no such thing as tmi ([info]grrrlishgrin) wrote in [info]academics_anon,
@ 2007-02-03 12:35:00
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You mean some academics actually partake in popular culture, too?
Funny article in today's The Guardian about the guilty pleasures of well-known intellectuals

My favorite:

Slavoj Zizek, Slovenian sociologist, cultural critic
Military PC games

I play them compulsively, enjoying the freedom to dwell in the virtual space where I can do with impunity all the horrible things I was always dreaming of - killing innocent civilians, burning churches and houses, betraying allies... Plato was right: there are only two kinds of people on this earth, those who dream about doing horrible things and those who actually do them.
My favourite game? Stalin Subway, a Russian one: Moscow 1952, the player is a KGB investigator, called by Stalin Himself to unearth the plot to kill Stalin and other members of the Politburo. One can arrest and kill suspects at one's will. If one wins, one gets a medal from Stalin and Beria! What more can one expect in this miserable life?

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[info]quietthomas
2007-02-03 12:16 pm UTC (link)
Oh man, that's great!

Anthony Giddens watches Wrestling!!! The man who Tony Blaire looks to for intellectual advice, watches wrestling? What I find more disturbing is not that he questions the realities of the rasslin' (he's probably read Mick Foley's books, and knows of Owen Heart's in-ring death), but that he thinks no one tires that stuff at home? Clearly he's never watched Funniest Home Videos or anything on Youtube.

As for Richard Dawkins, he would be fond of programing. He's used it to validate the Selfish Gene theory often.

Side note; I read about the supposed "Monty Hall" paradox (mentioned under deal or no deal) on Straight Dope today. I think it's one of the stupidest paradoxes I've come across - but I guess all resolvable paradoxes are like that.

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Ah...
[info]sensaes
2007-02-03 12:34 pm UTC (link)
...the Plato Defence.

Always reassuring.

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Re: Ah...
[info]deleonjh
2007-02-04 03:27 am UTC (link)
And he has a portrait of Stalin in his apartment, too. He claims he's being ironic, but this is mighty fishy . . .

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[info]kapitankraut
2007-02-03 12:42 pm UTC (link)
I love that mathematician who persuaded his football/soccer team to wear prime numbers. That just made my day.
Well, that and Tariq Ramadan listening to hip-hop.

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[info]sailrox
2007-02-03 02:47 pm UTC (link)
That's too funny.

Once upon a time, my guilty pleasure was that awful reality TV show Average Joe. I knew it was awful, but it was so so addictive.

I have now "evolved" to the PC Game Civilization 4. Zizek and I would get along very well. I'll have to use the Plato defence one day!

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[info]deleonjh
2007-02-04 03:35 am UTC (link)
Yes, I feel better now whenever I massacre an entire barbarian settlement in Rome: Total War because it's the most profitable course of action for me, since Plato and Zizek said it was okay.

God, I still get chills when I order my cavalry to charge the enemy and they scream "Unleash hell!" I am so looking forward to when I can finally rebel against the Senate and grab all that land those bastard Brutii and Scipii have been snapping up in Africa and Asia Minor while all I get is crappy Gaul and Germania.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
(no subject) - [info]kataplexis, 2007-02-04 06:11 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]deleonjh, 2007-02-04 07:19 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]prof_k, 2007-02-04 07:26 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]prof_k, 2007-02-04 07:27 pm UTC

[info]xmobiusx
2007-02-03 02:57 pm UTC (link)
Homi Bhabha watches Project Runway!

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[info]sibilance7
2007-02-03 03:46 pm UTC (link)
Haha! That was my favorite too!

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[info]kataplexis
2007-02-03 05:44 pm UTC (link)
This gives me hope for all of mankind.

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[info]venetia
2007-02-05 12:40 am UTC (link)
my favourite too. Yay!

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[info]angry_geologist
2007-02-03 03:14 pm UTC (link)
I have a lot of guilty pleasures, but probably the one I feel most "guilty" about is my extensive collection of Discworld novels. That and maybe RetroMUD.

What's yours?

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[info]grrrlishgrin
2007-02-03 03:19 pm UTC (link)
I watched the entire first season of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (!).

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
you are not alone... - [info]wannaxdisco, 2007-02-03 04:13 pm UTC

[info]pedantka
2007-02-03 06:19 pm UTC (link)
I ceased to feel guilty about my Discworld books when I found myself outlining a paper on L-Space and Intertextuality.

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*plans on putting Night Watch on a syllabus one day* - [info]rabidfangurl, 2007-02-03 09:22 pm UTC
*plans on putting Small Gods on a syllabus one day* - [info]owl_of_minerva, 2007-02-04 01:36 am UTC

[info]ecila_etc
2007-02-03 03:51 pm UTC (link)
I liked how some tried to put an academic gloss on it, and others were more direct.

My personal favourite was Steve Jones and estate agents!

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[info]varanus
2007-02-03 04:54 pm UTC (link)
It's quite annoying when one's dissertation is another academic's "guilty pleasure" (Stanley Fish, Roger Scruton, Steven Pinker)...

Also, is it just me or does Catherine MacKinnon come off as the dour, unpleasant creature in real life that she seems to be in her books?

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[info]grrrlishgrin
2007-02-03 04:59 pm UTC (link)
Also, is it just me or does Catherine MacKinnon come off as the dour, unpleasant creature in real life that she seems to be in her books?

That's what I thought too..I used to research pornography and constantly had to fight off her stupid, inane writings to get to something substantial..so when I read the article out to my boyfriend, we just rolled our eyes at her response..

(The worst is that of course we know what she's trying to say, and of course she is still an academic in her free-time, and of course she needn't be ashamed, but "OMG GET A SENSE OF HUMOR..")

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
(no subject) - [info]ichbinkelsey, 2007-02-03 05:04 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]sensaes, 2007-02-03 05:08 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]painkillereyes, 2007-02-03 10:54 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]varanus, 2007-02-03 05:06 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]confessionalbox, 2007-02-03 11:44 pm UTC

[info]ichbinkelsey
2007-02-03 05:22 pm UTC (link)
Here's what I'm wondering, and I ask because I honestly can't tell: is Roger Scruton being very, very sarcastic? Or is he actually a giant ass? I am currently leaning towards the first of those theories, but I have this nagging fear that maybe I'm wrong.

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[info]pedantka
2007-02-03 06:17 pm UTC (link)
Sarcastic, in a very, very British academic fashion.

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(no subject) - [info]ichbinkelsey, 2007-02-03 06:29 pm UTC

[info]kataplexis
2007-02-03 05:51 pm UTC (link)
Some of these (like baseball) do not seem to me to constitute a guilty pleasure. PC military games and wrestling--absolutely. But someone who writes biographies of old dead people should cerainly not consider reading star autobiographies aguilty pleasure--its research, no?

I personally fall prey to Project Runway, Top Chef and Sid Meier's Civilization (though I have ardently resisted buying number IV for fear of never publishing anything ever again).

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[info]northrop_fried
2007-02-04 05:57 am UTC (link)
I recently found a passage in a text that allowed me to effectively bring together two arguments I was making in a chapter. It was a very good feeling, but the analogy that immediately came to my mind was the pleasure I used to take when I finally connected two spreading clusters of railroad and united the cities of my home continent. A pox on Sid Meier!

(Reply to this) (Parent)
(no subject) - [info]sailrox, 2007-02-04 10:18 am UTC

[info]bellebonnesage
2007-02-03 06:30 pm UTC (link)
I like the generational divide demonstrated by the fact that only one of these people knows that the most fun thing in the entire world is playing video games!

Seriously, Civilization almost completely undermined my dissertation. Now I realize that while turn-based strategy games are almost impossible to stop playing, it is entirely possible to set a time limit for real-time games. Who needs a social life when one has World of Warcraft?

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[info]vlion
2007-02-03 06:34 pm UTC (link)
Dawkins certainly describes computer programming well.
Was tutoring someone in their first programming assignment yesterday. She was frustrated for a good hour and a half as bits and pieces came together, and then, man, you should have seen the grin on that girl's face when the wee little program finally ran.

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[info]rabswom
2007-02-03 09:09 pm UTC (link)
Awesome article.

The Internet and whole series of TV shows on DVD are my guilty pleasures.

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d'oh!
[info]grrrlishgrin
2007-02-03 09:13 pm UTC (link)
i didn't even think to say 'the internet'. i always forget how much time i spend online, because _on the internet_, this seems so obvious..

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[info]egydystonic
2007-02-03 09:30 pm UTC (link)
Why is Naomi Wolf in this article? They certainly don't think she's a "great brain," do they? ::shudder::

(And couldn't they find a feminist with a clue? I mean, really.)

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[info]morag_gunn
2007-02-03 11:06 pm UTC (link)
Maybe bell hooks watches America's Next Top Model.

Hey, if I can watch the Supernanny and call myself a feminist with a clue (although perhaps not as much of a clue as bell hooks), then who knows what other such feminists get up to?!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
(no subject) - [info]kataplexis, 2007-02-04 12:26 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]morag_gunn, 2007-02-04 03:47 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]cousin_annie, 2007-02-04 06:36 pm UTC

[info]owl_of_minerva
2007-02-04 12:30 am UTC (link)
Great article, thanks for posting.

Other than the brilliant Roger Scruton entry, I was amused despite myself at the Christopher Hitchens.

I threw out the TV for practical purposes many years ago, and barely ever go to the movies.

Trans.: I am way too important and busy for such pursuits.

I do know (slightly) and very much like Matt Groening, and did get my children a tour of the Simpsons set a few years back,

Trans.: I will admit to liking somone I happen to know personally, especially if it will impress my children.

... but have not seen many episodes.

Trans.: Personal acquaintance and children aside, I can't be bothered actually watching this sort of stuff. In other words, I am way too important and busy for such pursuits.

Same with South Park - people say, hey look, they attack the Pope and the Mormons and the Islamists, and I say, "Tell me about it." I do this myself in real time: don't need the vicarious living that seems so central to all this stuff.

Trans.: I am way too important and busy for such pursuits.

Good to know; thanks, Mr. Hitchens! What a down-to-earth, pleasant guy.

(My guilty pleasure? Mocking people on the internet, especially those I will never meet. ;) Listening to hockey over the internet is NOT a guilty pleasure; it is a moral duty. Go Leafs!)

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Leafs?*
[info]sensaes
2007-02-04 01:03 am UTC (link)
Chris Hitchens has never really been the same since George Galloway publicly - and metaphorically (I hope...) - spanked his arse. Oddly enough, that was televised... ;o)

Leaves, perhaps?

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Leafs?* - [info]owl_of_minerva, 2007-02-04 01:43 am UTC
Re: Leafs?* - [info]sensaes, 2007-02-04 01:45 am UTC
Actually... - [info]sensaes, 2007-02-04 01:49 am UTC
Re: Leafs?* - [info]owl_of_minerva, 2007-02-04 02:07 am UTC
Re: Leafs?* - [info]sensaes, 2007-02-04 02:14 am UTC
Quasi-back on topic! - [info]owl_of_minerva, 2007-02-04 02:13 am UTC
Re: Quasi-back on topic! - [info]sensaes, 2007-02-04 02:16 am UTC
Re: Quasi-back on topic! - [info]owl_of_minerva, 2007-02-04 02:18 am UTC
Re: Quasi-back on topic! - [info]sensaes, 2007-02-04 02:22 am UTC

[info]dumbgreenguy
2007-02-04 12:55 am UTC (link)
This was fantastic. Of my professors, the one most highly regarded within his field had his guitly pleasure 'fantasy golf' - ie, drafting a roster of PGA pros with a pool of other interested participants and creating a financial stake in how well their "team" performed over the course of a year. He would *always* draft John Daly, no matter what, because he was fascinated by him.

My guilty pleasure: The CW network's "Smallville." I absolutely adore the show and own each season on DVD.

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[info]owl_of_minerva
2007-02-04 02:16 am UTC (link)
"Smallville" is my favourite part of Thursdays. (Martian Manhunter!!!!!!)

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[info]wildelover
2007-02-04 06:34 am UTC (link)
This was awesome! My guilty pleasure is the internet, and reading Harry Potter (including the occasional fanfic). I shouldn't admit things like that; I should seek help.

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[info]kataplexis
2007-02-04 06:12 pm UTC (link)
As long as you aren't writing semi-pornographic HP fanfic, you should be ok.

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(no subject) - [info]wildelover, 2007-02-05 06:20 am UTC

[info]so_lily_briscoe
2007-02-04 08:28 pm UTC (link)
You know, only Catharine MacKinnon could possibly demonstrate so amply that she doesn't know how to have fun, while self-adoringly making a point about how much fun she's having.

And I, too, feel validated by Homi Bhaba's PR "fixes." And by the fact that his daughter can't get those "likes" out of her speech.

Now, if you'll excuse me, time for some Friends dubbed into French. Later, I'll worry about the "well-known-intellectual" part that would make it acceptable.

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