Christmas with Letterman: Cher in a Muff, the Lone Ranger, and Darlene Love
This Friday marks the 26th time powerhouse rock/gospel singer Darlene Love sings, nay, belts “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)” on Late Night with David Letterman. To commemorate the occasion, Letterman’s sidekick, Paul Schaffer, along with Love and the Late Show staff put together a behind-the-scenes video, which you can watch below (but probably only for a limited time; The Late Show doesn’t like to leave things up very long). What follows the video is a post I wrote two years ago to inform the kids out there about this great, silly, and poignant TV tradition,...
Read MoreOrson Welles “Apologizes” for War of the Worlds (Quote of the Day)
This entry is part 16 of 23 in the series Quote of the Day.“I’m extremely surprised to learn that a story, which has become familiar to children through the medium of comic strips and many succeeding novels and adventure stories, should have had such an immediate and profound effect upon radio listeners.” – Orson Welles Welles’s War of the Worlds Seventy-three years ago today on CBS radio, Orson Welles performed an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel War of the Worlds, which was so realistic in terms of acting, sound effects, and narrative delivery...
Read MoreStevie Wonder “Sees” MLK Memorial
This entry is part 9 of 12 in the series Pic of the Day. An inspirational moment, singer Stevie Wonder is raised on a crane to “see” the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, dedicated this morning in Washington, D.C. According to NBC’s Brian Williams, Wonder is a “big backer of the project.” Indeed, the singer participated in the National Memorial “Dream Concert” (2007) and apparently helped to reschedule today’s dedication service (it was originally supposed to take place in August but was cancelled because of Hurricane Irene). I was surprised,...
Read MoreJon Stewart on Vacation (Quote of the Day)
This entry is part 3 of 23 in the series Quote of the Day. “When I go away on vacation I won’t look at the computer – I’m out. It’s like oxygen suddenly returns to your blood – it’s awesome.” – Jon Stewart, Rolling Stone (September...
Read More9/11 Memorial Merchandising: Where Should We Draw The Line?
This entry is part 29 of 32 in the series Essays / Analyses.Last night, both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report did bits on recent 9/11-related merchandise. Up first, The Daily Show remembered September 13, “the day Americans forgot the lessons of the day they had sworn they would always remember.” The report begins with footage from September 13, 2001, of Southern Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell blaming “pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, and lesbians” for inciting the terrorist attacks. We also hear from one of the newest Daily Show correspondents who...
Read MoreRick Perry and the GOP Love Them Some Executions
It would be a lie to say I watched last night’s Republican debate. More accurately, the television was on MSNBC, Brian Williams posed questions, candidates yapped, and I sat on the couch redirecting links from my old blog Unmuzzled Thoughts to this new one, Pop-Cultured Prof. (NOTE to readers: never, ever move your blog — so much trouble. With that said, please do update your blogrolls and RSS feeds! And you may subscribe via email here. Thanks!) So while I did not intently watch the debate, I did listen to it. One of the moments that propelled me to remove my gaze from my...
Read MoreObi Wan Obama, Bin Laden’s Death, and Tumblr
In Monday’s post, I explained how I learned about Osama Bin Laden’s death via Twitter. Today, I want to look at the way President Obama and Bin Laden are currently being portrayed on another social networking site, Tumblr. For those who don’t maintain one, a Tumblelog is a microblog (like Twitter) that “lets you effortlessly share anything: text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos, from your browser, phone, desktop, and/or email.” According to Tumblr, the average user creates about a dozen original posts each month and reblogs roughly three posts from those...
Read MoreOsama Bin Laden’s Death, Twitter Style
Let’s face it: I’m old. On weeknights and weekends, I’m usually in bed by 10:00 PM (EST), which means I must record and watch later The Killing, The Good Wife, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Late Night with David Letterman, and Parenthood. This also means I don’t check in with my social networks — from which I receive 90% of my national, world, and Hollywood news — until roughly 6:30 the next morning. (If I were on Twitter, I’d likely include the hashtag #firstworldproblems here.) For the most part, my early-to-bed ritual doesn’t affect things...
Read MoreTop Posts of 2010: Scars, Stars, Sex, Satire, Students, and Social Networking
According to my blog stats, these are Unmuzzled Thoughts‘s 20 most visited posts of 2010. They are listed in order, #1 scoring the most hits this year. Looking at the posts collectively, I realize that some are not my favorite, some I should’ve worded differently, and some arguably should not have received as many hits as they did (e.g., “Weird Ohio”?!). However, together they do represent a nice spectrum of what this blog aims to do: 1) comment on the occasionally frustrating but always fascinating world of academia, and 2) critically examine trends, ideas, and themes...
Read MoreStudent Poll: How Many Names Do You Know?
To my film students and/or any other Millennials: If you have 30 seconds, please respond to the following poll. Your responses will greatly help me out for an essay I’m writing. Thanks! Dr. Marshall PS. Again, Millennials only, please! Which people/names do you recognize? (polls)
Read More
Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,