Interview Monster Movies and other things

So, I've been struggling with what to write about today. Having a regular blog post, as I think I've noted, has helped to keep me organized. And yet, today I thought how nice it would be to leave the blog hanging and to break out the metaphorical fishing pole. Part of the problem was what to write about. It was between what you're about to read and one on my desire to have a permanent soundtrack that would accompany me in my daily life. For some reason - let's call it near-exhaustion - I've been trying to figure out how and when I'd want "Eye in the Sky" by the Alan Parsons Project to play.

The answer should clearly be "never." And yet I can't get it out of my head. So here we are.

And I've been trying to figure out how to talk about job talks and interviews and all of that. I keep thinking about advice people have given me about interviews and why it is I approach them the way I do. It seems to me that I've got two strategies that I tend to adopt with interviews: the first is to make tangential jokes through the process (not surprising) while at the same time treating the process like Tokyo to my Godzilla. Nothing would make me happier in a job interview than to make an ugly mess of the job description I've just been asked to fill. I want citizens fleeing in terror. And I want the next applicant to be seen as Mothra.

I will be a monster. I will be your savior. I will breathe atomic fire and poorly dubbed dialogue into your department.

I may be delirious.

I'd like to offer strategies - useful things like "make them wait just a bit for you; don't jump at the first offer, even to talk with them" or "be yourself at all costs." But what do you say when "yourself at all costs" equals "make them laugh and trample their tallest buildings"?

Does the thought of job talks make everyone this nuts?

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11 Responses to “Interview Monster Movies and other things”
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Dr. Curmudgeon said...

Wow, Maggie, that's possibly the most terse response ever. =)

Did I accidentally stick Alan Parsons in your head?

November 29, 2007 at 9:54 AM
Margaret said...

You totally did. Damn Alan Parsons and his damn Eye in the Sky. You'd better give me another, less annoying song quick or I'm boycotting your blog.

November 29, 2007 at 10:07 AM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

Um....how about Pearl Jam's "Wishlist"?

Or "You Are My Sunshine" by Ray Charles?

Or "Intergalactic" by the Beastie Boys?

I'm not sure how well any of these would stick in your head, but they're the first things that came to mind.

November 29, 2007 at 10:11 AM
Margaret said...

Intergalactic works. Right now it is doing battle with Eye in the Sky. I hope it wins...

November 29, 2007 at 10:16 AM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

"Intergalactic" will definitely win. How can the opening lines not stick?

Well, now, don't you tell me to smile/You stick around/I'll make it worth your while/Got numbers beyond what you can dial...

That may well be the mantra for the day.

November 29, 2007 at 10:19 AM
gwoertendyke said...

somewhere, somehow, we must all go out for lots of drinks. thanks for letting us read this hysterical little dialogue.

November 29, 2007 at 10:46 AM
kermitthefrog said...

I think you might need a new blog name after this. Atomic Lizard? Intergalactic Stomp?

November 29, 2007 at 11:16 AM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

It feels like a new blog name along this line would only be one short, ill-conceived breath from becoming "Atomic Stomp" which sounds like some bad line dance.

And since, in theory at least, the job talk thing won't be forever, changing the name in response to my desire to battle radiation fueled monsters in the heart of an academia reimagined as post-WWII Tokyo won't always work, I'd better stay simply Dr. Curmudgeon.

(As an aside, that last 'graph may have been the most fun thing I've written in years)

November 29, 2007 at 12:39 PM
Margaret said...

I dunno, Atomic Stomp = "line dance" --or-- "Hip Hop X-travaganza"? Because you could always change your name to C-Mudge.

November 29, 2007 at 1:18 PM
Sisyphus said...

Rock on! I only wish I could wreak destruction on a department while the masses flee in terror!

"I will be a monster. I will be your savior. I will breathe atomic fire and poorly dubbed dialogue into your department."

You're hired. Never mind that I have no actual university for you to work at, you're just hired.

November 30, 2007 at 12:20 AM