Author: CarrieLynn D. Reinhard
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From Big Eyes to Big Trees: How the yasashii in anime heralds the way to a better tomorrow
October 26, 2004 Japan is the only country to have experienced a nuclear attack, giving it insight as to what a post-nuclear apocalyptic world would be. It is no wonder then that in their pop culture the issue of what could precipitate another apocalypse has been continually addressed and readdressed. One possible forerunner to such…
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Haunted Houses as Physicalized Virtual Reality?
It’s October. Sure, here in Chicagoland it’s been 80 degrees for the past couple days, but the leaves are falling, and the calendar can’t be lying. It’s October, which means every young person’s fancy turns to the ghouls and ghosts that go bump in the night. For the very young ones, this time means donning…
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Virtual Worlds Book Chapter Published
In a bit of self-marketing (as if this blog is not entirely that), I am happy to announce that I got my copy of Virtual Worlds and Metaverse Platforms: New communication and identity paradigms from IGI Global Publishers. There I am, as chapter 8: “Virtual worlds and reception studies: Comparing engagings My colleague from Roskilde University,…
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Two Men and a Second Life
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this blog, I spent two years working on a post-doc research fellowship for the Virtual Worlds Research Group at Roskilde University in Denmark. During my time there, I conducted an experiment on how people make sense of two types of virtual worlds and compared these sense-makings to those while engaging…
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Media Personae Identification: Early Thoughts
In the spring of 2005, I attended my first academic conference with a paper written primarily as a class assignment, but one that I expanded for this conference. I used the ideas in the paper in my master’s thesis, but I have not had a chance to revisit them. I hope to, and as part…
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David Tennant: The Sexy Doctor
For many fans, the return of Doctor Who to BBC had its highlights during the David Tennant years as the 10th Doctor. During his reign, he was consistently voted highly in public polls on favorite actor, best actor, and sexiest actor by British fans, and by fans from around the world. 10Rose was a favorite shipping…
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Wii U: Whoopie?
At E3 today, the boffo electronics bazaar in Los Angeles where companies unveil their latest and greatest to tantalize the geeks in all of us, Nintendo unveiled their (much) anticipated new system to answer PlayStation 3’s Move and X-Box 360’s Kinect. While Nintendo’s Wii was revolutionary when it first came out, its sales have been…
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The Mainstreaming of Geekdom?
You can’t get tickets to Comic-Con that easily anymore. Back in 2007, the passes were already being sold at a record rate. It’s accelerated since then. My boyfriend and I were thinking about going this year, but everything is sold out. So until we can find a new time to get there, I’ve been reflecting…
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Comics Versus Literary Adaptations
Back in 2007, I attended Comic-Con. At the time, I presented a paper on comics adaptations into films and the roles of “true believers” at the Comics Arts Conference. However, it was while I was at that venerable convention, surrounded by the fans and true believers Hollywood was hoping to capture (their energy, their money,…
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