And I can’t sleep.
I’ve been reading “I am Charlotte Simmons” by Tom Wolfe, about a young college student who moves from a rural town high in the mountains to college, where she encounters such horrors as a rich roomate, and coed bathrooms. I mean, like, ew!
I watched Casablanca for the first time EVER last night. I’d seen clips of it before, bits and pieces here and there, but never the entire thing. Loved the damn film. Loved it. Now I understand why it is a classic film. Incredible.
I saw Shrek 2 the night before last. Since I was a kid, I’ve loved the song “Holding out for a hero” by Bonnie Tyler. Years ago, Paramount would run previews for their action-films set to that tune. The previews would feature scenes from “Braveheart”, “Top Gun”, “Galipoli”, “Hunt for Red October” and others as Bonnie Tyler sang her heart out. Well, the action sequence leading into the finale in Shrek 2 features Faiery Godmother singing the song as her wicked son “Charming” (not so much, thanks) tries to seduce Fiona, and Shrek (riding a huge gingerbread man, an homage to both Ghostbusters & Blazing Saddles) and his pals try to break into the castle and stop the deceiving, uh, deceivers.* Anyway, great sequence, great music, I was dancing to it. No I wasn’t. Yes I was.
*That was a Firefly reference. Don’t know what Firefly is? Only the best television show you never watched, leading it to get cancelled. You’re such an ass.
I had this big long post in my head about censorship regarding this “Desperate Housewives” thing on Monday Night Football. It was all about how censorship is bad, and it isn’t the FCC’s job to dictate programming, and how if people are so upset about what’s on TV and what their children are being exposed to, well, dammit, throw out your TV! Stop running to the damn FCC! Oh, no, people said “fuck” in ‘Saving Private Ryan.’ Have you SEEN that movie? With people getting machine-gunned, and running around with no arms, and getting burned to death as others shout, “don’t shoot them, let them burn! Let the motherfuckers burn!” And people are worried about the language of the film? Priorities, people, combat isn’t like what we see in “GI JOE”, and knowing is NOT half the battle.
There’s this “erectile disfunction” pill commerical floating around. An attractive brunette in her 40’s talks about why “her man” takes the pill. She doesn’t come right out and say, “He takes the pill so he can fuck my brains out twice a night”, but the innuendo is pretty damn clear. And she’s there grinning and smiling, and the message is, “My man’s taking a pill, and I’m getting laid, and these are some damn good orgasms.”
Do the networks get fined for these commericals? Oh, pardon the thought! Of course they don’t. But a white woman seducing a black man? Oh, how DARE they? ESPECIALLY before football, which is hardly a non-violent sport. Jeff Jarvis writes (in a very well put together rant, certainly better than what you’re reading right now), “We’re at risk of outlawing a sense of humor in this country just to satisfy a tiny band of prudes, prigs, and religious nutjobs.”
Seriously, though, for a guy who used to write for TV Guide, Jarvis there (looking very skinny on Aaron Brown) is the blog to look to for censorship issues. Great rants, insightful posts.
