About a year ago my wife and I cancelled our cable television. I won’t go into details, but the cable company had been no end of problems for us, so we left. It was a decision we made nervously. We were part of the first generation raised on cable television. We could both remember a time when our parents only had over the air broadcast television, but it had been years. Through college and the early years of work we’d always had some form of basic cable. Suddenly, we were going to have nothing.
Author: Justin
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One thing we like to do with Professor Hobo is involve the community as much as possible. With that in mind, we’re presenting this behind the scenes shot from the next episode of Professor Hobo.
We recently launched our online store where you can buy t-shirts, posters, and more featuring Professor Hobo. We did this for one main reason–to allow fans to purchase items. Honestly, we make so little off each item sold that the store will likely not even pay for itself. So no, unless someone starts ordering a thousand shirt s a month we’re not getting rich.
After a work-related meeting yesterday my wife and I drove to a neighboring town for dinner. The town itself is heavily Amish and the restaurant features home-style food. These details are not unrelated, but not related in the way you might assume. You might assume that a home-style restaurant in an Amish town would be run by the Amish, but then the electricity powering the glow of everything around you would seem to tip the scales against that. But the proprietors of this business are cunning, and rather than give into the almighty power of observable logic, they choose to…
For the last few weeks I’ve been working on prepping the Introduction to Film course I’ll teach in the fall. The class has a lab during which we have enough time to screen full length films. That means I have to pick which films to show, and that can be harder than it sounds. When dealing with a young audience, anything made before they were born often comes off as odd and unapproachable. The dialogue seems funny, the special effects dated, etc. For this fall’s class, that means anything prior to 1990. Obviously I can’t limit myself to just films…
While piddling about online looking for something interesting to read, I made the mistake of visiting CNN’s website. What’s so bad about CNN’s site, you ask? First, why does CNN act confused about where I am? Just about every other website in the world can recognize and greet me knowing I’m from the United States. For some reason, CNN always asks me if I’m sure I want the US edition of its website. CNN is like a teenage waiter his first night on the job. “Are you sure you wanted a baked potato?” Apparently even if it did turn out…
As I write this, my in-laws are driving five hours to come visit. According to television, this should frighten me. My mother-in-law will suggest other men my wife should have married, and my father-in-law will glare and sneer at me at the same time–sort of a snare, if you will. Except, this won’t happen. Oh the many splendid lies of television. Even the best of parents can’t shield their children from television’s grasp, and even the nimblest of minds get corrupted by distorted television portrayals. One of the classic ones to use in a communication class is to ask what…
Belief is a powerful thing, though slightly less powerful than a mid-ocean oil pipe, apparently. Belief has driven humans out of the cave, across the sea, and into theaters showing Nicholas Cage films. But while you may be powerfully motivated by your own beliefs, you also happen to be powerfully motivated against those of others. Why? Here’s a little thought experiment. What if you saw your neighbor one day carry their dog outside, bend it over their knee, and then beat it with a belt while crying, “This hurts me more than it does you!” Now, before you could call…
There are most likely three reactions one can have to reading the title of this piece. One, you recognize it as a Seinfeld reference. Two, you only just now recognized it as a reference upon me mentioning Seinfeld. Three, you have no idea what a puffy shirt is. If you fall under option three, you most likely often feel left out of conversations among coworkers and friends. Someone mentions a Soup Nazi and you think you missed a History Channel documentary. Nobody likes to feel left out, but cultural references create this situation all the time. My last two blog…
Last week I wrote that the finale of Lost could do nothing but disappoint. No matter how much fans gave it a fair shake, they would end up slightly disappointed after investing six years and not getting an ending that would satiate every nuanced desire. Having read several responses since the airing, I stand by that assertion. Even the most positive responses come with a bagful of caveats. What did I make of it? I was disappointed, but perhaps not for the reasons many might expect. I liked that we were finally given our climatic showdown between good and evil…