for Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) and a discussion of how his theories had been (unwittingly?) taken up by the big geopolitical players of the time.
Considering the ethical and political ramifications of self-tracking, with reference to Apparatge... more Considering the ethical and political ramifications of self-tracking, with reference to Apparatgeist and the quantified self.
The processes that occur when individuals encounter media that is geographically or culturally "o... more The processes that occur when individuals encounter media that is geographically or culturally "other", with particular reference to expat media in London, and presentations of non-Japanese cultures in Japanese theme parks.
An examination of the extent to which some of the key cultural thinkers (Adorno, Barthes, Foucaul... more An examination of the extent to which some of the key cultural thinkers (Adorno, Barthes, Foucault, Baudrillard, McLuhan) of the second half of the 20th century might still have relevance today and in the future, given developments in technology and the possibilities of post-humanism.
Applying Pierre Bourdieu's ideas about the social construction of aesthetic taste to contemporary... more Applying Pierre Bourdieu's ideas about the social construction of aesthetic taste to contemporary graffiti culture.
Thoughts about the use of metafiction in British TV comedy in the early 21st century, with a focu... more Thoughts about the use of metafiction in British TV comedy in the early 21st century, with a focus on Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive (2006), Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach (2008), Grandma's House (2010).
Exploring the notion that all art – from the cave paintings of Lascaux to the present day - is c... more Exploring the notion that all art – from the cave paintings of Lascaux to the present day - is conceptual unless and until its underlying concepts become widely adopted
Themes of truth, reality and self-reference in '-30-', the concluding episode of the TV series Th... more Themes of truth, reality and self-reference in '-30-', the concluding episode of the TV series The Wire
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