where france is the only country in the world, that, under "Profession", one might put "Intellectual
Currently Reading - too embarrassed to say...but author claims to have used Colin Firth as inspiration, so it's all good!
Currently Watching - HBO's Rome (which I love, but find somewhat odd that these Romans all had variants of a British accent), and Last Exile (some anime that has a WWII vibe but not really...) and of course, eagerly awaiting next installment of Bleach.
So I meant to write an ecstatic, overly-enthusiastic, hyper-ventilatilation-enducing entry about the new album of my beloved Jay Chou, and one about Liverpool finally winning a few games in the Premier League this season (by erm...more than a single goal)...
But I got distracted, and lazy and I procrastinated.
Things that should have been written, never got, and things that should have been done, never got done. Really, sometimes I wonder what I do with my time. Then I remember that I have taken over as the family maid, or as I've learned in french, la bonne; I do actually still take French and Japanese, and of course, I spend ridiculous amounts of time online reading essays/articles and the likes that I can't even tell whether it's good or crap anymore (since returning to Singapore has reduced my brain capacity to zero).
What today has yielded, well, was basically what the day before reaped. It all sounds extremely banal and silly, then I come across something that makes me feel that I'm not the most trivial person in the world. And that is always great!
I have realised, a little late it seems, that "polls" are a way of life. You know how there are always popularity polls in the tabloids, or entertainment magazines as they like to call themselves (a rose by any other name, eh?) Even the local television station is having an award show where they hand out little trophies or what not to the top ten (?) most popular artistes of the station (thereby almost guaranteeing that everyone gets an award, since males and females are divided into 2 distinct categories)
It seems that even academia now wants to go mainstream and god-forbid, public!
http://www.reason.com/links/links110305.shtml Oh, I don't know how to make this link a pretty one...bah!
What on earth is a public intellectual anyway? And why on earth do we even need to poll about who is the most popular one? Is there really a need for academics to be popular? Sigh. I've always thought that this was quite the oxymoron. But evidently, what do I know?
My grand plan to go to graduate school and become an obscure academic seems to have been dealt another blow. Every day seems to unravel more of the world of academia to me that is becoming increasingly... COMMON.
Not that common is a bad thing, mind you. I adore common! (for the most parts). Everyone needs common. It's really the erm...one thing in life that is erm..consistent?
Hmm, as I backtrack, I seem to have equated intellectuals with academics. I find myself wondering now, whether they are really one and the same. I hardly think I'd be able to come up with a satisfactory answer, and I'm much too lazy right now to even try.
In any case, I seem to have digressed... again...
What I meant to write is how a poll on the top 100 "public intellectuals" has absolutely justified my trivial existence. Why is there even a need to categorise "intellectuals"? Oh, besides, these days, no one calls themselves intellectuals anymore... unless you're French, and even then, we always knew the French never did things the usual way. And these days, no one could possibly pull that off quite as convincingly as a French person.
It must be the French language and the French accent...
And oh, I didn't think any self-respecting "intellectual" would want to even be in the top 10 positions of abovementioned poll. In my book, that almost discredits them. Oh, you know how I'm like with things that get too popular, or things that are too popular to begin with...like those dreadful New York Times Bestsellers' Lists. How can it be possible that EVERY book makes it to the list? Oh, granted that list is subdivided into hardback and paper, fiction and nonfiction, and god knows how many other sub sub categories....bah!
Rubbish! You know it as well as I do, so don't pretend you don't!
Oh, wait. I've strayed again.
Yes, so the point is, that I'm glad to say that there is a bunch of people out there - quite a large number in fact, if you count those who voted in the poll - who are sillier than I am, and who believe that the results of this poll will in any way contribute to, oh, say, improving the quality of our lives.
Of course I realise that I have inevitably jeopardised my entire blog, but then again, I'm by no means advertising or advocating it's importance/significance/influence in any way that is not derogatory.
Currently Watching - HBO's Rome (which I love, but find somewhat odd that these Romans all had variants of a British accent), and Last Exile (some anime that has a WWII vibe but not really...) and of course, eagerly awaiting next installment of Bleach.
So I meant to write an ecstatic, overly-enthusiastic, hyper-ventilatilation-enducing entry about the new album of my beloved Jay Chou, and one about Liverpool finally winning a few games in the Premier League this season (by erm...more than a single goal)...
But I got distracted, and lazy and I procrastinated.
Things that should have been written, never got, and things that should have been done, never got done. Really, sometimes I wonder what I do with my time. Then I remember that I have taken over as the family maid, or as I've learned in french, la bonne; I do actually still take French and Japanese, and of course, I spend ridiculous amounts of time online reading essays/articles and the likes that I can't even tell whether it's good or crap anymore (since returning to Singapore has reduced my brain capacity to zero).
What today has yielded, well, was basically what the day before reaped. It all sounds extremely banal and silly, then I come across something that makes me feel that I'm not the most trivial person in the world. And that is always great!
I have realised, a little late it seems, that "polls" are a way of life. You know how there are always popularity polls in the tabloids, or entertainment magazines as they like to call themselves (a rose by any other name, eh?) Even the local television station is having an award show where they hand out little trophies or what not to the top ten (?) most popular artistes of the station (thereby almost guaranteeing that everyone gets an award, since males and females are divided into 2 distinct categories)
It seems that even academia now wants to go mainstream and god-forbid, public!
http://www.reason.com/links/links110305.shtml Oh, I don't know how to make this link a pretty one...bah!
What on earth is a public intellectual anyway? And why on earth do we even need to poll about who is the most popular one? Is there really a need for academics to be popular? Sigh. I've always thought that this was quite the oxymoron. But evidently, what do I know?
My grand plan to go to graduate school and become an obscure academic seems to have been dealt another blow. Every day seems to unravel more of the world of academia to me that is becoming increasingly... COMMON.
Not that common is a bad thing, mind you. I adore common! (for the most parts). Everyone needs common. It's really the erm...one thing in life that is erm..consistent?
Hmm, as I backtrack, I seem to have equated intellectuals with academics. I find myself wondering now, whether they are really one and the same. I hardly think I'd be able to come up with a satisfactory answer, and I'm much too lazy right now to even try.
In any case, I seem to have digressed... again...
What I meant to write is how a poll on the top 100 "public intellectuals" has absolutely justified my trivial existence. Why is there even a need to categorise "intellectuals"? Oh, besides, these days, no one calls themselves intellectuals anymore... unless you're French, and even then, we always knew the French never did things the usual way. And these days, no one could possibly pull that off quite as convincingly as a French person.
It must be the French language and the French accent...
And oh, I didn't think any self-respecting "intellectual" would want to even be in the top 10 positions of abovementioned poll. In my book, that almost discredits them. Oh, you know how I'm like with things that get too popular, or things that are too popular to begin with...like those dreadful New York Times Bestsellers' Lists. How can it be possible that EVERY book makes it to the list? Oh, granted that list is subdivided into hardback and paper, fiction and nonfiction, and god knows how many other sub sub categories....bah!
Rubbish! You know it as well as I do, so don't pretend you don't!
Oh, wait. I've strayed again.
Yes, so the point is, that I'm glad to say that there is a bunch of people out there - quite a large number in fact, if you count those who voted in the poll - who are sillier than I am, and who believe that the results of this poll will in any way contribute to, oh, say, improving the quality of our lives.
Of course I realise that I have inevitably jeopardised my entire blog, but then again, I'm by no means advertising or advocating it's importance/significance/influence in any way that is not derogatory.