Meaning
“For reasons that are not well understood, war's codes are safer for most of us than love's.” David Foster Wallace
Was that the reason?
The death of a person is not some number. Everyone’s lives must have meaning. What’s written here is something you could never feel from the words ‘four dead.’ It’s their breath" Kafka Asagiri
Next up: six million dead.
“The object of art is not to make salable pictures. It is to save yourself.
The fools who write articles about me think that one morning I suddenly decided to write and began to produce masterpieces.
There is no special trick about writing or painting either. I wrote constantly for 15 years before I produced anything with any solidity to it....
The thing of course, is to make yourself alive. Most people remain all of their lives in a stupor.
The point of being an artist is that you may live....
You won't arrive. It is an endless search.” Sherwood Anderson
Next up: the object of, well, forget about it.
One must try to make one's life as pleasant as possible. I'm alive and it's not my fault, which means I must somehow go on living the best I can, without bothering anybody, until I die.'
'But what makes you live? With such thoughts, you'll sit without moving, without undertaking anything...'
'Life won't leave one alone as it is.” Leo Tolstoy
My guess: and all that it's ever going to be.
“Wickedness was like beauty: in the eye of the beholder.” Alix E. Harrow
Not only that, but in the mind too.
“The business of philosophy is to teach man to live in uncertainty...not to reassure him, but to upset him.” Lev Shestov
Sound like anyone here?
Quote of the day
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iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Three Kings
Archie: You know anything about gunshot wounds?
Conrad: I don’t know.
Archie: Specifically, the worst thing about a gunshot wound, provided you survive the bullet, is something called sepsis.
Chief: Infection of the blood…
Archie: That’s right. Say a bullet tears into your gut. It creates a cavity in the dead tissue. That cavity fills up with bile, and bacteria, and you’re fucked.
The good news? God is on our side.
Troy: What the fuck was going on back there, Major? Civilians spitting on the soldiers, soldiers shooting civilians. They ignored us like we weren’t even there.
Archie: They surrendered to us. They’re after civilians now.
Conrad: Why’d they blow up that milk truck?
Chief: They’re trying to starve the people out.
Troy: Why?
Archie: Bush told the people to rise up against Saddam. They thought they’d have our support. They don’t. Now they’re getting slaughtered.
Rummy's Rule let's call it. You know the one.
Troy: Hey, I don’t know if I can do this, okay? I got a family. If I’m gonna shit in a bag for the rest of my life 'cause I got shot after the war was over that’s be pretty stupid, wouldn’t it?
Archie: What’s the most important thing in life?
Troy: Respect.
Archie: That’s too dependent on other people.
Conrad: What, love?
Archie: A little Disneyland, isn’t it?
Chief: God’s will.
Archie: Close.
Troy: What is it then?
Archie: Necessity.
Troy: As in?
Archie: As in people do what is most necessary to them at any given moment. Right now, what is most necessary to Saddam’s troops is to put down the uprising.
Again: An uprising the powers that be in Washington fomented. And then abandoned. For “strategic” reasons as it were. After all, who knows, maybe Iraq might need to be invaded again.
Archie : Load the people into the Humvee!
Troy: There’s no room!
Archie: Make room!
Troy: Whatever happened to necessity?
Archie: It just changed!
Invent something!
Amir Abdullah: You know what I think? You’re stealing gold, that’s what I think. We’re fighting Saddam and dying, and you’re stealing gold.
Archie: You’re wrong.
Amir Abdullah: They have half a million men in the desert and they send four guys to pick up all this bullion? I don’t think so.
You know, for the LRPs.
Amir Abdullah: The big army of democracy beats the ugly dictator and save the rich Kuwaitis but you go to jail if we help us escape from the same dictator?
Catch 22. And one of the last.
Iraqi soldier: You are here to save the Kuwaiti people?!
Troy: Yes.
Iraqi soldier: Really? Lot of people in trouble in this world…and you don’t fight no fucking war for them.
Troy: We needed to keep the region stable.
Iraqi soldier [forces Troys mouth open and pours oil into it]: This is your fucking stability, my main man.
Yep, when has there ever not been a main man?
Archie: You’re scared, right?
Conrad: Maybe.
Archie: The way it works is, you do the thing you’re scared shitless of, and you get the courage AFTER you do it, not before you do it.
Conrad: That’s a dumbass way to work. It should be the other way around.
Archie: I know. But that’s the way it works.
If only virtually here.
Archie: You know anything about gunshot wounds?
Conrad: I don’t know.
Archie: Specifically, the worst thing about a gunshot wound, provided you survive the bullet, is something called sepsis.
Chief: Infection of the blood…
Archie: That’s right. Say a bullet tears into your gut. It creates a cavity in the dead tissue. That cavity fills up with bile, and bacteria, and you’re fucked.
The good news? God is on our side.
Troy: What the fuck was going on back there, Major? Civilians spitting on the soldiers, soldiers shooting civilians. They ignored us like we weren’t even there.
Archie: They surrendered to us. They’re after civilians now.
Conrad: Why’d they blow up that milk truck?
Chief: They’re trying to starve the people out.
Troy: Why?
Archie: Bush told the people to rise up against Saddam. They thought they’d have our support. They don’t. Now they’re getting slaughtered.
Rummy's Rule let's call it. You know the one.
Troy: Hey, I don’t know if I can do this, okay? I got a family. If I’m gonna shit in a bag for the rest of my life 'cause I got shot after the war was over that’s be pretty stupid, wouldn’t it?
Archie: What’s the most important thing in life?
Troy: Respect.
Archie: That’s too dependent on other people.
Conrad: What, love?
Archie: A little Disneyland, isn’t it?
Chief: God’s will.
Archie: Close.
Troy: What is it then?
Archie: Necessity.
Troy: As in?
Archie: As in people do what is most necessary to them at any given moment. Right now, what is most necessary to Saddam’s troops is to put down the uprising.
Again: An uprising the powers that be in Washington fomented. And then abandoned. For “strategic” reasons as it were. After all, who knows, maybe Iraq might need to be invaded again.
Archie : Load the people into the Humvee!
Troy: There’s no room!
Archie: Make room!
Troy: Whatever happened to necessity?
Archie: It just changed!
Invent something!
Amir Abdullah: You know what I think? You’re stealing gold, that’s what I think. We’re fighting Saddam and dying, and you’re stealing gold.
Archie: You’re wrong.
Amir Abdullah: They have half a million men in the desert and they send four guys to pick up all this bullion? I don’t think so.
You know, for the LRPs.
Amir Abdullah: The big army of democracy beats the ugly dictator and save the rich Kuwaitis but you go to jail if we help us escape from the same dictator?
Catch 22. And one of the last.
Iraqi soldier: You are here to save the Kuwaiti people?!
Troy: Yes.
Iraqi soldier: Really? Lot of people in trouble in this world…and you don’t fight no fucking war for them.
Troy: We needed to keep the region stable.
Iraqi soldier [forces Troys mouth open and pours oil into it]: This is your fucking stability, my main man.
Yep, when has there ever not been a main man?
Archie: You’re scared, right?
Conrad: Maybe.
Archie: The way it works is, you do the thing you’re scared shitless of, and you get the courage AFTER you do it, not before you do it.
Conrad: That’s a dumbass way to work. It should be the other way around.
Archie: I know. But that’s the way it works.
If only virtually here.
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iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
John Fowles from The Magus
I knew I would always want to go on living with myself, however hollow I became, however diseased.
Right, godot?
It came to me…that I didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world at that moment, that what I was feeling at that moment justified all I had been through, because all I had been through was my being there. I was experiencing…a new self-acceptance, a sense that I had to be this mind and this body, its vices and its virtues, and that I had no other chance or choice.
Spin, spin, spin. Then spin, spin, spin some more.
Men see objects, women see the relationship between objects.
Commit that to memory, and then move on.
Wealth is a monster. It takes a month to learn to control it financially. And many years to learn to control it psychologically.
Of course, most of us will take our chances.
“There are three types of intelligent persons: the first so intelligent that being called very intelligent must seem natural and obvious; the second sufficiently intelligent to see that he is being flattered, not described; the third so little intelligent that he will believe anything. I knew I belonged to the second kind.”
Or, uh, four it you count women?
Think. In a minute from now you could be saying, I risked death. I threw for life, and I won life. It is a very wonderful feeling. To have survived.”
Mine however has more or less worn off.
I knew I would always want to go on living with myself, however hollow I became, however diseased.
Right, godot?
It came to me…that I didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world at that moment, that what I was feeling at that moment justified all I had been through, because all I had been through was my being there. I was experiencing…a new self-acceptance, a sense that I had to be this mind and this body, its vices and its virtues, and that I had no other chance or choice.
Spin, spin, spin. Then spin, spin, spin some more.
Men see objects, women see the relationship between objects.
Commit that to memory, and then move on.
Wealth is a monster. It takes a month to learn to control it financially. And many years to learn to control it psychologically.
Of course, most of us will take our chances.
“There are three types of intelligent persons: the first so intelligent that being called very intelligent must seem natural and obvious; the second sufficiently intelligent to see that he is being flattered, not described; the third so little intelligent that he will believe anything. I knew I belonged to the second kind.”
Or, uh, four it you count women?
Think. In a minute from now you could be saying, I risked death. I threw for life, and I won life. It is a very wonderful feeling. To have survived.”
Mine however has more or less worn off.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
The more things change?
Here the simians rule over men. But the leaders are all light skinned…actual blondes! The soldiers and workers all dark skinned. And the leaders are all male.
I’ve never been a particular admirer of the man who plays him but George Taylor is cynical enough to put almost everything in perspective. But he is also a man hell bent on moving things forward…on getting things done with whatever happens to be available. He is resourceful but has no illusions about the “meaning of it all.”
One thing for sure: it’s another titantic battle between science and religion. And the role of both in “the state”. Those who run the show tolerate science as long as it doesn’t go poking around in things that might bring into question the, uh, natural order of things: them running the show. Science must always be in accord with the “Sacred Scrolls”.
But it’s never really clear [to me] how exactly the orangutans, chimps and apes did become the dominant species while the humans devolved into mere “beasts”. All in 2,000 years? And wouldn’t the Moon give it all away?
Oh, and wouldn’t Taylor be wondering why they all spoke English?
Okay, okay: for entertainment purposes only. But at least it does give folks something to think about.
During breaks in filming, actors made up as different ape species tended to hang out together, gorillas with gorillas, orangutans with orangutans, chimps with chimps. It wasn’t required, it just naturally happened.
In the novel, the ape society is technologically comparable to the 1950s or 1960s, with cities, automobiles, televisions, etc., technology left over from the planet’s human population. However, the budget could not accommodate the setting, so a more primitive depiction of ape society was used.
There was an attempt by censors to have the final scene edited for profanity but Charlton Heston was able to argue that his character was actually asking God to damn those responsible for the destruction of the world to hell, rather than simply using the Lord’s name in vain.
Yep, that is true.
Planet of the Apes
Dodge: The question is not so much where we are as when we are.
Of course, they're all dead now.
Taylor: I read the clocks. They bear out Hasslein’s hypothesis. We’ve been away from Earth for two thousand years, give or take a decade. Still can’t accept it, huh, Landon? Time has wiped out everyone and everything you cared for – they’re dust.
Of course, they're all dust now.
Taylor: Straighten me out on something. Why did you come along at all? You volunteered. Why? I’ll tell you. They nominated you for the Big One and you couldn’t turn it down. Not without losing your All-American standing.
Landon [angrily]: Climb off me, Taylor!
Taylor: And the glory, don’t forget that. There’s a life-sized bronze statue of you somewhere. It’s probably turned green by now, and nobody can read the name plate. But never let it be said we forget our heroes.
Landon: Taylor. I’m telling you –
Taylor: Oh, and one last item. Immortality. You wanted to go on forever. Well, you damn near made it. Except for Dodge and me, you’ve lived longer than anybody. And with Stewart dead, it looks like we’re the last of the strain. You got what you wanted, kid. How does it taste?
Landon: Okay. You read me well enough. Why can’t I read you?
Taylor: Don’t bother
Landon (looking off): Dodge…he’s not like me at all. But he makes sense. He’d walk naked into a live volcano if he thought he could learn something no other man knew. I understand why he’s here. But you…You’re no seeker. You’re negative.
Taylor: But I’m not prepared to die.
Landon (heatedly): I’d like to know why not. You thought life on Earth was meaningless. You despised people. So what did you do? You ran away.
Taylore [more reflective]: No, not quite, Landon. I’m a bit of a seeker myself. But my dreams are a lot emptier than yours. I just can’t get rid of the idea that somewhere in the Universe there has to be something better than man. Has to be.
So, nihilistic enough for you?
Taylor: You’re our optimist, Landon. Look at the bright side. If that’s the best there is around here, in six months we’ll be running this planet.
Six zillion sequels later...?
Julius: You know the saying, “Human see, human do.”
What though?
Zira: But what about your theory? The existence of someone like Taylor might prove it.
Cornelius (shushing her): Zira, are you trying to get my head cut off?
Zira: Don’t be foolish. If it’s true, they’ll have to accept it.
Cornelius: Oh no they won’t.
After all, look at all the things I've proved in vain were true here.
Zira: Cornelius has developed a brilliant hypothesis…
Cornelius (quickly): It’s probably wrong
Zira: …that the ape evolved from a lower order of primate, possibly man. In his trip to the Forbidden Zone he discovered traces of a culture older than recorded time.
Cornelius: The evidence was very meager.
Zira: You didn’t think so then.
Cornelius: That was before Dr. Zaius and half the Academy said the idea was heresy.
Zira: How can the scientific truth be heresy?
Let's explain that.
Taylor: Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!
Pick a color?
Taylor: It’s a mad house! A mad house!
Just out of curiosity, what's that make this then?
Taylor: There’s your Minister of Science; honor-bound to expand the frontiers of knowledge…
Dr. Zira: Taylor, please!
Taylor: …except that he’s also chief Defender of the Faith!
Dr. Zaius: There is no contradiction between faith and science… true science!
Next up: true philosophy.
Dr. Zaius: You are right, Taylor, I have always known about man. From the evidence, I believe his wisdom must walk hand and hand with his idiocy. His emotions must rule his brain. He must be a warlike creature who gives battle to everything around him, even himself.
Of course, all that's changed now.
Taylor [looking up at what’s left of the Statue of Liberty]: You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!
He means it of course.
Here the simians rule over men. But the leaders are all light skinned…actual blondes! The soldiers and workers all dark skinned. And the leaders are all male.
I’ve never been a particular admirer of the man who plays him but George Taylor is cynical enough to put almost everything in perspective. But he is also a man hell bent on moving things forward…on getting things done with whatever happens to be available. He is resourceful but has no illusions about the “meaning of it all.”
One thing for sure: it’s another titantic battle between science and religion. And the role of both in “the state”. Those who run the show tolerate science as long as it doesn’t go poking around in things that might bring into question the, uh, natural order of things: them running the show. Science must always be in accord with the “Sacred Scrolls”.
But it’s never really clear [to me] how exactly the orangutans, chimps and apes did become the dominant species while the humans devolved into mere “beasts”. All in 2,000 years? And wouldn’t the Moon give it all away?
Oh, and wouldn’t Taylor be wondering why they all spoke English?
Okay, okay: for entertainment purposes only. But at least it does give folks something to think about.
During breaks in filming, actors made up as different ape species tended to hang out together, gorillas with gorillas, orangutans with orangutans, chimps with chimps. It wasn’t required, it just naturally happened.
In the novel, the ape society is technologically comparable to the 1950s or 1960s, with cities, automobiles, televisions, etc., technology left over from the planet’s human population. However, the budget could not accommodate the setting, so a more primitive depiction of ape society was used.
There was an attempt by censors to have the final scene edited for profanity but Charlton Heston was able to argue that his character was actually asking God to damn those responsible for the destruction of the world to hell, rather than simply using the Lord’s name in vain.
Yep, that is true.
Planet of the Apes
Dodge: The question is not so much where we are as when we are.
Of course, they're all dead now.
Taylor: I read the clocks. They bear out Hasslein’s hypothesis. We’ve been away from Earth for two thousand years, give or take a decade. Still can’t accept it, huh, Landon? Time has wiped out everyone and everything you cared for – they’re dust.
Of course, they're all dust now.
Taylor: Straighten me out on something. Why did you come along at all? You volunteered. Why? I’ll tell you. They nominated you for the Big One and you couldn’t turn it down. Not without losing your All-American standing.
Landon [angrily]: Climb off me, Taylor!
Taylor: And the glory, don’t forget that. There’s a life-sized bronze statue of you somewhere. It’s probably turned green by now, and nobody can read the name plate. But never let it be said we forget our heroes.
Landon: Taylor. I’m telling you –
Taylor: Oh, and one last item. Immortality. You wanted to go on forever. Well, you damn near made it. Except for Dodge and me, you’ve lived longer than anybody. And with Stewart dead, it looks like we’re the last of the strain. You got what you wanted, kid. How does it taste?
Landon: Okay. You read me well enough. Why can’t I read you?
Taylor: Don’t bother
Landon (looking off): Dodge…he’s not like me at all. But he makes sense. He’d walk naked into a live volcano if he thought he could learn something no other man knew. I understand why he’s here. But you…You’re no seeker. You’re negative.
Taylor: But I’m not prepared to die.
Landon (heatedly): I’d like to know why not. You thought life on Earth was meaningless. You despised people. So what did you do? You ran away.
Taylore [more reflective]: No, not quite, Landon. I’m a bit of a seeker myself. But my dreams are a lot emptier than yours. I just can’t get rid of the idea that somewhere in the Universe there has to be something better than man. Has to be.
So, nihilistic enough for you?
Taylor: You’re our optimist, Landon. Look at the bright side. If that’s the best there is around here, in six months we’ll be running this planet.
Six zillion sequels later...?
Julius: You know the saying, “Human see, human do.”
What though?
Zira: But what about your theory? The existence of someone like Taylor might prove it.
Cornelius (shushing her): Zira, are you trying to get my head cut off?
Zira: Don’t be foolish. If it’s true, they’ll have to accept it.
Cornelius: Oh no they won’t.
After all, look at all the things I've proved in vain were true here.
Zira: Cornelius has developed a brilliant hypothesis…
Cornelius (quickly): It’s probably wrong
Zira: …that the ape evolved from a lower order of primate, possibly man. In his trip to the Forbidden Zone he discovered traces of a culture older than recorded time.
Cornelius: The evidence was very meager.
Zira: You didn’t think so then.
Cornelius: That was before Dr. Zaius and half the Academy said the idea was heresy.
Zira: How can the scientific truth be heresy?
Let's explain that.
Taylor: Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!
Pick a color?
Taylor: It’s a mad house! A mad house!
Just out of curiosity, what's that make this then?
Taylor: There’s your Minister of Science; honor-bound to expand the frontiers of knowledge…
Dr. Zira: Taylor, please!
Taylor: …except that he’s also chief Defender of the Faith!
Dr. Zaius: There is no contradiction between faith and science… true science!
Next up: true philosophy.
Dr. Zaius: You are right, Taylor, I have always known about man. From the evidence, I believe his wisdom must walk hand and hand with his idiocy. His emotions must rule his brain. He must be a warlike creature who gives battle to everything around him, even himself.
Of course, all that's changed now.
Taylor [looking up at what’s left of the Statue of Liberty]: You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!
He means it of course.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Yuval Noah Harari
In the past, censorship worked by blocking the flow of information. In the twenty-first century, censorship works by flooding people with irrelevant information...In ancient times having power meant having access to data. Today having power means knowing what to ignore.
Pick three:
1] pop culture
2] mindless consumption
3] big brother, survivor, the amazing race
Voltaire said about God that ‘there is no God, but don’t tell that to my servant, lest he murder me at night’. Hammurabi would have said the same about his principle of hierarchy, and Thomas Jefferson about human rights. Homo sapiens has no natural rights, just as spiders, hyenas and chimpanzees have no natural rights. But don’t tell that to our servants, lest they murder us at night.
Pick three
1] henry quirk
2] henry quirk
3] henry quirk
How can we distinguish what is biologically determined from what people merely try to justify through biological myths? A good rule of thumb is ‘Biology enables, Culture forbids.’ Biology is willing to tolerate a very wide spectrum of possibilities. It’s culture that obliges people to realize some possibilities while forbidding others.
Yo, Satyr!
Biology enables women to have children – some cultures oblige women to realize this possibility. Biology enables men to enjoy sex with one another – some cultures forbid them to realize this possibility. Culture tends to argue that it forbids only that which is unnatural. But from a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural. A truly unnatural behavior, one that goes against the laws of nature, simply cannot exist.
Yo, Satyr!
Large numbers of strangers can cooperate successfully by believing in common myths. Any large-scale human cooperation – whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city or an archaic tribe – is rooted in common myths that exist only in people’s collective imagination.
Historically, culturally and experientially, for example.
In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power.
The fool!
Though, sure, point taken.
In the past, censorship worked by blocking the flow of information. In the twenty-first century, censorship works by flooding people with irrelevant information...In ancient times having power meant having access to data. Today having power means knowing what to ignore.
Pick three:
1] pop culture
2] mindless consumption
3] big brother, survivor, the amazing race
Voltaire said about God that ‘there is no God, but don’t tell that to my servant, lest he murder me at night’. Hammurabi would have said the same about his principle of hierarchy, and Thomas Jefferson about human rights. Homo sapiens has no natural rights, just as spiders, hyenas and chimpanzees have no natural rights. But don’t tell that to our servants, lest they murder us at night.
Pick three
1] henry quirk
2] henry quirk
3] henry quirk
How can we distinguish what is biologically determined from what people merely try to justify through biological myths? A good rule of thumb is ‘Biology enables, Culture forbids.’ Biology is willing to tolerate a very wide spectrum of possibilities. It’s culture that obliges people to realize some possibilities while forbidding others.
Yo, Satyr!
Biology enables women to have children – some cultures oblige women to realize this possibility. Biology enables men to enjoy sex with one another – some cultures forbid them to realize this possibility. Culture tends to argue that it forbids only that which is unnatural. But from a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural. A truly unnatural behavior, one that goes against the laws of nature, simply cannot exist.
Yo, Satyr!
Large numbers of strangers can cooperate successfully by believing in common myths. Any large-scale human cooperation – whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city or an archaic tribe – is rooted in common myths that exist only in people’s collective imagination.
Historically, culturally and experientially, for example.
In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power.
The fool!
Though, sure, point taken.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
They all know that killing off their rivals is immoral. But so much more to the point: Could they get away with it? Because if they could there would be hundreds and hundreds of folks on Wall Street gone tomorrow.
Alas capitalism [the Commies insist] creates its own executioners. But since the workers of the world did not unite [yet] it’s up to each executive to come up with his own plan of survival. Graham has come up with a beaut. And, aside from Stella, no one is safe.
I suppose the folks on the bottom floors can take some comfort in knowing that folks on the top floors can get shafted too. And their fall is all the more precipitous. Right, Mr. Baxter?
Fortunately, I got along rather well with my own employers. So, to the best of my knowledge, they’re all still around.
Look for Samuel Jackson. On the other hand, isn't he in every movie that has ever been made? Oh, and by the way "what's in your wallet?"
A Shock to the System
George [to Graham]: Oh, come on. The whole point of these takeovers is to sell off the assets, and put old farts like me out to pasture. I can hear the fat lady singing, Graham. I can hear her singing.
So, fuck it all, right George?
George: Space invaders, Graham. The new people - all gadgets and the bottom line. Stop them early, or they’ll run right over you! “We can be more efficient than such-and-such a program…” Blah blah blah, it’s all bullshit, Graham, soup to nuts. It’s code for mass firings and low quality. Just melt the market dry, and get out. I mean, if our system wasn’t any good, why did they take us over in the first place? Christ!
Of course, Kamala Harris, taking her cue from Barack Obama, will usher in more "change we can believe in". In other words, nothing really changes at all.
Benham: Gentlemen, gentlemen…you don’t understand! We are the young, the proud! We shouldn’t be ashamed of success! We should say, “Yes, I have a boat. I have a country home. I have a girlfriend named ‘Tara’!” Say it with me, brothers.
Executive #3: I do have a Mercedes.
Executive #2: I have a condo with a pool.
Executive #1: I have a personal sports trainer.
Graham: I have a wife, a mortgage, and two dogs.
Bummer?
Graham: What the hell is going on out there, George. Did somebody die…or lose money?
On the other hanf, what else could it be on Wall Street?
Graham: What are you telling me, George?
George: You didn’t get it Graham. You’re not the one.
Graham [savagely]: You’re fucking kidding me!
Cue the venetian blinds.
Benham: This isn’t exactly comfortable for me, I know you wanted this job. I suppose if we were rival princes, I could just have you killed. It would save a lot of politics.
Graham: It’s not that easy to kill someone and get away with it.
Let alone every other son of a bitch up there.
Graham: I didn’t get the job, Leslie. The promotion… I didn’t get it.
Leslie: No, of course you got it, Graham. You always get it.
Graham: I’m sorry. I know what it meant to you.
Leslie: No, you don’t, Graham. I really don’t think you do know how much it meant to me!
Graham [voice-over]: That’s when he realized she was a witch.
Note to maia: a wicked witch.
Graham [mockingly, to himself, knowing what’s coming]: “Graham, I forgive you for failing.”
Leslie: Graham, I forgive you for failing.
she dead now or what?
Graham: I will try and put this as politely as possible, Henry… what the fuck are you doing in my office?
Henry: Bob says I’m supposed to help out with the reorganization report.
Graham: Uh huh. Let me rephrase the question: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN MY OFFICE?!!!
Henry: Bob just thought it was crazy not to have a computer in here.
Graham: It’s not the computer, it’s you and your goddamn desk!
Really, you do have to see it to believe it.
Graham [shouting]: Why don’t you bring Henry Park in here, huh? Why don’t you bring Melanie in to make sure the phone gets answered? Hell, we could bring in the whole goddamn New York Knicks, just to make sure your trash hits the basket!! How’s that?
Benham: If I thought I needed an assistant to do my job…
Graham: Meaning what? That I don’t do my job? Then why don’t you have me removed, Bobby Boy?
Benham: Because you’re too senior in the company to be fired for anything less than gross insubordination.
Graham: So you’ve decided to have me removed piece by piece. A privilege here, a responsibility there - never enough to fight over, just a subtle drain of power, right?
[Menacing]
Graham: Well, let me tell you something, Bobster. You don’t know the first fucking thing about power. I have more power in this hand than all you fucking know!
Wow, imagine Graham posting here?!
Graham [to Stella]: My father had it all figured out. He was a London bus driver. And when I was a boy, he used to take me over the river to Mayfair, where the rich people lived. And he used to say to me, “Son - there is no Heaven. Here is the closest you will ever get. Life, here, is sweet. Life, back over there, is hard. So live over here, son!”
Of course, that'll never change until the workers of the world, uh, there's something they are supposed to do first, right?
Graham [voiceover]: There was only one tiresome detail. Jones. He just wouldn’t let to of that corner office. Abra kadabra. Shalakazam. Bye-bye, baby. Boom.
Plane, boat...what's the difference, right Graham?
Alas capitalism [the Commies insist] creates its own executioners. But since the workers of the world did not unite [yet] it’s up to each executive to come up with his own plan of survival. Graham has come up with a beaut. And, aside from Stella, no one is safe.
I suppose the folks on the bottom floors can take some comfort in knowing that folks on the top floors can get shafted too. And their fall is all the more precipitous. Right, Mr. Baxter?
Fortunately, I got along rather well with my own employers. So, to the best of my knowledge, they’re all still around.
Look for Samuel Jackson. On the other hand, isn't he in every movie that has ever been made? Oh, and by the way "what's in your wallet?"
A Shock to the System
George [to Graham]: Oh, come on. The whole point of these takeovers is to sell off the assets, and put old farts like me out to pasture. I can hear the fat lady singing, Graham. I can hear her singing.
So, fuck it all, right George?
George: Space invaders, Graham. The new people - all gadgets and the bottom line. Stop them early, or they’ll run right over you! “We can be more efficient than such-and-such a program…” Blah blah blah, it’s all bullshit, Graham, soup to nuts. It’s code for mass firings and low quality. Just melt the market dry, and get out. I mean, if our system wasn’t any good, why did they take us over in the first place? Christ!
Of course, Kamala Harris, taking her cue from Barack Obama, will usher in more "change we can believe in". In other words, nothing really changes at all.
Benham: Gentlemen, gentlemen…you don’t understand! We are the young, the proud! We shouldn’t be ashamed of success! We should say, “Yes, I have a boat. I have a country home. I have a girlfriend named ‘Tara’!” Say it with me, brothers.
Executive #3: I do have a Mercedes.
Executive #2: I have a condo with a pool.
Executive #1: I have a personal sports trainer.
Graham: I have a wife, a mortgage, and two dogs.
Bummer?
Graham: What the hell is going on out there, George. Did somebody die…or lose money?
On the other hanf, what else could it be on Wall Street?
Graham: What are you telling me, George?
George: You didn’t get it Graham. You’re not the one.
Graham [savagely]: You’re fucking kidding me!
Cue the venetian blinds.
Benham: This isn’t exactly comfortable for me, I know you wanted this job. I suppose if we were rival princes, I could just have you killed. It would save a lot of politics.
Graham: It’s not that easy to kill someone and get away with it.
Let alone every other son of a bitch up there.
Graham: I didn’t get the job, Leslie. The promotion… I didn’t get it.
Leslie: No, of course you got it, Graham. You always get it.
Graham: I’m sorry. I know what it meant to you.
Leslie: No, you don’t, Graham. I really don’t think you do know how much it meant to me!
Graham [voice-over]: That’s when he realized she was a witch.
Note to maia: a wicked witch.
Graham [mockingly, to himself, knowing what’s coming]: “Graham, I forgive you for failing.”
Leslie: Graham, I forgive you for failing.
she dead now or what?
Graham: I will try and put this as politely as possible, Henry… what the fuck are you doing in my office?
Henry: Bob says I’m supposed to help out with the reorganization report.
Graham: Uh huh. Let me rephrase the question: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN MY OFFICE?!!!
Henry: Bob just thought it was crazy not to have a computer in here.
Graham: It’s not the computer, it’s you and your goddamn desk!
Really, you do have to see it to believe it.
Graham [shouting]: Why don’t you bring Henry Park in here, huh? Why don’t you bring Melanie in to make sure the phone gets answered? Hell, we could bring in the whole goddamn New York Knicks, just to make sure your trash hits the basket!! How’s that?
Benham: If I thought I needed an assistant to do my job…
Graham: Meaning what? That I don’t do my job? Then why don’t you have me removed, Bobby Boy?
Benham: Because you’re too senior in the company to be fired for anything less than gross insubordination.
Graham: So you’ve decided to have me removed piece by piece. A privilege here, a responsibility there - never enough to fight over, just a subtle drain of power, right?
[Menacing]
Graham: Well, let me tell you something, Bobster. You don’t know the first fucking thing about power. I have more power in this hand than all you fucking know!
Wow, imagine Graham posting here?!
Graham [to Stella]: My father had it all figured out. He was a London bus driver. And when I was a boy, he used to take me over the river to Mayfair, where the rich people lived. And he used to say to me, “Son - there is no Heaven. Here is the closest you will ever get. Life, here, is sweet. Life, back over there, is hard. So live over here, son!”
Of course, that'll never change until the workers of the world, uh, there's something they are supposed to do first, right?
Graham [voiceover]: There was only one tiresome detail. Jones. He just wouldn’t let to of that corner office. Abra kadabra. Shalakazam. Bye-bye, baby. Boom.
Plane, boat...what's the difference, right Graham?
Last edited by iambiguous on Sun Oct 13, 2024 11:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
No, the other Mona Lisa. The first one. The really and truly great one.
Michael Caine again. And this time in a particularly sinister role.
George drives her around to get fucked. And then in the end she fucks him. Over, in other words. But along the way it is nothing short of surreal. A great unrequited love story.
Whenever we step down into the underbelly of the Big City we’re bound to step in some particular noxious piles of shit. Steaming piles of putrescent shite here. And then [sooner or later] those who dumped them. Like, for example, men who prey on young girls for sadistic sex. And those who procure them.
Anyway, George just got out of the joint and he’s looking for employment. So he goes back to Mortwell. The slimeball he did the 7 years in the joint for. And that’s how he meets Simone: boom!
For example: She gives him money to buy the “proper clothes” to drive her around. Then the next day she spots him in the clothes he bought! The shirt alone!! But in the end they are both basically employees of the slimeballs.
Neil Jordan used real prostitutes in the film.
Bob Hoskins was unaware that Michael Caine was in the film until he arrived on set for the first day of shooting. Caine himself had created the ruse while they worked together on Sweet Liberty. He told Hoskins that he had been offered the part but it was too small and he was tired playing villains, even though he had already agreed to take the role.
It was after seeing Bob Hoskins’ ruthless George in this movie that critic Pauline Kael described him as being “…like a testicle on legs”. IMDb
Mona Lisa
Thomas [shows George a plate of plastic spaghetti]: What do you think?
George: Do you melt it down and eat it?
Thomas: No. They’re ornamental.
George: Ornamental spaghetti.
Thomas: Yeah. Could go a bomb.
George: Where’d you get them?
Thomas: Contacts, George. You can’t find plastic spaghetti just anywhere.
George: Nah, don’t suppose too many people make it do they?
Next up: plastic philosophy.
Simone: You’ll have to get yourself some clothes.
George: Why will l have to get meself some clothes?
Simone: If you’re to drive me. Here use this.
George: I’m not having you paying me.
Simone: Why not?
George: You don’t even like me!
Simone: I can claim it.
The pragmatist, let's call her.
Simone [seeing him in the clothes he bought]: Christ.
George: What do ya think?
Simone: Jesus.
George: You don’t like them?
Simone: Do you?
George: Well I bought them didn’t I?
Simone: You’re as much cover as a pair of fishnet tights. I may as well be wearing a sign around my neck. All you’re missing is the gold medallions.
[George pulls out the gold medallions]
George: Don’t like them either?
Simone: Fucking hate them!
George: Right. See l’m cheap, I can’t help it, God made me that way.
Simone: Being cheap is one thing, looking cheap is another. That really takes talent.
He did look rather ridiculous.
George: Here tell me something. Do they ever want you back?
Simone: Who?
George: Your clients.
Simone: Always.
George: What they fall in love with you? Well do they?
Simone: Sometimes they fall for what they think I am
George: What do they think you are?
Simone: What did you think. Black whore.
George: Did l say that?
Simone: What do you think then?
George: Well you ain’t no night nurse.
Simone: No, I ain’t no night nurse.
George: Well, let’s say you’re a lady.
The plot...sickens.
George: I was a bad lot, I’ll tell you some day.
Daughter: Are you still a bad lot?
George: Its not up to me to say is it?
Let's run that by Mum.
George: Jesus, why am I doing this?!
Simone: Cos I asked you. Because you like me, you fancy me but having me is nothing George, any p**** can have me.
George: Shut up.
Simone: I’m screwed by old men so fat l have to lift myself onto them.
[George slaps her]
Simone: Don’t hit me George, nobody hits me, they can have me but they can’t hit me!
Fair enough?
Simone: There are people out there who like this kind of thing and pay Mortwell to get it for them. If he has Cathy anyone can have her, for what ever they want.
George: I thought that was the idea.
Simone: I mean anyone. Any sadistic bastard who likes little girls, George.
Hell, in that case, it could be you.
Thomas: You used to be my hero George, what’s happening?
George: Your hero?
Thomas: Aye, well.
George: Can you get your hero a gun, Thomas?
What if he needs a bazooka?
George: You like ice cream?
Cathy: It’s the only thing I can eat.
George: What do you mean?
Cathy: Well you know.
George: No I don’t know.
Cathy: Well I can’t take food anymore, real food.
George: Well what can you take?
Cathy: You don’t know anything do you?
George: No, no I don’t know anything.
Cathy: I don’t mean to be rude, I like you. Do you like me?
George: I don’t know you do I?
[Simone pulls up in a car. Cathy looks at her through the restaurant window]
Cathy: She likes me. She really likes me.
Take a wild guess.
George: We’re meant to have fun, like men and women do. They have fun, they walk arm in arm you know. Cos they love each other and they get married so they can love each other more and have a little baby, only a little one. And have fights with the fucking mother in law. You know the way it is, between men and fucking women eh? Come on say something, anything, say it!
Simone: I’m sorry, I can’t.
And I, for one, believed her.
George: So are you going to tell me?
Simone: Tell you what?
George: As my friend Thomas would say, the whole story. You like her, don’t ya?
Simone: Of course I like her.
George: Yeah, but you like her in that special way. In the songs.
Simone: What songs?
George: Well, I’ve sold myself for a couple of dykes.
Simone: She needs me George.
George: And you needed me to get her.
Simone: Haven’t you ever needed someone?
George [in despair]: All the time.
And I, for one, believed him.
George [to Simone after he grabs the gun from her]: Fucking Cow, You fucking cow. You would have done it wouldn’t ya? You would have fucking done it. I’m just another fucking punter to you!!
[George sobs uncontrollably]
George: You fucking cow. You fucking…
Of course: the real world. Though for some of us more than others.
George [to Thomas]: She was trapped. From the first time he met her. She was trapped. Like a bird in a cage. But he couldn’t see it. He liked her, but he was the type who couldn’t see what was in front of his face. And there she was, in pain. You can get soppy about someone, well, you can’t see these things, and he was, soppy sod. She had faith in him. She believed in him. And he had a lot of hopes for her. And there was love. Yeah. She was in love alright. She really was. But not with him. And that’s the story.
On the other hand, as I recall, he has his daughter back.
Michael Caine again. And this time in a particularly sinister role.
George drives her around to get fucked. And then in the end she fucks him. Over, in other words. But along the way it is nothing short of surreal. A great unrequited love story.
Whenever we step down into the underbelly of the Big City we’re bound to step in some particular noxious piles of shit. Steaming piles of putrescent shite here. And then [sooner or later] those who dumped them. Like, for example, men who prey on young girls for sadistic sex. And those who procure them.
Anyway, George just got out of the joint and he’s looking for employment. So he goes back to Mortwell. The slimeball he did the 7 years in the joint for. And that’s how he meets Simone: boom!
For example: She gives him money to buy the “proper clothes” to drive her around. Then the next day she spots him in the clothes he bought! The shirt alone!! But in the end they are both basically employees of the slimeballs.
Neil Jordan used real prostitutes in the film.
Bob Hoskins was unaware that Michael Caine was in the film until he arrived on set for the first day of shooting. Caine himself had created the ruse while they worked together on Sweet Liberty. He told Hoskins that he had been offered the part but it was too small and he was tired playing villains, even though he had already agreed to take the role.
It was after seeing Bob Hoskins’ ruthless George in this movie that critic Pauline Kael described him as being “…like a testicle on legs”. IMDb
Mona Lisa
Thomas [shows George a plate of plastic spaghetti]: What do you think?
George: Do you melt it down and eat it?
Thomas: No. They’re ornamental.
George: Ornamental spaghetti.
Thomas: Yeah. Could go a bomb.
George: Where’d you get them?
Thomas: Contacts, George. You can’t find plastic spaghetti just anywhere.
George: Nah, don’t suppose too many people make it do they?
Next up: plastic philosophy.
Simone: You’ll have to get yourself some clothes.
George: Why will l have to get meself some clothes?
Simone: If you’re to drive me. Here use this.
George: I’m not having you paying me.
Simone: Why not?
George: You don’t even like me!
Simone: I can claim it.
The pragmatist, let's call her.
Simone [seeing him in the clothes he bought]: Christ.
George: What do ya think?
Simone: Jesus.
George: You don’t like them?
Simone: Do you?
George: Well I bought them didn’t I?
Simone: You’re as much cover as a pair of fishnet tights. I may as well be wearing a sign around my neck. All you’re missing is the gold medallions.
[George pulls out the gold medallions]
George: Don’t like them either?
Simone: Fucking hate them!
George: Right. See l’m cheap, I can’t help it, God made me that way.
Simone: Being cheap is one thing, looking cheap is another. That really takes talent.
He did look rather ridiculous.
George: Here tell me something. Do they ever want you back?
Simone: Who?
George: Your clients.
Simone: Always.
George: What they fall in love with you? Well do they?
Simone: Sometimes they fall for what they think I am
George: What do they think you are?
Simone: What did you think. Black whore.
George: Did l say that?
Simone: What do you think then?
George: Well you ain’t no night nurse.
Simone: No, I ain’t no night nurse.
George: Well, let’s say you’re a lady.
The plot...sickens.
George: I was a bad lot, I’ll tell you some day.
Daughter: Are you still a bad lot?
George: Its not up to me to say is it?
Let's run that by Mum.
George: Jesus, why am I doing this?!
Simone: Cos I asked you. Because you like me, you fancy me but having me is nothing George, any p**** can have me.
George: Shut up.
Simone: I’m screwed by old men so fat l have to lift myself onto them.
[George slaps her]
Simone: Don’t hit me George, nobody hits me, they can have me but they can’t hit me!
Fair enough?
Simone: There are people out there who like this kind of thing and pay Mortwell to get it for them. If he has Cathy anyone can have her, for what ever they want.
George: I thought that was the idea.
Simone: I mean anyone. Any sadistic bastard who likes little girls, George.
Hell, in that case, it could be you.
Thomas: You used to be my hero George, what’s happening?
George: Your hero?
Thomas: Aye, well.
George: Can you get your hero a gun, Thomas?
What if he needs a bazooka?
George: You like ice cream?
Cathy: It’s the only thing I can eat.
George: What do you mean?
Cathy: Well you know.
George: No I don’t know.
Cathy: Well I can’t take food anymore, real food.
George: Well what can you take?
Cathy: You don’t know anything do you?
George: No, no I don’t know anything.
Cathy: I don’t mean to be rude, I like you. Do you like me?
George: I don’t know you do I?
[Simone pulls up in a car. Cathy looks at her through the restaurant window]
Cathy: She likes me. She really likes me.
Take a wild guess.
George: We’re meant to have fun, like men and women do. They have fun, they walk arm in arm you know. Cos they love each other and they get married so they can love each other more and have a little baby, only a little one. And have fights with the fucking mother in law. You know the way it is, between men and fucking women eh? Come on say something, anything, say it!
Simone: I’m sorry, I can’t.
And I, for one, believed her.
George: So are you going to tell me?
Simone: Tell you what?
George: As my friend Thomas would say, the whole story. You like her, don’t ya?
Simone: Of course I like her.
George: Yeah, but you like her in that special way. In the songs.
Simone: What songs?
George: Well, I’ve sold myself for a couple of dykes.
Simone: She needs me George.
George: And you needed me to get her.
Simone: Haven’t you ever needed someone?
George [in despair]: All the time.
And I, for one, believed him.
George [to Simone after he grabs the gun from her]: Fucking Cow, You fucking cow. You would have done it wouldn’t ya? You would have fucking done it. I’m just another fucking punter to you!!
[George sobs uncontrollably]
George: You fucking cow. You fucking…
Of course: the real world. Though for some of us more than others.
George [to Thomas]: She was trapped. From the first time he met her. She was trapped. Like a bird in a cage. But he couldn’t see it. He liked her, but he was the type who couldn’t see what was in front of his face. And there she was, in pain. You can get soppy about someone, well, you can’t see these things, and he was, soppy sod. She had faith in him. She believed in him. And he had a lot of hopes for her. And there was love. Yeah. She was in love alright. She really was. But not with him. And that’s the story.
On the other hand, as I recall, he has his daughter back.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Ludwig Wittgenstein
The mechanism which we don't understand is not anything in our soul, but rather that of the life of this expression.
Talk about a made-up word...
To believe in God is to see that life has meaning.
You know, if it's the right God.
Only let's cut out the transcendental twaddle when the whole thing is as plain as a sock on the jaw.
Any transcendental twaddlers here?
Russell's books should be bound in two colours, those dealing with mathematical logic in red — and all students of philosophy should read them; those dealing with ethics and politics in blue — and no one should be allowed to read them.
See, I told you.
It is now how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it the world exists at all.....
See, I told you.
But all propositions of logic say the same thing. That is, nothing.
New thread!
The mechanism which we don't understand is not anything in our soul, but rather that of the life of this expression.
Talk about a made-up word...
To believe in God is to see that life has meaning.
You know, if it's the right God.
Only let's cut out the transcendental twaddle when the whole thing is as plain as a sock on the jaw.
Any transcendental twaddlers here?
Russell's books should be bound in two colours, those dealing with mathematical logic in red — and all students of philosophy should read them; those dealing with ethics and politics in blue — and no one should be allowed to read them.
See, I told you.
It is now how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it the world exists at all.....
See, I told you.
But all propositions of logic say the same thing. That is, nothing.
New thread!
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
How do folks get themselves into predicaments like this? Aside from being born, of course. Is it just something about people? Or is it more about the sorts of people you tend to find in a world like theirs? Vera and Sonny having sex, for example. And then Vera and Hank almost having sex later on.
Different strokes is all I can think of. And being from different sides of the track. Or on different sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. 'Cause race is everywhere here. And things get complicated. And [eventually] for those on both sides of the monster’s ball.
Let’s be blunt: There are crippled souls here. And I know this, being one myself. But some do have the advantage of being drop dead gorgeous. None of them however are what you’d call conversationalists. Or [to me] even interesting. Just the sort of things you’d expect from folks living in a world like theirs.
Like, say, I once did myself.
But some folks are able to grow. And in all kinds of ways. Them [perhaps] being most surprised by it.
But ask yourself this: Why did Tyrell have to die?
Monster's Ball
Buck: What the hell those niggers doing out there?
[Hank doesn’t respond]
Buck: I said something to you. You hear me?
Hank [looking out the window into the yard]: Yeah.
Buck: Damn porch monkeys. Be moving in here soon. Sitting next to me. Watching my TV. There was a time when they knew their place. Wasn’t none of this mixing going on. Your mother, she hated them niggers, too.
Racism? Pick two:
1] genes more than memes
2] memes more than genes
Hank [to Sonny]: In England they go as far as to give the guy a party the night before. They call it the Monster’s Ball. He don’t want no lawyer, no preacher, none of that, it’s just you and me. You can’t think about what he did. It’s a job. We have to do it right.
That might explain the title.
Lawrence [to Sonny]: I’ve always believed that a portrait captures a person far better than a photograph. It truly takes a human being to really see a human being.
From both sides of the cell, let's say.
Warden: Lawrence Musgrove, do you have anything you’d like to say?
Lawrence [after a pause he shakes his head]: Push the button.
I hear that.
Every now and then, let's say.
Sonny: You hate me. You hate me, don’t you? Answer me! You hate me don’t you!
Hank: Yes, I hate you. Always have.
Sonny: Well I’ve always loved you.
[Sonny shoots himself dead]
That ever happen to you?
Hank [at Sonny’s funeral]: Let’s get this over quick.
Minister: Is there a passage you’d like me to read?
Hank: No, all I wanna hear is dirt hitting that box.
And how ironic is that, Heath?
Buck: That for Hank?
Leticia: Yeah. It’s a gift.
Buck: I’ll see he gets it. Damn. Hank must’ve done something right to deserve a fine hat like this.
Leticia: Guess he did.
Buck: In my prime…I had a thing for n***** juice myself. Hank’s just like his daddy. Ain’t a man till he split dark oak.
You tell me.
Hank: You’ll take care of him, won’t you?
Ms. Guillermo [from the nursing home]: Oh, yes.
Hank: 'Cause…I want him to go out in peace.
Ms. Guillermo: You must love him very much.
Hank: No, I don’t. But he’s my father. So, there it is.
Me? Let's not go there, okay?
Ever.
Buck: So this is it.
Hank: I guess so.
Buck: I’m stuck.
Hank: Me too.
Buck: I don’t want to go out like this.
Hank: Me neither. Goodbye, Pop.
So, there it is.
Hank: I wanna take care of you.
Leticia: Good. Cuz’ I need to be taken care of.
Then she finds the drawings. By then though what are her options?
Hank [to Leticia]: I went by our station on the way home. I like the sign. I think we’re going to be all right.
I guess we'll never know.
Different strokes is all I can think of. And being from different sides of the track. Or on different sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. 'Cause race is everywhere here. And things get complicated. And [eventually] for those on both sides of the monster’s ball.
Let’s be blunt: There are crippled souls here. And I know this, being one myself. But some do have the advantage of being drop dead gorgeous. None of them however are what you’d call conversationalists. Or [to me] even interesting. Just the sort of things you’d expect from folks living in a world like theirs.
Like, say, I once did myself.
But some folks are able to grow. And in all kinds of ways. Them [perhaps] being most surprised by it.
But ask yourself this: Why did Tyrell have to die?
Monster's Ball
Buck: What the hell those niggers doing out there?
[Hank doesn’t respond]
Buck: I said something to you. You hear me?
Hank [looking out the window into the yard]: Yeah.
Buck: Damn porch monkeys. Be moving in here soon. Sitting next to me. Watching my TV. There was a time when they knew their place. Wasn’t none of this mixing going on. Your mother, she hated them niggers, too.
Racism? Pick two:
1] genes more than memes
2] memes more than genes
Hank [to Sonny]: In England they go as far as to give the guy a party the night before. They call it the Monster’s Ball. He don’t want no lawyer, no preacher, none of that, it’s just you and me. You can’t think about what he did. It’s a job. We have to do it right.
That might explain the title.
Lawrence [to Sonny]: I’ve always believed that a portrait captures a person far better than a photograph. It truly takes a human being to really see a human being.
From both sides of the cell, let's say.
Warden: Lawrence Musgrove, do you have anything you’d like to say?
Lawrence [after a pause he shakes his head]: Push the button.
I hear that.
Every now and then, let's say.
Sonny: You hate me. You hate me, don’t you? Answer me! You hate me don’t you!
Hank: Yes, I hate you. Always have.
Sonny: Well I’ve always loved you.
[Sonny shoots himself dead]
That ever happen to you?
Hank [at Sonny’s funeral]: Let’s get this over quick.
Minister: Is there a passage you’d like me to read?
Hank: No, all I wanna hear is dirt hitting that box.
And how ironic is that, Heath?
Buck: That for Hank?
Leticia: Yeah. It’s a gift.
Buck: I’ll see he gets it. Damn. Hank must’ve done something right to deserve a fine hat like this.
Leticia: Guess he did.
Buck: In my prime…I had a thing for n***** juice myself. Hank’s just like his daddy. Ain’t a man till he split dark oak.
You tell me.
Hank: You’ll take care of him, won’t you?
Ms. Guillermo [from the nursing home]: Oh, yes.
Hank: 'Cause…I want him to go out in peace.
Ms. Guillermo: You must love him very much.
Hank: No, I don’t. But he’s my father. So, there it is.
Me? Let's not go there, okay?
Ever.
Buck: So this is it.
Hank: I guess so.
Buck: I’m stuck.
Hank: Me too.
Buck: I don’t want to go out like this.
Hank: Me neither. Goodbye, Pop.
So, there it is.
Hank: I wanna take care of you.
Leticia: Good. Cuz’ I need to be taken care of.
Then she finds the drawings. By then though what are her options?
Hank [to Leticia]: I went by our station on the way home. I like the sign. I think we’re going to be all right.
I guess we'll never know.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Science
“Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men´s eyes, because they know -or think they know- some things which other men have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain.” Bram Stoker
Okay, sure, but vampires?
“One of the biggest problems with the world today is that we have large groups of people who will accept whatever they hear on the grapevine, just because it suits their worldview—not because it is actually true or because they have evidence to support it.” Neil deGrasse Tyson
Let's hope that never happens here.
“The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard, who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by 'God,' one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity.” Carl Sagan
See, I told you.
I did, didn't I?
find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring — these are some of the rewards of the simple life.” John Burroughs
My guess: you can take this too far.
It's a lazy Saturday afternoon, there's a couple lying naked in bed reading Encyclopediea Brittannica to each other, and arguing about whether the Andromeda Galaxy is more 'numinous' than the Resurrection. Do they know how to have a good time, or don't they?” Carl Sagan
Of course, they post here as well.
"God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance.” Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Uh, prove it?
“Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men´s eyes, because they know -or think they know- some things which other men have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain.” Bram Stoker
Okay, sure, but vampires?
“One of the biggest problems with the world today is that we have large groups of people who will accept whatever they hear on the grapevine, just because it suits their worldview—not because it is actually true or because they have evidence to support it.” Neil deGrasse Tyson
Let's hope that never happens here.
“The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard, who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by 'God,' one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity.” Carl Sagan
See, I told you.
I did, didn't I?
find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring — these are some of the rewards of the simple life.” John Burroughs
My guess: you can take this too far.
It's a lazy Saturday afternoon, there's a couple lying naked in bed reading Encyclopediea Brittannica to each other, and arguing about whether the Andromeda Galaxy is more 'numinous' than the Resurrection. Do they know how to have a good time, or don't they?” Carl Sagan
Of course, they post here as well.
"God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance.” Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Uh, prove it?
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Based on a true story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_Street_robbery
I’ve always been a sucker for a good [meaning clever] bank heist flick. Not much philosophy maybe, but at least it all unfolds “down here”. And it’s that part of the bank you don’t often think about much.
Oh, and it revolves around those naughty, naughty royals again. And everyone seems to have an ulterior motive. And because it all unfolds in London look for lots and lots of droll humor. The actual funny kind. No one does this better than the Brits.
And here the crooks [as usual] are on both sides of the law. Politicians, cops, national security blokes, community leaders…all sorts of respectable people. Corruption is everywhere. Everywhere. But that was back then, right? Surely it’s nothing like that today.
Sex and money. Or money and sex. Take your pick. But nothing is really what it seems to be here. Except the parts that are. Was all of this really about keeping the Royal family free from scandal: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... garet.html
Look at all the folks that got ripped off [not to mention all those who died] for these “royal” assholes.
Look for Mick Jagger.
Roger Donaldson said one of the most difficult days of filming was when he filmed the brothel scene. The scene called for the women to be walking around wearing only garters. However, Donaldson said that when he went to film the scene he discovered that most of the women shaved their genitals, which would have been anachronistic for 1971. So the actresses had to wear pubic wigs called “merkins.” This caused a problem because the merkins were hard to secure in place and kept slipping, causing Donaldson much aggravation.
In its edition of February 16, 2008 The Daily Mail newspaper reported “The four men caught, charged and convicted of the raid went to jail without ever having their names mentioned in the press, and to this day their identities and the circumstances of their capture remain secret. Even the lengths of their sentences are still shrouded in mystery.” IMDb
The Bank Job
Tim [looking at Gale’s bracelet]: What’s this? “Peace and Love”? Too much of that nonsense and we’re both out of our job.
Like that'll ever happen. For example, in our lifetimes.
MI5 Chief [handing a photograph to Tim]: Michael Abdul Malik. Calls himself Michael X, in homage to Malcolm X, his American counterpart. The Pinko press would have us believe this Michael X is a crusading champion of the poor and oppressed. The black Robin Hood of Notting Hill. The richer, whiter and more famous, they will all fall over him. The truth is, he’s a slum landlord, a drug dealer and a vicious pimp who should have been in prison years ago.
A persona let's call it.
Michael X: You know, I always wanted to meet a white man by the name of Brown. You know what this is?
[Michael X puts a collar around Brown’s neck]
Michael X: It’s a slave collar, and the white man made my mothers and fathers wear this to bend them to his will. Can I bend you to my will, Mr. Brown?
Not bad I suppose for a born again thug?
Martine: Next month, they’re installing new alarms in a bank at Marylebone. Seems like the trains have been setting off the trembler alarms in the vault and they’ve had to turn them off. So for a week or so, they won’t have any.
Terry: Now why would he tell you all this?
Martine: We were having a laugh about it. “Imagine if half the villains in in London knew about this”, he said. And I thought, I know half the villains in London.
A double-agent as I recall.
Kevin: We’re not bank robbers.
Terry: Maybe that’s why we could get away with it.
Dave: It’s a bit daunting, isn’t it?
Terry: You know what scares me more? Living and dying with nothing to show for it. You know how old Mozart was when he composed his first minuet?
Dave: No.
Terry: Five. Five! A fucking minuet!
Kevin: And how would you know that fact, Terry?
Terry: Because it’s tattooed on that stripper’s arse, Kevin. What the fuck’s it matter how I know? It’s a fact and you’re missing the point, Kev. What I’m trying to say is, we stop fucking about and stop picking the shit from under our fingernails.
Besides, what could possibly go wrong?
Eddie [over radio]: All clear on the western front, Guy.
Dave [grabbing the radio from Guy]: No names, Eddie.
Eddie [over radio]: Sorry, Dave.
You know, not being amateurs.
Dave: What’s down there?
Terry: It’s a pile of skeletons.
Dave: You’re joking. Let’s hope they’re not the last gang who tried to take this bank.
Tee-hee?
Terry [looking ast photographs from box 118]: Holy shit. You know who that is? It’s Princess Margaret!
It starts to sink it...
Terry: These MI5 people aren’t regular cozzers, Martine. They’re above that. They do things coppers can’t. They think we’ve seen these photos, and we’re expendable as dog shit.
Anyone know how expendable that might be?
Vogel: I want to tell you something, Mr. Shilling, because it will save time. You see, I have a very jaundiced view of life. From what I see, most of it is corrupt, venal and vile. And I am just saying this so that you know that I don’t have a better nature to appeal to, or a compassionate streak. I mean, you do understand, don’t you?
Dave: I think so, Mr. Vogel.
Anyone here still confused?
Vogel: Don’t take me for a fool, Michael. You instigated this calamity by storing your blackmail materials in this bank.
Michael X: Which you recommended! I will not be lectured by the porn king of Soho. Get my pictures back, or you will never see a black man on the streets of London without wondering if he’s been sent to kill you!
A bluff? Sure. Unless, of course, it's not.
Sonia: You don’t understand. My box, and those of my friends, may have been rifled. Surely you can pull some strings. You’re a minister of the government for god’s sake!
Lord Drysdale: Sonia, I really don’t think I’m able to help here.
Sonia: Perhaps you don’t fully comprehend. I have photographs, compromising photographs, live film of you, Miles Urquart, all my regulars - in this safe deposit box. You all know each other if that’s any consolation.
Lord Drysdale: You’ve got photographs of me? You conniving ****!
The challenge then is to find someone here who is not conniving.
Terry [to Martine, who’s looking through newspapers]: What, we don’t make a mention? Strike you as strange?
Martine: It’s kind of scary, actually. If that news could disappear, so could we.
Next up: disappearing here.
Kevin [after Givens releases them]: How did that happen?!
Terry: Fucked if I know, just keep walking.
Fucked if we know?
Tim [after finding Gale beaten to death]: Burn the house down. I want nothing of this place left standing.
My guess: there are other houses.
I’ve always been a sucker for a good [meaning clever] bank heist flick. Not much philosophy maybe, but at least it all unfolds “down here”. And it’s that part of the bank you don’t often think about much.
Oh, and it revolves around those naughty, naughty royals again. And everyone seems to have an ulterior motive. And because it all unfolds in London look for lots and lots of droll humor. The actual funny kind. No one does this better than the Brits.
And here the crooks [as usual] are on both sides of the law. Politicians, cops, national security blokes, community leaders…all sorts of respectable people. Corruption is everywhere. Everywhere. But that was back then, right? Surely it’s nothing like that today.
Sex and money. Or money and sex. Take your pick. But nothing is really what it seems to be here. Except the parts that are. Was all of this really about keeping the Royal family free from scandal: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... garet.html
Look at all the folks that got ripped off [not to mention all those who died] for these “royal” assholes.
Look for Mick Jagger.
Roger Donaldson said one of the most difficult days of filming was when he filmed the brothel scene. The scene called for the women to be walking around wearing only garters. However, Donaldson said that when he went to film the scene he discovered that most of the women shaved their genitals, which would have been anachronistic for 1971. So the actresses had to wear pubic wigs called “merkins.” This caused a problem because the merkins were hard to secure in place and kept slipping, causing Donaldson much aggravation.
In its edition of February 16, 2008 The Daily Mail newspaper reported “The four men caught, charged and convicted of the raid went to jail without ever having their names mentioned in the press, and to this day their identities and the circumstances of their capture remain secret. Even the lengths of their sentences are still shrouded in mystery.” IMDb
The Bank Job
Tim [looking at Gale’s bracelet]: What’s this? “Peace and Love”? Too much of that nonsense and we’re both out of our job.
Like that'll ever happen. For example, in our lifetimes.
MI5 Chief [handing a photograph to Tim]: Michael Abdul Malik. Calls himself Michael X, in homage to Malcolm X, his American counterpart. The Pinko press would have us believe this Michael X is a crusading champion of the poor and oppressed. The black Robin Hood of Notting Hill. The richer, whiter and more famous, they will all fall over him. The truth is, he’s a slum landlord, a drug dealer and a vicious pimp who should have been in prison years ago.
A persona let's call it.
Michael X: You know, I always wanted to meet a white man by the name of Brown. You know what this is?
[Michael X puts a collar around Brown’s neck]
Michael X: It’s a slave collar, and the white man made my mothers and fathers wear this to bend them to his will. Can I bend you to my will, Mr. Brown?
Not bad I suppose for a born again thug?
Martine: Next month, they’re installing new alarms in a bank at Marylebone. Seems like the trains have been setting off the trembler alarms in the vault and they’ve had to turn them off. So for a week or so, they won’t have any.
Terry: Now why would he tell you all this?
Martine: We were having a laugh about it. “Imagine if half the villains in in London knew about this”, he said. And I thought, I know half the villains in London.
A double-agent as I recall.
Kevin: We’re not bank robbers.
Terry: Maybe that’s why we could get away with it.
Dave: It’s a bit daunting, isn’t it?
Terry: You know what scares me more? Living and dying with nothing to show for it. You know how old Mozart was when he composed his first minuet?
Dave: No.
Terry: Five. Five! A fucking minuet!
Kevin: And how would you know that fact, Terry?
Terry: Because it’s tattooed on that stripper’s arse, Kevin. What the fuck’s it matter how I know? It’s a fact and you’re missing the point, Kev. What I’m trying to say is, we stop fucking about and stop picking the shit from under our fingernails.
Besides, what could possibly go wrong?
Eddie [over radio]: All clear on the western front, Guy.
Dave [grabbing the radio from Guy]: No names, Eddie.
Eddie [over radio]: Sorry, Dave.
You know, not being amateurs.
Dave: What’s down there?
Terry: It’s a pile of skeletons.
Dave: You’re joking. Let’s hope they’re not the last gang who tried to take this bank.
Tee-hee?
Terry [looking ast photographs from box 118]: Holy shit. You know who that is? It’s Princess Margaret!
It starts to sink it...
Terry: These MI5 people aren’t regular cozzers, Martine. They’re above that. They do things coppers can’t. They think we’ve seen these photos, and we’re expendable as dog shit.
Anyone know how expendable that might be?
Vogel: I want to tell you something, Mr. Shilling, because it will save time. You see, I have a very jaundiced view of life. From what I see, most of it is corrupt, venal and vile. And I am just saying this so that you know that I don’t have a better nature to appeal to, or a compassionate streak. I mean, you do understand, don’t you?
Dave: I think so, Mr. Vogel.
Anyone here still confused?
Vogel: Don’t take me for a fool, Michael. You instigated this calamity by storing your blackmail materials in this bank.
Michael X: Which you recommended! I will not be lectured by the porn king of Soho. Get my pictures back, or you will never see a black man on the streets of London without wondering if he’s been sent to kill you!
A bluff? Sure. Unless, of course, it's not.
Sonia: You don’t understand. My box, and those of my friends, may have been rifled. Surely you can pull some strings. You’re a minister of the government for god’s sake!
Lord Drysdale: Sonia, I really don’t think I’m able to help here.
Sonia: Perhaps you don’t fully comprehend. I have photographs, compromising photographs, live film of you, Miles Urquart, all my regulars - in this safe deposit box. You all know each other if that’s any consolation.
Lord Drysdale: You’ve got photographs of me? You conniving ****!
The challenge then is to find someone here who is not conniving.
Terry [to Martine, who’s looking through newspapers]: What, we don’t make a mention? Strike you as strange?
Martine: It’s kind of scary, actually. If that news could disappear, so could we.
Next up: disappearing here.
Kevin [after Givens releases them]: How did that happen?!
Terry: Fucked if I know, just keep walking.
Fucked if we know?
Tim [after finding Gale beaten to death]: Burn the house down. I want nothing of this place left standing.
My guess: there are other houses.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
God
“Music is, to me, proof of the existence of God. It is so extraordinarily full of magic, and in tough times of my life I can listen to music and it makes such a difference.” Kurt Vonnegut
Next up: https://youtu.be/sjWMtQcNJXI?si=tLAtVGsYOpZocoaW
“All men are Prophets or else God does not exist.” Jean-Paul Sartre
Too close to call?
“Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's wanting to know that makes us matter. Otherwise we're going out the way we came in. That's why you can't believe in the afterlife, Valentine. Believe in the after, by all means, but not the life. Believe in God, the soul, the spirit, the infinite, believe in angels if you like, but not in the great celestial get-together for an exchange of views. If the answers are in the back of the book I can wait, but what a drag. Better to struggle on knowing that failure is final.” Tom Stoppard
Anyone struggling with this more than I am?
"Rafael?
Yeah?
Do we all have monsters?
Yes.
Why does God give us so many monsters?
You want to know my theory?
Sure.
I think it’s other people who give us monsters. Maybe God doesn’t have anything to do with it." Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Christ almighty, what if that is actually true?!
“Maybe there’s a heaven, like they say, a place where everything we’ve ever done is noted and recorded, weighed on big karma scales. Maybe not. Maybe this whole thing is just a giant experiment run by aliens who find out human hijinks amusing. Or maybe we’re an abandoned project started by a deity who checked out a long time ago, but we’re still hard-wired to believe, to try to make meaning out of the seemingly random. Maybe we’re all part of the same unconscious stew, dreaming the same dreams, hoping the same hopes, needing the same connection, trying to find it, missing, trying again—each of us playing our parts in the other’s plotlines, just one big ball of human yarn tangled up together. Maybe this is it.” Libba Bray
Or, sure, maybe not.
“Personally, I always wondered about authors and celebrities who loudly declared there was no God. It was usually when they were healthy and popular and being listened to by crowds. What happens, I wondered, in the quiet moments before death? By then, they have lost the stage, the world has moved on. If suddenly, in their last gasping moments, through fear, a vision, a late enlightenment, they change their minds about God, who would know?” Mitch Albom
I certainly plan to wager that He exists. But, really, the more your life is bursting at the seams with all the good stuff the more crushing death must seem. Just ask Mick and Keith.
“Music is, to me, proof of the existence of God. It is so extraordinarily full of magic, and in tough times of my life I can listen to music and it makes such a difference.” Kurt Vonnegut
Next up: https://youtu.be/sjWMtQcNJXI?si=tLAtVGsYOpZocoaW
“All men are Prophets or else God does not exist.” Jean-Paul Sartre
Too close to call?
“Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's wanting to know that makes us matter. Otherwise we're going out the way we came in. That's why you can't believe in the afterlife, Valentine. Believe in the after, by all means, but not the life. Believe in God, the soul, the spirit, the infinite, believe in angels if you like, but not in the great celestial get-together for an exchange of views. If the answers are in the back of the book I can wait, but what a drag. Better to struggle on knowing that failure is final.” Tom Stoppard
Anyone struggling with this more than I am?
"Rafael?
Yeah?
Do we all have monsters?
Yes.
Why does God give us so many monsters?
You want to know my theory?
Sure.
I think it’s other people who give us monsters. Maybe God doesn’t have anything to do with it." Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Christ almighty, what if that is actually true?!
“Maybe there’s a heaven, like they say, a place where everything we’ve ever done is noted and recorded, weighed on big karma scales. Maybe not. Maybe this whole thing is just a giant experiment run by aliens who find out human hijinks amusing. Or maybe we’re an abandoned project started by a deity who checked out a long time ago, but we’re still hard-wired to believe, to try to make meaning out of the seemingly random. Maybe we’re all part of the same unconscious stew, dreaming the same dreams, hoping the same hopes, needing the same connection, trying to find it, missing, trying again—each of us playing our parts in the other’s plotlines, just one big ball of human yarn tangled up together. Maybe this is it.” Libba Bray
Or, sure, maybe not.
“Personally, I always wondered about authors and celebrities who loudly declared there was no God. It was usually when they were healthy and popular and being listened to by crowds. What happens, I wondered, in the quiet moments before death? By then, they have lost the stage, the world has moved on. If suddenly, in their last gasping moments, through fear, a vision, a late enlightenment, they change their minds about God, who would know?” Mitch Albom
I certainly plan to wager that He exists. But, really, the more your life is bursting at the seams with all the good stuff the more crushing death must seem. Just ask Mick and Keith.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
The hallucinatory, brain tumor “science fiction” parts aside [and the ridiculous ending], I think that, little by little, bit by bit reality television is getting closer and closer to this. Or surely heading in this direction. Just imagine watching this film when it first came out. Forty years ago. You’d think: No way in hell could we ever have anything remotely like this on TV.
But given what’s already on the boob tube now, how about imagining it 40 years from now? Maybe the only thing to stop it is, uh, fascism? The religious nuts back a right wing political jaugernaut and “family values” are restored. Fully restored. Or are you one of those folks who believe that can never happen either? But the conspiracy here does revolve around the government. In Canada, thank God.
The one hesitation I have is that, lets face it, there is just too much money being made today [on the tube] from sex and violence. So maybe that will save us.
Personally, I have never been able to figure folks who become sexually aroused either through inflicting pain on others or having others inflict it on them. Or even inflicting it on themselves. It’s all rather repulsive to me. And that has never changed over the years. And it’s remarkable because I have lived a life that is bursting at the seams with change regarding most everywhere else.
But, as Masha points out: what makes Videodrome particularly dangerous is that it views this sort of thing philosophically. It’s way beyond the orgasm. And that's what makes it...scary?
Andy Warhol called the movie “A Clockwork Orange of the 1980s”.
The character of Brian O’Blivion is based on Marshall McLuhan. David Cronenberg was a student of McLuhan’s during college. IMDb
Videodrome
Assistant: I don’t like it. It’s not tacky enough.
Max: Tacky enough for what?
Assistant: Tacky enough to turn me on. Too much class. Bad for sex.
Right, Blondie?
Rena King: Max Renn, your television station offers its viewers everything from soft-core pornography to hard-core violence. Why?
Max: It’s a matter of economics. We’re, uh, small. We have to give people something they can’t get anywhere else. And we do that.
Rena: But don’t you feel such shows contribute to a social climate of violence and sexual malaise? And do you care?
Max: Certainly I care. I care enough to give my viewers a harmless outlet for their fantasies and their frustrations. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a socially positive act.
Rena King: What about it, Nicki? Is it socially positive?
Nicki: Well, I think we live in overstimulated times. We crave stimulation for its own sake. We gorge ourselves on it. We always want more, whether it’s tactile, emotional or sexual. And I think that’s bad.
Max: Then why did you wear that dress?
Nicki: Sorry?
Max: That dress. It’s very stimulating.
[looks at Rena]
Max: And it’s red. You know what Freud would’ve said about that dress.
Nicki: And he would’ve been right. I admit it. I live in a highly excited state of overstimulation.
Who won?
Nicki: Got any porno?
Max: You serious?
Nicki: Yeah. It gets me in the mood.
[looks through casettes]
Nicki: What’s this? “Videodrome”?
Max: Torture. Murder.
Nicki: Sounds great.
Max: Ain’t exactly sex.
Nicki: Says who?
Not much that's not applicable to.
Max: Do you know a show called ‘Videodrome’?
Masha: Video what?
Max: Videodrome. Like video circus, video arena. Do you know it?
Masha: No.
Max: It’s just torture and murder. No plot, no characters. Very, very realistic. I think it’s what’s next.
Masha: Then God help us.
Max: Better on TV than on the streets.
Says who?
Max [to Nikki]: I want you to stay away from it! Those mondo weirdo video guys, they’ve got unsavory connections, they play rough. Rougher than even Nicki Brand wants to play. You know, in Brazil, Central America, those kinds of places, making underground videos is considered a subversive act. They execute people for it. In Pittsburgh, who knows?
Anyone here from Pittsburgh? Let's settle this.
Masha: Videodrome. What you see on that show, it’s for real. It’s not acting. It’s snuff TV.
Max: I don’t believe it.
Masha: So, don’t believe.
Max: Why do it for real? It’s easier and safer to fake it.
Masha: Because it has something that you don’t have, Max. It has a philosophy. And that is what makes it dangerous.
My emphasis.
Brian O’Blivion [on a video]: The battle for the mind of North America will be fought in the video arena: the Videodrome. The television screen is the retina of the mind’s eye. Therefore, the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore, whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore, television is reality, and reality is less than television.
Uh, forty years later?
Brian O’blivion: I had a brain tumour, Max. And I had visions. I believed the visions caused the tumour, and not the reverse. I could feel the visions coalesce and become flesh, uncontrollable flesh. But when they removed the tumour, it was called Videodrome.
Obviously.
Brian O’Blivion [on tape]: I think that massive doses of Videodrome signal will ultimately create a new outgrowth of the human brain, which will produce and control hallucination to the point that it will change human reality. After all, there is nothing real outside our perception of reality, is there? You can see that, can’t you?
He will soon.
Barry Convex [on tape to Max]: Hi. I’m Barry Convex, chief of special programmes. I’d like to invite you into the world of Spectacular Optical, an enthusiastic corporate citizen. We make inexpensive glasses for the Third World and missile guidance systems for NATO.
Actually, it may well be the other way around.
Harlan: North America’s getting soft, patron, and the rest of the world is getting tough. Very, very tough. We’re entering savage new times, and we’re going to have to be pure and direct and strong, if we’re going to survive them. Now, you and this cesspool you call a television station and your people who wallow around in it, your viewers who watch you do it, they’re rotting us away from the inside. We intend to stop that rot.
Let's update that.
Max Renn: Death to Videodrome! Long live the New Flesh!
As I noted above, this is a film badly in need of a better ending. Unless the whole thing is itself a hallucination.
But given what’s already on the boob tube now, how about imagining it 40 years from now? Maybe the only thing to stop it is, uh, fascism? The religious nuts back a right wing political jaugernaut and “family values” are restored. Fully restored. Or are you one of those folks who believe that can never happen either? But the conspiracy here does revolve around the government. In Canada, thank God.
The one hesitation I have is that, lets face it, there is just too much money being made today [on the tube] from sex and violence. So maybe that will save us.
Personally, I have never been able to figure folks who become sexually aroused either through inflicting pain on others or having others inflict it on them. Or even inflicting it on themselves. It’s all rather repulsive to me. And that has never changed over the years. And it’s remarkable because I have lived a life that is bursting at the seams with change regarding most everywhere else.
But, as Masha points out: what makes Videodrome particularly dangerous is that it views this sort of thing philosophically. It’s way beyond the orgasm. And that's what makes it...scary?
Andy Warhol called the movie “A Clockwork Orange of the 1980s”.
The character of Brian O’Blivion is based on Marshall McLuhan. David Cronenberg was a student of McLuhan’s during college. IMDb
Videodrome
Assistant: I don’t like it. It’s not tacky enough.
Max: Tacky enough for what?
Assistant: Tacky enough to turn me on. Too much class. Bad for sex.
Right, Blondie?
Rena King: Max Renn, your television station offers its viewers everything from soft-core pornography to hard-core violence. Why?
Max: It’s a matter of economics. We’re, uh, small. We have to give people something they can’t get anywhere else. And we do that.
Rena: But don’t you feel such shows contribute to a social climate of violence and sexual malaise? And do you care?
Max: Certainly I care. I care enough to give my viewers a harmless outlet for their fantasies and their frustrations. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a socially positive act.
Rena King: What about it, Nicki? Is it socially positive?
Nicki: Well, I think we live in overstimulated times. We crave stimulation for its own sake. We gorge ourselves on it. We always want more, whether it’s tactile, emotional or sexual. And I think that’s bad.
Max: Then why did you wear that dress?
Nicki: Sorry?
Max: That dress. It’s very stimulating.
[looks at Rena]
Max: And it’s red. You know what Freud would’ve said about that dress.
Nicki: And he would’ve been right. I admit it. I live in a highly excited state of overstimulation.
Who won?
Nicki: Got any porno?
Max: You serious?
Nicki: Yeah. It gets me in the mood.
[looks through casettes]
Nicki: What’s this? “Videodrome”?
Max: Torture. Murder.
Nicki: Sounds great.
Max: Ain’t exactly sex.
Nicki: Says who?
Not much that's not applicable to.
Max: Do you know a show called ‘Videodrome’?
Masha: Video what?
Max: Videodrome. Like video circus, video arena. Do you know it?
Masha: No.
Max: It’s just torture and murder. No plot, no characters. Very, very realistic. I think it’s what’s next.
Masha: Then God help us.
Max: Better on TV than on the streets.
Says who?
Max [to Nikki]: I want you to stay away from it! Those mondo weirdo video guys, they’ve got unsavory connections, they play rough. Rougher than even Nicki Brand wants to play. You know, in Brazil, Central America, those kinds of places, making underground videos is considered a subversive act. They execute people for it. In Pittsburgh, who knows?
Anyone here from Pittsburgh? Let's settle this.
Masha: Videodrome. What you see on that show, it’s for real. It’s not acting. It’s snuff TV.
Max: I don’t believe it.
Masha: So, don’t believe.
Max: Why do it for real? It’s easier and safer to fake it.
Masha: Because it has something that you don’t have, Max. It has a philosophy. And that is what makes it dangerous.
My emphasis.
Brian O’Blivion [on a video]: The battle for the mind of North America will be fought in the video arena: the Videodrome. The television screen is the retina of the mind’s eye. Therefore, the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore, whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore, television is reality, and reality is less than television.
Uh, forty years later?
Brian O’blivion: I had a brain tumour, Max. And I had visions. I believed the visions caused the tumour, and not the reverse. I could feel the visions coalesce and become flesh, uncontrollable flesh. But when they removed the tumour, it was called Videodrome.
Obviously.
Brian O’Blivion [on tape]: I think that massive doses of Videodrome signal will ultimately create a new outgrowth of the human brain, which will produce and control hallucination to the point that it will change human reality. After all, there is nothing real outside our perception of reality, is there? You can see that, can’t you?
He will soon.
Barry Convex [on tape to Max]: Hi. I’m Barry Convex, chief of special programmes. I’d like to invite you into the world of Spectacular Optical, an enthusiastic corporate citizen. We make inexpensive glasses for the Third World and missile guidance systems for NATO.
Actually, it may well be the other way around.
Harlan: North America’s getting soft, patron, and the rest of the world is getting tough. Very, very tough. We’re entering savage new times, and we’re going to have to be pure and direct and strong, if we’re going to survive them. Now, you and this cesspool you call a television station and your people who wallow around in it, your viewers who watch you do it, they’re rotting us away from the inside. We intend to stop that rot.
Let's update that.
Max Renn: Death to Videodrome! Long live the New Flesh!
As I noted above, this is a film badly in need of a better ending. Unless the whole thing is itself a hallucination.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
A fictionalized account of a true story. This one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenson_v. ... aconite_Co.
There are men and then there are working class men. Sometimes that doesn’t make any difference and sometimes it does.
I worked in the ship yards and in the steel mills. So I can attest to the all the shit women had to put up with. Especially back then. Some of it revolved around sexual harassment and some of it revolved around the mentality that women were taking jobs from men: “They don’t belong here.” And the folks who know anything at all about capitalism know how bosses are quite adept at pitting workers against each. That’s what they do here. They pit all the other women against Josey for being a “troublemaker”. As though it was her behavior that started it all.
And this was the time when many, many heavy industry jobs were going overseas. So there were fewer such jobs around. So scapegoating was especially effective.
If capitalism was able to create enough living wage jobs there’d be less of this around. But it’s not. In fact, in today’s world the more common refrain is, “you’re lucky to have a job at all.”
It took lots of guts to buck a system this entrenched. To be one of the first, in other words. Some of these guys were real pigs. And not just the ones in the pit.
And where the fuck was the union? At the forefront of reaction here.
Something like this can bring out either the best or the worst in people. But it’s gratifying to watch those for whom it brings out the worst…and then the best. The experience changes them forevermore.
Look for Anita Hill.
Some of the women standing up in the last courtroom scene were real plaintiffs.
All of the incidents of harassment depicted in the movie actually did occur to various women. The incident where a porta-pottie is tipped over with a woman miner inside happened twice. The incident where a miner ejaculated onto a woman miner’s clothes in her locker occurred three times. Many more incidents of harassment occurred than could be shown in a 2 hour movie. IMDb
North Country
Josey [to lawyer in court]: Lady, you sit in your nice house…clean floors, your bottled water, your flowers on Valentine’s Day… and you think you’re tough? Wear my shoes. Tell me tough. Work a day in the pit, tell me tough.
That's what we need here...the philosophical rendition of a pit.
Title card: In 1975, the iron mines of Northern Minnesota hired their first female miner. By 1989, male miners still outnumbered females by thirty to one.
And now?
Josey: I haven’t made a decision yet. But the mine pays six times what I’m making now.
Hank [father]: Do you have any idea how many accidents there’ve been since this started? Somebody will be killed because of them women.
And now?
Arlen: The mine is a shit pit. Dirt everywhere. Loud as all get-out. You’ll be hauling, lifting, driving and all sorts of other things a woman shouldn’t be doing, if you ask me…but the Supreme Court didn’t ask me, did they?
Maybe they will now. Praise the Lord.
Pavich: Do you even know what’s going on out there? Sweetheart, this country’s elected a president who’s letting the world flood our market with cheap steel. We’re knee-deep in layoffs. Mines are closing left and right.
Josey: What’s this got to do with Earl laying hands on Sherry like that?
Pavich: Are you hearing a word of what I’m saying? You’re taking jobs where there aren’t any to take. These boys aren’t your friends. I’m not your friend. You got no business being here and you damn well know it. But you’re not hearing that, are you? So let’s try something new. How about: Work hard, keep your mouth shut and take it like a man. All right?
Pick two:
1] microeconomics
2] macroeconomics
Pavich [in court]: Look, men will always walk the line. It’s when they cross over it is when most gals give them a slap on the hand get them back on their side of that line. That’s how men and women have been handling problems since Adam and Eve.
Yeah, uh, what about that?
Josey: I work damn hard every day, same as you.
Hank: Oh, now you’re the same as me.
Josey: Oh, no. There’s a few differences. You don’t go scared of what they write about you on walls…or what kind of disgusting thing you might find in your locker. You don’t gotta be scared that one of these days you’ll come to work and get raped.
Hank: You done?
Josey [after he walks out]: Yeah, I’m done.
On the other hand, she is just getting started.
Bobby [grabs Josey and pins her to the ground]: You like that, don’t you? You like that. To grab your pussy like that, don’t you? I forgot you like it a little rough.
[he gets off of her]
Bobby: You’re gonna learn the goddamn rules if I have to beat them into you myself.
No getting around the "goddamn rules" is there?
Bill: Look, Josey, the illusion is that all your problems are solved in a courtroom. The reality is that even when you win, you don’t win.
Josey: I know, but I’m right.
Bill: I’m sure you are, but right has nothing to do with the real world. Look at Anita Hill. Because she’s you. You think you’re outgunned at the mine, wait till you get to a courtroom. It’s called the “nuts and sluts defense.” You’re either nuts and you imagined it, or a slut and you asked for it. Either way, it’s not pleasant. Take my advice. Find another job. Start over.
Josey: I don’t have any start-over left.
Bill: Look, you’re a beautiful girl…
Josey: Yeah, I’m a beautiful girl. I could find a guy to take care of me. I’m done looking to be taken care of. I wanna take care of myself. Take care of my kids.
This is what she was up against back then. And this from the folks who believe her.
Kyle: Pearson would never settle.
Bill: Sure he would.
Kyle: No. It would be her word against everybody else.
Bill: All the guys up there can’t be bad, which makes some of them witnesses.
Kyle: That mine is bread and butter for people around here. Nobody wants to shit where they eat.
The fucking bottom line, let's call it.
Bill: You know what a class action is? It’s when a bunch of plaintiffs have the same issue. File a claim on behalf of the whole group, the class. It’s tough for the company to argue that you’re all lying. You’re all crazy. It’s why you have to get the others.
Josey: Why’d you change your mind?
Bill: It’s never been done before. Sexual harassment class action.
Josey: So you’d be doing this just because it’s never been done.
Bill: Yeah. Can you live with that?
She can.
Leslie: If she gets any other women, they’ll get their class and you’ll lose this case.
Pearson: Leslie, why do you think I hired you? Because you’re the smartest lawyer I could find? No. I hired you because you were the smartest woman lawyer I could find. But if you’re getting soft, I need to know now.
Leslie: I’m not soft. But I am pragmatic.
Pearson: Do the Minnesota Vikings have to put a girl in at quarterback? Of course not. Some things are for men and some things are for women. Mining is men’s work.
Leslie: Like lawyering?
Pearson: See, a man would never say something like that. Women take everything too personally.
Next up: G.I. Jane.
Hank: My name is Hank Aimes. And I been a ranger all of my life. But I ain’t never been ashamed of it till now. When we take our wives and daughters to the company barbecue I don’t ever hear anybody calling them those names like “bitches” and “whores” and worse. I don’t ever see nobody grabbing them by their privates or, you know, drawing pictures of them on the bathroom walls doing unspeakables. Unspeakables. So, what’s changed? She’s still my daughter. Isn’t she? It’s a heck of a thing…watch one of your own get treated that way, you know. You’re all supposed to be my friends. My brothers. Well, right now, I don’t have a friend in this room. Fact is, the only one here that I’m not ashamed of…is my daughter.
Woke crap, right?
Title card: The real women of the Mesaba Iron Range won their case in court. They received a modest financial settlement, but more importantly, they got the one thing that management didn’t want to give – a sexual harassment policy that would protect them and all other women who came after them.
Fucking feminists, right?
There are men and then there are working class men. Sometimes that doesn’t make any difference and sometimes it does.
I worked in the ship yards and in the steel mills. So I can attest to the all the shit women had to put up with. Especially back then. Some of it revolved around sexual harassment and some of it revolved around the mentality that women were taking jobs from men: “They don’t belong here.” And the folks who know anything at all about capitalism know how bosses are quite adept at pitting workers against each. That’s what they do here. They pit all the other women against Josey for being a “troublemaker”. As though it was her behavior that started it all.
And this was the time when many, many heavy industry jobs were going overseas. So there were fewer such jobs around. So scapegoating was especially effective.
If capitalism was able to create enough living wage jobs there’d be less of this around. But it’s not. In fact, in today’s world the more common refrain is, “you’re lucky to have a job at all.”
It took lots of guts to buck a system this entrenched. To be one of the first, in other words. Some of these guys were real pigs. And not just the ones in the pit.
And where the fuck was the union? At the forefront of reaction here.
Something like this can bring out either the best or the worst in people. But it’s gratifying to watch those for whom it brings out the worst…and then the best. The experience changes them forevermore.
Look for Anita Hill.
Some of the women standing up in the last courtroom scene were real plaintiffs.
All of the incidents of harassment depicted in the movie actually did occur to various women. The incident where a porta-pottie is tipped over with a woman miner inside happened twice. The incident where a miner ejaculated onto a woman miner’s clothes in her locker occurred three times. Many more incidents of harassment occurred than could be shown in a 2 hour movie. IMDb
North Country
Josey [to lawyer in court]: Lady, you sit in your nice house…clean floors, your bottled water, your flowers on Valentine’s Day… and you think you’re tough? Wear my shoes. Tell me tough. Work a day in the pit, tell me tough.
That's what we need here...the philosophical rendition of a pit.
Title card: In 1975, the iron mines of Northern Minnesota hired their first female miner. By 1989, male miners still outnumbered females by thirty to one.
And now?
Josey: I haven’t made a decision yet. But the mine pays six times what I’m making now.
Hank [father]: Do you have any idea how many accidents there’ve been since this started? Somebody will be killed because of them women.
And now?
Arlen: The mine is a shit pit. Dirt everywhere. Loud as all get-out. You’ll be hauling, lifting, driving and all sorts of other things a woman shouldn’t be doing, if you ask me…but the Supreme Court didn’t ask me, did they?
Maybe they will now. Praise the Lord.
Pavich: Do you even know what’s going on out there? Sweetheart, this country’s elected a president who’s letting the world flood our market with cheap steel. We’re knee-deep in layoffs. Mines are closing left and right.
Josey: What’s this got to do with Earl laying hands on Sherry like that?
Pavich: Are you hearing a word of what I’m saying? You’re taking jobs where there aren’t any to take. These boys aren’t your friends. I’m not your friend. You got no business being here and you damn well know it. But you’re not hearing that, are you? So let’s try something new. How about: Work hard, keep your mouth shut and take it like a man. All right?
Pick two:
1] microeconomics
2] macroeconomics
Pavich [in court]: Look, men will always walk the line. It’s when they cross over it is when most gals give them a slap on the hand get them back on their side of that line. That’s how men and women have been handling problems since Adam and Eve.
Yeah, uh, what about that?
Josey: I work damn hard every day, same as you.
Hank: Oh, now you’re the same as me.
Josey: Oh, no. There’s a few differences. You don’t go scared of what they write about you on walls…or what kind of disgusting thing you might find in your locker. You don’t gotta be scared that one of these days you’ll come to work and get raped.
Hank: You done?
Josey [after he walks out]: Yeah, I’m done.
On the other hand, she is just getting started.
Bobby [grabs Josey and pins her to the ground]: You like that, don’t you? You like that. To grab your pussy like that, don’t you? I forgot you like it a little rough.
[he gets off of her]
Bobby: You’re gonna learn the goddamn rules if I have to beat them into you myself.
No getting around the "goddamn rules" is there?
Bill: Look, Josey, the illusion is that all your problems are solved in a courtroom. The reality is that even when you win, you don’t win.
Josey: I know, but I’m right.
Bill: I’m sure you are, but right has nothing to do with the real world. Look at Anita Hill. Because she’s you. You think you’re outgunned at the mine, wait till you get to a courtroom. It’s called the “nuts and sluts defense.” You’re either nuts and you imagined it, or a slut and you asked for it. Either way, it’s not pleasant. Take my advice. Find another job. Start over.
Josey: I don’t have any start-over left.
Bill: Look, you’re a beautiful girl…
Josey: Yeah, I’m a beautiful girl. I could find a guy to take care of me. I’m done looking to be taken care of. I wanna take care of myself. Take care of my kids.
This is what she was up against back then. And this from the folks who believe her.
Kyle: Pearson would never settle.
Bill: Sure he would.
Kyle: No. It would be her word against everybody else.
Bill: All the guys up there can’t be bad, which makes some of them witnesses.
Kyle: That mine is bread and butter for people around here. Nobody wants to shit where they eat.
The fucking bottom line, let's call it.
Bill: You know what a class action is? It’s when a bunch of plaintiffs have the same issue. File a claim on behalf of the whole group, the class. It’s tough for the company to argue that you’re all lying. You’re all crazy. It’s why you have to get the others.
Josey: Why’d you change your mind?
Bill: It’s never been done before. Sexual harassment class action.
Josey: So you’d be doing this just because it’s never been done.
Bill: Yeah. Can you live with that?
She can.
Leslie: If she gets any other women, they’ll get their class and you’ll lose this case.
Pearson: Leslie, why do you think I hired you? Because you’re the smartest lawyer I could find? No. I hired you because you were the smartest woman lawyer I could find. But if you’re getting soft, I need to know now.
Leslie: I’m not soft. But I am pragmatic.
Pearson: Do the Minnesota Vikings have to put a girl in at quarterback? Of course not. Some things are for men and some things are for women. Mining is men’s work.
Leslie: Like lawyering?
Pearson: See, a man would never say something like that. Women take everything too personally.
Next up: G.I. Jane.
Hank: My name is Hank Aimes. And I been a ranger all of my life. But I ain’t never been ashamed of it till now. When we take our wives and daughters to the company barbecue I don’t ever hear anybody calling them those names like “bitches” and “whores” and worse. I don’t ever see nobody grabbing them by their privates or, you know, drawing pictures of them on the bathroom walls doing unspeakables. Unspeakables. So, what’s changed? She’s still my daughter. Isn’t she? It’s a heck of a thing…watch one of your own get treated that way, you know. You’re all supposed to be my friends. My brothers. Well, right now, I don’t have a friend in this room. Fact is, the only one here that I’m not ashamed of…is my daughter.
Woke crap, right?
Title card: The real women of the Mesaba Iron Range won their case in court. They received a modest financial settlement, but more importantly, they got the one thing that management didn’t want to give – a sexual harassment policy that would protect them and all other women who came after them.
Fucking feminists, right?
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Joe Abercrombie from The Blade Itself
Every man has his excuses, and the more vile the man becomes, the more touching the story has to be.
Want to hear mine?
But that was civilisation, so far as Logen could tell. People with nothing better to do, dreaming up ways to make easy things difficult.
And, no, not just theoretically.
History is littered with dead good men.
Not including their good men of course.
Broken hearts heal with time, but broken teeth never do.
What part is he missing?
It's hard to stay calm when you're terrified, helpless, alone, at the mercy of men with no mercy at all.
Uh, no shit?
I’m trying to put things in the best light, but a turd’s a turd.
Though, as it turns out, some are unflushable.
Every man has his excuses, and the more vile the man becomes, the more touching the story has to be.
Want to hear mine?
But that was civilisation, so far as Logen could tell. People with nothing better to do, dreaming up ways to make easy things difficult.
And, no, not just theoretically.
History is littered with dead good men.
Not including their good men of course.
Broken hearts heal with time, but broken teeth never do.
What part is he missing?
It's hard to stay calm when you're terrified, helpless, alone, at the mercy of men with no mercy at all.
Uh, no shit?
I’m trying to put things in the best light, but a turd’s a turd.
Though, as it turns out, some are unflushable.