Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Sound of the Drums, Beatin' in My Heart

After a couple of days off, I'm starting to think about getting my game face on. So here's some Nietzsche. The The Gay Science, section 107 is the closest thing philosophers have to cranking AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" up to 11 in the locker room:
As an artistic phenomenon existence is still bearable for us, and art furnishes us with eyes and hands and above all the good conscience to be able to turn ourselves into such a phenomenon. At times we need a rest from ourselves by looking upon, by looking down upon, ourselves and, from an artistic distance, laughing over ourselves or weeping over ourselves; we must discover the hero no less than the fool in our passion for knowledge, we must occasionally find pleasure in our folly, or we cannot continue to find pleasure in our wisdom! Precisely because we are at bottom grave and serious human beings—really more weights than human beings—nothing does us as much good as a fool's cap: we need it in relation to ourselves—we need all exuberant, floating, dancing, mocking, childish, and blissful art lest we lose the freedom above things that our ideal demands of us.
See you in Baltimore.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always liked R.E.M.'s 'Superman' myself for psych-up music.

We could also think of good 'anti-psych-up' APA music too, e.g., Beck, "Loser," Pixies, "Where is my mind?"

Anonymous said...

Nice. For myself, I'll be toting along a copy of that 9 year-old's letter describing last years APA, reminding myself that philosophers all do weird things.

Anonymous said...

I can't figure this one out. No APA interviews, but I managed to score the short list for a department that skips the APA and goes straight to on campus interviews. I don't have any special qualifications that would make my appearance in the short list remotely probable.

Anonymous said...

Anon. 3:42: Good luck at your campus interview, and send good wishes to us folks at the APA while you're enjoying your leisure* time!

* assuming a really loose interpretation of the word "leisure," of course.

Anonymous said...

What about "Good Morning, Baltimore!" from Hairspray, with a few modifications?

The rats on the street
All dance around my feet
They seem to say
"[candidate], it's up to you"
So, oh, oh
Don't hold me back
'Cause today all my dreams will come true

Good morning Baltimore
There's the flasher who lives next door
There's the bum on his bar room stool
They wish me luck on my way to the APA

Good morning Baltimore
And some day when i take to the floor
The world's gonna wake up and see
Baltimore and me

I know every step
I know every song
I know there's a place where i belong
I see all those party lights shining ahead
So someone invite me
Before i drop dead!


Eerie, no?

Anonymous said...

my whole life has been leading up to what will happen in these few days after christmas.

Anonymous said...

@i have a few interviews: you may well be right, but it sounds really sad...

Anonymous said...

"When you walk through the garden
you gotta watch your back
well I beg your pardon
walk the straight and narrow track
if you walk with Jesus
he's gonna save your soul
you gotta keep the devil
way down in the hole..."

Don't know if that speaks to any of you out there, but with season 5 of The Wire out shortly, I'm kinda intrigued to see Baltimore...and have my one interview...

Best of luck folks!

Anonymous said...

I am going to smile and say "Good luck" to the candidates coming to the table or waiting outside the suite, in lieu of that awkward moment of silence.

Can't we all just get along...I just dated myself.

P.S. I am going to try to skip the self-deprecation (or was that self-defecation?) and the jokes about my nerves. Can someone pass the whiskey? I brought my own benzo.

Anonymous said...

How 'bout the Stooges, "I wanna be your dog," as APA theme music?

Anonymous said...

The Definitive APA Playlist

Buzzcocks, "Something's gone wrong again"
AC/DC, "What Do You Do For Money, Honey"
Angry Samoans, "Laughing at Me"
D.O.A., "I Don't Give a Shit"
The Damned, "Feel the Pain"
The Dickies, "I'm OK, You're OK"
Fugazi, "Waiting Room"
Joy Division, "Candidate"
Mission of Burma, "That's When I Reach for my Revolver"
The Ramones, "Swallow my Pride"
Stiff Little Fingers, "State of Emergency"
Subway Sect, "Ambition"
Turbonegro, "Humiliation Street"
Wire, "It's So Obvious"

Anonymous said...

"Soon" meaning next year, suckas!

Happy interviewing, I'll be drawing robots and kittehs!

Anonymous said...

Well, they're certainly smart, cool, and funny!

Anonymous said...

I've got four APA interviews, and I'm ABD at a department in the lower half of the rankings. I don't know if that counts as Leiterific, but if it doesn't then your assumption is faulty. Someone who is ABD from the bottom half of the Gourmet Report can get four interviews.

(N.B.: Someone ought to add definitions to the glossary for a few more of the terms that are used a lot around here. 'Leiterific' is one of those. I have no idea if it means "on the report", "near the top of the report", or what. I've always assumed it meant pretty good in terms of the rankings.)

Anonymous said...

Ditto - I am in a school ranked low (let's say bottom half) according to the Leiter Report. I am ABD, and I got 6 interviews. My colleague last year, also ABD, scored 4 interviews and a TT job.

Anonymous said...

Anons 7:44 and 8:37,

Care to divulge your AOSs and AOCs. I'd like to see what selling well on the job market.

Anonymous said...

Why are we assholes Anon 1:02?