the chutry experiment

I don't know, but towards the end something like Videodrome might be applicable?

Videodrome might be interesting. I do need to spend some time talking about the major shifts in the 1980s (the emergence of video and cable, the "birth" of the high concept film, etc).

It looks like you've got quite a reading list already - is this for an intro level class? I like Brian Winston's Media Technology and Society quite a bit since he's highly skeptical about many of claims about new technologies, and he has chapters devoted to things like cable and laserdisc. I assigned the chapter on the Internet to the intro-level production class I taught last spring, and I thought it was good for getting a bunch of people up to speed on the history of the Internet, but many of the more technophilic students complained his tone was "grumpy." Would you read some of Tom Schatz's work on "New Hollywood" if you went into blockbusters?

I've been assigned to TA a class titled "New Communication Technologies" next semester. I chatted with the prof about her plans for the class, and I was pretty surprised when she said, "In the past, I spent most of the semester discussing cable TV." The class will emphasize the Internet more, but, as a thirty-year-old, cable wasn't even on my radar as a new technology.

The Winston book looks good. I might use his chapter on the Internet (or a similar chapter on a recent technology). I don't think a little grumpiness is a bad thing, of course (after all I like Adorno). Tom Schatz on "New Hollywood" would be good.

I do think some time on cable would be good, especially since I want to cover changes over the last two centuries (though focusing primarily on the relatively contemporary). I think it's worth looking at the changes that cable introduced--I still remember getting cable for the first time and being amazed that there was an entire network devoted to sports (!) and one dedicated to kids' shows (!). Of course, talking about cable might also help foster larger conversations about media deregulation and other more recent institutional questions.

I think the strongest part of Winston's book is his introduction, which includes a very useful framework for thinking about technological change. The rest of the book is a little uneven.

No plans to include anything about videogames? I know its still rare to see it in the classroom, but you might consider including some machinima (Red V Blue) to talk both about video game media culture and the production of media/cinema using video game technology...

Yeah, I do need *something* about video games. I simply forgot to mention them since I was writing primarily about the major texts for the course. Machinima is an interesting possibility, especially in terms of those issues of media in transition. I may look at the Video Game Reader for 1-2 short essays to cover that history.

You might also look at the new Handbook of Computer Game Studies (MIT Press 2005) edited by Joost Raessens and Jeffrey Goldstein and/or ScreenPlay: cinema/videogames/interfaces, edited by Geoff King and Tanya Krzywinska. If you are able to make it to Dave's on Saturday night, I'd be happy to chat about idea.

Thanks for the suggestions. Hope we can talk about it IRL at some point....