Fun with the English Department

Ok, bear with me on the context for this.

1. James Franco is a movie actor. He recently hosted the Oscars with Anne Hathaway.

2. James Franco is smart. Rumor has it that he is starting a PhD in English at Yale.

So...a grad student at the University of Chicago started a Twitter feed devoted to tweeting imaginary things related to how James Franco is a rock star in the Yale English department (and the English field as a whole). A taste:

Aristotle plagiarized James Franco's dissertation. Ashamed, he burned all extant copies of it, a treatise on comedy.

James Franco's diss. doesn't have rough drafts. It just has the parts forthcoming from Verso, Routledge, & @UChicagoPress.

James Franco doesn't hire research assistants. 1. He doesn't need help. 2. He doesn't search; he has already found.

James Franco is allowed to drink in Special Collections. His reflexes guarantee no coffee spills on rare books.

James Franco never pays for photocopies at the library. Why kill trees while neglecting a photographic memory?

James Franco's dissertation is not a "contribution to the field." It *is* the field.

Search committees fly to James Franco's house during the MLA Convention and interview him while sitting on his bed.

James Franco doesn't take notes in class. Sure, his memory is great, but, more, it's that the lecturers are quoting him.

Funny stuff, especially if you've ever been on the academic job market, gotten a PhD, or spent much time with the folk in English. You can read the rest here.

In other news, last night Iain ran around the house yelling "Wonder Iain! Superboy!!"