The Medium is the Massage
Listening to the CD of McLuhan’s rap record from the late 1970s. A chaotic, dated mess, but nevertheless an interesting listen (if you have the patience). The book works better … Continue reading
Monkey Man, 1964
Monkey Man swings from trees and wears a brightly colored costume similar to Spiderman (who served as the main inspiration for the character). It is difficult to recall more than … Continue reading
Footprint on the Moon
There are not many days that I can recall exactly where I was 40 years ago. But tonight, July 20, 2009, it’s a bit different. On July 20, 1969 I … Continue reading
Burke v. Clark
I’ve been watching Kenneth Clark’s Civilization and James Burke’s Connections. Both are BBC produced documentary series that focus for the most part on what is traditionally called Western Civilization. Clark’s … Continue reading
The Imagined Audience
Now we all have the tools to communicate. Unlike the recent past, when the tools of media production were almost wholly owned by large corporate entities, now, thanks to other … Continue reading
The Independent Film Scene (circa 1993)
There was a time in the late 1970s when the term independent filmmaking was synonymous with Lenny Lipton’s book of the same name (Lipton being the guy who wrote the … Continue reading
Cultural Objects and the Essay Form
Tate Modern, London, August 2008. Comparative studies provide an interesting way to understand cultural objects (in a pinch, social ones as well). These studies allow one to perceive the networks … Continue reading
New Media Theory and Documentary Studies
What kind of productive dialogue can documentary studies have with new media theory? Mental Radio seeks to provide preliminary answers to this question, while opening up additional avenues of inquiry … Continue reading
