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June 9, 2011 9:27 AM Subscribe
Piled higher and deeper. The PhD Movie
So?
posted by flabdablet at 9:32 AM on June 9, 2011
posted by flabdablet at 9:32 AM on June 9, 2011
The comic is very great. The movie has a lot to live up to. And the trailer does not make me optimistic.
I hope to be proven wrong. But even if I'm right, no offense intended to the people involved in the movie's production. The PhD hilarity ranges from difficult (most of the story lines) to impossible (most of the graphs) to translate well into movie form, but that doesn't mean it wasn't worth trying.
posted by roystgnr at 10:14 AM on June 9, 2011
I hope to be proven wrong. But even if I'm right, no offense intended to the people involved in the movie's production. The PhD hilarity ranges from difficult (most of the story lines) to impossible (most of the graphs) to translate well into movie form, but that doesn't mean it wasn't worth trying.
posted by roystgnr at 10:14 AM on June 9, 2011
I'm a PhD student who fully enjoys joking about what a bizarre existence the life of a grad student can be. But I also realise how fucking fortunate I am to have such awful "problems".
I like the comic. But that trailer looked atrociously bad.
posted by modernnomad at 10:37 AM on June 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
I like the comic. But that trailer looked atrociously bad.
posted by modernnomad at 10:37 AM on June 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
So we've established that about 50% of Metafilter is grad students with no time for anything.... except relentlessly posting on Metafilter about how terrible it is. Right?
I have know some grad students and have seen how difficult it is, but no single group has ever bitched as much about something they choose to do themselves.
posted by lattiboy at 10:43 AM on June 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
I have know some grad students and have seen how difficult it is, but no single group has ever bitched as much about something they choose to do themselves.
posted by lattiboy at 10:43 AM on June 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
So we've established that about 50% of Metafilter is grad students with no time for anything.... except relentlessly posting on Metafilter about how terrible it is. Right?
I have know some grad students and have seen how difficult it is, but no single group has ever bitched as much about something they choose to do themselves.
The flip side is people who got a "real job" but constantly fantasize about going back to school for something impractical, money be damned.
posted by 2bucksplus at 10:45 AM on June 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
I have know some grad students and have seen how difficult it is, but no single group has ever bitched as much about something they choose to do themselves.
The flip side is people who got a "real job" but constantly fantasize about going back to school for something impractical, money be damned.
posted by 2bucksplus at 10:45 AM on June 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: no single group has ever bitched as much about something they choose to do themselves.
posted by oinopaponton at 11:17 AM on June 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by oinopaponton at 11:17 AM on June 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
What is a PhD? Not a real doctor! worthless.Can not even get free drugs
posted by Postroad at 11:26 AM on June 9, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by Postroad at 11:26 AM on June 9, 2011 [4 favorites]
but no single group has ever bitched as much about something they choose to do themselves
Don't know any parents, huh?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:28 AM on June 9, 2011 [14 favorites]
Don't know any parents, huh?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:28 AM on June 9, 2011 [14 favorites]
Meh. PhD comics is consistently unfunny and predictable. What'll this comic's punchline be? Will it be the working-like-a-dog-for-unappreciative-PI joke? The underpaid joke? The "no real life" joke? Or the "haven't seen the outdoors in days" joke? PhD comics is more whiny than most real graduate students I know. I say the trailer does the comic justice.
Signed,
PhD student
posted by nicodine at 11:35 AM on June 9, 2011 [5 favorites]
Signed,
PhD student
posted by nicodine at 11:35 AM on June 9, 2011 [5 favorites]
Don't know any parents, huh?
Favourited, sure, but as both a parent and a former grad student (albeit a masters) I offer these two things:
1. I love my kid to death, love spending time with her and wouldn't trade her for anything.
2. Whenever anyone asks if I would go back to do a PhD I think of how I would rather have palsied 3 year olds sink dull needles into my eyeballs than sign up for one minute of that festering hell.
posted by jimmythefish at 1:00 PM on June 9, 2011
Favourited, sure, but as both a parent and a former grad student (albeit a masters) I offer these two things:
1. I love my kid to death, love spending time with her and wouldn't trade her for anything.
2. Whenever anyone asks if I would go back to do a PhD I think of how I would rather have palsied 3 year olds sink dull needles into my eyeballs than sign up for one minute of that festering hell.
posted by jimmythefish at 1:00 PM on June 9, 2011
PHD comics is the Dilbert, the Family Circle, and the Garfield of school comics all rolled up into one.
posted by rebent at 1:46 PM on June 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by rebent at 1:46 PM on June 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
basically what I'm saying is that PHD comics does it wrong. SMBC comics does it right. that is all.
posted by rebent at 1:46 PM on June 9, 2011
posted by rebent at 1:46 PM on June 9, 2011
PhD comics was funny years ago. But then I think the author graduated or something and now all his jokes are the same.
Also, I always assumed Celia was Asian. You know. Like 50% of all the grad students I ever saw.
posted by delmoi at 2:15 PM on June 9, 2011
Also, I always assumed Celia was Asian. You know. Like 50% of all the grad students I ever saw.
posted by delmoi at 2:15 PM on June 9, 2011
It seems like every actor in this movie, or at least the trailer, is white. With the exception of that professor. Weird.
posted by delmoi at 2:21 PM on June 9, 2011
posted by delmoi at 2:21 PM on June 9, 2011
I'll wait for the sequel: "The Postdoc miserable life." Followed by the last chapter of the trilogy: "Tenure track: the unreachable end."
posted by dov3 at 2:44 PM on June 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by dov3 at 2:44 PM on June 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'll wait for the sequel: "The Postdoc miserable life." Followed by the last chapter of the trilogy: "Tenure track: the unreachable end."
posted by dov3 at 2:44 PM
I better call my agent and see if he got me an audition.
posted by babbyʼ); Drop table users; -- at 3:35 PM on June 9, 2011
posted by dov3 at 2:44 PM
I better call my agent and see if he got me an audition.
posted by babbyʼ); Drop table users; -- at 3:35 PM on June 9, 2011
As someone with only a high school diploma, I welcome any opportunity to laugh at PhD's.
posted by jonmc at 4:42 PM on June 9, 2011
posted by jonmc at 4:42 PM on June 9, 2011
1 week away from my defense, woo. Trailer was not bad considering it was done at Caltech.
posted by nutate at 5:12 PM on June 9, 2011
posted by nutate at 5:12 PM on June 9, 2011
Yeah, I always pictured Cecilia and "the hero" as Asian. And Mike's a blonde.
And a real grad student would not have yelled "a monkey could do this!" A real grad student would have exclaimed that "an undergrad could do this!"
But my real question...when did "the hero" become a biochemist? He is always, always at a computer. I'm not current with the comic (I don't read regularly) and while I see him with a pipetteman a few days ago, I can't find any other evidence. Hell, I thought he and Mike had the same advisor and I thought Mike was in physics? So confused.
posted by maryr at 7:41 PM on June 9, 2011
And a real grad student would not have yelled "a monkey could do this!" A real grad student would have exclaimed that "an undergrad could do this!"
But my real question...when did "the hero" become a biochemist? He is always, always at a computer. I'm not current with the comic (I don't read regularly) and while I see him with a pipetteman a few days ago, I can't find any other evidence. Hell, I thought he and Mike had the same advisor and I thought Mike was in physics? So confused.
posted by maryr at 7:41 PM on June 9, 2011
For example, I won't say I've never had a long day of BLAST and Excel, but NO BENCH TIME in his Day-In-The-Life. Come on!
posted by maryr at 7:48 PM on June 9, 2011
posted by maryr at 7:48 PM on June 9, 2011
I actually like the look of this. Mind you, I have a strong emotional attachment to the comics (partly for the comic itself, mostly for friends I made on the attached phorum) and am therefore a shameless fanboy. As an independent work it looks like it could be pretty dire, but as a fan adaptation aimed at a very specific audience who already know the comics, it could be a lot of fun.
I agree that it's weird to see all the students as white, though. I always assumed that Nameless Guy / Our Hero is SE asian because he seems like a stand-in for Cham in the early comics and actually says to his supervisor something like "Er, I'm not caucasian" as a reason to get out of a weird money-making scheme. Tajel is always relatively dark-skinned and when we see her parents her mum is darker skinned (perhaps Indian? She's wearing a sari) and her dad is white. I'd always assumed that Cecilia and Mike are white, though with Cecelia's black hair having her as SE Asian would make sense too. So, yeah, odd casting choices.
And a real grad student would not have yelled "a monkey could do this!" A real grad student would have exclaimed that "an undergrad could do this!"
I actually used to complain quite regularly that "a moderately well-trained chimp" could do the long, repetitive assay on which a chunk of my thesis was built. Most of the undergrads I was exposed to were medical students, so I wouldn't have trusted them to stay sober for long enough :).
posted by metaBugs at 6:03 AM on June 10, 2011
I agree that it's weird to see all the students as white, though. I always assumed that Nameless Guy / Our Hero is SE asian because he seems like a stand-in for Cham in the early comics and actually says to his supervisor something like "Er, I'm not caucasian" as a reason to get out of a weird money-making scheme. Tajel is always relatively dark-skinned and when we see her parents her mum is darker skinned (perhaps Indian? She's wearing a sari) and her dad is white. I'd always assumed that Cecilia and Mike are white, though with Cecelia's black hair having her as SE Asian would make sense too. So, yeah, odd casting choices.
And a real grad student would not have yelled "a monkey could do this!" A real grad student would have exclaimed that "an undergrad could do this!"
I actually used to complain quite regularly that "a moderately well-trained chimp" could do the long, repetitive assay on which a chunk of my thesis was built. Most of the undergrads I was exposed to were medical students, so I wouldn't have trusted them to stay sober for long enough :).
posted by metaBugs at 6:03 AM on June 10, 2011
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