Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Re: "A Hard Day's Night" AHDN is on AMC right now. What a fabulous little cinematic gem. Even if I didn't like the Beatles, I'd love it. It's cinematography is spare and modern, but the personalities of the boys really come through. Not to mention the then-revolutionary quasi-documentary quasi-verite' style that feels believable. Not to mention it's a legendary source of bon mots: Man on train: Don't take that tone with me young man. I fought the war for your sort.  Ringo: I bet you're sorry you won.  Reporter: Are you a mod, or a rocker?  Ringo: Um, no. I'm a mocker. 12:02:22 PM

Re: What the hell?   I just saw a commercial featuring the unusually musically-talented comedian Wayne Brady, singing and dancing a virtuoso ode to a new non-dairy creamer, with improvised words to the old Burt Bacharach classic, “I Say a Little Prayer”.   The commercial ends when a very attractive black woman appears in the kitchen and shakes her head. I assume we’re supposed to think this is his significant other.   Wayne Brady’s wife, Mandie, is Asian. This leaves me with an unsettling bit of cognitive dissonance and a question as to the processes behind marketing segmentation.   Are we supposed to assume that because a man is African-American (or any ethnicity for that matter), he’s got a wife of the same ethnicity? Or even a wife at all, and not a husband?   Maybe I’m living in an unusual area, but hardly anyone I know is married to someone of the same ethnic background.   Am I just being sensitive, or is reality really too much for people in the proverbial Peoria to deal with?   11:22:45 AM