“Lol My Thesis” Showcases Painfully Hilarious Attempts to Sum up Years of Academic Work in One Sentence

in Comedy, Education | January 9th, 2014

A true fact about the thesis stage of an advanced degree: Whatever the academic field, whether writing a fifty page bachelor’s or master’s thesis or 250 plus page doctoral dissertation, at some point, you will need to winnow your argument down to an abstract summary of a couple succinct paragraphs. Then, one inevitably finds—when riding elevators with colleagues and mentors, talking to relatives over holiday dinners, justifying one’s existence to friends and acquaintances—that the whole damned thing needs to somehow reduce to one intelligible sentence or two. It’s all anyone has the patience for, honestly, and it saves you the trouble of trying to reconstruct complex arguments for people who won’t understand or care about them and who generally only asked out of politeness anyway.

But how, how, to cram years of research, agony, turmoil, crushing failure and soaring epiphany into bite-sized conversational nuggets without gross oversimplification to the point of tautological absurdity? Can it even be done?! The blog “lol my thesis,” started last year by a Harvard senior studying Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology, suggests that it can, but not without hilarious results. Part of an exploding genre of academic parody (and procrastination) sites, lol my thesis proudly ventures forth in its mission of “summing up years of work in one sentence” with open submissions from current students. Many of the submissions are from the sciences, and many from undergraduate theses, but a fair number also come from humanities and post-graduate studies. Take, for example, the following submission from an MFA Creative Nonfiction student at Emerson College, which directly addresses the intended audience:

“A collection of nonfiction essays, which means they’re written about real people and events, mom. Remember all those times you accused me of not listening to the things you said?”

A passive aggressive example that most of us who’ve been through the process can relate to at some level. Another one that hits home is this, from a Vassar Political Science major, who discovers too late that the argument doesn’t work: “Oops: Turns out self-published poetry didn’t actually affect Indian politics but I’m 60 pages in, so.”

The submissions from the sciences do not disappoint. For example, from a University of Maryland student of Biological Sciences: “We spent thousands of government dollars to create a mouse model for a disease only 32 people in the world have.” And a Science Writing student at M.I.T. gives us this particularly impressive example of brevity: “Wolves + humans, the ultimate frenemies.” Not to be outdone, a Stem Cell Biology student at Harvard offers a grimly terse confessional: “I have killed so many fish.”

The submissions are anonymous, but some good sports have chosen to include links to their theses, endearingly hoping that someone besides their advisor will actually want to read them. Most of the submissions, however, simply combine two qualities every advanced student knows all too well: a well-earned feeling of futility and the mordant wit required to keep going anyway.

More witty summaries can be found at lol my thesis.

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Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness

by Josh Jones | Permalink | Make a Comment ( 1 ) |

Four Female Punk Bands That Changed Women’s Role in Rock

in Music | January 8th, 2014

Today I am pleased to bring you samplings of a handful of my favorite bands. It so happens they are all mostly-female or female-fronted punk bands. This fact to me seems almost incidental to my enjoyment—these are all fantastic musicians, songwriters, and/or personalities. And yet their commonalities are highly remarkable all the same. Punk introduced aggressive, all-female bands like The Slits and frontwomen like Siouxie Sioux who never had to play vulnerable objects, desperate seductresses, jilted lovers, femme fatales, etc. and yet still manifested their power in their sexuality as well as in their fierce intelligence and fury. In the late ’70s, women strode out in front as leaders in punk scenes in the UK and US, and helped to change the gender politics of rock and roll.

First up, the Runaways, a band best known today for the later careers of guitarists Joan Jett and Lita Ford. The Runaways tend to get unfairly pegged as little more than wards and projects of manager Kim Fowley, but the L.A. band formed organically around Jett and drummer Sandy West in 1975 and succeeded in their own right after splitting with Fowley in 1977. While they did not technically begin as a punk band, they briefly became associated with several New York and London punks, especially due to Jett’s orientation toward glam, garage, and punk. Ford, known for her flashy guitar solos, wanted to go metal (and later did), and the band pulled apart in 1978. The Runaways were so rock n’ roll that they were biggest in Japan, especially their song “Cherry Bomb” from their first, self-titled 1976 album. Watch them play the song above on Japanese TV in ’77.

Next (and my ordering here means nothing, by the way), The Slits. When German-born frontwoman Ari Up (stepdaughter of John Lydon, as it happens) passed away from cancer in 2010, many, many people mourned her death. And many more sent “Slits” trending on all the social networks. It was long past time then for a more public profile of the band, which reformed in 2005 but mostly absent much critical notice. Arising in 1976 from members of a band called Flowers of Romance (later the name of an album and song by Lydon’s Public Image Ltd.), the mostly all-female Slits made a very different sound from the Runaways somewhat formulaic hard rock. Like the Clash, with whom they often played, the Slits evolved from raw street punk to taking reggae ideas and making something new, in their case something weirder, wobblier, and more angular than most anyone else at the time (though later male post-punk bands like Swell Maps and Lydon’s PIL took much from them). See them do “Typical Girls” above in a rare music video, and check out their cover of “Heard it Through the Grapevine.”

Siouxsie Sioux, of Siouxsie and the Banshees, and later the Creatures, began her career in London’s punk scene as a follower of the Sex Pistols. In a scene thronged with inventive kids competing for attention, she stood out. Once she decided to take the stage herself (after an impromptu jam of “The Lord’s Prayer” with guitarist Steve Severin and Sid Vicious on drums) and form her own band, she seemed to Slits guitarist Viv Albertine to have arrived “fully made, fully in control, utterly confident.” Siouxsie was “unlike any female singer before or since,” wrote rock journalist Jon Savage, “commanding yet aloof, entirely modern.” She was also a phenomenal songwriter and, along with The Cure, Bauhaus, and The Damned, gets credit—for better or worse—for the origins of goth rock. See Siouxsie command the stage in 1978 above, doing “Hong Kong Garden.”

I feel I would be most remiss if I did not include Wendy O. Williams. As we seem to endlessly debate the social value of certain female pop stars clumsy attempts to shock us, Williams spent most of the ‘70s onstage topless, sawing guitars in half with chainsaws, and setting cars on fire. Was her band, the Plasmatics, any good? It’s hard to say. They were… uneven. Not much of a singer, Williams and the Plasmatics embraced a more raucous version of the Runaway’s hard rock and eventually moved toward metal. This is not necessarily music you listen to, it’s music you experience, in the sheer amount of barely-controlled chaos Williams and the band conjured onstage. Some of the stunts might look silly in hindsight, but bear in mind, she pushed the boundaries of decorum over thirty years ago with the kind of sexual frankness and power that still makes our culture very nervous. Williams’ antics made her a prime figure for television (like gross-out punk provocateur G.G. Allin, she became something of a novelty act on the talk-show circuit). See her above with the Plasmatics on Solid Gold in 1981, with the added bonus of an interview with the “Madame” puppet (of Wayland Flowers and Madame) after the performance.

I cannot begin to do justice here to the groundswell of excellent female punk bands from the ‘70s and ‘80s (not even to mention the ‘90s), and I can’t overstate their importance. Dr. Helen Reddington, former bassist and singer for ’70s punk band The Chefs, approvingly quotes journalist Caroline Coon, onetime manager of both The Clash and The Slits as saying: “it would be possible to tell the whole story of British punk solely through its female bands and artists” (this is much less the case in U.S. punk history). You might wish to check out the rather crudely made, but interesting documentary She’s a Punk Rocker and the database on punk77.com for more. I haven’t mentioned Patti Smith, but we cover her body of work frequently enough here. Yes, I’ve left off Blondie, and of course X‑Ray Spex, and two more favorites of mine—the sadly underrated but truly awesome Bush Tetras and the obscure, Devo-like Mo-Dettes. The list, as always, could go on, but perhaps some of you have your own favorite female or female-fronted punk bands. If so, add them to the comments, preferably with a link to audio or video.

via Network Awesome

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Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness

by Josh Jones | Permalink | Make a Comment ( 40 ) |

100 Years of Rock in Less Than a Minute: From Gospel to Grunge

in History, Music | January 8th, 2014

Click the image above and you’ll enter an interactive/moving graphic that gives you a fairly nice genealogy of rock n roll and the many forms of music it later spawned. The graphic starts you with the blues, appalachian folk, and bluegrass. Eventually you hit the 1950s and the advent of rock. Then you keep traveling through time, reaching the hard rock, glam rock and punk of the 70s; the power metal and emerging grunge of the 80s; the post metal and neo folk of the 90s; and beyond. At any point, you can click the pause button, click on the name of a particular musical genre (eg Gothabilly), and hear a sample of the music. When you’re done, you might want to check out some of the related items below:

A History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in 100 Riffs

The Evolution of the Rock Guitar Solo: 28 Solos, Spanning 50 Years, Played in 6 Fun Minutes

The History of Music Told in Seven Rapidly Illustrated Minutes

The Story of the Guitar: The Complete Three-Part Documentary

via Digg

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Barry White’s Philosophy of Music and Making Love, Animated

in Animation, Music | January 8th, 2014

Blank on Blank returns with an animated interview with Barry White, the singer-songwriter who rose to prominence during the 1970s, recording songs that put us all in a loving mood. With hits like “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love Baby,” “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything,” and “Love Theme” (recorded by his 40-piece orchestral group The Love Unlimited Orchestra), White reached right into our bedroom and tried to nurture the best parts of humanity and subdue the worst. As he says in the animated interview above, “When a man is making love, the last thing he thinks about is war!” (Yes, it’s a gendered comment, but, let’s face it, it’s almost always men that screw up the world.) Other artists and authors featured in the Blank on Blank animated series include Kurt Cobain, Grace Kelley, Janis Joplin, Ray Charles, The Beastie Boys, David Foster Wallace, Jim Morrison & Dave Brubeck.

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Read Dictator Kim Jong-il’s Writings on Cinema, Art & Opera: Courtesy of North Korea’s Free E‑Library

in e-books, Film, Literature | January 8th, 2014

Kim Jong-Il (1941–2011), son of North Korea’s despotic Kim Il-sung and a tyrant in his own filial right, had as many titles as he did talents, with honorifics including the Sun of the Nation and the Shining Star of Paektu Mountain. Highfalutin nicknames aside, the younger dictator was a pretty able guy. North Korean sources assert that the Dear Leader once shot a 38 under par with 11 birdies (in his first and only game of golf), and could alter the weather using the power of his mind. Having turned his intellect to academia, Kim wrote 1500 books while studying at university. He also theorized extensively about art, cinema, and opera.

Kim once served as the Movie and Arts Division Director in North Korea’s Propaganda and Agitation Department, and was a renowned cinephile. As befitting a man whose personal video library reportedly housed over 20,000 titles, Kim (or some unfortunate ghostwriters) published numerous lectures and pamphlets on film, some of which are available in the Democratic Republic of Korea’s E‑Library. In his text The Cinema and Directing, for example, Kim shows off his talents for writing stilted academic prose while discussing ideology:

The ideological kernel of a production is the seed which the director and all the other creative workers should bring into flower through their collective efforts and wisdom. It is not only the basis of the interpretation by the individual creative workers, but also the foundation on which they all combine to produce one single cinematic presentation. When all interpretations are conducted on the basis of one seed, they form the components of one cinematic presentation because they are built on the same foundation [et cetera, ad nauseum].

Kim also pontificated on matters of literature. The treatise, entitled Life and Literature, offers the Ever-Victorious, Iron-Willed Commander’s thoughts on the essence of writing:

Literature belongs to the domain of humanics [sic]. The essential characteristic of literature as a humanics [sic] consists of describing real people and serving man… To say that literature portrays people means that it describes people and their lives, people who live, breathe, think and act as they do in real life. That literature serves man means that it solves urgent and important human problems through people and their lives and thus teaches them what life is and influences them to lead an honourable life. It is only through an accurate portrayal of people and their lives that literature can provide proper solutions for valuable human problems, and exert a great influence on people.

The key words here are “people” and “lives.” Got it?

Lest you dismiss these writings as pseudo-intellectual nonsense, it’s important to note that some philosophical interpretation is required. It’s the meanings behind the words, and the things that Kim leaves unsaid, that make up the real meat and potatoes of the piece… Or something.

You can find more of Kim Jong-il’s writings (alongside those of his father, Kim Il-sung) at the Democratic Republic of Korea E‑Library. Other titles include On the Art of the Drama and On the Art of Opera, which gets some pretty stellar reviews on Amazon. Take for example: “With over five books published per year in North Korea, it is a challenge to pick a single favorite. However, this book is a standout for North Korean opera connoisseurs and beginners alike.”

Ilia Blinderman is a Montreal-based culture and science writer. Follow him at @iliablinderman.

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Alain de Botton Shows How Art Can Answer Life’s Big Questions in Art as Therapy

in Art, Philosophy | January 7th, 2014

Alain de Botton, pop philosopher, has come out with a new book. Like his others, it’s full of sweeping ideas about an entire mode of human existence. He’s written on religion, sex, success, and happiness, and now he takes on art in Art as Therapy, co-written with art historian and author John Armstrong. Like all of de Botton’s ventures, the new book is sure to polarize. Many people find his work powerful and immediate, many see it as blithe intellectual tourism. To the latter critics, one might reply that de Botton’s approach is somewhat like that of other non-professional philosophers ancient and modern, from Plato to Schopenhauer, who addressed any and every area of life. And yet de Botton is a professional of another kind—he is a professional author, speaker, and self-help guru, and unlike his predecessors, he expressly sells a product. There’s no inherent reason why this should render his philosophy suspect. Yet, to use a favorite descriptor of his, some may find his media savviness vulgar, as Socrates found the so-called “sophists” of his day (a term of abuse that may be generally undeserved then and now).

In the video above—one of de Botton’s “Sunday Sermons” for his School of Life, an organization that more and more resembles his vision of a “religion for atheists”—de Botton lays out the book’s argument in a pretty unconventional way. The intro looks exactly like an evangelical church service, scored by a Robbie Williams song, which de Botton uses as his first example of “art.” It’s a tongue-in-cheek demonstration of de Botton’s claim that “art is our new religion… culture is something that is imminently suited to filling [religion’s] shoes.” Whether all of this large talk, pseudo-religiosity, and Robbie Williams music inspires, bores, or disturbs you is a personal matter, I suppose, but it does prepare one for something very different from a philosophical lecture in any case. This is, in fact, a sermon, replete with literary and theoretical references, tailored to offer answers to Life’s Big Questions.

De Botton first identifies the problem. While the secular gatekeepers of culture pretend to believe in the mollifying spiritual effects of art, “in fact,” he says, “the idea is dead.” Museums are moribund because, for example, they don’t directly address individual’s fear of death. Presumably, his “art as therapy” approach does. The book’s website contains snippets divided into broad categories like “Politics,” “Work,” “Love,” “Anxiety,” “Self,” and “Free Time.” In his sermon, de Botton doesn’t seem to evince any recognition of the field of art therapy, which has been chugging along since the early 20th century, but as he tells Joshua Rothman in an interview for The New Yorker he means the word therapy—“a big, simple, vulgar word”—broadly. Sounding for all like an Anglican theologian, de Botton says of an annunciation altarpiece by Fra Fillippo Lippi:

There’s a sudden tenderness here, which is so far removed from the harshness outside. If I were to put a caption here, it might say: ‘Our world, for all its technological sophistication, is lacking in certain qualities. But this painting is a visitor from another world, where those qualities—tenderness, reverence, and modesty—are very highly valued. Take it as an argument against Fox News and the New York Post. Use it to find the still places in yourself.’

The notion of this piece of art as “an argument” on the same conceptual plane as corporate mass media seems to contradict de Botton’s premise that it’s “from another world.” This cheek-by-jowl referencing of the sacred and profane, high and low, offends the sensibilities of several philosophical thinkers, and may have offended Fra Fillippo Lippi. But perhaps it’s too easy to be cynical about de Botton’s populist approach. If all of his evangelism seems like nothing more than elaborate publicity for his books, he’s certainly made things difficult for himself by founding a school. Whether you find his ideas compelling or not, he proves himself a passionate, if not particularly modest, thinker attempting to grapple with the problems of middle-class Western malaise and existential angst.

A Guide to Happiness: Alain de Botton Shows How Six Great Philosophers Can Change Your Life

Alain de Botton Proposes a Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success

Download 100 Free Online Philosophy Courses and Start Living the Examined Life

Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness

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Benjamin Bratton Explains “What’s Wrong with TED Talks?” and Why They’re a “Recipe for Civilizational Disaster”

in Science, TED Talks | January 7th, 2014

TED Talks — they give your “discovery-seeking brain a little hit of dopamine;” make you “feel part of a curious, engaged, enlightened, and tech-savvy tribe;” almost giving you the sensation that you’re attending a “new Harvard.” That was the hype around TED Talks a few years ago. Since then, the buzz around TED has mercifully died down, and the organization has gone on, staging its conferences around the globe. It’s been a while since we’ve featured a TED Talk whose ideas seem worth spreading. But today we have one for you. Intriguingly, it’s called “What’s Wrong with TED Talks?” It was presented by Benjamin Bratton, Associate Professor of Visual Arts at UCSD, at none other than TEDxSanDiego 2013. Bratton makes his case (above) in 11 minutes — well within the 18 allotted minutes — by arguing that TED doesn’t just help popularize ideas. Instead, it changes and cheapens the agenda for science, philosophy and technology in America. He begins to frame the problem by telling a story:

I was at a presentation that a friend, an astrophysicist, gave to a potential donor. I thought the presentation was lucid and compelling.… After the talk the sponsor said to him, “you know what, I’m gonna pass because I just don’t feel inspired …you should be more like Malcolm Gladwell.”

Think about it: an actual scientist who produces actual knowledge should be more like a journalist who recycles fake insights! This is beyond popularization. This is taking something with value and substance and coring it out so that it can be swallowed without chewing. This is not the solution to our most frightening problems – rather this is one of our most frightening problems.

Bratton then concludes, “astrophysics run on the model of American Idol is a recipe for civilizational disaster.” If “our best and brightest waste their time – and the audience’s time – dancing like infomercial hosts,” the cost will be too high, and our most difficult problems won’t get solved.

In watching Bratton’s talk, I found myself agreeing with many things. Sure, TED Talks are often “a combination of epiphany and personal testimony … through which the speaker shares a personal journey of insight and realization, its triumphs and tribulations.” Yes, the talks offer viewers a predictably “vicarious insight, a fleeting moment of wonder, an inkling that maybe it’s all going to work out after all.” Maybe TED Talks sometimes provide nothing more than “middlebrow megachurch infotainment.” But is TED really changing the agenda for scientists, technologists and philosophers? Are scholars actually choosing their intellectual projects based on anything having to do with TED (or TED-inspired ways of thinking)? Is someone at the NIH doling out money based on whether a project will eventually yield 15 good minutes of diversion and entertainment? Short of empirical evidence that actually applies to TED (the anecdote above doesn’t), it feels like Bratton is giving TED way too much credit. Maybe TED matters on YouTube. But let’s get real, its pull largely starts and ends there. You can read a complete transcript of Bratton’s talk here.

via The Guardian

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The University of Richmond Animates the 1932 Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States

in History, Maps | January 7th, 2014

In 1902, the newly established Carnegie Institution of Washington set out to develop “a really first rate atlas of American history.” Work on the atlas began in earnest in 1912, under the direction of the naval historian Charles O. Paullin, who spent the better part of the next 15 years bringing it to life. In 1929, the American Geographic Society (AGS), along with the eminent geographer John K. Wright, took over the project and brought it to completion. The Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States was finally published in 1932 to wide critical acclaim. Called a “monument to historical scholarship,” the compendium featured nearly 700 individual maps that gave visual insights into 500 years of American history. Topic covered included the “exploration and settlement of the North American continent, the location of colleges and churches, disputes over international and state boundaries, voting in presidential elections and in Congress, reforms from women’s suffrage to workmen’s compensation, transportation, industries, agriculture, commerce, the distribution of wealth, military history” and much more.

The Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States remains a valuable historical resource today. But, for all of these years, it had one notable shortcoming. Around the time of its first publication, John K. Wright acknowledged that “The ideal historical atlas might well be a collection of motion-picture maps, if these could be displayed on the pages of a book without the paraphernalia of projector, reel, and screen.” The technology that would lend itself to creating motion-picture maps wasn’t available in the 1930s. But it is today. And thanks to the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab, we can now view The Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States in a new digital, sometimes animated format. If you want to see a good example of historical data put into motion, then you might want to check out this map of American Explorations in the West, 1803–1852. (Click here and then click “Animate” at the bottom of the screen.) This map will trace for you the expeditions of Lewis and Clark and many other explorers. Then, if you’re ready to be an explorer yourself, you can start your journey through the digitized atlas by entering the Table of Contents.

via The New York Times

Henry David Thoreau’s Hand-Drawn Map of Cape Cod (1866)

An Interactive Map of Odysseus’ 10-Year Journey in Homer’s Odyssey

Geography of World Cultures by Martin Lewis (Stanford) in our collection of 825 Free Online Courses

by OC | Permalink | Make a Comment ( 1 ) |

“Lol My Thesis” Showcases Painfully Hilarious Attempts to Sum up Years of Academic Work in One Sentence

Four Female Punk Bands That Changed Women’s Role in Rock

100 Years of Rock in Less Than a Minute: From Gospel to Grunge

Barry White’s Philosophy of Music and Making Love, Animated

Read Dictator Kim Jong-il’s Writings on Cinema, Art & Opera: Courtesy of North Korea’s Free E‑Library

Alain de Botton Shows How Art Can Answer Life’s Big Questions in Art as Therapy

Benjamin Bratton Explains “What’s Wrong with TED Talks?” and Why They’re a “Recipe for Civilizational Disaster”

The University of Richmond Animates the 1932 Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States

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