Laughing Matters

Last weekend Professor Vandelanotte sent us a mail:

[WebCampus - LANGB204] Request for expressions of interest: possible excursion to Leuven this Wednesday on laughing matters

Dear all,

This message is intended primarily (but not necessarily exclusively) for students in the Dutch-English section, and is in fact more connected to the course in general linguistics than to the proficiency course (but since fewer people have so far registered for the former on WebCampus, I'm going with the latter now).

Now that the 'souper de cours' has been postponed to a later date, it becomes possible for you to consider joining me for an evening of laughter and merriment in Leuven this coming Wednesday -- or at least for an evening composed of an academic lecture on the topic of laughter and merriment, followed by an excellent film allowing you to put the theory amply into practice.

As part of its 'Laughing matters' programme, Cinemazed is organizing a talk by Geert Brône from the University of Leuven, this Wednesday at 6 pm (in Dutch), on the topic of 'Humortheorieën en humoronderzoek' [http://www.cinemazed.be/FILMS/FEBRUARI%2008/lezingbrone.shtm]. The link with the general linguistics course is obvious, since the last text we will read for this course is an article by Geert Brône on hyper- and misunderstanding in interactional humour (specifically in the sitcom Blackadder). His talk will be illustrated with examples from sitcoms and films, so it will not be a dry, impenetrable, boring talk at all.

At 8 pm (following a break, of course), the fun continues with the exceedingly hilarious film 'The Big Lebowski' [http://www.cinemazed.be/FILMS/FEBRUARI%2008/BIGLEBO.shtm], written by the world famous Coen brothers, and widely known in the English-speaking word [sic, SL] for the immortal quote "The Dude abides". See also [http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0118715/].

At such short notice this excursion (if it takes place at all) is of course not obligatory. However, if you're interested, it would involve taking the 4.21 train to Brussels, changing over at Ottignies for the 4.50 train to Leuven arriving at around 5.27. A brisk walk should get us to Cinemazed just in time. As for the return journey, the 10.33 train from Leuven would get you back to Namur by 11.39.

You would certainly have to pay for the train fare yourself (using your 'carte famille nombreuse' might just be cheaper than using up two gopass rides). As for the lecture and the film, depending on the interest I would try to get some free tickets for the talk and possibly see if the English Unit can sponsor tickets (which would cost 4 euros per activity for students).

Can I ask anyone who's interested to please let me know either by return of mail, by replying briefly to this e-mail, or at the latest on Monday, in real life.

Many thanks and best wishes,
L. Vandelanotte

--

Lieven VANDELANOTTE
Stylistique et maitrise de la langue anglaise II (Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres)
WebCampus

Since I'm always interested in excursions and opportunities to go somewhere else than Namur, I immediately told Professor Vandelanotte to count me in. I thought it would definitely be great fun to go to Leuven and watch The Big Lebowski: I had previously heard a lot of good reviews about the film on YouTube. Moreover, it was also an opportunity to attend a lecture on a branch of linguistic studies that is relatively unknown.

Actually only seven of us were willing to go there: Guillaume (BA3), Nolan and Pitchou (who went there by car), but also Bruno, Magali, Martin and myself. We took the train with Professor Vandelanotte, as you can see in the two pictures below.


In the above picture, we were trying to put the "cheese!" strategy into practice, as you can see. Nice effort, though!

Just before we arrive in Leuven, I took this photograph, because Professor Vandelanotte lives in this row of houses. Will you be able to guess which one it is?


From the station, we headed for the conference room, walking fast to be sure to arrive on time. (That was the "brisk walk" mentioned in the e-mail.) The talk began at 6.05 pm. Researcher Geert Brône made a brilliant speech about the history of laugh studies, from the Greek philosophers to the modern cognitive linguists. He also explained the different kinds of humour techniques and showed some funny stuff (a.o. the silly walk sketch by the Monty Python) in order to illustrate his sayings.

At 7.20, the talk ended and we went to the Market Place to find a chippie (or frietkot, as we say) and get some chips. At 8 o'clock the film began. Here's the five second version of the movie made by thatguywiththeglasses:



If you like swearwords, this video is for you: the f*cking short version:



The Big Lebowski is basically a story about the Dude (Jeff Bridges) and his friends, amongst whom Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) and Donny Kerabatsos (Steve Buscemi).



The Dude abides, indeed!