like some watcher of the skies when a new planet swims into his ken

[freckles_and_doubt]

Good lord, this job has its weird moments. I've just spent 45 minutes digging through a university handbook from 1970, trying to work out whether the Anatomy class taken by Fine Arts diploma students in 1970 is the Med school one, or their own art-based version. The 1970 handbook is... quaint. And somehow far more Oxbridge than the current snappy, market-oriented one. Also, layout not so much. As an encore, I shall now go to a meeting in order to squabble about venues for orientation, since there aren't actually enough large ones to go round. Expanding the university with ever-larger hordes of students is all very well, but the infrastructure is straining at the seams.

By way of distraction from the oddities of university admin, I stumbled today across the delirious and unlikely existence of the planet Nibiru and its apocalyptic intentions for the Earth in December 2012 when it disengages its apparently extremely efficient cloaking devices as it bumbles portentously through our skies. I have every intention of going to see Roland Emmerich's 2012 as soon as it opens, secure in the knowledge that it will be an entirely loud, dreadful, pointless, anti-scientific and badly-scripted collection of nonsense which will nonetheless make me extremely happy with images of large-scale cataclysm. It is a revelation to me, however, as well as a solid dose of fuel for my beliefs about the fundamental stupidity of the human race, that there are apparently vast seething masses of people out there who actually believe this shit. It's not only their touching faith in the infallibility of the ancient Mayan calendar that floors me, it's their unmatched ability to create conspiracy theories about cover-ups as an antidote to all this inconvenient science debunking the myths. Oh, and their worrying tendency to accept viral marketing campaigns for clearly stupidly OTT Hollywood blockbusters as the gospel truth.

The paranoid delusion is at such levels that NASA has a FAQ page about Nibiru and 2010. The Bad Astronomy page is also interesting for its pithy deconstruction of kooky spiritualists and pervy alien-fanciers. Charm these voices of reason never so patiently and rationally, however, that particular deaf adder has its tail in its ears and its head buried under a significantly-carved Sumerian rock, and is moreover shouting "LA LA LA CAN'T HEAR YOU!" at the top of its voice. I think I like disaster movies so much because the general apocalyptic devastation seems to me to be no more than we deserve.

Comments

Anatomy: Art or Science?

[wolverine-nun.livejournal.com]

Well?

Re: Anatomy: Art or Science?

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

Apparently it's a drawing class which just happens to be called "Anatomy". As far as we can tell, because there's no info in the handbook and no-one whose institutional memory goes back that far. This institution needs some elephants, stat.

Re: Anatomy: Art or Science?

[veratiny.livejournal.com]

Most Arts schools don't offer anatomy any more and it is a damn shame--in fact most of them don't even offer good old fashioned drawing which is even worse. An artist needs to know what the muscles are doing under the skin if they have any hope of actually drawing a human that doesn't look like a manga character.

Sadly, conceptual art has seen actual skill developing classes being removed from the curriculum in the favour of all conceptual curriculum. An idea without the technical means to express it is just crap.

My personal gripe with "art" education.

Re: Anatomy: Art or Science?

[wolverine-nun.livejournal.com]

You're describing exactly the situation in a lot of maths ed. Teach them conceptual stuff or teach them algorithms. The correct reply is, of course: both. There are even papers called things like "The Math Wars" going on about this. I used to be more on the conceptual side, but I'm getting all stern and schoolmarm-ey in my old age and am tending towards "learn your #&*@$% times table!" etc.

[khoi-boi.livejournal.com]

The Bad Astronomer (or Phil to his friends) used to post on the Straight Dope MB. He does a much-needed(sadly) job.

[wolverine-nun.livejournal.com]

Yup. Except for the fact that the dude markets himself ALL THE TIME, I love his blog and read it daily.