Research Seminar: Anthony Stanonis

At this week's research seminar we're delighted to be welcoming Anthony Stanonis from Queen's University Belfast. Anthony is the author of
Creating the Big Easy: New Orleans and the Emergence of Modern Tourism, 1918–1945 (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 2006) and, most recently, the editor of Dixie Emporium: Tourism, Foodways, and Consumer Culture in the American South (Athens, Ga: University of Georgia Press, 2008).


He'll be talking about: "Getting Color: Race, Tanning, and Tourism in the American South, 1900-1970."

February 15, Arts 2.51, 3pm. See you there.

Remembering Whitney Houston

by Liam Heffernan

You don’t have to be a fan of Whitney Houston to recognise the impact she has made across the entertainment industry. Many of her critics would hold her responsible for influencing the likes of Christina Aguilera, or for single-handedly keeping the TV talent show alive with her catchy dance pop stuff and those timeless ballad things. I’m not a music buff. But this is an artist who has sold 170 million albums, has 11 US number one hits, 6 Grammy Awards, and the best selling single by a female artist of all time (data from BBC News), which makes her almost as big as Robson & Jerome, and for that she will always be remembered as one of the greats.

The 48 year old singer of I Will Always Love You was pronounced dead in her Beverley Hilton Hotel room at approximately 3.30pm (11.30pm GMT) on Saturday. She was in Los Angeles for this evening’s Grammy Awards, and was due to attend a star-studded party last night hosted by record industry bigwig and long time mentor Clive Davis. The awards are usually the biggest event in the music calendar, but tonight it will take an appropriately sombre tone as former colleagues and friends pay their respects to someone who influenced almost everyone in popular music today. And if Michael Jackson’s death in 2009 is anything to go by, Houston’s fans will be turning the charts into a celebration of her greatest hits. Plus, we can expect Simon Cowell to deliver a touching dedication to the singer on the next series of The X Factor, for which the ratings boost will be purely coincidental and not a heartless calculation in any way whatsoever.

In recent years Whitney Houston has made headlines for very different reasons. Her turbulent marriage to Bobby Brown and her long term substance abuse overshadowed her music, and her attempts at a big comeback a few years ago faced setbacks following a disappointing live tour. This will be covered in grisly detail over the following weeks as investigative journalists tell us everything we already knew and call it The Secret Life of Whitney, The Real Whitney Houston, and so on. But for the real fans of Whitney Houston, the ones she sang for, the ones who bought her records and sat through her movies out of nothing more than blind loyalty (because sitting through The Bodyguard is no mean feat) she will be immortalised as one of the most talented, most influential, and most successful performers of the twentieth century.

Research Seminar: Susan-Mary Grant

At this week's research seminar, we're very pleased to be welcoming Professor Susan-Mary Grant (Newcastle University). The author of a number of books including The War for a Nation : the American Civil War (Routledge, 2006) and the forthcoming A Concise History of the United States of America (Cambridge, 2012), she will be talking about: "‘A wooden leg is no excuse for anything’: Maiming, Masculinity, and the Medicalization of the Civil War Soldier."

Arts 2.51, 4pm, all welcome.

Superbowl Special: Immaculate Connection

Immaculate Connection: Can Madonna, Gay Men and American Football Go Together?

by Francisco Costa 

On July 24, 2011, New York became the sixth, and largest, state to allow same-sex couples to marry. Two months later, following decades in which gay rights issues have divided American’s opinion, the end of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy allowed gay men and women to serve openly. In February this year, following a year which suggested that Americans were becoming increasingly less tolerant of institutional homophobia, a gay icon will be the halftime performer at the Super Bowl show which airs to an average audience of 111 million viewers in America. This not only suggests that Americans are less tolerant of institutional homophobia, but of cultural homophobia as well. Thus, the importance of popular culture, and in particular of Madonna performing at the Super Bowl, is rooted in its ideological, social, cultural effects, and on its capacity to reconceptualise cultural norms and hegemonic values, by reinforcing sexual otherness.

Research Seminar: Kaeten Mistry

At this week's Research Seminar, AMS's very own Kaeten Mistry will be talking about "Narratives of Intervention: The CIA and the Framing of Covert Action."

Arts 2.51, 3pm, Wednesday February 1st. See you there!

Research Seminar: Jon Mitchell

At this week's Research Seminar, AMS's very own Jonathan Mitchell - author of Revisions of the American Adam: Innocence, Identity and Masculinity in Twentieth Century America (Continuum, 2011) will be talking about, "Cutting out the ‘I’s in American Psycho."

Wednesday 25th, Arts 2.51, 3pm. See you there!

News: Liam Heffernan on the Golden Globes

For many, January is the start of an intense guilt-induced period of cutbacks, and as these people stress about their post-Christmas budget and waistline, the film buffs are stocking up their alcohol supply and bracing themselves for the start of another awards season. The Golden Globes is very much the opening ceremony, where Hollywood’s finest (and Stacy Keibler) descend on the Beverley Hilton Hotel for a night of heavy drinking and self-congratulation. Enter Ricky Gervais.

Back for a third year, Gervais gave an equally funny but slightly less scathing performance as host, but no doubt we can expect some to criticise for not being controversial enough, and for others to be predictably offended because he said the word penis on prime time NBC. Of course we Brits were resigned to staying up until 1am to see Ricky’s opening monologue. Or at least the first sentence, at which point E! chose to play an ad for Kim Kardashian’s new show. Again. And Again. And Again.

But let’s put aside the unfathomable incompetence of E! for a moment and look at the winners and losers. Predictably, current Academy Award favourite The Artist won Best Comedy or Musical, Best Actor – Comedy or Musical, and Best Original Score, although George Clooney’s The Descendants also picked up Best Drama and Best Actor – Drama, so the Oscars could be a close call. The TV awards saw a welcome return to the spotlight for 90s sitcom stars Matt LeBlanc and Kelsey Grammar, scooping awards for Episodes and Boss respectively. On the whole, this year seemed more about rewarding the veterans than recognising new talent (as in the previous couple of years) with Spielberg, Scorsese, Woody Allen, George Clooney, Kate Winslet, and Meryl Streep all winning. And with Michelle Williams getting the Globe for her critically-acclaimed performance inMy Week With Marilyn, it will be interesting to see whether the Academy favour that or The Iron Lady. Homeland was the big TV winner with two awards and American Horror Story, Modern Family, and Downton Abbey also won.

But how much do we really care about awards? In recent years we have only tuned in for the hosting, and here's a handy compilation of all the Ricky Gervais bits. Enjoy, and those of you with the money to see these films please comment with your thoughts and let the financially crippled students know what not to waste their overdraft on. Or just gloat, but do that anonymously for your own safety.

Research Seminars: Spring Schedule

The new semester's approaching fast so, hot off the press, here's the compelling schedule for our Research Seminars this semester. See you there!

Research Seminar: Ross Hair

At this week's research seminar, AMS' very own Ross Hair - author, most recently, of Ronald Johnson's Modernist Collage Poetry (Palgrave, 2010) - will be speaking about: "Pan's People: Transatlantic Pastoral and the Jargon 'Society'".

Arts 2.84, 3pm, all welcome.

News: Liam Heffernan On This Season's American TV Imports

by Liam Heffernan

An obsession with film and television can be a terrible hindrance to essay-writing. Spending hours upon hours a day telling yourself you will start just as soon as you have caught up on Have I Got News For You and QI, but then you remember you forgot to watch Happy Endings and Glee from Thursday and how much work can you really be expected to do in the few minutes it takes to download? May as well put the kettle on and get all perked up so you’re ready to power on in an hour or two. Then you can properly focus. But wait, when does Harry Hill start? And you need to cook dinner too. Oh well, you’re free tomorrow, if you just catch up on Pan Am during breakfast and then crack on with essays in the afternoon before The X Factor Results.