Lady Gaga as (dis)simulacrum of monstrosity

Lady Gaga’s celebrity DNA revolves around the notion of monstrosity, an extensively researched concept in postmodern cultural studies. The analysis that is offered in this paper is largely informed by Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of monstrosity, as well as by their approach to the study of sign-systems that was deployed in A Thousand Plateaus. By drawing on biographical and archival visual data, with a focus on the relatively underexplored live show, an elucidation is afforded of what is really monstrous about Lady Gaga. The main argument put forward is that monstrosity as sign seeks to appropriate the horizon of unlimited semiosis as radical alterity and openness to signifying possibilities. In this context it is held that Gaga effectively delimits her unique semioscape; however, any claims to monstrosity are undercut by the inherent limits of a representationalist approach in sufficiently engulfing this concept. Gaga is monstrous for her community insofar as she demands of her fans to project their semiosic horizon onto her as a simulacrum of infinite semiosis. However, this simulacrum may only be evinced in a feigned manner as a (dis)simulacrum. The analysis of imagery from seminal live shows during 2011–2012 shows that Gaga’s presumed monstrosity is more akin to hyperdifferentiation as simultaneous employment of heterogeneous and potentially dissonant inter pares cultural representations. The article concludes with a problematisation of audience effects in the light of Gaga’s adoption of a schematic and post-representationalist strategy in the event of her strategy’s emulation by competitive artists

Difference, dissonance, and redemption in sport heritage: interpreting the tangled legacy of Pete Rose at two museums

Induction into a hall of fame can be the ultimate accolade for an athlete. Arguably, the most famous of all sport halls of fame is the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (NBHF) in Cooperstown, New York. The NBHF is widely considered the primary authority concerning baseball enshrinement, although other baseball halls of fame may differ in their assessment of particular players. One such case involves Pete Rose, baseball’s all-time hits leader, who received a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball for gambling on his own games. Rose is omitted for consideration for the NBHF, however he is an inductee at the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum (RHFM) in Cincinnati, Ohio where he was a star player. Major League Baseball and the Office of the Commissioner are the authorizing agents for both halls of fame and appear to support both perspectives. This research note explores the different approaches to Pete Rose at the NBHF and the RHFM. We consider the potential for dissonant narratives to be used as a management tool by the authorizing agent in order to gauge public opinion and assuage Rose’s fans whilst keeping the debate firmly in the public eye

VR/Urban: spread.gun - design process and challenges in developing a shared encounter for media façades

Designing novel interaction concepts for urban environments is not only a technical challenge in terms of scale, safety, portability and deployment, but also a challenge of designing for social configurations and spatial settings. To outline what it takes to create a consistent and interactive experience in urban space, we describe the concept and multidisciplinary design process of VR/Urban's media intervention tool called Spread.gun, which was created for the Media Façade Festival 2008 in Berlin. Main design aims were the anticipation of urban space, situational system configuration and embodied interaction. This case study also reflects on the specific technical, organizational and infrastructural challenges encountered when developing media façade installations

Then and now: Perspectives on the status of elementary reading instruction by prominent reading educators.

This study queried members of the Reading Hall of Fame about elementary school reading instruction. Results from closed and open items revealed three major themes: (a) a neo-traditional view toward the teaching and learning of reading; (b) frustration with the fadism and ideological debates in the field; and (c) the necessity of enhancing teacher knowldge at the university and in public school settings. The perspectives of Reading Hall of Fame members of today were then compared to those of prominent reading educators of the past (Morrison, 1963), revealing both similarities and differences in the evaluation of elementary reading education then and now

Expressions, Spring 2017

College of Humanities and the Arts Newsletter, Volume 1

FAME, the Flux Analysis and Modeling Environment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The creation and modification of genome-scale metabolic models is a task that requires specialized software tools. While these are available, subsequently running or visualizing a model often relies on disjoint code, which adds additional actions to the analysis routine and, in our experience, renders these applications suboptimal for routine use by (systems) biologists.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The Flux Analysis and Modeling Environment (FAME) is the first web-based modeling tool that combines the tasks of creating, editing, running, and analyzing/visualizing stoichiometric models into a single program. Analysis results can be automatically superimposed on familiar KEGG-like maps. FAME is written in PHP and uses the Python-based PySCeS-CBM for its linear solving capabilities. It comes with a comprehensive manual and a quick-start tutorial, and can be accessed online at <url>http://f-a-m-e.org/</url>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>With FAME, we present the community with an open source, user-friendly, web-based "one stop shop" for stoichiometric modeling. We expect the application will be of substantial use to investigators and educators alike.</p