Michael D. Dwyer
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michaelddwyer.bsky.social
Michael D. Dwyer
@michaelddwyer.bsky.social
850 followers 340 following 850 posts
film, pop music, cultural studies // author, TINSEL AND RUST (oup 2025) and BACK TO THE FIFTIES (oup 2015) // both can't survive // michaelddwyer.com
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michaelddwyer.bsky.social
Michael D. Dwyer @michaelddwyer.bsky.social · Sep 7
Well, my author copies came this week, which means it is really real.

If you want to review it for a journal or a podcast, if you want me to talk to your class about deindustrialization or hollywood's perpetual search for lower production costs, or if you just think it's neat, please @ me!
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
biblioracle.bsky.social
At this time I would council students to avoid institutions making these kinds of investments. It's a signal that they are eager to move away from human contact and interpersonal exchanges and outsource it to generative AI. They are declaring their values. today.ucsd.edu/story/triton...
TritonGPT is Here and Ready to Help
The latest innovation developed at UC San Diego, TritonGPT is redefining how students, staff, faculty and researchers work together. Its suite of artificial intelligence assistants act as helpers, tut...
today.ucsd.edu
December 3, 2025 at 9:36 PM
michaelddwyer.bsky.social
📌
chanda.blacksky.app Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 22h
“The math is brutal and the juxtaposition stark: millions for OpenAI while pink slips go out to longtime lecturers. The CSU isn’t investing in education—it’s outsourcing it, paying premium prices for a chatbot many students were already using for free.“
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 3, 2025 at 6:07 AM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
sydney-bauer.com
I need every cis person who is framing the OU situation as an academic controversy to read this for the context they are missing and so desperately need to be loudly fighting against.
December 2, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
chefstentor.bsky.social
If you're worried about "former whole foods that have been broken down, chemically modified, combined with additives, and then reassembled" then I have some shocking news for you about a process known as "cooking."
December 2, 2025 at 10:34 PM
michaelddwyer.bsky.social
Around this time of the year I tend to get gloomy and frustrated about the conditions around my work, how it's valued, etc etc.

i always need to remind myself that the work itself...the work itself is so so important.

what a lovely piece of work this is.
December 2, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
manucleardevice.bsky.social
I just assume Bigelow watches this and roots for the French
Katherine Bigelow holding up Battle of Algiers in criterion closet
December 2, 2025 at 3:16 PM
michaelddwyer.bsky.social
i've said both before but: defector is a good website you should subscribe to, and, David Roth is one of the best we have at describing our stupid, cruel, deeply embarrassing & janky moment // defector.com/the-conserva...
The Conservative Grievance Business Is Always Hiring | Defector
Given his age when he first came to the world’s attention and assuming continued good health in the intervening decade and change, Marine Todd would be in his late 30s today. That would be if he was a...
defector.com
December 2, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
kimischilling.bsky.social
if you like doing nothing so much why aren't you just getting $5m a year from assholecorp to do that instead of having to show up for pointless press conferences every day, you could be in bora bora right now my guy
December 2, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
kimischilling.bsky.social
all this bitch ever talks about is all the shit he can't or won't do www.axios.com/2025/12/01/j...
Jeffries says not to expect Democrats to pursue Hegseth impeachment over boat strikes
"Republicans will never allow articles of impeachment to be brought to the floor," he said.
www.axios.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
caitlinmoriah.bsky.social
a lot of people debating the merits of that dogshit essay meanwhile the girl’s mom is retweeting demands to ban all trans people from teaching at any level. it’s forest for the trees shit
December 1, 2025 at 4:42 AM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
mattseybold.bsky.social
The Enrollment Cliff is a Miff
joshua-goodman.com Joshua Goodman @joshua-goodman.com · 2d
We first note that hand-wringing about the decline in US college enrollments has mistakenly linked such declines to the price of four-year colleges.

But the decline is entirely driven by two-year community colleges (and by for-profit colleges). The four-year sector is the dog that didn't bark.
December 1, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
goodboy.bsky.social
From the Far Side collection
robynelyse.bsky.social Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 2d
Even Marc Jacobs makes ($1850) mistakes.
Freakishly hideous lavender marc jacobs peplum sweater and tan pants with built-in FUPA
December 1, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
joshuaerlich.bsky.social
I’ve spent a lot of time in the past 18 months really working to, if you will, kill the neoliberal in my head. as someone with my politics, I’ve been surprised by how much there’s still been to excise.

anyway, maybe productivity and efficiency are scams, and redundancy protects human happiness.
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3d
every neoliberal policy analyst wants to "trim the fat" of society until the lean times come. community level resilience, redundancies, etc are good actually
josiegz.bsky.social Josie Glausiusz @josiegz.bsky.social · 3d
When power went out across all of Puerto Rico on 16 April, a lot of the lights in the town of Adjuntas stayed on. A combination of experimental microgrids, solar panels, and storage kept power on for many businesses and residents.

spectrum.ieee.org/puerto-rico-...
November 30, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
evanbernick.bsky.social
https://www.reddit.com/r/calvinandhobbes/comments/166rvc/january_17_1985_its_worth_a_shot/
November 30, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
dreadtoaster.bsky.social
looked at the substack feed, whole lot of people talking about gen z versus millennials. exhausting stuff. The truth remains; old people are cooler than young people, hang in there guys, you'll be old eventually
November 30, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
thehighsign.bsky.social
They are betting AI will replace us. Make them lose the bet.
dennycarter.bsky.social Denny Carter @dennycarter.bsky.social · 5d
The markets are staying afloat right now on the hope that AI will destroy American workers. What a bleak thing.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/b...
“A big part of the high stock prices is not a reflection of high future growth,” he said. Rather, it is a sign that A.I. is expected to boost productivity and shrink employment. “The firms all think they’re going to shed a lot of labor, and that’s why the profits will be high,” he said. And while the construction of data centers to power artificial intelligence is fueling economic growth now, these centers, once built, employ skeleton staffs.
November 30, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
nedraggett.bsky.social
Hell with it, I'm just going to post the whole thing here via screencap and alt text. It's Kaleb Horton, man, his writing always deserves the second read, especially since it could have just easily been lost forever like so much else. Read it, share it.
A look at forgotten Hollywood landmarks By Kaleb Horton Let's say you come in from down south, and you're looking for an unsung movie landmark. So you fly in to LAX, rent a car, blow right past Hollywood, leave Los Angeles county heading north, go over the Grapevine, gape at the monumental hills and, wow, there really is a Smokey Bear Road, then you turn off the air conditioner when the sign tells you. Once you come down the grade too fast and see the world's loneliest Denny's, you're well on your way to what you're looking for – the middle of nowhere. You're going to Kern County to find the spot where Alfred Hitchcock filmed one of the greatest scenes in movie history, the crop duster sequence from "North by Northwest." It takes place in Indiana, of course, but the Indiana road sign and the imported corn field can't deceive this Bakersfield native. The parched and desolate heat of the scene feels too much like Kern County. The scene people know off-hand — Cary Grant running from an airplane — isn't why "North by Northwest" is a classic. The film's greatness, as was often the case for Hitchcock, lies in its build-up, its suspense, its mood. The plane moment is almost anticlimax. It is those five minutes before Grant's desperate escape that constitute a mathematically perfect suspense scene. So expert is Hitchcock's hand that he creates suspense, a slow burning dread, with no camera tricks and no music in broad daylight. Grant's character is a prototypical James Bond. His perfect suit, fast wit, high-alcohol tolerance and effortless charisma have got him out of every predicament so far. In the city, among people, he has powers. Take him away from people, put him nowhere, and he's just like us — totally helpless. He has no powers: His suit is no good out here; his million-dollar tailoring and perfect haircut is just vanity now. No amount of pretending can provide escape. Here, is the one place where he can die, and he gets by on the grace of God. All he can do is wait for what's coming. So when you seek the lost landmark of this scene, you're looking for an idea as much as a place. You're on Highway 99 now, going 30 miles north of Bakersfield, looking for an unassuming patch of dirt that carries spiritual weight. The scene was filmed neart Garces Highway to the west of Delano. You'll think there's a handy exit for it. There's not. You'll probably get lost in Delano, counting on a connection. You're at once a million miles from Hollywood and a hundred miles away. It's lonely. The horizon sprawls forever like there's nothing past it. There are broken down trucks on the side of the road, plumes of smoke from faraway fires. You'll find Garces eventually. You'll pass a bar called Rosy's Place, abandoned houses, an oil field, a prison, a cemetery, a sign that says "we clean headstones," and a whole lot of gold-on-brown punctuated by an occasional trailer or car going faster than you. You're looking for where Garces meets Corcoran Road. That's where this "North by Northwest" scene was filmed. You'll get a vague idea where it is but you'll never be exactly sure, since there's little impetus for clear signage 10 miles from a prison. Maybe Corcoran Road is unlabeled. Besides, that Indiana sign and the prop cornfield haven't been there in 56 years. If you're anything like me, you'll lose the light and call it a day, unsatisfied with the route you took. You return to I-5 northbound. From the 5, you'll meet Route 46, and go through a place called Lost Hills, then back in to the location from Corcoran Road instead. That's how Hitchcock probably did it. More intuitive. Still in the middle of nowhere, but on your way to Corcoran Road, you're right next to another Hollywood landmark: Blackwells Corner, James Dean's last stop. It's a glorified Texaco, and gas is 50 cents a gallon more than it should be. They sell Jelly Bellys and '50s kitsch artifacts — plates with Marilyn Monroe's face on them, and so forth. They really figured out how to cash in on death. You don't want to stop here. But I stopped. I asked the kid at the Blackwells Corner counter how to get to Corcoran Road. He gave me a look that said "there's no reason to go there," and then wearily told me where to go anyway. I was about 8 miles from the destination. Going there is a meditative experience. You're not just going to the middle of nowhere. You're going to the perfect nowhere. Going alone, in the hypnotic heat of the Central Calfiornia Valley, you might even forget what year it is. There is no reason to believe the road would be so well preserved for half a century, intimately tied to the career of an actor born in Bristol 111 years ago, but it has been. There's an abandoned house. A barn with a cross on it. But almost nothing has changed in 56 years. At some point new lines were added on the road. There's overgrowth where there didn't used to be overgrowth. A couple discarded Budweiser cans from who knows when, but mostly it's identical. This is the same sleepy loneliness that Alfred Hitchcock used to make great art in 1959. And that may sound dull, but tranquility is the point. You stand on that dirt and there's no distraction from what's in your soul. It's an inner destination, not an outer one. I told my grandma about it when I got back to Bakersfield. She told me her Uncle Harold thought it was the prettiest road in America. And she showed me a picture of a Corcoran grade school class posing in the dirt with Grant and Hitchcock. It's just a field trip picture. The kids are fidgeting, many with arms folded, some shielding their eyes from the sun, all with obedient smiles. They'd all be in their sixties now, but they'd remember where this road is. It emphasized the ugliness of James Dean's last stop becoming a place to sell T-shirts. It's about what we preserve, and what we don't, and what we remember, and what we don't. It's easy to find shrines to morbidity and hard to find meaningful places. For those, you have to go looking.
November 26, 2025 at 9:52 PM
michaelddwyer.bsky.social
i've said it before but the wnt going from overbeck->rampone->sauerbrunn->girma is like the azzurri going baresi->maldini->cannavaro->chiellini, just decades upon decades of having historically great centerbacks
uswntbot.com U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team bot @uswntbot.com · 5d
The Secretary of Defense 💪
November 29, 2025 at 4:04 AM
michaelddwyer.bsky.social
the leadership of these prestige institutions is so pathetic man
mattheweadie.bsky.social Matthew Eadie @mattheweadie.bsky.social · 5d
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university

Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
guante.info
Lots of people sharing this clip because it's funny and cathartic but I also genuinely believe it's important.

We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
miamidsa.org Miami DSA @miamidsa.org · 7d
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
keelin12ft.bsky.social
Happy Thanksgiving
A four-panel meme from the animated show King of the Hill. In the first panel, John Redcorn, an indigenous man, responds “Yes?” while looking at a blond boy Bobby Hill in a classroom. In the second panel, Bobby looks confused and asks, “Are you sure it’s the white man who did all that stuff?” The third panel shows Bobby gesturing toward himself and saying, “Because I come from white people,” and the fourth panel continues with him saying, “and this is the first I’m hearing of it.”
November 27, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
midgetmoxie.bsky.social
What About Bob (1991)
Director: Frank Oz

#filmsky 🎬 #movies 🎬 #cinema 🎬📽🎥🎞
November 5, 2025 at 2:32 AM
michaelddwyer.bsky.social
Gonna start doing some events for this again in the spring, plus giving some copies away at #scms26! global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Cover of Tinsel and Rust, a book that I wrote
November 26, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
jeradwalker.bsky.social
This is a newspaper headline from Back to the Future 2 when Marty McFly travels to the Biff world.
Singer Jelly Roll's wife, Bunnie Xo, says she will vlog going to jail
November 26, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Michael D. Dwyer
colindickey.com
Handing back student work that’s been written by ChatGPT with a 0 followed by the comment “This essay will never stand in authentic wonder before the Beauty of God’s creation.”
vulture.com Vulture @vulture.com · 7d
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
Even God Is Worried About ChatGPT
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
www.vulture.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:35 PM