A while back I was asked to submit a writing sample with a job application. The only options I had were academic papers. So, I wrote a movie review just to have a piece of light, casual prose. I had a great time writing it. So now I write this blog, just for the fun of it.

The topics are the two things I know most about: movies and philosophy. Once upon a time, I enjoyed serious cinema. I still do, actually. But when I began studying philosophy more seriously, all I wanted to watch were escapist, genre movies. All week long, I would read serious books, and think serious thoughts. Serious movies just weren't as fun as they used to be. Thus, the movies I write about are generally low-brow. But I cannot abide by pop philosophy. And while the philosophy posts are informal, and not for specialists, I do try to keep them serious. So this is a low-brow/high-brow kind of blog. Unibrow.

One last note, this is not about philosophy in movies. And, not because the movies I discuss are not exactly art. But because the philosophy in movies is usually about an inch deep. Even when a movie is philosophically interesting, it usually is not philosophical about it. The best philosophy in movies, in my opinion, is literary, or psychological. They show how people deal with philosophical problems. After all, can you imagine what it would be like if a movie tried to be objective? It would be like watching a science-fiction movie with real science. 1000 failed experiments that only provide ambiguous data.
Thanks. If you've somehow found this blog and read this far, I hope you enjoy it. And, don't worry, I don't think philosophy must be objective.

Monday, July 1, 2013

I know he can do the job, but can he get the job?

Yet another article on the marketability of skills developed while studying philosophy.

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/01/be_employable_study_philosophy_partner/


You'll have to excuse my butchering of a quote from Joe Vs. The Volcano. But this seems the obvious question. Philosophy majors might do well in whatever they end up doing, but how do they get to do it in the first place? If you know, would you mind sharing with the rest of us?

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