Long distance relationships just don’t work. Except when they do. But, come on, really, how many of them actually do. Supposedly, the film is based on a relationship the director once had.
Of course, lots and lots and lots and lots of short-distance relationships don’t work either. Even when the couple are in the same room. Or, sometimes, especially when they are in the same room.
Fortunately, there are alternatives out there to choose from. Different ways for them to fail altogether.
I know what you’re thinking, but you’ll just have to trust me: I’ve earned my cynisism.
The way relationships work is that the more people you come into contact with in the course of living your life the more you risk running into someone you might come to love even more than the one you are with now. And then of course the more important sexual fulfillment is in your life the more problematic the relationship that is only at a distance. And that is exactly what happens here. They get married and have lots of sex. Just not with each other.
You almost have to be someone very, very different from others who just happens to bump into someone you can share that difference with. You just don’t want to risk losing being able to share that “apartness” from others. I met a woman like that myself at a distance. The distance revolving around the fact that she was married to someone else under a set of circumstance that made it practically impossible for her to end it.
Then there’s the part where love gets all tangled up in a lot of absurd bureaucratic bullshit. And then, finally, in the ever thickening shadows of ambiguity.
At the Toronto International Film Festival (2011), the director admitted that much of the movie was improvised. The script outlined what would happen, but Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin improvised much of their dialogue. IMDb
Like Crazy
Anna [reading something she wrote to Jacob]: “I thought I understood it, that I could grasp it, but I didn’t, not really. Only the smudgeness of it; the pink-slippered, all-containered, semi-precious eagerness of it. I didn’t realize it would sometimes be more than whole, that the wholeness was a rather luxurious idea. Because it’s the halves that halve you in half. I didn’t know, don’t know, about the in-between bits; the gory bits of you, and the gory bits of me.”
The gory bits of us here?
Jacob [rhetorically]: Have you been sleeping with loads of people?
[but then more seriously]
Jacob: Have you?
Hmm, a long distance runaround?
Anna: Let’s not talk about this.
Jacob: Just tell me.
Anna: Not yet.
Just tell him what, on other words.
Anna: Have you?
Jacob: I said maybe.
Maybe meaning never, let's say.
Anna: Well, it would be easier if you felt like you could see other people…when we’re not together.
Jacob: Is that what you want to do?
Anna: No.
Jacob: Then why did you bring it up?
And then there is the whole question of why they just don’t get married. Maybe because Jacob has a new girlfriend back in L.A. Samantha. Sam. Sam played by Jennifer Lawrence.
Anna [on the phone from London to Jacob on the phone in Los Angeles]: I just…it doesn’t feel like this thing is going to go away. It’s always there. I can’t…I can’t get on with my life.
Jacob: We agreed.
Anna: I know, Jacob, but the things we have with each other, I don’t have with any other person…when any other human being apart from you. We should be with each other. And I feel it so strongly. And I feel it’s…it’s right for us to get married.
Whatever that means, of course.
Anna: So, is it worth talking about you moving to London?
But then she reads the text message from Samantha. And then there’s Simon.
Quote of the day
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iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Talk about a film that is hard to pin down…
On the one hand the narrative is plausable. There are dance contests all over the world. And there will always be a clash between those conservatives who want to conduct them in exactly the same way year after year after year. And then there will be those who want to shake things up – new dances, new ways to do the old dances.
You really do find yourself being drawn to the two main characters and genuinely rooting for them to prevail in the end.
But the characters are often depicted as caricatures of characters instead. And their behaviors border on the surreal at times. Things become hopelssly exaggerated, hyberbolic, blown up…cartoonish.
Still, you can readily imagine that something like this might happen. But then what do I know about ballroom dance contests in Australia? On the other hand, there are people who become fixated on something like this – becoming the best at it – while the vast majority comprising the rest of us wonder what the hell all the fuss is about.
And then there is Fran’s family. Wait until Scott sees them dance. And his dad.
A really one of a kind movie experience. It’s mostly to make you laugh…but that’s not quite all it does.
The film received a 15-minute standing ovation when it played at the Cannes Film Festival, where an agent of Rank Films promptly snapped up the UK release rights for a million pounds in cash.
The flashback about Doug’s past was originally planned as being realistic but due to budget constraints, the makers had to change it to the present cartoon version. IMDb
Strictly Ballroom
Shirley [after Scott starts doing his “flashy, crowd pleasing steps”]: I keep asking myself why. Did I do something wrong? Did I fail him as a mother?!
Next up: her failure as a wife.
Kendall: Well, to pick what was actually wrong with the streps you would have to be an experienced professional…like myself.
Next up: experienced professionals here.
[]bBarry Fife: Well, of course, you can dance any steps you like! But that doesn’t mean you’ll…
[camera zooms in to his mouth]
Barry Fife: …win.[/b]
We certainly get that part.
Liz [to Scott]: I’m not dancing with you. I’m not dancing with you until you dance how you’re supposed to!
Cue Fran. And that means her whole family.
Liz: What do I want? I’ll tell you what I want! I want Ken Railings to walk in here right now, and say ‘Pam Shortt’s broken both her legs, and I wanna dance with YOU!’
[the door flies open. It’s Ken]
Ken: Pam Shortt’s broken both her legs, and I wanna dance with YOU!
Kylie: That was unexpected.
Who'd have thunk it!
Scott: Look, what are you carrying on about? You’ve never had a partner. You’ve been dancing with a girl for two years, haven’t you?
Fran: Yeah, but…
Scott: And now you’ve come up to me who’s been dancing since I was six years old and you say you want to dance non-Federation and convince the judges at the Pan Pacific Grand Prix with three weeks to train?
Fran: Yeah.
Scott: Look, a beginner has no right to approach an Open Amateur.
Fran: Yeah, well an Open Amateur has no right to dance non-Federation steps, but you did, didn’t you?
Scott: But that’s different.
Fran: How is it different? You’re just like the rest of them! You think you’re different, but you’re not, because you’re just, you’re just really scared! You’re really scared to give someone new a go, because you think, you know, they might just be better than you are! Well, you’re just pathetic, and you’re gutless. You’re a gutless wonder! Vivir con miedo, es como vivir a medias!
Mom? Dad? Meet Scott.
Scott [to Fran]: Where did that come from?
Fran: It’s a step I’ve been working on at home.
Next up: working at home here.
Scott: Fran, remember what I told you about the rumba being, you know, the dance of love?
Fran: Yeah.
Scott: Well…
Fran: Yeah?
Scott: …it’s pretend.
Not for her, it's not.
Barry Fife: Where do you think we’d be if everyone went around making up their own steps?
Scott: Out of a job.
Of course, Barry is not altogether wrong about about that.
Fran: What happened to a life lived in fear and all that stuff?
Scott: Fran…
Fran: You really are a gutless wonder!
Scott: There’s a reason for this.
Fran: I don’t want to hear!
Scott: Listen to me!
Fran: No!
Scott: It’s hard for me too, Fran.
Fran: Hard? How hard do you think it’s been for me? To get you to dance with me in the first place? Wash the coffee cups, Fran, how’s your skin, Fran? Hard?
Scott: You don’t understand.
Fran: I understand. You’ve got your Pan Pacifics to win, and I’m back in Beginners, where I belong.
Ah, the real world! Unless...
Doug: We had the chance but we were scared. We walked away. WE LIVED OUR LIVES IN FEAR!
The Ballad of Doug Hastings https://youtu.be/O6IMaR_G_sU?si=t0JUZiBv4JLNOQnD
On the one hand the narrative is plausable. There are dance contests all over the world. And there will always be a clash between those conservatives who want to conduct them in exactly the same way year after year after year. And then there will be those who want to shake things up – new dances, new ways to do the old dances.
You really do find yourself being drawn to the two main characters and genuinely rooting for them to prevail in the end.
But the characters are often depicted as caricatures of characters instead. And their behaviors border on the surreal at times. Things become hopelssly exaggerated, hyberbolic, blown up…cartoonish.
Still, you can readily imagine that something like this might happen. But then what do I know about ballroom dance contests in Australia? On the other hand, there are people who become fixated on something like this – becoming the best at it – while the vast majority comprising the rest of us wonder what the hell all the fuss is about.
And then there is Fran’s family. Wait until Scott sees them dance. And his dad.
A really one of a kind movie experience. It’s mostly to make you laugh…but that’s not quite all it does.
The film received a 15-minute standing ovation when it played at the Cannes Film Festival, where an agent of Rank Films promptly snapped up the UK release rights for a million pounds in cash.
The flashback about Doug’s past was originally planned as being realistic but due to budget constraints, the makers had to change it to the present cartoon version. IMDb
Strictly Ballroom
Shirley [after Scott starts doing his “flashy, crowd pleasing steps”]: I keep asking myself why. Did I do something wrong? Did I fail him as a mother?!
Next up: her failure as a wife.
Kendall: Well, to pick what was actually wrong with the streps you would have to be an experienced professional…like myself.
Next up: experienced professionals here.
[]bBarry Fife: Well, of course, you can dance any steps you like! But that doesn’t mean you’ll…
[camera zooms in to his mouth]
Barry Fife: …win.[/b]
We certainly get that part.
Liz [to Scott]: I’m not dancing with you. I’m not dancing with you until you dance how you’re supposed to!
Cue Fran. And that means her whole family.
Liz: What do I want? I’ll tell you what I want! I want Ken Railings to walk in here right now, and say ‘Pam Shortt’s broken both her legs, and I wanna dance with YOU!’
[the door flies open. It’s Ken]
Ken: Pam Shortt’s broken both her legs, and I wanna dance with YOU!
Kylie: That was unexpected.
Who'd have thunk it!
Scott: Look, what are you carrying on about? You’ve never had a partner. You’ve been dancing with a girl for two years, haven’t you?
Fran: Yeah, but…
Scott: And now you’ve come up to me who’s been dancing since I was six years old and you say you want to dance non-Federation and convince the judges at the Pan Pacific Grand Prix with three weeks to train?
Fran: Yeah.
Scott: Look, a beginner has no right to approach an Open Amateur.
Fran: Yeah, well an Open Amateur has no right to dance non-Federation steps, but you did, didn’t you?
Scott: But that’s different.
Fran: How is it different? You’re just like the rest of them! You think you’re different, but you’re not, because you’re just, you’re just really scared! You’re really scared to give someone new a go, because you think, you know, they might just be better than you are! Well, you’re just pathetic, and you’re gutless. You’re a gutless wonder! Vivir con miedo, es como vivir a medias!
Mom? Dad? Meet Scott.
Scott [to Fran]: Where did that come from?
Fran: It’s a step I’ve been working on at home.
Next up: working at home here.
Scott: Fran, remember what I told you about the rumba being, you know, the dance of love?
Fran: Yeah.
Scott: Well…
Fran: Yeah?
Scott: …it’s pretend.
Not for her, it's not.
Barry Fife: Where do you think we’d be if everyone went around making up their own steps?
Scott: Out of a job.
Of course, Barry is not altogether wrong about about that.
Fran: What happened to a life lived in fear and all that stuff?
Scott: Fran…
Fran: You really are a gutless wonder!
Scott: There’s a reason for this.
Fran: I don’t want to hear!
Scott: Listen to me!
Fran: No!
Scott: It’s hard for me too, Fran.
Fran: Hard? How hard do you think it’s been for me? To get you to dance with me in the first place? Wash the coffee cups, Fran, how’s your skin, Fran? Hard?
Scott: You don’t understand.
Fran: I understand. You’ve got your Pan Pacifics to win, and I’m back in Beginners, where I belong.
Ah, the real world! Unless...
Doug: We had the chance but we were scared. We walked away. WE LIVED OUR LIVES IN FEAR!
The Ballad of Doug Hastings https://youtu.be/O6IMaR_G_sU?si=t0JUZiBv4JLNOQnD
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iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Real people living in the ersatz world of Hollywood. How long can it be before the people become ersatz too? And what could possibly go wrong then? That’s what Princess Leia aimed to explore in her novel. Or, rather, the actor who played Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher. A novel, but one of those “semi-autobiographical” novels. In other words, who the hell really knows which parts are true or not.
Dope and sex and love…and all the trials and tribulations of coping with one without the others. Especially when it, uh, runs in the family. Oh the humanity! Oh the travails of being rich and famous!
And all the rest of us think that we’ve got problems.
Back again with The Group at the rehabiltation center. Of course rehabilitation for the rich and famous works a bit differently.
Why is it that those who live lives that most would kill for seem drawn to dope? I suspect it is because it makes them feel so goddamn good while they are on it. While, at the same time, making all that stuff that makes you feel so goddamn bad, recede further into the background.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is just the latest casualty here. But who among us can get inside their heads and figure it all out?
Postcards From the Edge
Lowell: You fuck up my movie, I’ll kill you.
Suzanne: What?
Lowell: You know what I’m talking about and so does everybody on this set. I don’t care what you do to your body on your time, but this is my time. I won’t have some spoiled, selfish, coked-up little actress ruin my movie.
Well, it depends on the movie, of course.
Doctor Frankenthal: Suzanne! We’re going to have to pump your stomach.
Suzanne: Do I have to be there?
Probably?
Julie [drug counselor]: I want you to deal with your feelings, Suzanne, before they deal with you.
Suzanne: Do you always talk in bumper stickers?
I hear that.
Doris: Your big problem is, you’re too impatient. You’re only interested in instant gratification.
Suzanne: Instant gratification takes too long.
Along the lines of...
"He said he wanted heaven, but prayin' was too slow
So he bought a one-way ticket on an airline made of snow
Did you say you saw your good friend flyin' low?
Dyin' slow, flyin' low"
Aretha: Flowers for you, Suzanne.
Suzanne: Who died?
Aretha: Both of us almost did for a start. Who are they from?
Suzanne: They’re from the guy who pumped my stomach.
Aretha: Bullshit!
[she reads card]
Aretha: “Dear Suzanne. Hope your stomach is better. You seem to be what my mother warned me about: A beautiful, overly-sensitive person.” He can tell all that by the contents of your stomach?
Suzanne: I’d have to be sensitive to need all that dope. I’m tempted to marry him so I can tell people how we met.
She didn't, did she?
Doris: Was I an awful mother? How would you have like to have had a mother like Joan Crawford or Lana Turner?
Suzanne: These are the options? You, Joan or Lana?
So, blame Debbie?
Jack: What is it that especially bothers you, that it was on the same day or that it was Evelyn Ames?
Suzanne: It’s not the fact that you fuck around a lot, it’s that you lie about it. You could have just told me the truth and then fucked them all. Had the cigarette with me.
Jack: That is such bullshit. Women are always saying it’s not the fact that you left, it’s the way that you did it. It’s not that you fuck around, it’s that you lie about it. You’re all so full of shit. It IS the fact that I fuck around, and it is that fact that I WILL leave.
Let's run this by...you know.
Suzanne [to her mother]: I know, you’ve told me. You don’t want me to be a singer. You’re the singer. You’re the performer. I can’t possibly compete with you. What if somebody won?
Wouldn't that mean somebody lost?
Doris: Will you please tell me what is this awful thing I did to you when you were a child!
Suzanne: Okay, you want to know? Do you?
Doris: I want to know! Tell me!
Suzanne: Okay, FINE! From the time I was 9 years old, you gave me sleeping pills!
Doris: That was over-the-counter medication, and I gave it to you because you couldn’t sleep!
Suzanne: Mom! You don’t give children sleeping pills when they can’t sleep!
Doris: They were not sleeping pills! It was store-bought and it was perfectly SAFE! Now don’t blame ME for YOUR drug-taking!
Next up: Eddie?
Suzanne: But that’s the problem. I can’t feel my life. I look around me and I know so much of it is good. But it’s like this stuff with my mother. I know that she does these things because she loves me… but I just can’t believe it.
Lowell: Maybe she’ll stop mothering you when you stop needing mothering.
Suzanne: You don’t know my mother.
Lowell: I don’t know your mother, but I’ll tell you something. She did it to you and her mother did it to her and back and back and back all the way to Eve and at some point you just say, “Fuck it, I start with me.”
Suzanne: Did you just make that up?
Lowell: Yeah, well, I was working on it when you came in. If you’d shown up a half hour later like you were supposed to, it would have been better.
Suzanne: It’s pretty good as it is.
Lowell: Yeah, you just like it because it sounds a little like movie dialogue.
Suzanne: That’s right, I don’t want life to imitate art, I want life to be art.
Next up: life imitating bad television. Right, Woody?
Dope and sex and love…and all the trials and tribulations of coping with one without the others. Especially when it, uh, runs in the family. Oh the humanity! Oh the travails of being rich and famous!
And all the rest of us think that we’ve got problems.
Back again with The Group at the rehabiltation center. Of course rehabilitation for the rich and famous works a bit differently.
Why is it that those who live lives that most would kill for seem drawn to dope? I suspect it is because it makes them feel so goddamn good while they are on it. While, at the same time, making all that stuff that makes you feel so goddamn bad, recede further into the background.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is just the latest casualty here. But who among us can get inside their heads and figure it all out?
Postcards From the Edge
Lowell: You fuck up my movie, I’ll kill you.
Suzanne: What?
Lowell: You know what I’m talking about and so does everybody on this set. I don’t care what you do to your body on your time, but this is my time. I won’t have some spoiled, selfish, coked-up little actress ruin my movie.
Well, it depends on the movie, of course.
Doctor Frankenthal: Suzanne! We’re going to have to pump your stomach.
Suzanne: Do I have to be there?
Probably?
Julie [drug counselor]: I want you to deal with your feelings, Suzanne, before they deal with you.
Suzanne: Do you always talk in bumper stickers?
I hear that.
Doris: Your big problem is, you’re too impatient. You’re only interested in instant gratification.
Suzanne: Instant gratification takes too long.
Along the lines of...
"He said he wanted heaven, but prayin' was too slow
So he bought a one-way ticket on an airline made of snow
Did you say you saw your good friend flyin' low?
Dyin' slow, flyin' low"
Aretha: Flowers for you, Suzanne.
Suzanne: Who died?
Aretha: Both of us almost did for a start. Who are they from?
Suzanne: They’re from the guy who pumped my stomach.
Aretha: Bullshit!
[she reads card]
Aretha: “Dear Suzanne. Hope your stomach is better. You seem to be what my mother warned me about: A beautiful, overly-sensitive person.” He can tell all that by the contents of your stomach?
Suzanne: I’d have to be sensitive to need all that dope. I’m tempted to marry him so I can tell people how we met.
She didn't, did she?
Doris: Was I an awful mother? How would you have like to have had a mother like Joan Crawford or Lana Turner?
Suzanne: These are the options? You, Joan or Lana?
So, blame Debbie?
Jack: What is it that especially bothers you, that it was on the same day or that it was Evelyn Ames?
Suzanne: It’s not the fact that you fuck around a lot, it’s that you lie about it. You could have just told me the truth and then fucked them all. Had the cigarette with me.
Jack: That is such bullshit. Women are always saying it’s not the fact that you left, it’s the way that you did it. It’s not that you fuck around, it’s that you lie about it. You’re all so full of shit. It IS the fact that I fuck around, and it is that fact that I WILL leave.
Let's run this by...you know.
Suzanne [to her mother]: I know, you’ve told me. You don’t want me to be a singer. You’re the singer. You’re the performer. I can’t possibly compete with you. What if somebody won?
Wouldn't that mean somebody lost?
Doris: Will you please tell me what is this awful thing I did to you when you were a child!
Suzanne: Okay, you want to know? Do you?
Doris: I want to know! Tell me!
Suzanne: Okay, FINE! From the time I was 9 years old, you gave me sleeping pills!
Doris: That was over-the-counter medication, and I gave it to you because you couldn’t sleep!
Suzanne: Mom! You don’t give children sleeping pills when they can’t sleep!
Doris: They were not sleeping pills! It was store-bought and it was perfectly SAFE! Now don’t blame ME for YOUR drug-taking!
Next up: Eddie?
Suzanne: But that’s the problem. I can’t feel my life. I look around me and I know so much of it is good. But it’s like this stuff with my mother. I know that she does these things because she loves me… but I just can’t believe it.
Lowell: Maybe she’ll stop mothering you when you stop needing mothering.
Suzanne: You don’t know my mother.
Lowell: I don’t know your mother, but I’ll tell you something. She did it to you and her mother did it to her and back and back and back all the way to Eve and at some point you just say, “Fuck it, I start with me.”
Suzanne: Did you just make that up?
Lowell: Yeah, well, I was working on it when you came in. If you’d shown up a half hour later like you were supposed to, it would have been better.
Suzanne: It’s pretty good as it is.
Lowell: Yeah, you just like it because it sounds a little like movie dialogue.
Suzanne: That’s right, I don’t want life to imitate art, I want life to be art.
Next up: life imitating bad television. Right, Woody?
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iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Intellectuals
"When I was a seminarian, I was dazzled by a girl I met at an uncle's wedding. I was surprised by her beauty, her intellectual brilliance... and, well, I was bowled over for quite a while." Pope Francis
Then the parts he left out.
An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows." Dwight D. Eisenhower
Or, nowadays, a woman.
"God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that." Joseph Campbell
Let's complicate it.
It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living." David Attenborough
Of course, he's only paraphrasing, well, you know.
"The role of the intellectual, so it is said, is to speak truth to power. Noam Chomsky has dismissed this pious tag on two grounds. For one thing, power knows the truth already; it is just busy trying to conceal it. For another, it is not those in power who need the truth, but those they oppress." Terry Eagleton
Amen?
"An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself." Albert Camus
Up in the clouds?
"When I was a seminarian, I was dazzled by a girl I met at an uncle's wedding. I was surprised by her beauty, her intellectual brilliance... and, well, I was bowled over for quite a while." Pope Francis
Then the parts he left out.
An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows." Dwight D. Eisenhower
Or, nowadays, a woman.
"God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that." Joseph Campbell
Let's complicate it.
It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living." David Attenborough
Of course, he's only paraphrasing, well, you know.
"The role of the intellectual, so it is said, is to speak truth to power. Noam Chomsky has dismissed this pious tag on two grounds. For one thing, power knows the truth already; it is just busy trying to conceal it. For another, it is not those in power who need the truth, but those they oppress." Terry Eagleton
Amen?
"An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself." Albert Camus
Up in the clouds?
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popeye1945
- Posts: 3058
- Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2021 2:12 am
Re: Quote of the day
"An intellectual: someone who has found something more interesting than sex."
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
The good old U.S. of A. There is prablably no place on earth where a distinction between being an asshole and being a rich asshole is more important. After all, when you can afford to be an asshole it sometimes makes all the difference in the world. And when you can achieve this distinction while still being a Kid, all the better. Or all the worse.
This one was a real pig. You know, if I do say so myself. And then he becomes a very, very rich and a very, very famous pig. So, going back to the beginning, I’m with Erica on this one.
Only Elon Musk might trump him in the pig department.
And Facebook. A vast wasteland by and large. And getting vaster everyday. But, hey, a buck is a buck. Billions of them by now. Only [it seems] Mark Zuckerberg was never really in it for the money. At least not at first. Instead, he was all about Facebook being “cool”. But sooner or later “cool” meets dog-eat-dog capitalism. And “cool” soon learns to play by the rules. Or there are consequences.
Here’s a guy who was born very, very lucky. Meaning he was born very, very smart. Meaning it was mostly a matter of biology. Meaning he only had so much to do with it at all. He was just able to take that gift to the very top of the capitalist food chain. And being born of the male persuasion didn’t hurt. As did the part about born with a white skin.
Let’s face it, even at Harvard University, you are never really all that far removed from American Youth. That and its insidious pop culture. After all, this all unfolds there not in 1902 but in 2002.
The Social network
Mark: Did you know there are more people with genius IQs living in China than there are people of any kind living in the United States?
Erica: That can’t possibly be true.
Mark: It is.
Erica: What would account for that?
Mark: Well first, an awful lot of people live in China. But, here’s my question: how do you distinguish yourself in a population of people who all got 1600 on their SATs?
Erica: I didn’t know they take SATs in China.
Mark: They don’t. I wasn’t talking about China anymore, I was talking about me.
Isn't he always?
Mark: I’m just saying I need to do something substantial in order to get the attention of the clubs.
Erica: Why?
Mark: Because they’re exclusive. And fun. And they lead to a better life.
Erica: Teddy Roosevelt didn’t get elected president because he was a member of the Phoenix club.
Mark: He was a member of the Porcelain, and yes he did.
Some call it the deep state. And, let's face it, of late it's getting deeper all the time.
Erica [angry]: I’m sorry you are not sufficiently impressed with my education.
Mark: I’m sorry I don’t have a rowboat, so we’re even.
Erica: I think we should just be friends.
Mark: I don’t want friends.
Erica: I was just being polite, I have no intention of being friends with you.
Next up: just being polite here.
Erica [to Mark]: You are probably going to be a very successful computer person. But you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole.
And now we all know that. Either more or less, say.
Eduardo: Who are we going to send it to first.
Mark: Just a couple of people. But the question is, who are they going to send it to?
And that's just here on Earth, of course.
Marylin: The site got twenty-two hundred hits within two hours?
Mark: Thousand.
Marylin: What?
Mark: Twenty-two thousand hits.
Bots, maybe?
Mark [to Gretchen]: Ma’am, I know you’ve done your homework and so you know that money isn’t a big part of my life, but at the moment I could buy Mt. Auburn Street, take the Phoenix Club, and turn it into my ping-pong room.
Like that would make him any less the asshole.
Eduardo: What did you write?
Mark: “Relationship status.” “Interested in.” This is what drives life at college. “Are you having sex or aren’t you?” It’s why people take certain classes and sit where they do and do what they do. And at its center that’s what The Facebook is gonna be about. People are gonna log on because after all the cake and watermelon there’s a chance they’re actually gonna…
Eduardo: Gonna get laid.
Mark: …meet a girl. Yes.
In other words, what some here use philosophy for.
Cameron: What, do you want to hire an IP lawyer and sue him?
Divya: No, I want to hire the Sopranos to beat the shit out of him with a hammer!
Tyler: We don’t even have to do that.
Cameron: That’s right.
Tyler: We can do that ourselves. I’m 6’5", 220, and there’s two of me.
Let's run this by, among others, Lawrence H. Summers.
Divya: Everybody on campus was using it. “Facebook me” was the common expression after two weeks. And Mark was the biggest thing on a campus that included 19 Nobel laureates, 15 Pulitzer prize winners, 2 future Olympians and a movie star.
Sy: Who’s the movie star?
Divya: Does it matter?
It does to Natalie.
Erica: You called me a bitch on the Internet, Mark.
Mark: That’s why I wanted to talk to you.
Erica: On the Internet.
Mark: That’s why I came over.
Erica: Comparing women to farm animals.
Mark: I didn’t end up doing that.
Erica: It didn’t stop you from writing it. As if every thought that tumbles through your head was so clever it would be a crime for it not to be shared. The Internet’s not written in pencil, Mark, it’s written in ink. And you published that Erica Albright was a bitch, right before you made some ignorant crack about my family’s name, my bra size, and then rated women based on their hotness.
What about her dragon tattoo?
Sean: And that’s where you’re headed, a billion dollar valuation. When you go fishing you can catch a lot of fish, or you can catch a big fish. You ever walk into a guy’s den and see a picture of him standing next to fourteen trout?
Christy: No, he’s holding a three-thousand-pound marlin.
Sean: Yup!
Another asshole?
Sean [to Mark]: Drop the “The”. Just Facebook. It’s cleaner.
What's that make Meta then?
Gretchen: 18,000 dollars?
Eduardo: Yes.
Gretchen: In addition to the $1,000 you’d already put up?
Eduardo: Yes.
Gretchen: A total of $19,000 now?
Eduardo: Yes.
Mark: Hang on.
[Mark sarcastically adds up the 2 amounts on his notepad]
Mark: I’m just checking your math on that. Yes, I got the same thing.
Not to worry, Eduardo, you'll get to 19 billion dollars eventually.
Sean [to Mark]: A Stanford MBA named Roy Raymond wants to buy his wife some lingerie but he’s too embarrassed to shop for it at a department store. He comes up with an idea for a high end place that doesn’t make you feel like a pervert. He gets a $40,000 bank loan, borrows another $40,000 from his in-laws, opens a store, and calls it Victoria’s Secret. Makes a half million dollars his first year. He starts a catalog, opens three more stores and after five years he sells the company to Leslie Wexner and the Limited for four million dollars. Happy ending, right? Except two years later, the company’s worth 500 million dollars and Roy Raymond jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. Poor guy just wanted to buy his wife a pair of thigh-highs.
So, would 4 million dollars actually be enough for you?
Sean: You think you know me, don’t you?
Eduardo: I’ve read enough.
Sean: You know how much I’ve read about you?
[whispers]
Sean: Nothing.
Let's run this by Lyle.
Gretchen: What was Mr. Zuckerberg’s ownership share diluted down to?
Eduardo: It wasn’t.
Gretchen: What was Dustin Moskovitz’s ownership share diluted down to?
Eduardo: It wasn’t.
Gretchen: What was Sean Parker’s ownership share diluted down to?
Eduardo: It wasn’t.
Gretchen: What was Peter Thiel’s ownership share diluted down to?
Eduardo: It wasn’t.
Gretchen: And what was your ownership share diluted down to?
Eduardo: .03 percent.
Crony capitalism...only he's no longer one of the cronies.
Eduardo: Mark!
Sean: He’s wired in.
Eduardo: I’m sorry?
Sean: He’s wired in.
Eduardo [picks up marks computer and smashes it on the ground]: What about now? Is he wired in now?
Nope. But he will be again.
Eduardo: This is gonna be like I’m not a part of Facebook!
Sean: It won’t be like you’re not a part of Facebook. You’re not a part of Facebook.
Eduardo: My name’s on the masthead.
Sean: You might wanna check again.
Eduardo: Just because I froze the account?
Sean: Did you think we were going to let you parade around in your ridiculous suits pretending you were running this company?
Eduardo [cutting him off; screaming]: Sorry! My Prada’s at the cleaners! Along with my hoodie and my ‘fuck you’ flip-flops, you pretentious douchebag!
Sean: Security’s here, you’ll be leaving now.
Yep. But he will be back.
Eduardo [in disbelief]: You… You did it! I knew you did it! You planted that story about the chicken!
Mark: I didn’t plant the story about the chicken.
Sean: What’s he talking about?
Eduardo: You had me accused of animal cruelty.
Sean: Seriously, what the hell’s the chicken?
Cue the "club"?
Mark: I’m not a bad guy.
Marylin: I know that. When there’s emotional testimony, I assume that 85% of it is exaggeration.
Mark: And the other fifteen?
Marylin: Perjury.
Sounds about right.
Marylin [urging Zuckerberg to make the $65 million settlement with the Twins]: Pay them. In the scheme of things, it’s a speeding ticket.
And the scheme of things for those like us?
This one was a real pig. You know, if I do say so myself. And then he becomes a very, very rich and a very, very famous pig. So, going back to the beginning, I’m with Erica on this one.
Only Elon Musk might trump him in the pig department.
And Facebook. A vast wasteland by and large. And getting vaster everyday. But, hey, a buck is a buck. Billions of them by now. Only [it seems] Mark Zuckerberg was never really in it for the money. At least not at first. Instead, he was all about Facebook being “cool”. But sooner or later “cool” meets dog-eat-dog capitalism. And “cool” soon learns to play by the rules. Or there are consequences.
Here’s a guy who was born very, very lucky. Meaning he was born very, very smart. Meaning it was mostly a matter of biology. Meaning he only had so much to do with it at all. He was just able to take that gift to the very top of the capitalist food chain. And being born of the male persuasion didn’t hurt. As did the part about born with a white skin.
Let’s face it, even at Harvard University, you are never really all that far removed from American Youth. That and its insidious pop culture. After all, this all unfolds there not in 1902 but in 2002.
The Social network
Mark: Did you know there are more people with genius IQs living in China than there are people of any kind living in the United States?
Erica: That can’t possibly be true.
Mark: It is.
Erica: What would account for that?
Mark: Well first, an awful lot of people live in China. But, here’s my question: how do you distinguish yourself in a population of people who all got 1600 on their SATs?
Erica: I didn’t know they take SATs in China.
Mark: They don’t. I wasn’t talking about China anymore, I was talking about me.
Isn't he always?
Mark: I’m just saying I need to do something substantial in order to get the attention of the clubs.
Erica: Why?
Mark: Because they’re exclusive. And fun. And they lead to a better life.
Erica: Teddy Roosevelt didn’t get elected president because he was a member of the Phoenix club.
Mark: He was a member of the Porcelain, and yes he did.
Some call it the deep state. And, let's face it, of late it's getting deeper all the time.
Erica [angry]: I’m sorry you are not sufficiently impressed with my education.
Mark: I’m sorry I don’t have a rowboat, so we’re even.
Erica: I think we should just be friends.
Mark: I don’t want friends.
Erica: I was just being polite, I have no intention of being friends with you.
Next up: just being polite here.
Erica [to Mark]: You are probably going to be a very successful computer person. But you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole.
And now we all know that. Either more or less, say.
Eduardo: Who are we going to send it to first.
Mark: Just a couple of people. But the question is, who are they going to send it to?
And that's just here on Earth, of course.
Marylin: The site got twenty-two hundred hits within two hours?
Mark: Thousand.
Marylin: What?
Mark: Twenty-two thousand hits.
Bots, maybe?
Mark [to Gretchen]: Ma’am, I know you’ve done your homework and so you know that money isn’t a big part of my life, but at the moment I could buy Mt. Auburn Street, take the Phoenix Club, and turn it into my ping-pong room.
Like that would make him any less the asshole.
Eduardo: What did you write?
Mark: “Relationship status.” “Interested in.” This is what drives life at college. “Are you having sex or aren’t you?” It’s why people take certain classes and sit where they do and do what they do. And at its center that’s what The Facebook is gonna be about. People are gonna log on because after all the cake and watermelon there’s a chance they’re actually gonna…
Eduardo: Gonna get laid.
Mark: …meet a girl. Yes.
In other words, what some here use philosophy for.
Cameron: What, do you want to hire an IP lawyer and sue him?
Divya: No, I want to hire the Sopranos to beat the shit out of him with a hammer!
Tyler: We don’t even have to do that.
Cameron: That’s right.
Tyler: We can do that ourselves. I’m 6’5", 220, and there’s two of me.
Let's run this by, among others, Lawrence H. Summers.
Divya: Everybody on campus was using it. “Facebook me” was the common expression after two weeks. And Mark was the biggest thing on a campus that included 19 Nobel laureates, 15 Pulitzer prize winners, 2 future Olympians and a movie star.
Sy: Who’s the movie star?
Divya: Does it matter?
It does to Natalie.
Erica: You called me a bitch on the Internet, Mark.
Mark: That’s why I wanted to talk to you.
Erica: On the Internet.
Mark: That’s why I came over.
Erica: Comparing women to farm animals.
Mark: I didn’t end up doing that.
Erica: It didn’t stop you from writing it. As if every thought that tumbles through your head was so clever it would be a crime for it not to be shared. The Internet’s not written in pencil, Mark, it’s written in ink. And you published that Erica Albright was a bitch, right before you made some ignorant crack about my family’s name, my bra size, and then rated women based on their hotness.
What about her dragon tattoo?
Sean: And that’s where you’re headed, a billion dollar valuation. When you go fishing you can catch a lot of fish, or you can catch a big fish. You ever walk into a guy’s den and see a picture of him standing next to fourteen trout?
Christy: No, he’s holding a three-thousand-pound marlin.
Sean: Yup!
Another asshole?
Sean [to Mark]: Drop the “The”. Just Facebook. It’s cleaner.
What's that make Meta then?
Gretchen: 18,000 dollars?
Eduardo: Yes.
Gretchen: In addition to the $1,000 you’d already put up?
Eduardo: Yes.
Gretchen: A total of $19,000 now?
Eduardo: Yes.
Mark: Hang on.
[Mark sarcastically adds up the 2 amounts on his notepad]
Mark: I’m just checking your math on that. Yes, I got the same thing.
Not to worry, Eduardo, you'll get to 19 billion dollars eventually.
Sean [to Mark]: A Stanford MBA named Roy Raymond wants to buy his wife some lingerie but he’s too embarrassed to shop for it at a department store. He comes up with an idea for a high end place that doesn’t make you feel like a pervert. He gets a $40,000 bank loan, borrows another $40,000 from his in-laws, opens a store, and calls it Victoria’s Secret. Makes a half million dollars his first year. He starts a catalog, opens three more stores and after five years he sells the company to Leslie Wexner and the Limited for four million dollars. Happy ending, right? Except two years later, the company’s worth 500 million dollars and Roy Raymond jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. Poor guy just wanted to buy his wife a pair of thigh-highs.
So, would 4 million dollars actually be enough for you?
Sean: You think you know me, don’t you?
Eduardo: I’ve read enough.
Sean: You know how much I’ve read about you?
[whispers]
Sean: Nothing.
Let's run this by Lyle.
Gretchen: What was Mr. Zuckerberg’s ownership share diluted down to?
Eduardo: It wasn’t.
Gretchen: What was Dustin Moskovitz’s ownership share diluted down to?
Eduardo: It wasn’t.
Gretchen: What was Sean Parker’s ownership share diluted down to?
Eduardo: It wasn’t.
Gretchen: What was Peter Thiel’s ownership share diluted down to?
Eduardo: It wasn’t.
Gretchen: And what was your ownership share diluted down to?
Eduardo: .03 percent.
Crony capitalism...only he's no longer one of the cronies.
Eduardo: Mark!
Sean: He’s wired in.
Eduardo: I’m sorry?
Sean: He’s wired in.
Eduardo [picks up marks computer and smashes it on the ground]: What about now? Is he wired in now?
Nope. But he will be again.
Eduardo: This is gonna be like I’m not a part of Facebook!
Sean: It won’t be like you’re not a part of Facebook. You’re not a part of Facebook.
Eduardo: My name’s on the masthead.
Sean: You might wanna check again.
Eduardo: Just because I froze the account?
Sean: Did you think we were going to let you parade around in your ridiculous suits pretending you were running this company?
Eduardo [cutting him off; screaming]: Sorry! My Prada’s at the cleaners! Along with my hoodie and my ‘fuck you’ flip-flops, you pretentious douchebag!
Sean: Security’s here, you’ll be leaving now.
Yep. But he will be back.
Eduardo [in disbelief]: You… You did it! I knew you did it! You planted that story about the chicken!
Mark: I didn’t plant the story about the chicken.
Sean: What’s he talking about?
Eduardo: You had me accused of animal cruelty.
Sean: Seriously, what the hell’s the chicken?
Cue the "club"?
Mark: I’m not a bad guy.
Marylin: I know that. When there’s emotional testimony, I assume that 85% of it is exaggeration.
Mark: And the other fifteen?
Marylin: Perjury.
Sounds about right.
Marylin [urging Zuckerberg to make the $65 million settlement with the Twins]: Pay them. In the scheme of things, it’s a speeding ticket.
And the scheme of things for those like us?
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Another godawful bloodbath based on the actual exploits of a human being. Male, of course. As are most of the victims. Call it one of the few silver linings here. Unless his loss is something that you grieve in your own private hell.
I don’t see any of this ending anytime soon. Particularly in a culture where many folks will see him as a kind of “anti-hero”. Even “cool”. Besides, there is money to be made turning all of this into entertainment. And, really, didn’t I pay for my own copy of the DVD? Go figure the “human condition”.
The man the mob could not kill. But not for lack of trying. But lest you get the wrong idea, Danny Greene was not out to bring the mob down so much as to supplant it. But, unlike all the other gangsters, Danny was a…reader. And not just of comic books like all the rest of them. He was…different. And knew when to play ball.
Back then dealing with the unions [some of them] was like dealing with the mob. But at least back then they still had unions. The kind that could engender newspaper headlines when they went out on strike. How many times does that happen today?
And political and police corruption? Well, back then…
Still, there are always the exceptions. And sometimes the exceptions even manage to become the rule.
Men and their balls.
Danny Greene at wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Greene
Tommy Reid noted that getting mobster Danny Greene’s story on film took 12 years. Reid, a native of New Jersey, says he learned about Greene while a student at Ohio State University. Reid went on to buy the options to the book by Rick Porrello titled “To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia,” on which the film is based. IMDb
Kill the Irishman
Danny [after he barely escapes his car exploding]: Is that all you got? It’s gonna take more than a few firecrackers to kill Danny Greene!
Can you say that?
Me neither.
Danny: Mr. MacLeish, I’m Danny Greene.
Mr. MacLeish: I know who ya are. You’re the tool who sent me this…Four thousand to unload each vessel? Are you outta your fucking mind? The price is two thousand. We have a contract and you’re going to honor it or I’m going to lock out your union. Is that clear ya fuckin’ potato eater?
Danny: Potato eater? Seeing as how the potato was the only source of nutrition in Ireland for 300 years and half the population including my ancestors died in the great famine, I’d say that term is insensitive. Speaking of culinary tastes, Mr. MacLeish, you’re Scottish aren’t you?
MacLeish says nothing]
Danny: Let’s talk about Haggis. Haggis is seasoned lard stuffed into a sheep’s colon. So I may be a potato eater Mr. MacLeish but I don’t eat fat out of a sheep’s asshole…So, what do you think of the new carpet?
So, who won?
Joan [now Danny’s wife visiting him in prison]: Is it true? All of it?
[Danny just stares back at her…he says nothing]
Think Barbara Kuklinski and the iceman.
John: Can you do this thing, Danny?
Danny: Frato’s got 10 kids, John. 10.
John: I don’t care. You gave him a reasonable option and he crapped in your face. You said you wanted to be in the bigs. Sometimes you gotta do things you don’t like. You gotta make Frato go away.
A mob thing, I figure.
Grace [to Danny]: We’re drunks, we’re fighters, we’re liars! But there’s a bit of good in every Irishman…
All somehow part of God’s plan…
Shondor [handing a thug an envelope full of cash]: You give this to the man who kills the Irishman.
Cue the keystone cops of hitmen?
Licavoli: 30%. That’s the arrangment. And characterize it any way you want.
Danny: Any way I want?
Licavoli: Any way you want.
Danny: Okay. How about this? A gang of hairy, greasy wops who came into existence when a Greek fucked a goat want to extort hard-earned money from a band of noble Irish stock? How’s that?
How do you think it was?
Danny [to Licavolio]: You guys have bled me dry for too long. The Irishman’s in business for himself now. Oh, and by the way. I know why you guys call each other Ronnie the Crab, and Peanuts and Frankie B. It’s cause you’re too fucking stupid to remember each other’s names. See you around, Lips.
The balls!
Reporter: This is about the fourth time someone has tried to kill you. How do you account for the fact that you survived each time?
Danny: I’m an Irish Catholic with the grace of God on my shoulder. I’m not going anywhere until He says so. You see this trailer behind me? It’s where I work. See the bar at the end of the street there? Get a shot of that. I live on the top floor. Let me tell you something. If any of these maggots from the so-called mafia want to come after me, I’m not a hard man to find.
God and mobsters?
David Brinkley [broadcasting the news]: There is some kind of gang war in Cleveland. The figures over recent months show that for those involved life expectancy is very short and getting shorter.
Wanna start one here?
Joe [voiceover]: Ray Ferrito, the hit man who killed Danny Greene, got too big for his britches, so the Cleveland mafia took a contract out on him. What did Ray Ferrito do? He went to the feds and cut a deal. The resulting trial led to the indictments of Jack Licavoli and L.A. gangster Jimmy "the Weasel " Fratianno who testified against mafia associates across the nation. It would all lead to the famous Commission Trial which convicted bosses in New York’s five families. Danny Greene’s murder directly led to the indictment of 27 mafia associates and the collapse of organized crime in Cleveland. The Cleveland mafia has never recovered
Now the shakedowns are strictly legit. All just part and parcel of crony capitalism. And not just in Cleveland.
I don’t see any of this ending anytime soon. Particularly in a culture where many folks will see him as a kind of “anti-hero”. Even “cool”. Besides, there is money to be made turning all of this into entertainment. And, really, didn’t I pay for my own copy of the DVD? Go figure the “human condition”.
The man the mob could not kill. But not for lack of trying. But lest you get the wrong idea, Danny Greene was not out to bring the mob down so much as to supplant it. But, unlike all the other gangsters, Danny was a…reader. And not just of comic books like all the rest of them. He was…different. And knew when to play ball.
Back then dealing with the unions [some of them] was like dealing with the mob. But at least back then they still had unions. The kind that could engender newspaper headlines when they went out on strike. How many times does that happen today?
And political and police corruption? Well, back then…
Still, there are always the exceptions. And sometimes the exceptions even manage to become the rule.
Men and their balls.
Danny Greene at wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Greene
Tommy Reid noted that getting mobster Danny Greene’s story on film took 12 years. Reid, a native of New Jersey, says he learned about Greene while a student at Ohio State University. Reid went on to buy the options to the book by Rick Porrello titled “To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia,” on which the film is based. IMDb
Kill the Irishman
Danny [after he barely escapes his car exploding]: Is that all you got? It’s gonna take more than a few firecrackers to kill Danny Greene!
Can you say that?
Me neither.
Danny: Mr. MacLeish, I’m Danny Greene.
Mr. MacLeish: I know who ya are. You’re the tool who sent me this…Four thousand to unload each vessel? Are you outta your fucking mind? The price is two thousand. We have a contract and you’re going to honor it or I’m going to lock out your union. Is that clear ya fuckin’ potato eater?
Danny: Potato eater? Seeing as how the potato was the only source of nutrition in Ireland for 300 years and half the population including my ancestors died in the great famine, I’d say that term is insensitive. Speaking of culinary tastes, Mr. MacLeish, you’re Scottish aren’t you?
MacLeish says nothing]
Danny: Let’s talk about Haggis. Haggis is seasoned lard stuffed into a sheep’s colon. So I may be a potato eater Mr. MacLeish but I don’t eat fat out of a sheep’s asshole…So, what do you think of the new carpet?
So, who won?
Joan [now Danny’s wife visiting him in prison]: Is it true? All of it?
[Danny just stares back at her…he says nothing]
Think Barbara Kuklinski and the iceman.
John: Can you do this thing, Danny?
Danny: Frato’s got 10 kids, John. 10.
John: I don’t care. You gave him a reasonable option and he crapped in your face. You said you wanted to be in the bigs. Sometimes you gotta do things you don’t like. You gotta make Frato go away.
A mob thing, I figure.
Grace [to Danny]: We’re drunks, we’re fighters, we’re liars! But there’s a bit of good in every Irishman…
All somehow part of God’s plan…
Shondor [handing a thug an envelope full of cash]: You give this to the man who kills the Irishman.
Cue the keystone cops of hitmen?
Licavoli: 30%. That’s the arrangment. And characterize it any way you want.
Danny: Any way I want?
Licavoli: Any way you want.
Danny: Okay. How about this? A gang of hairy, greasy wops who came into existence when a Greek fucked a goat want to extort hard-earned money from a band of noble Irish stock? How’s that?
How do you think it was?
Danny [to Licavolio]: You guys have bled me dry for too long. The Irishman’s in business for himself now. Oh, and by the way. I know why you guys call each other Ronnie the Crab, and Peanuts and Frankie B. It’s cause you’re too fucking stupid to remember each other’s names. See you around, Lips.
The balls!
Reporter: This is about the fourth time someone has tried to kill you. How do you account for the fact that you survived each time?
Danny: I’m an Irish Catholic with the grace of God on my shoulder. I’m not going anywhere until He says so. You see this trailer behind me? It’s where I work. See the bar at the end of the street there? Get a shot of that. I live on the top floor. Let me tell you something. If any of these maggots from the so-called mafia want to come after me, I’m not a hard man to find.
God and mobsters?
David Brinkley [broadcasting the news]: There is some kind of gang war in Cleveland. The figures over recent months show that for those involved life expectancy is very short and getting shorter.
Wanna start one here?
Joe [voiceover]: Ray Ferrito, the hit man who killed Danny Greene, got too big for his britches, so the Cleveland mafia took a contract out on him. What did Ray Ferrito do? He went to the feds and cut a deal. The resulting trial led to the indictments of Jack Licavoli and L.A. gangster Jimmy "the Weasel " Fratianno who testified against mafia associates across the nation. It would all lead to the famous Commission Trial which convicted bosses in New York’s five families. Danny Greene’s murder directly led to the indictment of 27 mafia associates and the collapse of organized crime in Cleveland. The Cleveland mafia has never recovered
Now the shakedowns are strictly legit. All just part and parcel of crony capitalism. And not just in Cleveland.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Everything gets old. And monogamous sex is clearly no exception. But love on the other hand grows older at a considerably slower pace. Or it does for some couples. Or for one partner. That’s the part most tempestuous relationships often come to revolve around. You still have feelings for the one you are with…but the one you are with is not the one who most turns you on. But then in going for one you are gambling with the other. Or when you’re with the lover you convince yourself it’s love. The possibilities here are fucking endless.
Think for example of Maggie and Martin on True Detective.
And none of that changes just because you are young white liberals. And even when you have kids [and so much more is at stake] love and human remains are always just around the corner. Here though both couples carry on in the grand tradition of the husbands bringing home the bacon and the wives staying at home cooking and cleaning and raising the kids. What’s that all about…in this day and age?
Here you have two attractive couples that hang around each other a lot. You do the math. Somebody always ends up loving [or lusting after] someone more than the other. Someone always wants and needs the other more.
What’s new here? Not much. But once you’ve been through it yourself [or are thinking about going through it now] you just seem somehow drawn to all the other train wrecks out there. Even the made up ones. Bottom line: You have either been through something like this [with kids] or you haven’t.
We Don't Live Here Anymore
Jack: Jesus. We’re not a couple of fucking honeymooners anymore, for chrissake.
Terry: Why aren’t we?! We’ve been married so long that you’re bored? Is that what it is?
Yeah, that's what it turns out to be for any number of...men?
Edith: I think Jack wants to have sex with Terry.
Jack: Why?
Edith: Why?
Jack: Yeah.
Edith: Because he likes her and she’s pretty. And he hasn’t had any strange pussy since that French ****.
In other words, as far as she knows.
Jack: Jesus, Hank, men have left their wives for other women and been happy.
Hank: Until they start cheating on their new wife.
With her best friend, for example.
Hank [to Jack]: Look, just love everybody you can. Love your kids, love your wife, keep the peace. Then once, just once, try fucking somebody else just 'cos it feels good. Your wife, you know, may be living exactly according to these principles.
Mine was.
Jack [reading from Tolstoy’s, The Death of Ivan Ilyich]: “It occurred to him that what had seemed impossible before - that he had not spent his life as he should have - might, after all, be true. His professional duties and the whole arrangement of his life, of his family might all have been false.”
Let's not go there, right?
Jack [reading Tolstoy to his class]: “He tried to defend all those things to himself and suddenly felt the weakness of what he was defending. There was nothing to defend.”
Student: Everything in his life turns out false?
Student: Doesn’t do much about it.
Jack: Doesn’t do much? He finds God.
Student: That tiny bit at the end? Seeing a light and there being no more pain? Is that it?
Jack: Well, the guy does do one major thing.
Student: What’s that?
Jack: He dies. Or maybe Tolstoy didn’t have it in his head to write some big uplifting story about the way we’re supposed to live our lives. Maybe he just wanted to show us what it was like to die.
Let's definitely not go there, right?
Hank [to his daughter and her friends]: Hey, you guys want to see something?
[he then burns the manuscript of a novel he can’t get published]
Hank: Pretty cool, huh?
I did that myself. Twice. Ony I just threw them in a dumpser.
Edith: I went to the zoo last week with Sharon.
Jack: That’s a depressing place.
Edith: Yeah, I know. But we were watching this gorilla. He took a crap in his hand and then he licked it. Made me cry.
Jack: I told you it’s a depressing place.
Edith: He just seemed so human, you know? Like he knew how trapped he was.
https://youtu.be/0inij7Z47p0?si=nyBFTDr2BV1Abk1m
https://youtu.be/pj6TfKjI4KQ?si=haAgdmiw-6e80NIh
https://youtu.be/T5xuzSjl8eU?si=e4f3xBNq2hndhfOt
Edith: See, Hank needs us, but he can’t really love anyone, only his work, the rest is surface.
Jack: I don’t believe that.
Edith: I don’t mean his friendship with you. He’d give you a kidney if you needed one.
Jack: Yeah, and he’d give you one too.
Edith: Of course he would…but he wouldn’t go to a marriage counselor.
Jack: You know, you’re a funny girl. After a long carnivorous fuck, you’re talking about a marriage counselor? Who are you?
Ask me that.
Edith: Hank will be busting out soon. Trust me - I know the routine. He’s been hibernating with that novel so long, next thing you know he’ll look around and blink and fuck the first thing that walks into his office.
Jack: Jesus, I hope someone goes in there before I do.
Edith: Well, he screws his wife once in a while, why not another man?
Jack: And your husband making passes at my wife, how do you feel about that?
Edith: Well, everybody deserves to be happy, right.
Just don't get caught, in other words.
Terry: You’re being published. It doesn’t get any better than that, does it?
Hank: It’s just a poem, Terry, it’s really not that important.
Terry: No, Hank, it isn’t. If you want important, go work in a cancer ward with people who are puking from chemo. Or teach math to a kid who’s brain damaged from fetal alcohol syndrome.
Or what we do here perchance?
Jack: You fuck who you want, when you want…but don’t give me half-assed insights into the soul of a man you have never understood. Your insights suck.
Terry: Oh, Jesus Christ. My “half-assed insights.” “Into the soul of a man I don’t understand.” You poor baby. Oh, my God. You poor little baby.
Well, It really was rather pathetic.
Terry: See, Jack, I’m not sure what to do. I mean, tomorrow. What do I say? “Gee, Hank, that was last night and this is now, and I just don’t know if I wanna fuck anymore.” You gotta admit, even adultery has morality to it.
But only if you let it, right dear?
Edith [to Jack]: I’d like to just concentrate on hating his guts right now.
Why? Because Hank is fucking Terry now. On the other hand, she is saying this to Jack, the man she is fucking.
Terry: You say, “You are what you do”? Who really believes that? I mean, what does that mean? Does that mean I’m a cook, an errand runner, a fucker, a goddamn cleaning lady? Because if you, you bastard, lost all discipline and folded up, and turned drunk and got bald and lost everything, I’d love you. I love you. You, Jack. But if you love me for what I do instead of for what I am…and there’s a difference, I know there is…then what are you loving when I fuck Hank? What is it in you that lets me do that? Or is that just another one of the tricks I do for you? Screw Hank, shake hands, sit, roll over, play dead, fetch…Iove me like a dog?
And [sometimes] like a mutt, a cur or a mongrel. Or the occasional hybred.
Edith: I’m not leaving you because you were unfaithful, Hank, I’m leaving because I was.
Hank: Look, none of that matters any more. It’s over. Isn’t it? Isn’t it, Edith?
Edith: Yeah. It’s over.
Hank: Well then, why leave now?
Edith: Because I can.
That'll do it.
Think for example of Maggie and Martin on True Detective.
And none of that changes just because you are young white liberals. And even when you have kids [and so much more is at stake] love and human remains are always just around the corner. Here though both couples carry on in the grand tradition of the husbands bringing home the bacon and the wives staying at home cooking and cleaning and raising the kids. What’s that all about…in this day and age?
Here you have two attractive couples that hang around each other a lot. You do the math. Somebody always ends up loving [or lusting after] someone more than the other. Someone always wants and needs the other more.
What’s new here? Not much. But once you’ve been through it yourself [or are thinking about going through it now] you just seem somehow drawn to all the other train wrecks out there. Even the made up ones. Bottom line: You have either been through something like this [with kids] or you haven’t.
We Don't Live Here Anymore
Jack: Jesus. We’re not a couple of fucking honeymooners anymore, for chrissake.
Terry: Why aren’t we?! We’ve been married so long that you’re bored? Is that what it is?
Yeah, that's what it turns out to be for any number of...men?
Edith: I think Jack wants to have sex with Terry.
Jack: Why?
Edith: Why?
Jack: Yeah.
Edith: Because he likes her and she’s pretty. And he hasn’t had any strange pussy since that French ****.
In other words, as far as she knows.
Jack: Jesus, Hank, men have left their wives for other women and been happy.
Hank: Until they start cheating on their new wife.
With her best friend, for example.
Hank [to Jack]: Look, just love everybody you can. Love your kids, love your wife, keep the peace. Then once, just once, try fucking somebody else just 'cos it feels good. Your wife, you know, may be living exactly according to these principles.
Mine was.
Jack [reading from Tolstoy’s, The Death of Ivan Ilyich]: “It occurred to him that what had seemed impossible before - that he had not spent his life as he should have - might, after all, be true. His professional duties and the whole arrangement of his life, of his family might all have been false.”
Let's not go there, right?
Jack [reading Tolstoy to his class]: “He tried to defend all those things to himself and suddenly felt the weakness of what he was defending. There was nothing to defend.”
Student: Everything in his life turns out false?
Student: Doesn’t do much about it.
Jack: Doesn’t do much? He finds God.
Student: That tiny bit at the end? Seeing a light and there being no more pain? Is that it?
Jack: Well, the guy does do one major thing.
Student: What’s that?
Jack: He dies. Or maybe Tolstoy didn’t have it in his head to write some big uplifting story about the way we’re supposed to live our lives. Maybe he just wanted to show us what it was like to die.
Let's definitely not go there, right?
Hank [to his daughter and her friends]: Hey, you guys want to see something?
[he then burns the manuscript of a novel he can’t get published]
Hank: Pretty cool, huh?
I did that myself. Twice. Ony I just threw them in a dumpser.
Edith: I went to the zoo last week with Sharon.
Jack: That’s a depressing place.
Edith: Yeah, I know. But we were watching this gorilla. He took a crap in his hand and then he licked it. Made me cry.
Jack: I told you it’s a depressing place.
Edith: He just seemed so human, you know? Like he knew how trapped he was.
https://youtu.be/0inij7Z47p0?si=nyBFTDr2BV1Abk1m
https://youtu.be/pj6TfKjI4KQ?si=haAgdmiw-6e80NIh
https://youtu.be/T5xuzSjl8eU?si=e4f3xBNq2hndhfOt
Edith: See, Hank needs us, but he can’t really love anyone, only his work, the rest is surface.
Jack: I don’t believe that.
Edith: I don’t mean his friendship with you. He’d give you a kidney if you needed one.
Jack: Yeah, and he’d give you one too.
Edith: Of course he would…but he wouldn’t go to a marriage counselor.
Jack: You know, you’re a funny girl. After a long carnivorous fuck, you’re talking about a marriage counselor? Who are you?
Ask me that.
Edith: Hank will be busting out soon. Trust me - I know the routine. He’s been hibernating with that novel so long, next thing you know he’ll look around and blink and fuck the first thing that walks into his office.
Jack: Jesus, I hope someone goes in there before I do.
Edith: Well, he screws his wife once in a while, why not another man?
Jack: And your husband making passes at my wife, how do you feel about that?
Edith: Well, everybody deserves to be happy, right.
Just don't get caught, in other words.
Terry: You’re being published. It doesn’t get any better than that, does it?
Hank: It’s just a poem, Terry, it’s really not that important.
Terry: No, Hank, it isn’t. If you want important, go work in a cancer ward with people who are puking from chemo. Or teach math to a kid who’s brain damaged from fetal alcohol syndrome.
Or what we do here perchance?
Jack: You fuck who you want, when you want…but don’t give me half-assed insights into the soul of a man you have never understood. Your insights suck.
Terry: Oh, Jesus Christ. My “half-assed insights.” “Into the soul of a man I don’t understand.” You poor baby. Oh, my God. You poor little baby.
Well, It really was rather pathetic.
Terry: See, Jack, I’m not sure what to do. I mean, tomorrow. What do I say? “Gee, Hank, that was last night and this is now, and I just don’t know if I wanna fuck anymore.” You gotta admit, even adultery has morality to it.
But only if you let it, right dear?
Edith [to Jack]: I’d like to just concentrate on hating his guts right now.
Why? Because Hank is fucking Terry now. On the other hand, she is saying this to Jack, the man she is fucking.
Terry: You say, “You are what you do”? Who really believes that? I mean, what does that mean? Does that mean I’m a cook, an errand runner, a fucker, a goddamn cleaning lady? Because if you, you bastard, lost all discipline and folded up, and turned drunk and got bald and lost everything, I’d love you. I love you. You, Jack. But if you love me for what I do instead of for what I am…and there’s a difference, I know there is…then what are you loving when I fuck Hank? What is it in you that lets me do that? Or is that just another one of the tricks I do for you? Screw Hank, shake hands, sit, roll over, play dead, fetch…Iove me like a dog?
And [sometimes] like a mutt, a cur or a mongrel. Or the occasional hybred.
Edith: I’m not leaving you because you were unfaithful, Hank, I’m leaving because I was.
Hank: Look, none of that matters any more. It’s over. Isn’t it? Isn’t it, Edith?
Edith: Yeah. It’s over.
Hank: Well then, why leave now?
Edith: Because I can.
That'll do it.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Max Planck
I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.
And now, Max?
New scientific ideas never spring from a communal body, however organized, but rather from the head of an individually inspired researcher who struggles with his problems in lonely thought and unites all his thought on one single point which is his whole world for the moment.
Eureka!
Experiment is the only means of knowledge at our disposal. Everything else is poetry, imagination.
...and philosophy?
As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clearheaded science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about the atoms this much: There is no matter as such! All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particles of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. . . . We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter.
Unless, of course, he's wrong, right God?
The assumption of an absolute determinism is the essential foundation of every scientific enquiry.
Unless, of course, it's not, right God?
This is one of man's oldest riddles. How can the independence of human volition be harmonized with the fact that we are integral parts of a universe which is subject to the rigid order of nature's laws?
You actually resolved this, didn't you?
I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.
And now, Max?
New scientific ideas never spring from a communal body, however organized, but rather from the head of an individually inspired researcher who struggles with his problems in lonely thought and unites all his thought on one single point which is his whole world for the moment.
Eureka!
Experiment is the only means of knowledge at our disposal. Everything else is poetry, imagination.
...and philosophy?
As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clearheaded science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about the atoms this much: There is no matter as such! All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particles of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. . . . We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter.
Unless, of course, he's wrong, right God?
The assumption of an absolute determinism is the essential foundation of every scientific enquiry.
Unless, of course, it's not, right God?
This is one of man's oldest riddles. How can the independence of human volition be harmonized with the fact that we are integral parts of a universe which is subject to the rigid order of nature's laws?
You actually resolved this, didn't you?
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
On thing for sure: No one will ever do this again.
And I would imagine the folks who watched him traverse the two buildings on a wire could not have imagined that less than 30 years later both buildings would come crashing to the ground. And though this film was made in 2008, that fact never once comes up.
The Twin Towers in other words. These were the two buildings that Philippe Petit “spent 45 minutes walking, dancing, kneeling, and lying on a wire” between. Why?
His explanation:
"Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself to rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge - and then you are going to live your life on a tightrope."
That and because they were there, I suppose. Just not anymore.
And aside from the feat of traversing the two towers on a wire there is the feat of actually rigging the wire to and across the buildings themselves. That’s straight out of James Bond. Or Ocean’s Eleven. Like they were pulling off this extraordinary heist by way of a great engineering accomplishment.
One can’t even imagine – post 9/11 – someone doing something like this in New York today.
So, starting from the Big Bang to now…where do you fit in something like this?
After Philippe Petit and his compatriots are taken into custody, they are processed by the police. The phrase “MAN ON WIRE” is entered on one of the forms used to document the incident. IMDb
Man On Wire
Annie: Philippe said to me: “I know what’s going to happen…we are going to go in, and we’re going to get caught.” But Philippe could no longer carry on living without having at least tried to…to conquer those towers because it felt like those towers belonged to him. It was as if they had been built especially for him.
Next up: https://youtu.be/3-wjmIFlnNo?si=zMRLGEblsXB197D2
Annie: The time had come for us to part. There was a real madness in his eyes, a real rage. It was truly: "I’m going to do this, no matter what, now is the time". And he held me in his arms as if we would never see each other again.
On the other hand, suppose a human life spanned centuries or millenia instead of decades? If you get my drift.
Annie: One day he showed me a photo of two buildings in a magazine. And then I was a bit frightened. It was inhuman to want to go and walk up there, 450 meters high. This was all becoming demonic. I just wanted to say: “Stop!”
Then the part where all is well that ends well.
Annie: Someone had spoken to him about the elasticity of the building and the fact that the wind could cause the towers to sway. So there was a moment of great concern.
No shit.
Mark: I never doubted Philippe’s talent, his prowess on the wire. It was the unforeseen things that really worried me. You know, America’s a very litigious society…you know, involuntary manslaughter, assisted suicide…I didn’t want to be liable for the death of a friend.
I guess we'll never know.
Alan: That’s when I saw him on a cable. I had never seen concentration like that…and I think I never have to this day. His face became this ageless mask…I mean he became like a sphinx.
And, of course, the equivalent of that here. Providing there is one.
Jean-Franois: When we arrived in New York on the Boston train, at one point we went past the Empire State Building. At that moment I looked up, I saw the height of the Empire State Building and I was horrified. My legs started to shake, it was terrifying! Especially when I realised the World Trade Center was even higher. I kept it all to myself but I was terrified.
I knew it!
Annie: I found a taxi willing to take me there. So I waited with the others. Other members of the team joined us. And our eyes were absolutely glued to the towers. I was looking out for the slightest movement, but we couldn’t see a thing. It was absolutely terrifying.
We get that.
Annie: Suddenly we saw something, a shape, just for a second, falling down. There was a huge cry of relief…it was only a piece of clothing. We all thought: “He must have just dropped something, that’s ok.” We all thought: “Of course it’s possible he could fall.”
And then those who wanted him to.
Annie: I saw Philippe. I saw Philippe up there, it was extraordinary. It was so, so beautiful. It was like he was walking on a cloud. And there were such amazing moments. When he lay down we were thrilled by this image of Philippe lying down up above. And another very powerful moment was when he…It was so beautiful. When he knelt down. There was a moment when he knelt down and saluted.
Or, sure, prayed.
Sgt Daniels: I observed the tight rope dancer…because you couldn’t call him a walker… approximately half-way between the two towers. I personally figured I was watching something that somebody else would never see again in the world. Thought it was once in a lifetime.
Then he became a star. A celebrity around the world. And that suited him just fine.
And I would imagine the folks who watched him traverse the two buildings on a wire could not have imagined that less than 30 years later both buildings would come crashing to the ground. And though this film was made in 2008, that fact never once comes up.
The Twin Towers in other words. These were the two buildings that Philippe Petit “spent 45 minutes walking, dancing, kneeling, and lying on a wire” between. Why?
His explanation:
"Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself to rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge - and then you are going to live your life on a tightrope."
That and because they were there, I suppose. Just not anymore.
And aside from the feat of traversing the two towers on a wire there is the feat of actually rigging the wire to and across the buildings themselves. That’s straight out of James Bond. Or Ocean’s Eleven. Like they were pulling off this extraordinary heist by way of a great engineering accomplishment.
One can’t even imagine – post 9/11 – someone doing something like this in New York today.
So, starting from the Big Bang to now…where do you fit in something like this?
After Philippe Petit and his compatriots are taken into custody, they are processed by the police. The phrase “MAN ON WIRE” is entered on one of the forms used to document the incident. IMDb
Man On Wire
Annie: Philippe said to me: “I know what’s going to happen…we are going to go in, and we’re going to get caught.” But Philippe could no longer carry on living without having at least tried to…to conquer those towers because it felt like those towers belonged to him. It was as if they had been built especially for him.
Next up: https://youtu.be/3-wjmIFlnNo?si=zMRLGEblsXB197D2
Annie: The time had come for us to part. There was a real madness in his eyes, a real rage. It was truly: "I’m going to do this, no matter what, now is the time". And he held me in his arms as if we would never see each other again.
On the other hand, suppose a human life spanned centuries or millenia instead of decades? If you get my drift.
Annie: One day he showed me a photo of two buildings in a magazine. And then I was a bit frightened. It was inhuman to want to go and walk up there, 450 meters high. This was all becoming demonic. I just wanted to say: “Stop!”
Then the part where all is well that ends well.
Annie: Someone had spoken to him about the elasticity of the building and the fact that the wind could cause the towers to sway. So there was a moment of great concern.
No shit.
Mark: I never doubted Philippe’s talent, his prowess on the wire. It was the unforeseen things that really worried me. You know, America’s a very litigious society…you know, involuntary manslaughter, assisted suicide…I didn’t want to be liable for the death of a friend.
I guess we'll never know.
Alan: That’s when I saw him on a cable. I had never seen concentration like that…and I think I never have to this day. His face became this ageless mask…I mean he became like a sphinx.
And, of course, the equivalent of that here. Providing there is one.
Jean-Franois: When we arrived in New York on the Boston train, at one point we went past the Empire State Building. At that moment I looked up, I saw the height of the Empire State Building and I was horrified. My legs started to shake, it was terrifying! Especially when I realised the World Trade Center was even higher. I kept it all to myself but I was terrified.
I knew it!
Annie: I found a taxi willing to take me there. So I waited with the others. Other members of the team joined us. And our eyes were absolutely glued to the towers. I was looking out for the slightest movement, but we couldn’t see a thing. It was absolutely terrifying.
We get that.
Annie: Suddenly we saw something, a shape, just for a second, falling down. There was a huge cry of relief…it was only a piece of clothing. We all thought: “He must have just dropped something, that’s ok.” We all thought: “Of course it’s possible he could fall.”
And then those who wanted him to.
Annie: I saw Philippe. I saw Philippe up there, it was extraordinary. It was so, so beautiful. It was like he was walking on a cloud. And there were such amazing moments. When he lay down we were thrilled by this image of Philippe lying down up above. And another very powerful moment was when he…It was so beautiful. When he knelt down. There was a moment when he knelt down and saluted.
Or, sure, prayed.
Sgt Daniels: I observed the tight rope dancer…because you couldn’t call him a walker… approximately half-way between the two towers. I personally figured I was watching something that somebody else would never see again in the world. Thought it was once in a lifetime.
Then he became a star. A celebrity around the world. And that suited him just fine.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Groucho Marx
I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.
Or: I refuse to join any club that would have you as a member.
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them...well, I have others.
Or he could just borrow yours.
The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.
And, of course, practice makes perfect.
Well, Art is Art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know.
What else is there?
Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?
I sure as shit didn't.
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know.
They made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.
Or: I refuse to join any club that would have you as a member.
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them...well, I have others.
Or he could just borrow yours.
The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.
And, of course, practice makes perfect.
Well, Art is Art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know.
What else is there?
Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?
I sure as shit didn't.
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know.
They made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
The idea is to assemble three of the most renowned “horror” directors in the Asian Extreme genre and have them film three “shorts”. Think New York Stories if the whole point was to give you nightmares.
Of course there is extreme and than there is extreme. Different strokes for different folks here. Some are repulsed more by different things.
Take the first segment, “Dumplings”, for example. It is said that Mei’s dumplings are by far the most unique to be found. And certainly the most expensive. But then we find out why. And some will be repulsed more than others. Repulsed enough to either stop buying them or not. But then, some will do almost anything to stave off the ravages of aging…of time.
Still, you won’t believe what Mrs. Li does.
In the second segment, “Cut”, the age-old quandary of the moral dilemma is explored. Either you do something deplorable or something even more deplorable will happen. And here it focuses further on what might happen when in choosing one over the other, there is considerably more at stake for you personally. Also, there is the quandary of living a lie.
Look for the one who is “trying to get you down inside the hole that he is in.”
So much more of this would no doubt go on if not for the consequences of telling the truth. This one is truly ghastly.
In the final segment, “Box”, we delve into twins [very special twins] and mysterious deaths; and frames of mind in which we never can be entirely sure what is or is not a linear reality. More a blurring of reality and the surreality of dreams. Just gorgeous to look at. And yet dreadful to imagine.
Some might be disturbed by an element of child abuse here. Or is that just me reading into it something that is not even there?
But then what is real here?
3 Extremes [Saam Gaang Yi]
DUMPLINGS
Mei: Don’t worry, you’ll soon regain your youth…so as the heart of your man.
Mrs. Li: Do you have more potent stuff for faster results?
Mai: The best are those in the 5th or 6th month. Have to remove it only by breaking the water sac, then sliding it out. It’s covered by a layer of creamy fat. The colors are defined; you can even see the cranium. Its tiny limbs would still be moving around. It’s only this small in the 1st trimester. But the meat would be too tough by the third trimester. The 5th month ones are perfect, kitten-like. So cute and so nutritious.
See if you can guess what’s in the dumplings.
Mrs. Li: What’s this crunchiness about?
Mei: It’s okay, they have hands and feet already, you know And ears, too!
Mrs. Li: Those were bones?
Mei: No…their bones are hardly hard. I’ll just chop finer next time.
Customer service!
Mei: It was a boy.
Mrs. Li: A boy?
Mei: See that little thing? So beautiful and rare. Boys don’t get aborted in China.
Well, this one did.
CUT
Actor [to director after chopping off one of his wife’s fingers]: And… CUT! She’s a pianist…I know that of course! I’ve done my research. Got to be the pianist’s fingers for the “cut” to mean something. Only an idiot would want her toes instead!
I wouldn't rule them out though.
Director: Why are you doing this to me?
Actor: What do you mean “Why”? Because this world is so fucked up! That’s why!
The secular equivalent of, say, God's mysterious ways?
Actor: The rich people I’ve ever met…They’re all scumbags, no respect for people. I don’t even consider them as human beings. But you, you are a good man! That’s so fucking unfair! You’re rich, handsome, educated in America…a genius director, and you have a pretty wife! If you’re also a “good” man on top of that what are guys like me supposed to get?!
The crumbs?
Actor: I can let your wife go. On one condition…
Wait until you see that.
Actor: I’ve been dirt poor ever since I was a kid. My bastard father was always dead drunk. He beat the hell out of us day in and day out. Needless to say my grades were bad. And this ugly face of mine could get me nowhere near stardom. So you see, now I’m the one who always gets drunk. I go home and I kick my boy’s ass. And, I beat my wife, too! When I sober up in the morning and see that beat-up face of hers…Guess what I think of? Your face!
And around and around it goes.
Actor: You call this shit a confession? Do I look like an idiot to you? I’ve never said that you were a saint! Who the hell hasn’t done a thing as tedious as that? Give me a break. Let me show you what a confession really is. For example, before I left home this morning, I killed my wife. I must have strangled her for over 30 minutes. Her tongue hung out all the way and she shit everywhere. I was going to finish my son too, but it was not that easy…I just couldn’t do that. Now, that’s what I call a confession!
On the other hand...
Director [to actor]: You son of a bitch. Your dad was a moron and he made you a loser. Is that my fault? Did I rob your bank?! Did I steal your wife?! What do I have to do with your unhappy existence? Shame on you, moron. Why don’t you just kill yourself? Your life is a waste of time anyway. Do you know who you’re talking to? I’m Ryu Ji-ho, the Ryu Ji-ho! You’re merely a lowlife extra!
Perhaps he went too far?
Wife [less three fingers]: Kill her! Kill her! What are you waiting for, idiot? I’M TELLING YOU KILL HER! KILL HER!
Now that won't suprise you.
BOX
Kyoko: Sister, dear? It’s you, isn’t it? It’s me Kyoko…Say something Sister!
Shoko: It’s hot… I’m burning…
Kyoko: It wasn’t what you think! It really wasn’t! It wasn’t!
Not even close as it turns out.
Yoshii: Shoko…you did well today. A little reward. Keep up the good work.
Shoko: Kyoko, keep trying! Someday you’ll be rewarded too.
Dream on?
Yoshii: Oh, Kyoko…Why did you do it?
Kyoko: Don’t…
Yoshii: You thought I only loved your sister? Poor thing…The heat was unbearable…
Kyoko: Don’t!
Yoshii: She couldn’t get out…She’s trapped…
Kyoko: Don’t!!
Yoshii: In that tiny box!
Kyoko: No! No!
Yoshii [holding open Kyoko’s eye]: Look. LOOK! If you hadn’t done it, she’d be here now!
Kyoko: I’m sorry…I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…I’m sorry…I’m sorry…
Or, perhaps, she would have been?
Kyoko: I had a weird dream.
Shoko: Me too.
Kyoko: But then…
Shoko: …our dreams…
Kyoko: …differ slightly.
Conjoined dreams?
Of course there is extreme and than there is extreme. Different strokes for different folks here. Some are repulsed more by different things.
Take the first segment, “Dumplings”, for example. It is said that Mei’s dumplings are by far the most unique to be found. And certainly the most expensive. But then we find out why. And some will be repulsed more than others. Repulsed enough to either stop buying them or not. But then, some will do almost anything to stave off the ravages of aging…of time.
Still, you won’t believe what Mrs. Li does.
In the second segment, “Cut”, the age-old quandary of the moral dilemma is explored. Either you do something deplorable or something even more deplorable will happen. And here it focuses further on what might happen when in choosing one over the other, there is considerably more at stake for you personally. Also, there is the quandary of living a lie.
Look for the one who is “trying to get you down inside the hole that he is in.”
So much more of this would no doubt go on if not for the consequences of telling the truth. This one is truly ghastly.
In the final segment, “Box”, we delve into twins [very special twins] and mysterious deaths; and frames of mind in which we never can be entirely sure what is or is not a linear reality. More a blurring of reality and the surreality of dreams. Just gorgeous to look at. And yet dreadful to imagine.
Some might be disturbed by an element of child abuse here. Or is that just me reading into it something that is not even there?
But then what is real here?
3 Extremes [Saam Gaang Yi]
DUMPLINGS
Mei: Don’t worry, you’ll soon regain your youth…so as the heart of your man.
Mrs. Li: Do you have more potent stuff for faster results?
Mai: The best are those in the 5th or 6th month. Have to remove it only by breaking the water sac, then sliding it out. It’s covered by a layer of creamy fat. The colors are defined; you can even see the cranium. Its tiny limbs would still be moving around. It’s only this small in the 1st trimester. But the meat would be too tough by the third trimester. The 5th month ones are perfect, kitten-like. So cute and so nutritious.
See if you can guess what’s in the dumplings.
Mrs. Li: What’s this crunchiness about?
Mei: It’s okay, they have hands and feet already, you know And ears, too!
Mrs. Li: Those were bones?
Mei: No…their bones are hardly hard. I’ll just chop finer next time.
Customer service!
Mei: It was a boy.
Mrs. Li: A boy?
Mei: See that little thing? So beautiful and rare. Boys don’t get aborted in China.
Well, this one did.
CUT
Actor [to director after chopping off one of his wife’s fingers]: And… CUT! She’s a pianist…I know that of course! I’ve done my research. Got to be the pianist’s fingers for the “cut” to mean something. Only an idiot would want her toes instead!
I wouldn't rule them out though.
Director: Why are you doing this to me?
Actor: What do you mean “Why”? Because this world is so fucked up! That’s why!
The secular equivalent of, say, God's mysterious ways?
Actor: The rich people I’ve ever met…They’re all scumbags, no respect for people. I don’t even consider them as human beings. But you, you are a good man! That’s so fucking unfair! You’re rich, handsome, educated in America…a genius director, and you have a pretty wife! If you’re also a “good” man on top of that what are guys like me supposed to get?!
The crumbs?
Actor: I can let your wife go. On one condition…
Wait until you see that.
Actor: I’ve been dirt poor ever since I was a kid. My bastard father was always dead drunk. He beat the hell out of us day in and day out. Needless to say my grades were bad. And this ugly face of mine could get me nowhere near stardom. So you see, now I’m the one who always gets drunk. I go home and I kick my boy’s ass. And, I beat my wife, too! When I sober up in the morning and see that beat-up face of hers…Guess what I think of? Your face!
And around and around it goes.
Actor: You call this shit a confession? Do I look like an idiot to you? I’ve never said that you were a saint! Who the hell hasn’t done a thing as tedious as that? Give me a break. Let me show you what a confession really is. For example, before I left home this morning, I killed my wife. I must have strangled her for over 30 minutes. Her tongue hung out all the way and she shit everywhere. I was going to finish my son too, but it was not that easy…I just couldn’t do that. Now, that’s what I call a confession!
On the other hand...
Director [to actor]: You son of a bitch. Your dad was a moron and he made you a loser. Is that my fault? Did I rob your bank?! Did I steal your wife?! What do I have to do with your unhappy existence? Shame on you, moron. Why don’t you just kill yourself? Your life is a waste of time anyway. Do you know who you’re talking to? I’m Ryu Ji-ho, the Ryu Ji-ho! You’re merely a lowlife extra!
Perhaps he went too far?
Wife [less three fingers]: Kill her! Kill her! What are you waiting for, idiot? I’M TELLING YOU KILL HER! KILL HER!
Now that won't suprise you.
BOX
Kyoko: Sister, dear? It’s you, isn’t it? It’s me Kyoko…Say something Sister!
Shoko: It’s hot… I’m burning…
Kyoko: It wasn’t what you think! It really wasn’t! It wasn’t!
Not even close as it turns out.
Yoshii: Shoko…you did well today. A little reward. Keep up the good work.
Shoko: Kyoko, keep trying! Someday you’ll be rewarded too.
Dream on?
Yoshii: Oh, Kyoko…Why did you do it?
Kyoko: Don’t…
Yoshii: You thought I only loved your sister? Poor thing…The heat was unbearable…
Kyoko: Don’t!
Yoshii: She couldn’t get out…She’s trapped…
Kyoko: Don’t!!
Yoshii: In that tiny box!
Kyoko: No! No!
Yoshii [holding open Kyoko’s eye]: Look. LOOK! If you hadn’t done it, she’d be here now!
Kyoko: I’m sorry…I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…I’m sorry…I’m sorry…
Or, perhaps, she would have been?
Kyoko: I had a weird dream.
Shoko: Me too.
Kyoko: But then…
Shoko: …our dreams…
Kyoko: …differ slightly.
Conjoined dreams?
Last edited by iambiguous on Sat Mar 29, 2025 5:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Stupidity
“Beauty is an enormous, unmerited gift given randomly, stupidly." Khaled Hosseini
To say the least?
“When a great genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." Jonathan Swift
Here it's against me.
And you too?
“I feel sorry for anyone who is in a place where he feels strange and stupid.” Lois Lowry
You first.
“I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am.” Cormac McCarthy
Here? Hear! Hear!
“I used to think she was quite intelligent, in my stupidity. The reason I did was because she knew quite a lot about the theater and plays and literature and all that stuff. If somebody knows quite a lot about all those things, it takes you quite a while to find out whether they're really stupid or not.” J.D. Salinger
Dangling conversations, let's call them.
“I'm perfectly capable of being stupid on my own.” Leigh Bardugo
Can you say that?
“Beauty is an enormous, unmerited gift given randomly, stupidly." Khaled Hosseini
To say the least?
“When a great genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." Jonathan Swift
Here it's against me.
And you too?
“I feel sorry for anyone who is in a place where he feels strange and stupid.” Lois Lowry
You first.
“I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am.” Cormac McCarthy
Here? Hear! Hear!
“I used to think she was quite intelligent, in my stupidity. The reason I did was because she knew quite a lot about the theater and plays and literature and all that stuff. If somebody knows quite a lot about all those things, it takes you quite a while to find out whether they're really stupid or not.” J.D. Salinger
Dangling conversations, let's call them.
“I'm perfectly capable of being stupid on my own.” Leigh Bardugo
Can you say that?
-
iambiguous
- Posts: 11317
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:23 pm
Re: Quote of the day
Who hasn’t wondered what going to a public school in France must be like?
Actually, I am always curious to compare the Youth Culture of other nations with the Youth Culture here at home. Can it really be more appalling?
Now, by high school, we’re talking public education. And, in particular, public education in a community inhabited by and large by working class boys and girls. That’s my own experience after all. But all too many years ago. I hardly recognize much at all. Neither here nor there.
Here the school is, to say the least, bursting at the seams with…multiculturalism? Though the teachers [and the administrators] are overwhelmingly white. I can’t imagine there are many public schools in America that approach it. Not that I’m making anything other than a guess.
Then there is always the gap between what these working-class kids are taught in school and the extent to which they either can or cannot make a connection between that and the lives they live. As with here, there really isn’t much in the way of “upward mobility”. And none of the students sparked much of an interest for me. Just listen to them read their own “personal profiles” in class.
And the segment where they are reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Learning about her life. The looks on their faces as the camera spans the classroom speaks volumes: What does any of this have to do with me? It simply doesn’t interest them. Instead, they just complain about how boring and uneventful their own lives are by comparison.
And yet there is something about the way the parts come together here that draws you in. It’s less about imagining school [or public education] as you might want it to be and more about the actual nuts and bolts of running one or attending one or teaching in one from day to day.
Also, all of the students use their actual names in the film. Though I’m not sure if they were the actual students he taught.
First French film to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival since 1987. According to jury president Sean Penn, the choice was unanimous. IMDb
The Class [Entre les Murs]
Student: What’s with the Bills?
François [teacher]: What bills?
Student: The name Bill. You always use weird names.
François: Weird? A recent US President was called Bill.
Student: Why don’t you use Aissata or Rachid or Ahmed…You always use whitey names.
François: What names?
Student: Honky names.
François: What’s honky?
Woke...coming and going?
Esmeralda: Why the imperfect indicative? Why not just imperfect?
François: All right, Esmeralda, why the indicative?
Esmeralda: If I knew, I wouldn’t ask.
François: I can imagine. Anyone know why we specify the imperfect indicative? Why not just the imperfect?
Not many of the students seemed enthralled by the distinction. Instead, they seem more interested in finding out if François is or is not a homosexual.
François: Start by mastering it, then you can call its use into question.
Student: Sir, why are you criticizing us?
Student: They’re right, that’s the way people talked in the old days. Even my gran didn’t say that. It’s from the Middle Ages!
François: No it isn’t.
Student: It is! It’s bourgeois…
Student: Tell me, when was the last time you heard someone talk like that?
François: Yesterday, with friends, we used the imperfect subjunctive.
Student: No, someone normal!
Not counting the new normal, of course.
Angry teacher [in the teacher’s lounge]: I'm sick of these clowns! Sick of them! I can’t take any more. They’re nothing, they know nothing…they look right through you when you try to teach them. They can stay in their shit…I’m not going to help them. Go ahead, guys, I tell them, stay in your crap neighborhood. You’ll be here all your lives and it serves you right!
Not all that far from the truth, some suspected.
Khoumba [in a letter to François]: “I shall sit at the back to avoid any other conflicts unless you come looking for them. I admit I can be insolent…but only if provoked. I won’t look at you again, so you can’t say my look is insolent. In theory, in French class, you talk about French, not your grandma or sister or girls’ periods. And so, from now on, I won’t speak to you again.”
He should get that in writing.
François [to a student defending his Goth attire]: There’s a contradiction in what you say. You want to be you. Are those clothes you? Those clothes are worn by a huge number of people.
Student: Most people who wear them are gloomy inside…so we’re all kind of alike.
François: You’re all alike, you’re all gloomy, so that’s not you. By being different, you’re different and the same.
That's par for the course if you get his drift.
Esmeralda: Do you know what ‘skank’ means?
François: I never called you skanks!
Esmeralda: Yes, you did. For me skank means prostitute.
François: It’s not that at all. For me, it doesn’t mean that. It’s nothing important at all, just a girl laughing stupidly.
Esmeralda: Hey, skank means prostitute, right?
Student: You bet!
What's it mean over here?
Esmeralda: Socrates stops people in the street and asks them: “Are you sure of thinking what you think?” “Are you sure of doing what you do?” And so on? After that, people start getting confused. They ask questions. The guy’s too much.
François: What does he ask people about?
Esmeralda: Everything. Love, religion, God, people, everything
François: It’s good you read it.
Esmeralda: I know. It’s not a skank’s book!
What's it over here?
Actually, I am always curious to compare the Youth Culture of other nations with the Youth Culture here at home. Can it really be more appalling?
Now, by high school, we’re talking public education. And, in particular, public education in a community inhabited by and large by working class boys and girls. That’s my own experience after all. But all too many years ago. I hardly recognize much at all. Neither here nor there.
Here the school is, to say the least, bursting at the seams with…multiculturalism? Though the teachers [and the administrators] are overwhelmingly white. I can’t imagine there are many public schools in America that approach it. Not that I’m making anything other than a guess.
Then there is always the gap between what these working-class kids are taught in school and the extent to which they either can or cannot make a connection between that and the lives they live. As with here, there really isn’t much in the way of “upward mobility”. And none of the students sparked much of an interest for me. Just listen to them read their own “personal profiles” in class.
And the segment where they are reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Learning about her life. The looks on their faces as the camera spans the classroom speaks volumes: What does any of this have to do with me? It simply doesn’t interest them. Instead, they just complain about how boring and uneventful their own lives are by comparison.
And yet there is something about the way the parts come together here that draws you in. It’s less about imagining school [or public education] as you might want it to be and more about the actual nuts and bolts of running one or attending one or teaching in one from day to day.
Also, all of the students use their actual names in the film. Though I’m not sure if they were the actual students he taught.
First French film to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival since 1987. According to jury president Sean Penn, the choice was unanimous. IMDb
The Class [Entre les Murs]
Student: What’s with the Bills?
François [teacher]: What bills?
Student: The name Bill. You always use weird names.
François: Weird? A recent US President was called Bill.
Student: Why don’t you use Aissata or Rachid or Ahmed…You always use whitey names.
François: What names?
Student: Honky names.
François: What’s honky?
Woke...coming and going?
Esmeralda: Why the imperfect indicative? Why not just imperfect?
François: All right, Esmeralda, why the indicative?
Esmeralda: If I knew, I wouldn’t ask.
François: I can imagine. Anyone know why we specify the imperfect indicative? Why not just the imperfect?
Not many of the students seemed enthralled by the distinction. Instead, they seem more interested in finding out if François is or is not a homosexual.
François: Start by mastering it, then you can call its use into question.
Student: Sir, why are you criticizing us?
Student: They’re right, that’s the way people talked in the old days. Even my gran didn’t say that. It’s from the Middle Ages!
François: No it isn’t.
Student: It is! It’s bourgeois…
Student: Tell me, when was the last time you heard someone talk like that?
François: Yesterday, with friends, we used the imperfect subjunctive.
Student: No, someone normal!
Not counting the new normal, of course.
Angry teacher [in the teacher’s lounge]: I'm sick of these clowns! Sick of them! I can’t take any more. They’re nothing, they know nothing…they look right through you when you try to teach them. They can stay in their shit…I’m not going to help them. Go ahead, guys, I tell them, stay in your crap neighborhood. You’ll be here all your lives and it serves you right!
Not all that far from the truth, some suspected.
Khoumba [in a letter to François]: “I shall sit at the back to avoid any other conflicts unless you come looking for them. I admit I can be insolent…but only if provoked. I won’t look at you again, so you can’t say my look is insolent. In theory, in French class, you talk about French, not your grandma or sister or girls’ periods. And so, from now on, I won’t speak to you again.”
He should get that in writing.
François [to a student defending his Goth attire]: There’s a contradiction in what you say. You want to be you. Are those clothes you? Those clothes are worn by a huge number of people.
Student: Most people who wear them are gloomy inside…so we’re all kind of alike.
François: You’re all alike, you’re all gloomy, so that’s not you. By being different, you’re different and the same.
That's par for the course if you get his drift.
Esmeralda: Do you know what ‘skank’ means?
François: I never called you skanks!
Esmeralda: Yes, you did. For me skank means prostitute.
François: It’s not that at all. For me, it doesn’t mean that. It’s nothing important at all, just a girl laughing stupidly.
Esmeralda: Hey, skank means prostitute, right?
Student: You bet!
What's it mean over here?
Esmeralda: Socrates stops people in the street and asks them: “Are you sure of thinking what you think?” “Are you sure of doing what you do?” And so on? After that, people start getting confused. They ask questions. The guy’s too much.
François: What does he ask people about?
Esmeralda: Everything. Love, religion, God, people, everything
François: It’s good you read it.
Esmeralda: I know. It’s not a skank’s book!
What's it over here?
-
henry quirk
- Posts: 16379
- Joined: Fri May 09, 2008 8:07 pm
- Location: 🔥AMERICA🔥
- Contact:
Re: Quote of the day
The list of groups that have *rights:
1) Individuals
That's it, that's the whole list. -a **meme lord
*not privileges
**damn ***you for gettin' memes banned
***you know who you are
1) Individuals
That's it, that's the whole list. -a **meme lord
*not privileges
**damn ***you for gettin' memes banned
***you know who you are