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| Seat of learning - studying Pippa Middleton's bottom | |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| A three-page study called And Bringing Up the Rear: Pippa Middleton, Her Derrière and Celebrity", written by a Birkbeck, University of London scholar, Janet McCabe, marks Britain's instant new status as top dog and intellectual driver of an entire academic field. It is, in that respect, as mentally electrifying as was a one-page study called A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid, published in 1953 by a pair of then-obscure University of Cambridge scholars named James Watson and Francis Crick. | A three-page study called And Bringing Up the Rear: Pippa Middleton, Her Derrière and Celebrity", written by a Birkbeck, University of London scholar, Janet McCabe, marks Britain's instant new status as top dog and intellectual driver of an entire academic field. It is, in that respect, as mentally electrifying as was a one-page study called A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid, published in 1953 by a pair of then-obscure University of Cambridge scholars named James Watson and Francis Crick. |
| The Watson-Crick paper revealed the basic chemical machinery by which all living creatures pass their physical characteristics on to subsequent generations. People speak still, these more-than-60 years later, of how that paper revolutionised biology. | The Watson-Crick paper revealed the basic chemical machinery by which all living creatures pass their physical characteristics on to subsequent generations. People speak still, these more-than-60 years later, of how that paper revolutionised biology. |
| The McCabe treatise elucidates the way in which an entire nation's business and cultural machinery managed to focus itself on a royally connected woman's arse. People speak of it still. And now they speak, thanks to a slightly shifted focus provided by that same business and cultural machinery, of Pippa Middleton's sister's arse. | The McCabe treatise elucidates the way in which an entire nation's business and cultural machinery managed to focus itself on a royally connected woman's arse. People speak of it still. And now they speak, thanks to a slightly shifted focus provided by that same business and cultural machinery, of Pippa Middleton's sister's arse. |
| The Pippa paper was published in the journal Celebrity Studies. The journal, founded in the year 2010, published by Routledge, has come to epitomise, if not utterly dominate, the entire academic field with which it shares a name. The journal's self-stated aim is modest: "Celebrity Studies aims to address key issues in the production, circulation and consumption of fame, and its manifestations in both contemporary and historical contexts, while functioning as a key site for academic debate about the enterprise of celebrity studies itself." | The Pippa paper was published in the journal Celebrity Studies. The journal, founded in the year 2010, published by Routledge, has come to epitomise, if not utterly dominate, the entire academic field with which it shares a name. The journal's self-stated aim is modest: "Celebrity Studies aims to address key issues in the production, circulation and consumption of fame, and its manifestations in both contemporary and historical contexts, while functioning as a key site for academic debate about the enterprise of celebrity studies itself." |
| McCabe's Pippa Middleton analysis appeared in the November 2011 issue. McCabe writes: "The celebrity of the Middleton curves has something important to tell us about celebrating the feminine ideal, which is compelling enough to psychically entangle us and from which we are not entirely able to free ourselves. | McCabe's Pippa Middleton analysis appeared in the November 2011 issue. McCabe writes: "The celebrity of the Middleton curves has something important to tell us about celebrating the feminine ideal, which is compelling enough to psychically entangle us and from which we are not entirely able to free ourselves. |
| "Intoxicatingly presented, persuasively offered as about modern feminine accomplishment, her image is embedded in and through prevailing norms of the feminine self: not only her body (slender, fashionable, attractive), but also her lifestyle choices (health and fitness, leisure and work, social ambition and fashionable restaurants, consumerism and eligibility for marriage)." | "Intoxicatingly presented, persuasively offered as about modern feminine accomplishment, her image is embedded in and through prevailing norms of the feminine self: not only her body (slender, fashionable, attractive), but also her lifestyle choices (health and fitness, leisure and work, social ambition and fashionable restaurants, consumerism and eligibility for marriage)." |
| McCabe explores additional aspects of Pippa Middleton's eligibility for and prospective method of reproduction. McCabe notes that "Few media observers failed to mention how she had caught the libidinous eye of Prince Harry". | McCabe explores additional aspects of Pippa Middleton's eligibility for and prospective method of reproduction. McCabe notes that "Few media observers failed to mention how she had caught the libidinous eye of Prince Harry". |
| This observation echoes the most celebrated passage of Watson and Crick's historic paper about the DNA molecule. Watson and Crick wrote: "It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material." | This observation echoes the most celebrated passage of Watson and Crick's historic paper about the DNA molecule. Watson and Crick wrote: "It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material." |
| Watson and Crick's very next sentence, too, could be inserted verbatim into McCabe's study of Pippa Middleton's derrière: "Full details of the structure, including the conditions assumed in building it, together with a set of co-ordinates for the atoms, will be published elsewhere." | Watson and Crick's very next sentence, too, could be inserted verbatim into McCabe's study of Pippa Middleton's derrière: "Full details of the structure, including the conditions assumed in building it, together with a set of co-ordinates for the atoms, will be published elsewhere." |
| Marc Abrahams is editor of the Annals of Improbable Research and organiser of the Ig Nobel prizes | Marc Abrahams is editor of the Annals of Improbable Research and organiser of the Ig Nobel prizes |
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