Pope, Pixar, and Peanut Butter
Ah man. That's just gross: "About 200 people have staged a gay "kiss-in" as Pope Benedict XVI drove by." I think I'd rather watch a fat nude limbo tournament. * * * * * * * Hmmmm. This might be a first: TSA Fondles Women and Children Refusing Airport Naked Body Scanners. The story line isn't a first, of course. Nine-eleven has proven the greatest boondoggle for perverts since the invention of photography. The notable first is that the link comes from the fringe Alex Jones' Infowars and I found the link at the Drudge Report, which is part of the Internet mainstream (right-wing, yes, but still within the field of respectability). I would think Drudge compromises his reputation by linking to Infowars, but either Infowars is becoming more respectable or Drudge is drifting into the far right. * * * * * * * I don't dislike Jones, by the way, but I listened to many hours of his radio broadcast and concluded that he just fear mongers and makes accusations without ever "linking up" the various theories. He's also ridiculously excitable and a first-rate showman. I enjoyed listening to him, but I thought it was more of an audio circus than news reporting or analysis. * * * * * * * "How many morbidly fat, lazy people obsessed with their Facebook page went to see Wall-E? And enjoyed the movie? Yet didn't see themselves in it? And didn't leave outraged at having been made fools of? Most. If not all.” That's Gonzalo Lira, writing about the Pixar movies. It's the best essay from my weekend reading. Link. It deserves to be picked up by a larger reading audience. Two excerpts:
What these pictures are offering is not “gentle satire”–Pixar movies offer the harshest social commentary of contemporary American society of anyone working today, in any medium that I can think of. It's satire laced with acid, and it is incredibly powerful precisely because it is packed into something so seemingly gentle and sweet: Children's movies. . . .
Pixar never distracts its audience–child or adult–with anything extraneous to the story. That relentless engagement paradoxically renders the audience slightly myopic: You don't really notice the satire Pixar is getting away with unless you take a step back. . . .
Lira also explained to my why I've always had an innate distaste for DreamWorks' movies: "In DreamWorks' Shrek franchise (I use that salesman's word deliberately), there is a constant stream of references to other movies and cultural touchstones–many of them R-rated, and therefore unknown by the children the Shrek movies are aimed at–that are placed there for no other reason than to pander to the adults in the audience. I personally can't stand DreamWorks animation films precisely for that constant wink-wink,-aren't-we-clever references in their movies. That constant winking–that constant breaking of the suspension of disbelief–gives DWA films the feel of tawdry, brassy shiny trinkets that are being hawked by a shifty salesman." * * * * * * * Some funny Fallon that I meant to run last week but forgot: “Lindsay Lohan reportedly checked into a new rehab facility today. She said the same thing she always does when checking in: 'Keep the car running.'" And "A federal court has decided to extend the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, even though it was recently overturned. Which means it's time for some soldiers to implement a policy called 'I was just kidding.'" * * * * * * * I'm not into the whole "survivalist" movement, but I don't think it hurts to take some basic precautions, like buying a few guns and stocking a little bit of food with a long shelf life. If you are similarly disposed to adopt a moderate attitude toward all this unrest, you might enjoy this list of ten easy tips. Excerpt: "Now to the peanut butter shelf and toss two 40-ounce jars in the cart. The listed shelf life is just over two years and each jar has over 6,000 calories. Peanut butter is an excellent instant survival food."
