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Author Topic: Introduce Yourself: Newcomers and Lurkers, We Mean You!  (Read 755289 times)

VmSoze

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Re: Introduce Yourself: Newcomers and Lurkers, We Mean You!
« Reply #910 on: December 03, 2007, 12:02:40 PM »
I'm committing a faux pas by introducing myself on my 4th post...

4th post is a lot better than some people...  ;)

pixote

yeah, it sure is...


oh and Joe, if you have some free time and want a break from your required reading, consider joining our Book Club...

oneaprilday

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Re: Introduce Yourself: Newcomers and Lurkers, We Mean You!
« Reply #911 on: December 03, 2007, 12:21:00 PM »
There are other Kermode fans here! Good! I've always had this fear that maybe he was the British equivalent of Joel Siegel over there and that I've just been fooled by the accent.

I've actually had the same feeling, but I'm kind of - well, not just kind of - an Anglophile, so I don't care much - I just love to listen to Kermode! I do actually find that I agree with a lot of his reviews though, and I love to listen to him rant.

My focus is 20th Century Lit-- both American and British-- and I tend to take a Reader-Response/Narratological approach.  In fact, I'm currently screwing around on this board while ignoring the Eliot, Joyce, and Heaney papers I need to be writing.

Sounds cool! And I'm partial to those approaches myself - narrative and narrative structure is especially fascinating. Wish I could get back to that kind of study - the nature of my comp courses is such that I've had to assign a lot of non-narrative non-fiction to my students.

These boards are a great place to screw around - a little too great - it's easy to become obsessive.  ;)

Are you full-time at your Community College?  Do you like it?  I love it, myself, and have considered forgoing the PhD and just teaching at the CC level.

I'm just part-time right now - with a 4 year old at home still and my husband working full-time, that's about all I can manage. I do love it - especially because it gives me another outlet for new kinds of thought and conversation. My one quarrel with CC teaching is that I have not been able to teach lit, which is my first love, since there are very few lit courses at the CC level and those instructors with most seniority get those classes, generally speaking. I'm very happy teaching comp, especially the higher levels, but I'd love to dig back into fiction and poetry. Getting a PhD will give you more leverage if you do want to teach literature.

JAGII

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Re: Introduce Yourself: Newcomers and Lurkers, We Mean You!
« Reply #912 on: December 03, 2007, 12:45:54 PM »
Hey Joe,

Thanks for posting.  I was hoping you would.  That way I can ask you about your avatar without seeming too forward.  Of the many avatars, yours really strikes a chord with me.  It is my belief that one's choice in avatar says a lot about the person, and if that is true, we are going to get along like gangbusters.

Choosing an avatar is tricky thing, isn't it?  It's like trying to put out a cliff note's version of your personality.

I choose mine for a few reasons:

1) I adore Freaks and Geeks.  By far my favorite television program, and it does my heart good to see those actors still working (even if it is on stuff like ER).

2) My avatar is from an episode where the 13-year-old protagonist, Sam, makes his plunge towards popularity by buying that powder-blue disco suit and feathering his hair (the series is based in Michigan in 1980, so he was trying to be genuinely cool- not ironically retro).  After a great opening where Sam struts down his school hallway to the tune of a BeeGees song, he is inevitably met with derision and spends the rest of the episode trapped in the very thing that he though would make him cool. 

I have had similar false-starts and pretensions towards coolness throughout my life, and I completely relate to his failure.

3) There is something apropos about using a picture of a nerd trying to make himself look cool as your avatar.  I fear that it will both backfire on me-- "Isn't that the kid from that show with Geena Davis?  You suck!"-- and that I will be stuck with it forever.

4) My other choice of avatar-- a panel from Dave Mazzucchelli's graphic novel adaptation of Paul Auster's City of Glass-- wouldn't size right.

So, I don't know if we're still gangbusters-- a nerd trying to be cool isn't far from a hero trying to be Pooh, is it?

BTW- If you don't know Freaks and Geeks, I (obviously) highly recommend it.  Even if you didn't like Knocked Up or Superbad (which has a lot of the people), and especially if you didn't like Unaccompanied Minors or I Am David (movies directed by the show's creator, Paul Fieg), you should still check it out.  It's very different in tone from any of those.

And thanks for the book club invite, VmSoze.  I just perused it and it looks like fun stuff.  I'll definitely check it out; if I ever get caught up, that is.

oneaprilday

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Re: Introduce Yourself: Newcomers and Lurkers, We Mean You!
« Reply #913 on: December 03, 2007, 01:05:07 PM »
I adore Freaks and Geeks.  By far my favorite television program.

I think Freaks and Geeks has got to be my favorite American TV show, too - missed it when it was airing, but just devoured the show when it came out on DVD.

JAGII

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Re: Introduce Yourself: Newcomers and Lurkers, We Mean You!
« Reply #914 on: December 03, 2007, 03:03:17 PM »
I adore Freaks and Geeks.  By far my favorite television program.

I think Freaks and Geeks has got to be my favorite American TV show, too - missed it when it was airing, but just devoured the show when it came out on DVD.

I was luck enough to catch most of it when it first aired on NBC-- at least from the second pilot on out.  I also happened to catch several episodes on Fox Family and videotape them.  My tape had pretty much worn out by the time the series made it to DVD, so I was dying for them.  I am glad they took the time to put out a decent package, with all the music and commentaries.  It's been a good rewatcher for me.

Your qualifier "favorite American TV show" and your admission to Anglophilia leads me to assume you prefer British television.  Which ones?  I know Extras and Doctor Who and that's about it.

alexarch

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Re: Introduce Yourself: Newcomers and Lurkers, We Mean You!
« Reply #915 on: December 03, 2007, 03:22:03 PM »
So, I don't know if we're still gangbusters-- a nerd trying to be cool isn't far from a hero trying to be Pooh, is it?
You went way farther into that than I ever would.  I like the way you stated it, but I was more thinking, "That's extra-retarded-in-a-good-way."  I appreciate a thought-out costume, or at least an extra-retarded costume.  My tastes run to the extra-retarded.

You probably would have gotten the same reaction out of me if you would have filled each pixel with all of the following: baby blue, pink, rainbows, unicorns, Richard Simmons, sequins, leg warmers, rolled headbands, a glitter ball, killer pandas, camouflage hot-pants, a cross-your-heart bra, feathered hair (you got that one), and a Summer's Eve commercial.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2007, 03:34:32 PM by alexarch »

oneaprilday

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Re: Introduce Yourself: Newcomers and Lurkers, We Mean You!
« Reply #916 on: December 03, 2007, 03:30:07 PM »
Your qualifier "favorite American TV show" and your admission to Anglophilia leads me to assume you prefer British television.  Which ones?  I know Extras and Doctor Who and that's about it.

Off the top of my head, Fawlty Towers, The Office, Extras, Vicar of Dibley, Rumpole of the Bailey, Are You Being Served, Keeping Up Appearances, As Time Goes By, also, Ballykissangel (season 1), the Midsomer Murders series and Prime Suspect series - there are others, but these are ones to which I keep returning, especially the comedies -the murder mysteries not so much because they're not as fun the second time around.

facedad

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Re: Introduce Yourself: Newcomers and Lurkers, We Mean You!
« Reply #917 on: December 03, 2007, 03:36:27 PM »
Your qualifier "favorite American TV show" and your admission to Anglophilia leads me to assume you prefer British television.  Which ones?  I know Extras and Doctor Who and that's about it.

Off the top of my head, Fawlty Towers, The Office, Extras, Vicar of Dibley, Rumpole of the Bailey, Are You Being Served, Keeping Up Appearances, As Time Goes By, also, Ballykissangel (season 1), the Midsomer Murders series and Prime Suspect series - there are others, but these are ones to which I keep returning, especially the comedies -the murder mysteries not so much because they're not as fun the second time around.
I'd have pegged you for Father Ted.
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lise

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Re: Introduce Yourself: Newcomers and Lurkers, We Mean You!
« Reply #918 on: December 03, 2007, 04:16:57 PM »
Vicar of Dibly is one of my favorites! Father Ted is fun, but it's no Vicar. :)
Strikeouts are boring - besides that, they're fascist.  Throw some ground balls.  More democratic.

oneaprilday

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Re: Introduce Yourself: Newcomers and Lurkers, We Mean You!
« Reply #919 on: December 03, 2007, 04:20:38 PM »
I'd have pegged you for Father Ted.

I would probably like it - I just have never seen it. I keep meaning to get it but haven't. Thanks for reminding me  :) Putting it in my queue . . . . . . now!

Vicar of Dibly is one of my favorites!

I always knew you had good taste, lise!  :)