Borat Week At Cambridge Medical School

To my millions of faithful readers (and by that I mean two readers; three if you include the blind guy I gave my blog address to on the way to lectures; three-and-a-half if you include his seeing dog!) who have been waiting in suspense for an explanation of the new banner (and those of you who've sworn off coming here for the next week because you think it's simply an excuse for me to make more horrible Borat jokes** and procrastinate more; have a little faith, will ya? Of course I've got a reason for this. In addition to those two. --Editor) I do actually have a proper reason for the new look. (Well. Okay, I'm using a very loose definition of 'proper' here, but still. --Ed)

This week has unofficially been dubbed Borat Week at Cambridge by students doing Experimental Psychology. Why? Because we get lectures from Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, who sadly is less recognised for the fact that he is a world expert on autism than he is for the fact that he is also a first cousin of Sacha Baron-Cohen, the comic genius behind such creations as Ali G and Borat (picture links not suitable for children. Or mental health, for that matter. --Ed)

So it was that I stepped into my first Exp Psych lecture with the great man, expecting, perhaps a little unrealistically, to be greeted with a scene like this:


Don't ask me why my head is turned 180 degrees backwards. Angry Medics have, uh, very flexible neck muscles. (And the ability to read your mind. Whaddya mean I have crap Photoshop skills, huh?! Well -- well, uh -- well so's your mom! Hah! --Editor)

But instead of giving us great one-liners or doing comedy shtick, Professor Baron-Cohen turned out instead to be one of those quietly inspiring teachers. Even when I went up to ask him a question, he had absolutely no airs at all and treated me like any other person. Despite his star quality lent to him by his more famous cousin and by his own achievements, he remains humble and had that characteristic soft-spokennness I've seen in so many good doctors who work with children (like the consultant in this video from the MTAS March).

But wait! I'll still be keeping up the Borat theme throughout this week (Why? Because. --Ed) and just to reward you for risking mental damage and coming here, I'm going to put up a series of audience participation posts so you can help me make some important academic decisions (Why? Because. --Ed). So stay tuned, and help me procrastinate.

**In response to this post by Cal of Short White Coats, where she voiced her fears about failing her EMQs (such a modest dear, isn't she?), I posted, for lack of anything else to say (hmm now I wonder why? Oh yes, that's because we at Cambridge DON'T GET EMQs for THREE YEARS. Or anything else remotely clinical, for that matter --Ed), a mindless Borat comment:

*in thick Borat accent* I is jealous of you! In Kazakhstan we do notta haf money to pay actors, so de doctor, he bash us in stomach wit crowbar, and when we haf different symptoms we diagnose each other. Self-diagnosis save money. Great success!

I'm witty, right? Right? How am I not getting paid for this, right? Right? HELLO?

Dangit. I really need to get some insecticide for these damn crickets.