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Yesterday it occured to me that it was time for SCMS notifications, and the acceptance notice appeared in my inbox a few minutes ago. See you in Chicago for "Creative Labor in the Shadow of Hollywood Hype: Marketers, Non-Union-Actors, and the Struggle for Recognition." 🎉 #SCMS26

This was such an excellent conversation! Big thanks to the SCMS Media Industries SIG for organizing it.

Emerging from my little hiatus to say that I have perhaps never been this excited about an issue of @jcmsjournal.bsky.social, i.e. the special issue of "Is it Media?" All of these articles are 100% my jam.

I told my students that some of their professors might use AI to give feedback on assignments, and most of them were outraged/horrified.

My friend Laura is urgently seeking a new home for two sweet kitties in/near Charleston, SC. If you have any leads or could share her post, I'd really appreciate it.

Speaking of Critical Role, I saw a panel with Liam and Sam at Rose City Comic-Con yesterday, but the true highlight of the day was an actual play set in Val'Ruvina, the setting of TPK Brewing's Leyfarer campaign (in which I play). Tons of lore drops and our GMs were amazing as beloved NPCs.

This is the perfect convergence of my research and personal interests, and I can't go! I'll be in NYC the next weekend for NYCC, and I really wish this ran longer. I'm sure there will be tons of social media posts, but that's no substitution for going in person.

I'm surprised (in a good way) to discover that the majority of students in my intro class have not only heard of the WGA/SAG strikes of 2023, but could also say generally what they were about. Also, a surprising number of them have recently watched Brokeback Mountain (because of TikTok).

Critical Role revealed details about Campaign 4 this morning, and I am stoked! I love the expanded cast, and while I didn't like the split party as much in C3, I think it will work well here (and I understand that it makes production a lot easier). Is it Thursday October 2 yet??

Fun fact: all our AI tools are Google-powered (but we have been assured that none of what we put into/produce with them will be used by Google! Yeah, right...).

Oh, but it gets worse: apparently, a task force has been hard at work to develop gems like an "outcomes curator" where you can ask AI to make sure your syllabus is in good shape, and a "productivity assistant" to "schedule my work effectively each day." 🙄

Our library website now prominently links to an "AI" "research assistant" and I want to scream into the void about it. It is so upsetting to see the library, of all places, cave like that (granted, the institution may have forced their hand). Ugh.

This morning, observant Critical Role fans discovered the password-protected critrole.com/Unseal/ and a few hours later, managed to guess the password to reveal a 20-second audio snippet introducing a new setting along with this Thursday's date. Maybe we will get a little trailer for Campaign 4?

A screenshot that says, "Congrats on exposing Sam's secret! You are Game Changer superfan #6762. 93238 others needed to unlock episode 11."

Related to the CR puzzle, Dropout also had an ARG embedded in this season of Game Changer that ultimately leads to a page where 100k people need to enter a secret word to unlock the bonus episode for this season. I did my part. (More on this: www.argn.com/2025/08/its_...)

Over the course of the day, Beacon (CR's subscription platform) sent out mobile notifications with another cryptic phrase and a link to the discord channel. The plot thickens. Hundreds of messages in the CR discord trying to crack this puzzle. (Is this what the Lost ARG was like in 2006?)

Oh, I am already in the discord!

Yesterday's Critical Role newsletter included a picture of random letters arranged in a square, a new channel appeared CR's discord that only accepts commands, and people commenting on CR's latest Instagram post got DMs w/ cryptic phrases. I'm very curious to see where this leads.

I don't know for sure, but I assume so since they officially hired her as a writer.

Oh wow, what is the name of the channel?

Absolutely, and I don't think this would happen/would be possible today.

That's the sense I got from the discussion!

Right! I didn't catch her name during the panel.

It was called 30 Years of Xena Warrior Princess: A Fan Appreciation Panel (the latter is typical SDCC signalling to say it was organized by fans, not a studio). There was definitely some vagueness in their statements still (to summarize them briefly). I'm sure someone recorded the panel.

Yup! I didn't know that, either.

A view of the crowds in the Gaslamp, with tall buildings in the background. The buildings' facades are wrapped in giant posters promoting current films and TV shows.

The lobby of the convention center. A large poster of the Comic-Con International logo hangs suspended from the glass ceiling. A banner over the entrance promotes the TV show The Talamasca.

I wrapped my con with wandering along the show floor and then got Dole whip from Sweet Things (IYKYK). On Preview Night, the four days seem endless; then you blink and it's Sunday afternoon. See you next year, SDCC.

Ah, interesting! I wish you could have seen this panel, then. Most of the people who asked questions were younger than the show.

I didn't know that a fan got invited to write two episodes of the final season of Xena because the showrunner liked ideas she shared online. That's wild.

Considering how terrible the crowds around the Marvel booth have always been, adding a registration system is a good idea. The data collection is a huge bonus (for Marvel).

Sign at the Marvel booth that says "Received a text that we're ready for you to check in? Please line up here"

Screenshot of Marvel's Instagram stories that invites you to sign up for their Canva print shop (which gives out free customized totes and shirts).

A glance inside the print shop at the Marvel booth.

Marvel has an interesting (and data-extraction focused) procedure for their swag and merch: a URL drops on their Insta stories early, leading you to sign up for a virtual queue. You get a text when it's your turn (i.e. you need to consent to getting texts).

View of the convention center in the early morning sun.

The Lego booth, which has the con as a theme this year.

A statue of Bilbo Baggins (I think) invites you to a photo opp at The Prancing Pony.

Final day of SDCC started with some floor wandering. Now waiting for the 30th Anniversary of Xena panel, which is fan-organizd but has Renee O'Connor (who played Gabrielle) and Steven Sears (co-exec producer).