Participants blog: So what’s next?

September 2, 2014 | 1 min read

Participant Hugo Ouwehand has to give a presentation to the 2 Academic Directors and he is not looking forward to it. Because he can’t help to notice the resemblance with those 2 critics on the Muppets balcony, Waldorf and Statler.

Research on my thesis nears completion, writing is well underway so, what’s next? Well, at TIAS they like to keep us busy, so for the next gathering they’ve asked the students to prepare a presentation on their thesis project. To be honest, I’m not really looking forward to it. Let me explain why.

Age

Born in 1968, I am one of the senior participants in the MOS-2 group. It means I grew up in the Eighties. No mobile phones, no I-pads, we were lucky if we had a friend who had an older brother who had a Commodore 64 or a Sinclair ZX81 computer. You brought your cassette tapes (???), loaded a computer language like Basic (????) and played exciting games like Pong (?????)

Music

It was an era full of music. We listened to Duran Duran, Modern Talking or Toontje Lager. Recorded their albums on TDK SA-90 tapes, or bought the records if we had the money. They were called LP’s and had to be played on gramophones, 33 rpm. Oh, and the currency was the Guilder. I remember Live Aid, a fantastic happening on two continents involving dozens of artists. And we wouldn’t need to write it as Live8 because we actually still learned how to spell back then.

TV

So why do I dread having to prepare a presentation? It’s because of what we used to watch on TV. I followed Dynasty, Battlestar Galactica, but most of all I liked the Muppet Show. Remember, I was only 11 in 1980… And it’s because of the Muppets that I’m a little afraid. You see, we have to present our progress to the two Academic Directors. And I can’t help but notice the resemblance with those two critics on the Muppets balcony, Waldorf and Statler. Named after two New York hotels, it was their job to criticize all and everyone on stage. Especially that nice Fozzie Bear, big, furry with a bald(er) head, always trying to deliver a joke. (Although never succeeding.) Not unlike Waldorf and Statler, our AD’s criticism helps to improve the performance on stage, in TIAS case the quality of the research and thesis. And, if you’re honest, in both cases, being on stage you have to admit that the comments are sharp, to the point and demonstrate a sense of humor. I’m just afraid those two Directors will see a Fozzie in me. Personally, I see myself more as Rowlf, the musical dog.