PICK FUCK!

Does anyone else realize the big joke in the film about the Tracy's banner looking like a big giant "PICK FUCK" (especially on the cupcakes)? I heard that Alexander Payne specifically put her posters in all caps to make it look in that way. The movie is far superior to the film to me because of the great symbolism A. Payne uses throughout the film. The Book just lacks any deeper meaning then what is explicitly written on the page, and without the movie, this would be a very dull story.

The film captures so much more in the characters and storyline through great subtley. I love the battle of Coke Vs. Pepsi because it is a goofy analogy, and much more interesting than the Bush/Clinton/Pierot Election. At the beginning of the film, Tracy mentions Coke is Number 1. Mr. M is later drinking a pepsi when he gets the idea to have Paul run for office. If you watch the film again you will see countless references to the cola wars, especially when Tracy gets shot down or runs into problems with the election (most of it is Mr. M's doing). Another reoccuring motif is that of temptation leading to a fallout, in the form of, what else, Apples. (Fruit always get a bad wrap in films, i.e Godfather and Oranges). Mr. M makes an analogy with democracy with apples and oranges to the semi retarded Paul Metzler to convince him to join the election. Also after the affair is commited, Mr. M is under an apple tree when he gets stung. And let's just get it out of the way that neither Mrs. M or Linda were attractive at all.........

Why couldnt more stuff like this be included in the book??? The movie captures those people we all knew in high school and gives them this great depth which made it even more comical as we peer into the lives of these strange individuals. We all have felt like Mr. M at times with those people in High school (though not as extreme) and the book fails to give the connection with Mr. M's character that Ferris Bueller gives us in the film. Reese Witherspoon does this amazing job of being such a........sorry to say it.... wait im not going to say it because their are feminists in the class, but it rhymes with the word bunt. There is no other way to describe her. She embodies the relentless politician/know it all/closet slut that the book cannot, or rather does not translate to the screen. Why can't more films do what A. Payne did for Election? I dont know. But their are several films I like better on screen than in pages

1. Election
2. Fight Club
3. Trainspotting and Clockwork Orange (hard to read you need a codex to read through the book)
4. Thank you for smoking
5. Any story in the bible

The ending in the film is also much better.....

Slaughterhouse 5

I had often heard about Slaughterhouse 5 from my mom and various high school teachers who all claimed it was a classic. To me classics arent always the most interesting thing to read (Great expectations or The tale of two cities), yet when I finally read it, it redefined what I thought about "classic" literature. I was expecting something completely different which made me come to appreciate the story even more. It was disorienting (which paralleled Billy's own disoriented timetraveling life) and a compelling read.

The time travel aspect interested me very much. How would you act if throughout your life you would blink your eyes and open them to see your future or past all over again. Would you panic and try to fix the mistakes of the past? Or would you become this zen-like objectivist much like Billy? Since none of us will probably ever experience an event like this, then it is safe to say we will never know. The paradox I talked about in class was "the Predestination Paradox". If Billy was predestined to go back and forward in time at random points of his life, then no matter what he does, he will not change history but rather fulfill whatever he is supposed to do (it is usually irony at its best). Though most films dealing with this scenario are much more drastic (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure), Billy goes through time not to save the world, but just as a result of aliens intervening in his life. The science fiction element of the story is a Macguffin as it is unimportant whether it is real or not.

We, as the reader, are unsure whether the narrator is reliable about Billy. If Billy goes through time at any given moment than who knows how long he has been a time traveller. He could be trying to change history for years but is unable to change his life in a Back To The Future Style sort of way. That could be the reason he is the same solomn tone throughout the book, his body is there but his mind (in a metaphysical sense) is not. When he stands and is almost shot it seems as though he is trying to change his fate, despite his knowledge that he will die much later in his life. He is imprisoned in this time conundrum and he eventually becomes the Tranquil and reserved Billy that we all know. He can only change himself as he goes through time. He cannot change what goes on around him, only his personality and outlook on what I guess you can call a life. He accepts his fate to be unable to change what goes on in the world around him. To me Billy is like a Zen Master and has accepted his eternity of life (as he can never truly die as he will only wake up in his past) and simply put, he just is. He has no other option but to live this way.

i think for anyone to try to figure out all of the philosophical kinks of this story would be ridiculous as there is just no way. But it definately makes for a good story.......

Onion post

I do not read The onion that often but when I was in LA, it was free in those little newspaper compartments on the street. I remember one time when I was walking home from work, I stopped abruptly and did a double take. The title of the article was "James Gandolfini shot by closure seeking fan". At first, I thought it was a real article because it was right next to the New York Times stand. I pulled one issue out and on the cover was a James Gandolfini look alike in a hawaiian shirt with his face down in a pool of blood on a restaurant table. I kept thinking of THe Godfather while looking at the image and I could not help but laugh. Part of me wished this really happened as I was so disappointed with the ending to that series (cut to black at a crucial climax on your own fucking time David Chase). It would have been the true definition of Irony if something like this happened in real life

In the article, James Gandolfini was in a restaurant when "Louis Bowen walked into the small Italian restaurant Occhiuto's at approximately 7:40 p.m. and headed directly toward Gandolfini's table. Bowen then drew a snub-nosed .38 revolver from his jacket and shot Gandolfini point-blank in the head three times before dropping the gun and calmly exiting the eatery." The ending echoed of that famous Godfather scene where we see Al Pacino transform in a matter of minutes (I think that David Chase did this on purpose to make the audience paranoid.) Bowen was a fan of The Sopranos but was troubled by the series ending. Bowen's motives for his actions was "I couldn't let it just hang.....Eight years of my life, and a fucking artsy cut to black? It was eating me up inside." I was once a rabid Sopranos fan (but i stopped watching after seeing too much of Meadow bitch and moan about college, and Christopher's whole rehab schpiel) and I had mixed feelings about the ending. I think it was kind of smart because leaving an open ending always gives you something to talk about after, and you can create what happened in your own mind. Optimist/pessimist kind of deal. But many people were so righteously furious with the ending and of course the editors of the onion had to put their two cents in.

I think articles like this point out the ridiculousness in what we watch and how creators can ultimately fuck it up. But it also brings up the very valid point that we care too much about pointless garbage. We grow so attached to these shows and if one thing goes wrong or something occurs on the show that we dont like, the show is shunned. The OC got cancelled because they killed that really scrawny broad. It so weird because we always demand more and more, and then because of this , the show becomes crap ae: Lost. I feel bad for producers who are creating shows, and they are forced to raise the stakes until they soil their precious big late night hit.

Simpsons part 2

I think that it is very interesting The Simpsons comment on society. In a way both society and the simpsons have made a major impac on eachother. The Simpsons almost seems to be trying to wake America up from our ridiculous lifestyles that they incorporate into their cartoon. The Simpsons reflects society in order to make us realize certain idiocies yet it celebrates them. Society watches apathetically, but the simpsons do not seem to be trying to smash a message into our brains, yet the message is still there. Now, more than ever, the simpsons are reflecting society, as each episode relates to the headlines of todays news. We live in a post 9/11 world where the news has a very different effect on society. It was almost as if when we all stuck our eyeballs to the TV for weeks after the towers fell, that media changed altogether. Was their some subliminal message in the screen that made society obsessed with shitty reality TV such as Rock of Love. TV shows (especially South Park and the Simpsons) now seemed to be incorporating new material overnight.

The Funny thing is we bought into it. We all feel the difference and it disturbs us, yet it keeps us watching. Its like when The Beatles did acid and sported mustaches and marching band attire. If the Ed Sullivan Beatles met Sgt. Peppers Beatles, would oasis style fist-fighting ensue. I feel that The simpsons is the same way. There seems to be a moment if you watch two episodes (one from '94 and '04) you might think for a second "is this the same show?" "Are the writers doing huffing glue?". I was really interested when people said that they hated the new Simpsons and miss the classic Simpsons. It seems everyone feels the same way about any music, media, and/or people. They change and they lose their spark of interest that attracted us in the first place (think of Sick boys speech from trainspotting). But they earned their place in our minds and on the 8:30 Monday night slot because they amused us so many years ago. People's change of interest with these type of things interest me. I catch myself doing it as well.

back to the simpsons. Now the Simpsons relies on society (the society it mocks warmheartedly) and looks for new inspiration because The Simpsons have been everwhere. and done pretty much everything. Each TV has situations that fit an archetype that they will run into. Sex, drugs, homosexuality, death, Prom, a supernatural scrooge-esque reflection, usually something involving a small house fire caused by faulty circuitry. The Simpsons have gone through a lifetime of events. They have lived out more events then a hundred people will ever encounter. Yet they never grow. And the simpsons is a show that can be watched in no particular order. Clean slate every episode. And now that they cornered themselves, What else is there but to conform to societal issues for new material.

I believe that The Simpsons will gracefully bow out of TV within the next 5 years. And their is no shame in it. They have experienced many highs and lows (many more highs), and I think even they know that they cannot go on forever. I think it truly could be the saddest day on TV. The Simpsons is a show that we take for granted and that had so many episodes that we turn away because we assume it will always be there. The show should be honored that we consider it to be a part of American Culture that will never fade. And it probably never will fade, even after it is gone.

Simpsons

it has been a long long time since I have seen The Simpsons (except for the movie). I interned at Fox this summer and worked with a creepy simpsons superfan who looked a lot like Anthony Soprano Jr.. (only with a Mahmoud beard) The premiere took place a block away from my apartment (in LA), so I got to go to the Fox theatre where I saw the cast who normally are these faceless (I only really knew Hank Azaria). I'll post some pictures I took from the premiere. I feel really bad for the woman who voices Lisa. She was in all these 80's movies and now she only has the show. I only know who she was because I remember her from the Billy Crystal classic "City Slickers". She reminds me of the creepy little person psychic from Poltergeist. (is that the correct term, little person? I know midget is not PC)

Ok now I will actually talk about the Simpsons. I often watched it when I was younger and only a couple episodes have remained engraved on my brain. I remeber their was a block of episodes that my friends and I were watching and I remember certain scenes from that day only because becausei was laughing so hard I choked on cheesecorn.

I was trying to look up what episode had some great bits but I couldnt find it. I found episodes with the scenes of certain episodes, but for some reason I rememebr seeing all these scenes in one episode. I realized that it was the "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show". It is funny how even the Simpsons knows it can't escape the archetypal episodes that have been featured on shows such as Boy meets World and Friends. I remember homer is in the hospital (I thought it was because he ate the poisonous pufferfish but i was wrong) and he goes up to the vending machine while on drugs "chocolate......."and he remembers the chocolate land scene. He then chokes on the candybars and goes into a coma (at the same time I choked on cheesy popped corn). Another funny scene was when Barney tries to smother him with the pillow, and then throws a water fountain out a window and runs away (a great One flew over the Cuckoo's nest parody). This is my favorite episode because I remember most of the clips from it. I dont seem to remember many of the premises of episodes, yet I think everyone has a couple favorite clips that they will always remember. (How many fucking times have I used the word "remember" in this entry???)

It seems to me that the show almost seems blended together and only certain scenes stick out for me. The Be Sharps "Baby on board episode with the beatles references (Barney and a Yoko type asian girl, and the weird NUMBER 8 track jab). Ironically they break up much like the Beatles. And the episode where homer quits the powerplant and shines his head in the bowling ball cleaner, and his bowling jacket melts off when acid rain falls on him on his way to Mr. Burns house (he crawls through a air vent for people who want their jobs back. It is just a buildup for Mr. Burns to say "Ah Homer, I always knew you would come crawling back.")

It seems that sometimes The Simpsons tries to be subversively mocks American culture, yet is a major influence on american pop culture.

Also I found this article about the Simpsons and Consumer Culture
http://www.snpp.com/other/papers/st.paper.html

Mark Twain post

Several of the stories that we have read in class have completely changed my perspective on Mark Twain. Extracts from Adams Diary and Invalid's story have made me realize their was a very different side to this classic American author. I read The Carnival of Crime in Connecticut which contributed to my changing image of Twain. First off, let me say that this story reminded me of a Tom Waits song with its unusual characters, bluesy tone and supernatural feel. It was a bizarre story of repentance as the main character faces off against a moldy dwarf that is the embodiment of his conscience. It seems in Twain's stories, I'm noticing a pattern of strangers that come into wicked peoples lives and tamper with their life. What grasped my attention the most in this story is the 180 the story pulls right at the beginning. The story begins with a man talking about his aunt (who attempted to make him quit smoking) is coming to visit him. Then suddenly,
"Straightway the door opened, and a shriveled, shabby dwarf entered. He
was not more than two feet high. He seemed to be about forty years old.
Every feature and every inch of him was a trifle out of shape....... One thing about him
struck me forcibly and most unpleasantly: he was covered all over with a
fuzzy, greenish mold, such as one sometimes sees upon mildewed bread.
The sight of it was nauseating."
As you are reading you almost do a double take as the tender family story turns into..... something..... else.
The Situational irony was clever at the end because I was completely expecting him to either get sent to a mental institution or change his ways, but instead he grabs hold of his conscience and kills him. The story ends humoursly as he talks about his recent crime spree of murder and house burnings, and upcoming "honest" sales hes going to have in the spring, now that his tortuous conscience is gone.

Adam's Diary

Wow..... Extracts from Adam's Diary is sexist and comical. I cant believe Mark Twain wrote such a comedic piece! This is like a description of all relationships any man has had. "She's using "We" again" made me laugh out loud (which is rare when Im reading) This seemed pretty racy for a this time period. I was thinking about the womens lib stuff going around at the time and couldnt help but think Twain would get a lot of guff for this. I dont necessarely like Twain, but I am willing to give him another chance with a story like this. I enjoyed that he took a story from the bible and completly changed the story from a vague and bland (and a total lack of character development, god do you think Peter, Paul, John and Ezekiel could take a screenwriting class?) and showed us a side of an infamous character we never thought we would see. His use of dry humor was something that I really didnt see in Huck Finn, but I hope to get a better perspective of. He demonstrates how even the very first male/female relationship was not perfect, and that they didnt even know what they were doing even with the guidance of God. I probably will encounter a similar experience with my child some day.


Yeah the whole eating the apple bit is kind of why men have a lot of regret when it comes to women.....

What other authors have done something like this????

I am interested in seeing Eve's view, though I bet it will not be as good as Adam's......... is that sexist????