Rob Nguyen
@robnguyen.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of English, Lycoming College
media studies | SF | Silicon Valley | Asian American Studies
Cover photo taken at Cooper’s Seafood (Scranton, PA)
media studies | SF | Silicon Valley | Asian American Studies
Cover photo taken at Cooper’s Seafood (Scranton, PA)
“It wasn’t just [x]—it was [y]” may be the AI writing pattern that annoys me most.
January 3, 2026 at 5:34 AM
“It wasn’t just [x]—it was [y]” may be the AI writing pattern that annoys me most.
Thanks to all who came out for my "Notes on Christmas Movies" talk! If you'd like to check it out, posted here is a slides + audio version I recorded yesterday.
youtu.be/vRVHz3JugTs?...
More comments and links to other Christmas bits I've created are at: www.robertnguyen.net/blog/2025/12...
youtu.be/vRVHz3JugTs?...
More comments and links to other Christmas bits I've created are at: www.robertnguyen.net/blog/2025/12...
"Notes on Christmas Movies: Office, Technology, and Magic" (2025)
YouTube video by Robert Nguyen - English and Visual Studies
youtu.be
December 23, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Thanks to all who came out for my "Notes on Christmas Movies" talk! If you'd like to check it out, posted here is a slides + audio version I recorded yesterday.
youtu.be/vRVHz3JugTs?...
More comments and links to other Christmas bits I've created are at: www.robertnguyen.net/blog/2025/12...
youtu.be/vRVHz3JugTs?...
More comments and links to other Christmas bits I've created are at: www.robertnguyen.net/blog/2025/12...
These past few weeks I've enjoyed thinking about offices, tech, and magic as depicted in *Elf*, *Spirited*, and more. Looking forward to putting these ideas together and talking with folks about Christmas movies on Thursday. Thanks to @pheebz.bsky.social and Sweetspire Coffee for organizing!
December 9, 2025 at 3:47 PM
These past few weeks I've enjoyed thinking about offices, tech, and magic as depicted in *Elf*, *Spirited*, and more. Looking forward to putting these ideas together and talking with folks about Christmas movies on Thursday. Thanks to @pheebz.bsky.social and Sweetspire Coffee for organizing!
Watched the Sora 2 video in class today because apparently I was running short on nightmare fuel.
October 4, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Watched the Sora 2 video in class today because apparently I was running short on nightmare fuel.
The me who finishes using the wrapping paper and thinks this tiny rolled-up sliver might someday be useful and the me who's going to wrap something and is searching for a usable portion of wrapping paper--we're different people.
September 28, 2025 at 1:48 AM
The me who finishes using the wrapping paper and thinks this tiny rolled-up sliver might someday be useful and the me who's going to wrap something and is searching for a usable portion of wrapping paper--we're different people.
Apropos of nothing at all am thinking of these parallel buttons on action scenes: buddy the elf hurling a snowball at that last kid who’s getting away in Central Park and Aragorn flinging the torch at that last Nazgûl on Amon Hen.
September 28, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Apropos of nothing at all am thinking of these parallel buttons on action scenes: buddy the elf hurling a snowball at that last kid who’s getting away in Central Park and Aragorn flinging the torch at that last Nazgûl on Amon Hen.
I want to give our 3 and 5 year old kids opportunities I never had, so they are slowly gaining enough pop culture references to maybe pass as cool, if it were the 1990s and they were in middle school.
September 18, 2025 at 1:47 AM
I want to give our 3 and 5 year old kids opportunities I never had, so they are slowly gaining enough pop culture references to maybe pass as cool, if it were the 1990s and they were in middle school.
My Dad energy ranges between Bandit from Bluey and James Caan from the first two thirds of Elf.
September 1, 2025 at 9:40 PM
My Dad energy ranges between Bandit from Bluey and James Caan from the first two thirds of Elf.
Looking forward to kicking off ENGL 352: Digital Media Studies this afternoon!
August 25, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Looking forward to kicking off ENGL 352: Digital Media Studies this afternoon!
Getting my teaching bag game in order for the first day of class.
August 21, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Getting my teaching bag game in order for the first day of class.
Was at first annoyed over the kids watching Frozen over and over and over again this car ride, but then considered that if I could watch Star Trek: II for hours on repeat I probably would.
August 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Was at first annoyed over the kids watching Frozen over and over and over again this car ride, but then considered that if I could watch Star Trek: II for hours on repeat I probably would.
I know it’s not the point of the article or photo but all I can focus on here are the three pens.
July 21, 2025 at 12:35 PM
I know it’s not the point of the article or photo but all I can focus on here are the three pens.
My rendition of Thunder Road didn’t ultimately stick but achievement unlocked that our three-year-old is happy to hear Defying Gravity as a bedtime song.
July 20, 2025 at 1:41 AM
My rendition of Thunder Road didn’t ultimately stick but achievement unlocked that our three-year-old is happy to hear Defying Gravity as a bedtime song.
It’s funny to rewatch SW:ANH and see how other characters are blocked relative to Vader. In Empire, there’s space around him and fear and deference to this evil lord. In ANH, he’s this guy walking around and giving orders who just dresses like this.
July 19, 2025 at 1:46 PM
It’s funny to rewatch SW:ANH and see how other characters are blocked relative to Vader. In Empire, there’s space around him and fear and deference to this evil lord. In ANH, he’s this guy walking around and giving orders who just dresses like this.
Syllabus for my digital media studies course will need more work because right now it vibes like a sixteen week long episode of black mirror.
July 10, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Syllabus for my digital media studies course will need more work because right now it vibes like a sixteen week long episode of black mirror.
Shaver’s Creek, June 15, 2025 — Rob Nguyen Photography
www.robnguyenphotography.com
June 15, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Wearing my new Tevas and my old Jurassic Park tshirt and pretty much just living my best mid-90s life today.
June 6, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Wearing my new Tevas and my old Jurassic Park tshirt and pretty much just living my best mid-90s life today.
Lately so many webpages I’ve run into for gardening advice look AI-written and riddled with ads. So I thought—maybe I just skip the web and ask AI. Probably fine for answering Qs on properly spacing daylilies but somewhat chilling to find myself already searching for info w/in an AI hall of mirrors.
May 29, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Lately so many webpages I’ve run into for gardening advice look AI-written and riddled with ads. So I thought—maybe I just skip the web and ask AI. Probably fine for answering Qs on properly spacing daylilies but somewhat chilling to find myself already searching for info w/in an AI hall of mirrors.
The future doesn’t quite look like how it was imagined in the movies decades ago. But at the eye doctor’s, the thing you look at in every scanning device looks like it belongs in Blade Runner.
May 28, 2025 at 12:53 PM
The future doesn’t quite look like how it was imagined in the movies decades ago. But at the eye doctor’s, the thing you look at in every scanning device looks like it belongs in Blade Runner.
There’s likely a significant overlap between four year olds’ food preferences and the quirks of eccentric billionaires.
May 17, 2025 at 4:34 PM
There’s likely a significant overlap between four year olds’ food preferences and the quirks of eccentric billionaires.
I envy our four year-old’s decisiveness when it comes to buying things. He points to a stuffed bear, and that’s it. That’s the bear, absent any compulsion to check NYT Wirecutter in case in the roundup of best bears for most people there is some other bear he has not considered.
May 2, 2025 at 12:50 AM
I envy our four year-old’s decisiveness when it comes to buying things. He points to a stuffed bear, and that’s it. That’s the bear, absent any compulsion to check NYT Wirecutter in case in the roundup of best bears for most people there is some other bear he has not considered.
I know this was your top concern and I have answered—I did in fact get that photo of a squirrel eating a saltine.
April 27, 2025 at 12:39 AM
I know this was your top concern and I have answered—I did in fact get that photo of a squirrel eating a saltine.
An attempted page break. As I mention when going over word processor rudiments in class, turn on "show all characters" and all sins are revealed.
April 1, 2025 at 1:26 AM
An attempted page break. As I mention when going over word processor rudiments in class, turn on "show all characters" and all sins are revealed.
I don't know if it's more honest with myself and others to just send the emails when I actually write them, or flood 10 mailboxes with messages at 8 a.m. on Monday morning.
March 29, 2025 at 1:56 AM
I don't know if it's more honest with myself and others to just send the emails when I actually write them, or flood 10 mailboxes with messages at 8 a.m. on Monday morning.