Dementia Futures Call for Papers 22-24 January 2025  Martin Harris Centre, University of Manchester    Conference organisers: MaoHui Deng, Sarah Fox, Kate Maguire-Rosier, and Réka Polonyi Cultural narratives and research around dementia are not usually focused on ideas of a future with dementia.

Editors : Léa Dreyer, Evgenii Kozlov, Pierre-Jacques Pernuit, Clara Royer, Anne-Katrin Weber In 1924, the “Jenkins Picture-Strip Machine,” a wireless-photography transmission device invented by the U.S. television pioneer Charles Jenkins, was used as part of an ambitious astronomy experiment.

Okay, so… this is a book review. Sounds a bit boring doesn’t it?  I mean – a book review.  I can’t remember the last time that I did a book review per se because I think I got bored with them myself.  They’re everywhere, aren’t they?  Online. In magazines. In newsletters.  And part of me thinks – who needs ’em?  Why add to the mass of unread ones out there?

Regardless as to whether you have seen it, you probably have some awareness of Baby Reindeer , the autobiographical miniseries from Richard Gadd, which was released on Netflix in April 2024. The seven-part drama thriller recounts a stalking experience that Gadd suffered during his twenties while he was attempting to embark on a career as a stand-up comedian.

‘Mother, Mother Ocean/After all the years I’ve found My occupational hazard/Being my occupation’s just not around’                                     ‘A Pirate Looks at 40,’ Jimmy Buffet

The Witcher has had a lasting impression on fantasy across many media forms, first in Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels and, more recently, its many adaptations. Such adaptations have resulted in “extensive, self-contained fictional spaces” (Jański, 2018, p.119) which allows for a variety of characters, environments, and societies to be depicted from the perspective of the outsider.

Dear all, On July 4, 5 and 6, Taylor Swift will perform in Amsterdam, consequent to the Celebrity Studies Conference in Amsterdam (1 – 3 July 2024). The combination of these events offers a unique opportunity to gather, celebrate, and critique the multifaceted persona(e) of an increasingly iconic performer and songwriter.

Television careers offer many potential benefits: opportunities for creative expression, a sense of making a difference in the world, flexibility and autonomy – but often at a price.

While improvised or unscripted television has been a feature of media industries for decades, most such series are either comedy or reality television. Suspects (Channel 5, 2014-2016), on the other hand, was an unscripted crime drama featuring improvised dialogue. For those unfamiliar with the series, Suspects follows a group of officers from an unspecified London CID.

The mid-1990s were an unusual time to grow up in the US (at least I thought so). The success of The X-Files (Fox 1993-2003; 2016-2018) had led to an explicit spinoff ( Millennium, Fox 1996-1999) as well as a glut of similar conspiracy and alien-related series.

So, this morning, the day has already got off to a good start with the unprompted arrival of what I like to think of as a ‘Nice one!’ e-mail. They don’t have to be long.  They don’t have to be complicated.  And – indeed – they were a thing taught to me in the technology field before we even had e-mails.  I have no idea what I liked to think of them as back then.