tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post8842304479786521767..comments2024-03-12T12:54:32.926-07:00Comments on Life After Mastermind: Wiki Challenge - Venables QuestionsLondiniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07871325359167581176noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post-3996561480434678972012-09-15T07:08:20.252-07:002012-09-15T07:08:20.252-07:00Just had bit of a revelation. I don't think i...Just had bit of a revelation. I don't think it's about high brow v. low brow actually!!! Or not ONLY that.<br /><br />It's actually much more to do with whether something is contemporary or in the past!<br /><br />The conservative press would not whip up a storm about someone offering a music hall performer, such as Marie Lloyd from the 1900s, but they probably would if you offered an X-factor contestant from the 2000s.<br /><br />Perhaps that's the problem with choosing Aniston - rather than say a comic acress like Carole Lombard from the 30s. It's not that she is an actress but that she is living, and also probably too young. It's a little like people releasing their autobiographies at age 20. It tends to provoke sarcastic comment. <br /><br />I'd find Lennon a more acceptable than McCartney, because the story of McCartney isn't yet something you can look at in a detached way as a whole. The definitive biography has not yet been written. <br /><br />'The Beatles' is ok because, even though 2 of them are still alive, the complete canon of Beatles music already exists, and there have been a few decades to make sense of it all.<br /><br />However 'One direction' would fail this test, not only because they have said much less, but because we do not know the complete story yet.<br /><br />J.Edgar Hoover would be fine, but Barack Obama would not be; Elizabeth I would be good, but Elizabeth II would not be. And i think it does feel right. Obama and Liz II are significant characters, and you can obviously ask as many quiz questions as you like about either of them - but they don't make such satisfying SPECIALIST subjects as the people that are now in the past (where we can assess them as a complete story, more detachedly). I'm not saying they are completely invalid choices, just that the choices aren't so academically satisfying. <br /><br />For lots of reasons it could be preferable to avoid contemporaries (and this has nothing to do with high culture v. low culture).<br /><br />Just an idea...?AaronWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10092351779984137119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post-7873677048263926292012-09-15T05:34:45.957-07:002012-09-15T05:34:45.957-07:00P.S. Deadset not Deadzone.
Must have been getti...P.S. Deadset not Deadzone. <br /><br />Must have been getting muddled up with the Crystal maze lolAaronWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10092351779984137119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post-30492341325119172102012-09-15T05:17:14.073-07:002012-09-15T05:17:14.073-07:00Sounds like the papers were harsh on her as a pers...Sounds like the papers were harsh on her as a person, but the broader point that not 'anything goes' can still be true. You can ask insanely obscure questions about popular subjects and make the quiz extremely hard to answer, but it's not quite the same thing as offering an inherently challenging subject at the outset (even if you answer fewer questions on it, i think people will be more respectful of the effort).<br /><br />'The TV Reality Show in the UK – 1990 to the Present Day'<br /><br />Now that's a respectable subject. It covers a social phenomenon as a whole, from a detached perspective. It is intimidatingly broad, too - 20 years and numerous shows.<br /><br />Lots of philosophical issues - democratisation of fame (Warhol), voyeurism, impact of digital technology on social networks etc.). There have been real social impacts too e.g. reality shows contributed strongly to the acceptance of gay rights, something i'm personally grateful for. And lots of characters that, for better or worse, entered the national language and become part of the modern folklore.<br /><br />There are very interesting spin-offs of the basic reality premise in literature, film, TV drama, too etc e.g. Charlie Brooker's Deadzone, which i absolutely loved, that couldn't have existed without this type of game show. Once something is mature enough to be widely parodied, then it probably deserves a place in university courses (and by implication Mastermind quiz sets). I'm fine with all that. <br /><br />Incidentally, I thought the very first Big Brother was the most interesting, even though the least effort was made to make it interesting. It was stark in its content, and kind of fascinating as a result. BB become a real eyesore as the years went on though. More about gimmickry and shock in the end.<br /><br />I won't pretend that i'd like it if more and more popular culture ended up in Mastermind - there are 100s of other quizzes for that. And i wouldn't like it if University Challenge went the same way. <br /><br />I'm not saying that 'popular' subjects are easier to answer questions on (although actually i do think it requires less effort to watch a funny TV show than master the history of the Romanovs, for example) - just that they send out the wrong kind of message in what is one of our only national institutions on television representing all things academic.<br /><br />This is a debate which goes way beyond mastermind of course. People's natural state is to prefer to be quite lazy and chilled out, and that's fair enough (it's very nice to relax!). But if it gets harder to convince people to bother aspiring to really tough intellectual challenges, because the easy options are rewarded just as well, then of course we will have less concrete achievements in the end - something which affects the economy, directly, and the standard of life of the nation more indirectly too (which ultimately might make it harder to have the nice relaxing life that was sought out in the first place!). ok, that's a bit off topic, but it underlies why i like some kind of 'standards' to be kept in place - whether in schools or in Mastermind, or wherever else.<br /><br />Keep the life of Jade Goody for idle time flicking through Cosmo in a hairdressing salon, and that's fine. But when it comes to Mastermind, lets see people making a real effort to stretch themselves and inspire others to do the same!!AaronWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10092351779984137119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post-74251566241000284442012-09-14T09:24:27.339-07:002012-09-14T09:24:27.339-07:00Hi AaronW. This is a debate which has been going o...Hi AaronW. This is a debate which has been going on since before Mastermind was revived for BBCTV. In my 2007 SOBM (Season of Blessed Memory ) , in my first round heat a lady called Stacey Mitchell took as her specialist subject The Life and Career of Jennifer Aniston. This sparked comment in some of the national papers – ill informed comment in my humble opinion, although that’s just my opinion, and as always, feel free to disagree. By a curious twist of fate I later found out that Stacey is a member of the same Amateur Dramatic group as my best mate from University . According to him Stacy was quite philosophical about the things which were said, and I’m glad, because it wasn’t very pleasant. It also failed to take into account that even a popular culture subject such as Jennifer Aniston still has to be prepared for. The tone of most of the comments implied that a subject like Jennifer Aniston was a ‘soft touch’ compared to more traditional subjects. The fact is that assessing the relative difficulty of different specialist subjects is a complex, and I would suggest, inexact science. But every subject has to be prepared for thoroughly if you’re a contender. If you do prepare, there is still the possibility that you’ll fall flat on your face. If you don’t prepare . . .<br /> <br />Which is not to say that I support an ‘anything goes’ approach to selecting specialist subjects. If I might pick up on some of your examples, I think you might draw the line between a reality star who maybe went on to have a career of interest , of which the reality show was only the start . I’ll be honest – not many occur to me off the top of my head. But it may well be the case that a reality star would at some time have enough of a body of work, or enough of a ‘media’ career or presence to make them a viable subject. However the winner of a reality show who has no other claim to notice than being the winner of a reality show, no. I can’t see that such a person would be a viable subject. If I might risk being controversial – I can see someone one day applying to take the life of the late Jade Goody as a subject, but then due to the nature of her life following her original appearance on Big Brother, and the level of public interest in her high profile life afterwards, she would possibly be a special case. <br /><br />I can see someone taking a more A level Media Studies Approach to the subject, possibly offering something along the lines of – The TV Reality Show in the UK – 1990 to the Present Day. And to be honest, it’s not without validity as a specialist subject at all. <br />Londiniushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07871325359167581176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post-6796270555621613402012-09-13T19:01:42.293-07:002012-09-13T19:01:42.293-07:00PS Not including celeb mastermind.PS Not including celeb mastermind.AaronWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10092351779984137119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5401280171563686515.post-10952784584115945942012-09-13T19:00:28.520-07:002012-09-13T19:00:28.520-07:00Rather a short Wikipedia page on Venables! (about ...Rather a short Wikipedia page on Venables! (about 1/3 length of the typical lengthy write-up for a notable). I hope the setters dig much deeper. I guess they can make good use of the biography, commentaries, and fictional works.<br /><br />It would probably be quite a painful experience to read said fiction, though.<br /><br />We are moving ever closer to the specialist subject round of 'The Kardashians'...in fact lets take bets on when the first reality star becomes the subject of a specialism. I'm gonna go with 2014-15 series (unless it's already happened?)AaronWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10092351779984137119noreply@blogger.com