Interview Prep

Once again, the wheel has spun, and the highly improbable has occurred: I have an interview. Obviously a new troop of insane people have been found somewhere in the country and now I will have to pay the ultimate price: The jacket, shirt and tie. Oh, the discomfort! Actually jackets truly are the most uncomfortable things you can possibly wear, aberrations of the natural order of clothing and awkward in the extreme. Gosh, how I loathe them. Why can't it always be bermuda shorts and jumpers?

On a more serious note, preparing for interviews is one of the most stressful activities one can do while remaining in the land of the (barely) sane. There's just something inherently stressful about the idea of turning up somewhere and justifying oneself to strangers, a falseness in the whole concept of 'faking it til you make it' as opposed to portraying yourself totally genuinely. Yes, I know we are supposed to be ourselves on these occasions, but when is it really true? Nervousness always pushes an element of pretence at the very beginning, at least, but then it falls away. Yes, nervousness is the enemy, and always will be.

Nervousness is a creeping sensation, something disruptive and weakening. Even now, when long used to it, the stomach turns over with still more than a week to go. Preparation will only make it worse up to a point, where the main job is to set up to be a presentation about the exciting, interesting and motivating parts of my research! Yes, a work of fiction is required! Oh, that's only a joke, a lot of it can be interesting in introductory terms so it will be nice, and some kind of animation would be a barnstormer, if only I knew how in Python and had the data. That's a fun few days to fill, if you like that sort of thing.

Meanwhile, in less nerve-inducing news, the advent of 'Batman' on DVD has been augmented by the revelation that the complete 'Phil Silvers Show' will be out soon too. It's a treasure trove year for vintage comedy with two shows long unavailable outside of bootlegs finally seeing the light of day. It's remarkable that it's finally happening. Remarkable! Is it silly to be excited by vintage comedy? Perhaps, but some of what is about to be released is legendary, and deserves to be seen. Early drama may have been patterned, overly stern, and formulaic but early comedy? There is gold in them there hills! Phil Silvers is actually one of my earliest influences, back when the BBC would still pay for reruns of old shows. Any series which can produce an episode like 'Court Martial' deserves every release it can get. Now if only we could know why the last release of season one didn't sell...

I blame barbarians.
O.