Thursday, January 05, 2006

Quote for the Day, 1/5/2006   "You lost a lot when you lost me:  Six paperback books and a dying tree... You lost your cool and your keys, and then you lost my confidence."   -The Rave-Ups, "Positively Lost Me"   This is the song playing in the bar when Ducky fights with Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink.  I love this song.  There are pretty much three plots for high school movies:  There's what can only be described as the class-struggle romance, as in John Hughes movies like the aforementioned, and Some Kind of Wonderful, and The Breakfast Club (Valley Girl is another excellent example of the subgenre).  Then there is what you might call the catfight scenario, where a dictatorial and diabolically evil--yet still insecure--girl clique dominates the school, and a rebellious girl fights it from within (Heathers and Mean Girls are perhaps the foremost films adopting this philosophy...though you find elements of this in high school movies not formally of the subgenre).  And lastly, but most commonly, is those modeled after Pygmalion, the George Bernard Shaw play, where a man seeks to reshape a woman into a form closer to the heart's desire, and finds himself more changed than the changer.  That describes most high school movies.  (Well, there's also high school sports movies...)  A lot of people bash Shaw as an inferior playwright, but there have probably been more movie adaptations of Pygmalion than all of Shakespeare.  I know, I know, Pretty in Pink is a class-struggle high school movie, not a Pygmalion remake; I digress. 11:28:29 PM    comment []

Democrats Should Not Try to Add to Culture of Corruption   I echo the Democratic condemnations of a culture of corruption in Washington, D.C., and the Republicans being at least complicit in creating and promoting that culture...while noting that Democrats are hardly entirely innocent of such behavior themselves.  (On the other hand, no Democrat has been contemptuous of the very idea of ethics, as Rep. Tom DeLay has.)  Because of this, I am extremely unhappy to hear that Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is considering running for the US Senate, and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is openly encouraging him. I can understand why; Mayor Goodman won his last election with 86% of the vote.  And the years since Goodman took over have been golden for Las Vegas; if he runs against Republican Sen. John Ensign, he will likely win a crushing victory for that office, too.  Otherwise, Senator Ensign will probably win re-election.  It's just that, between Mayor Goodman in the Senate, or a Democratic loss, I'd rather the Democrats lose.  My problem with Mayor Goodman is he made his bones as a lawyer defending mobsters.  Granted, mobsters are entitled to a defense, and Mayor Goodman is rich and successful now; I don't believe for a minute he is engaged in any corrupt behavior now.  But the appearance of impropriety is also an important matter...and the way to clean up Washington is probably not to bring in a Vegas mob lawyer to help run the new regime.  (On the other hand, he probably would know just what to look for.) 1:15:31 PM    comment []

Belated Quote for the Day, 1/4/2006   "Bertie," Bingo said reproachfully, "I saved your life once." "When?" "Didn't I?  It must have been some other fellow, then.  Well, anyway, we were boys together and all that.  You can't let me down."   -P. G. Wodehouse, "Jeeves in the Springtime" 12:52:06 PM    comment []

Prediction in Pennsylvania Governor's Race   Former NFL quarterback Lynn Swann has announced he is running for governor of Pennsylvania against Democratic Governor Ed Rendell.  My prediction:  Swann will be the Republican nominee, but he's going to take a dive against the popular Pennsylvania governor:  A Swann dive. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist the pun.  Not that the analysis isn't true.  No first-time candidate is going to beat a man as politically gifted and experienced as Governor Rendell. 11:56:35 AM    comment []