Well, what can I say? I normally don’t put photos of myself here much. Sparing you. But this photo shoot was fun. Perks of the job for all concerned. We took tens of photos, and this is the least of them. I’ll try and get you one of the more professional shots to giggle at.
What was the photo shoot about? Never mind, I’ll tell you later. All I know was that at some point (about 5 seconds into the shoot) the whole thing degenerated into a sort of comedy act (with me the straight man), and there were all kinds of poses cooked up by my creative team-mates, KC and Tara, encouraged by the photographer. 
So you get to make up your own stories about what this is for:
A new local TV news show?
(My favourite:) A new crimefighting TV show? (”Law and Order – USC”, or maybe an annoyingly stupid misspelling like: “Alg3br4″)
A new blog team?
A new fashion show for academics? (”Gravitational Dressing”…..)
(My other favourite:) A new science news TV show? (”Serious Science, for Serious People”; Tagline: “We read the science news so you don’t have to!”)
I could go on, but I have errands to run…. and I’m pretty sure you can do better.
-cvj
April 11th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
How about “L.A. Math”?
April 11th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
Why is the blonde lady looking so mean?
April 11th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
How about “25″ where a group of physicists using time dialation from relativity to create an extra hour in the day where a special government agency can work secretly without detection to keep America safe from threats at home and abroad, AND Jack Bauer can grab an hour of sleep.
P. S. Keifer Southerland just signed a multi-year production deal with 20th Century Fox, so he “might” be interested in something like this
Elliot
April 11th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
Nice idea:- I want to see an episode of 24 where Jack Bauer is just sitting around in his dressing gown reading the paper or “goofing off on the internet” (reading blogs, maybe?).
Just one hour where the world(=LA in that show) is not in mortal danger would be nice.
-cvj
April 11th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
The blonde lady is looking mean since she was putting on the “stern, serious newsreader” look, for fun.
-cvj
April 11th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
What kind of theme music are you going to have for this pilot mini-series?
April 11th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
I think you and KC are doing a 60 minutes type show, but instead of an hour to fit all the science news in, you’ve got to squeeze it all into the planck time scale. Which is why there will be no commercials.
April 11th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
every week after watching 24 I’m exhausted (but in a good way…)
Actually here’s an alternative idea where the 3 of you are founders of a hugely sucessful tech company ala Google with a market capitalization of 50-100 billion. Then you all cash out for multi-billions of dollars and form a foundation funding all kinds of fun projects (science, music, arts etc.) Each week its another pitch for a grant and then the 3 of you decide whether to fund it our not…. Kind of like American Idol meets the the McArthur Foundation.
Now that would be fun.
Elliot
April 11th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
the judges of a new series of grad student…. 10 go in one get a doctorate….
April 11th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
It’s a tough group of scientists-turned-amateur-detectives investigating crimes against science. Inspired by their love of truth, justice, and the scientific method, they delve into the shadowy world of pseudoscience, exposing hoaxes and misinformation.
Though I have to admit my first thought was “Clifford’s Angels.”
April 11th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
janet:- I love the title. Only problem is I would just sit around doing nothing. That’s no fun.
Combining Elliot’s second idea with Spatulated’s idea is good. Could be sort of like a scienced-up version of “The Apprentice”…..Except it would be called either “The RA” or “The Postdoc”. Wow. I’m off to shop this around the studios now!
-cvj
April 11th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
I’ve been thinking of trying out for “America’s Next Top Astrophysicist.”
April 11th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
It’s THE MOD SQUAD! Now having adventures and solving crimes in an academic setting.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
Damn, someone took my “Charlie’s Angels” idea!
Anyway, handsome as always, Clifford!
April 11th, 2006 at 9:32 pm
Hmmmm…nice, but my ‘fro’s not big enough.
-cvj
April 11th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Frank, thanks…you’re too kind.
Well, Angels is taken, but there are plenty of other good ideas out there, I’m sure.
-cvj
April 12th, 2006 at 1:37 am
“Strings and the membrane — a musical trio”?
April 12th, 2006 at 5:11 am
Snakes on a plane.
April 12th, 2006 at 8:33 am
snakes one a plane!!! that is going to be the best movie ever!
April 12th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
Music playing in the background….
So, Who You Going to Call!
April 12th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
This is sitcom material all way, just look at those faces, on the verge of seriously losing it into puddles of giggles. Not “angels” but “three’s more than two turf.” Build on those odd-coupling shows, wherein a group of physicists try to get along, given that one expresses himself in only the finest queen’s english, one speaks southern dialectical american english, and the third is pure canuck or at least upper peninsula north. All living out of place in LALA land, wherein celebrity is more vital to a sense of well being and thus d-branes are assumed to be high fiber breakfast food when overheard in a late night jazz club.
April 12th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Spyder, I think I get your drift… A Redesign of “Three’s Company”
April 12th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
The new show’s name is “Quarks” — main characters are
Beauty, Charm, and Strange. I leave it to you to assign faces to the names.
April 12th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
I’ll take Strange…. Please! Please…!
-cvj
April 12th, 2006 at 6:52 pm
I like the reality show idea (following on from #8, #9 and #11): “American Grad Student”
You are the judges of (initially) 1000s of grad students who each week are narrowed down until one of them is proclaimed the one top grad student in America (or just given a doctorate).
Every week the students are set a challenge (perform a calculation in full make-up and studio lights in front of an audience?) and you judge their performance. Of course one of you has to be ultra lenient (all of the students are wonderful), one is in the middle and one is just plain mean.
April 12th, 2006 at 8:02 pm
Clifford Johnson —- Randy Jackson
google the images.
Hmmmm….. you be the judge.
August 20th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
[...] Well, one of them was selected! When a campus news story was being prepared to announce it, somehow the Annenberg School’s K.C. Cole, the Cinema-Television School’s Tara McPherson (who chaired the selection committee) and myself were chosen to be the poster children of the event. This explains the purpose of the photo shoot, about which I blogged some time ago at this link. We had some fun with it, you might recall. (Official photo they used is to the right; contrast, if you will, with the one I showed back then.) [...]
March 5th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
[...] It is important to note that this one is a USC event, and not a Santa Monica event! It is on a Thursday and not a Sunday! You might wonder – why these changes? Ah! I promised to reveal what was going on behind that photo shoot I told you about a long time ago (with K.C., Tara McPherson, and myself – recall the fun we had with that picture?), and now realize that I did not get around to it. [...]