(no subject)

[robinturner]

My seminar for the philosophy department at METU (Middle East Technical University) went well, so I'm preening myself. I must admit, I was pretty intimidated at first - here I am with a mere MA in applied linguistics going to lecture on philosophy to a bunch of philosophy professors and graduate students. But they seemed to like my ramblings, and asked the kind of questions that are actually useful in helping me analyse my thought, rather than those ones that make you want Scotty to beam you up, like "How do you think that idea of yours relates to what Wittgenstein said in Chapter Two of the Blue Book?" or "Didn't DeLeuze say more-or-less the same thing?"

Comments

[oblomova.livejournal.com]

I'd be the one saying "I saw something just like this on 'The Gong Show' once!" (Or is that pop-cultural reference too U.S.-centric?)

[evan.livejournal.com]

I'm in the US and I don't even know what that is.

[oblomova.livejournal.com]

The Gong Show was a notoriously awful game/talent show in the 70s. People would come on and humiliate themselves by juggling, doing acrobatics, singing, what have you. There would usually be one person per program with a smidgen of talent, but the rest would be the aesthetic equivalent of a bear baiting. And then this panel of has-been "celebrity" judges would decide whether or not to "gong" the participant. They had a big gong which, when they hit it, meant that the act was over. Like the old vaudeville hook.

Not that I think Robin deserves to be gonged. But lordy, I sat through some lectures on "media relevancy" as an undergrad that made me want to gong a few profs. "Here are my flatulent observations on the contemporary conundrums of communication in the age of blah blah piffle blah." Noam Chomsky wannabes, basically.

[kesey.livejournal.com]

my goodness .. the gong show indeed! complete with Rip Taylor (sp?) .. it was rather a farce, but the gong concept lives on (for those of us who remember it). pffft. my age is showing. so be it.