Kelli’s latest blog posts, photos, publications, interviews, and conference presentations. Also, for students: class assignments, syllabus changes, and general reminders.
Oprah Goes National
This entry is part 2 of 12 in the series Pic of the Day.Twenty-five years ago today Oprah Winfrey’s television show was broadcast. While I stopped watching The Oprah Winfrey Show this past year (t’was so indulgent, too many guests groveling over Oprah and her legacy, etc.), there’s no denying that the former newscaster from little ol’ Kosciusko, Mississippi, completely changed the face of daytime television. Here’s Time magazine on the matter, after Oprah’s ratings beat Phil Donahue’s: In a field...
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...
read moreHappy Birthday, Gene Kelly
This entry is part 1 of 12 in the series Pic of the Day. Happy 99th birthday to Gene Kelly who still gets me all hot and bothered. My tribute to the song-and-dance...
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Thank You, Gene Kelly, for Not Directing Cabaret
This entry is part 28 of 33 in the series Essays / Analyses.Last week I stumbled across several 1976 newspaper articles in which Gene Kelly discusses his return to movies. After the death of his (second) wife, Jeanne Coyne, Kelly turned down virtually any film project that would take him away from the couple’s two young children, Tim and Bridget. At this point, single fatherhood was his life. But with the blessing of his kids, he returned to the silver screen in the dramatic (not musical) role of Evil Knievel’s “grease-monkey...
read moreHangin’ with the Ghosts of Buster Keaton and John Barrymore: Movie Palaces and Murals in Toledo, OH
This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series In and Around Toledo.Every Thursday during July and August, the University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center and the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library sponsor free walking tours of downtown Toledo. Held during lunchtime, the tours cover Toledo’s history and architecture: July 7: Trinity Episcopal Church (built 1892). July 14: Vistula, Toledo’s Oldest Neighborhood (estb. 1837). July 21: The Valentine Theater (opened 1896). July 28: Birmingham Ethnic Neighborhood (Hungarian neighborhood estb. in...
read moreOn Academics and Fansites (or, My Justification for Creating Gene Kelly Fans)
Yikes! My last post, on similarities between animated GIFs and early cinema, was over a month ago. Where have I been, you ask? Unfortunately, not on vacation, not teaching, and certainly not at the movies (please get over your superhero fetish, Hollywood). I have, however, been busy with two projects: co-editing an anthology with a colleague (Gaby Malcolm), and creating/managing/editing a Gene Kelly fansite. Yeah, that’s right: a fansite. Before you judge, roll your eyes, and call me a freak, hear me out. But first, here’s a bit...
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Pimping Aaron Sorkin
This entry is part 27 of 33 in the series Essays / Analyses.Hello readers, it’s Aaron Sorkin week over at In Media Res! Posted today is my brief analysis of Sorkin’s (weirdo) 2011 Golden Globes speech about the “elite smart girls” of Hollywood. You remember, right? Those awkward 15 seconds The Social Network‘s screenwriter devotes to his 11-year-old daughter, Roxy? “I want to thank all the female nominees tonight for helping demonstrate to my young daughter that elite is not a bad word; it’s an...
read moreAnimated GIFs, Cinemagraphs, and Our Return to Early Cinema
This entry is part 26 of 33 in the series Essays / Analyses.Every couple of days I head over to Tumblr to check out my dashboard, which normally overflows with — no surprise to frequent readers of this blog — info about and images of Gene Kelly, Colin Firth, Jon Stewart, and Shakespeare. But hey, sometimes I also wake up to pics of Bogie and Bacall, Cary Grant, Judy Garland, Hugh Laurie, Kenneth Branagh, Karl Pilkington, and the guys from Men of a Certain Age. So there. While still photographs like this one of Colin Firth showering...
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Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,