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martha shearer

@marthashearer.bsky.social

4.6K followers 1.6K following 450 posts

asst prof in film studies, university college dublin. film/tv + real estate since 2008 • nyc + hollywood musical • musicals at the margins • women and new hollywood. she/her https://letterboxd.com/pauseforthejet/ https://people.ucd.ie/martha.shearer/

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martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · Apr 15

here is my new article on mad men, real estate, the past, the future (open access!): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
this is part of an upcoming special issue of rethinking history on "memories of the future" edited by louis bayman and tim vermeulen

‘Undeveloped property’: Mad Men, crisis, and real estate
Martha Shearer

ABSTRACT
Mad Men is perhaps the preeminent example of nostalgia television of the last 20 years. And yet its version of the Sixties is relatively uninterested in what Fredric Jameson has characterised as that decade’s ‘shared feeling that everything is possible’. Instead, its primary concern is the feeling of being unmoored in history, encapsulated in the falling man of its title sequence, but also in its formal shifts between delay, deferral and slowness and the shock of historical and narrative events. As a number of scholars have observed, that slowness calls attention instead to the image and to space, and especially to production design. In this essay, I argue that the show increasingly calls attention to that space as real estate, with seasons punctuated with domestic and commercial real estate sales and acquisitions, real estate transactions as major plot points, and the introduction of real estate agent and property developer characters in its final season. I suggest that real estate, in both aesthetic and narrative terms, is critical to the show’s ambivalence about the future, caught between optimism regarding the expansion of global capitalism and knowledge of crises that follow, both in the 1970s and in 2008.

[now attentive and loving readers of my posts will know that there is a typo in there that they've told me is getting fixed, and if you, dear reader, notice it can I please assure you that I am not illiterate, cheers]

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martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 3h

they should invent a shoe that both looks nice and fits comfortably immediately

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Pete Fraser @petefrasermusic.bsky.social · 4h

I know I sound like the people in the early days of the internet here, but re education the answer seems obvious - don’t use it! Not all learning needs to be done on a computer! The idea that it does is extremely new!

Athena Kugblenu @athenakugblenu.bsky.social · 4h

I think we have a window of opportunity to stop AI from ruining us that is slowly closing

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Pupils fear AI is eroding their ability to study, research finds

One in four students say AI ‘makes it too easy’ for them to find answers

www.theguardian.com

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martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 4h

seconding this!!

Sharae Deckard @sharaerua.bsky.social · 4h

Congratulations Dr. Deborah Schrijvers who passed her viva with flying colours on Monday with her thesis on "Against Imperial Extinction Narratives", and many thanks to her examiners Robert McKay and Patrick Brodie, and chair Niamh Pattwell! w/ @marthashearer.bsky.social

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Scarred For Life @scarredforlife.bsky.social · 21h

Final Destination had nothing on British public information films.

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Kate Clancy @kateclancy.bsky.social · 22h

I am being asked to tell my department which pieces of lab equipment should be supported with backup power because they expect rolling blackouts and brownouts in 2026 due to increased energy demands from AI. In case you're wondering how my day is going.

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paris martineau @paris.nyc · 20h

two of the products we tested — Huel's Black Edition meal replacement powder and Naked Nutrition's vegan mass gainer — had enough lead that our experts caution against using them at all

a single serving of these protein powders contained between 1,200 and 1,600% of CR’s level of concern for lead

Two plant-based protein powders contained enough lead that our experts advise against consuming them. Naked Nutrition’s Mass Gainer powder contained 7.7 micrograms of lead per serving, which is roughly 1,570 percent of CR’s level of concern for the heavy metal. One serving of Huel’s Black Edition powder contained 6.3 micrograms of lead, or about 1,290 percent of CR’s daily lead limit.

Two other powders contained lead between 400 and 600 percent of CR’s level of concern: Garden of Life’s Sport Organic Plant-Based Protein and Momentous’ 100% Plant Protein. Consumers should limit these to once a week, Akinleye says. (See company responses below.)

The only non-plant-based protein powder with lead detected at over 200 percent of CR’s level of concern was MuscleMeds’ Carnivor Mass powder. Six additional plant-based powders, five dairy-based powders and shakes, and one beef powder contained lead above CR’s level of concern.

We also found measurable levels of cadmium and inorganic arsenic in some products. One serving of Huel’s Black Edition plant-based protein powder contained 9.2 micrograms of cadmium, more than double the level that public health authorities and CR’s experts say may be harmful to have daily, which is 4.1 micrograms.

Another plant-based option, Vega’s Premium Sport powder, had enough cadmium that one serving would also put you just over that level. In one dairy-based product, Optimum Nutrition’s Serious Mass whey protein powder, we also detected 8.5 micrograms per serving of inorganic arsenic, which is twice the limit of what our scientists say is safe to consume daily.

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wendy copium @alicebennett.bsky.social · 1d

one thing LLMs have revealed is that the belief that there is a magical incantation that will give you what you want is not just confined to pick-up artists and freemen on the land

Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 1d

Seeing people nonchalantly post stuff like makes me feel like I'm going crazy honestly.

A post from an academic on blue sky that says: "I'm learning about "prompt engineering" when asking LLMs to extract data. I now add this to all instructions:

Style
Be concise, analytic, and specific (cite page/figure if provided). If essential info is missing, keep going but flag Unclear and exact data needed. Never invent data.

#academicsky"

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martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 3d

it's always the people who felt Alive that hit the hardest

Kyle Stevens @cinementalist.bsky.social · 3d

Diane Keaton created new ways for women on screen to laugh, think, cry, age, and, yes, dress. She was flinty and vulnerable and so much everything all at once. I, for one, wouldn’t be me without her.

martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 3d

thank you ai for another True Fact

AI Overview
Michael Cimino is credited with writing the screenplay for the 1972 film Cabaret, which was directed by Bob Fosse.

martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 4d

every other post on here is the lady with 3 arms

martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 5d

if that's what it takes for him to finally get that oscar...

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martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 5d

bradley cooper following a leonard bernstein biopic with a john bishop biopic is some real first as tragedy shit

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martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 5d

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Is This Thing On? is an upcoming American comedy-drama film directed by Bradley Cooper, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Will Arnett and Mark Chappell. It is loosely inspired by the life of British comedian John Bishop.[1] Starring Arnett, Laura Dern, Cooper, Andra Day, Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes, Christine Ebersole and Ciarán Hinds.

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Sharae Deckard @sharaerua.bsky.social · 6d

UCD BDS & UCD Justice for Palestine ask UCD students and workers to join the national Workplace Standout for Gaza on 16th Oct at 1 PM. Walk outside your workplace with a sign or flag, and if you can, join the rally organised by UCD students in front of Newman Arts at 1 PM.

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martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 7d

the old is dying and the new cannot be born (old loafers are falling apart, new loafers not broken in yet)

martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 7d

great, well done everyone.

SF conundrum: Mansion shortage hits as AI booms
City just flush with cash’ as latest batch of tech barons shop for luxury digs

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martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 8d

lol

he said that 'comprehensive due diligence' was done, but the idiot of the €3,300 tent issue was "probably buried somewhere in the recesses of his (jim gavin's) mind".

martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 8d

can't vote in this election, just here for a good time

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Susan Murray @murraysd.bsky.social · 8d

NYU-MCC is hiring! Asst. Prof in the area of “Media and Global Cities.” Please help us get the word out.
apply.interfolio.com/174886

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

apply.interfolio.com

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? @ahhhhhlt.bsky.social · 10d

Hi guys. I’m the most insufferable person you’ve ever interacted with. Here’s why you should be nice to robots and computer programs billionaires are using to take your jobs and your future on this planet

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Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 10d

““They dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others,” the Turkish activist ErsinÇelik, a participant in the Sumud flotilla, told Anadolu news agency.”+

Israel accused of detaining Greta Thunberg in infested cell and making her hold flags

Activist tells Swedish officials she has been subjected to harsh treatment, including insufficient food and water

www.theguardian.com

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Rob Delaney @robdelaney.bsky.social · 13d

Livestream of Global Sumud Flotilla as they approach Gaza. Watch & share: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEN2...

Tracker of Global Sumud Flotilla as it approaches Gaza

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martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 14d

thinking about the time i was in a dublin pub after a book launch and an irish colleague contextualised something I was saying by shouting SHE'S FROM THE LAND OF DOGGING

keir starmer's horrible racist little weasel face saying "that's real britain"

martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 14d

Lyrically, Summer's rendition is also curious, in that it adds the word "Chinese" to clarify what type of checkers was being played.

martha shearer @marthashearer.bsky.social · 14d

whatever happens there is always macarthur park suite

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