I'm currently in the law school library, and I'm being petty and annoyed for two reasons:
1. The Law School is NICE. They have *foosball* in their first floor lounge area. Bastards. Just because they PAY to attend, what, they think they get better amenities?
2. I ventured over here, to the deadly ground that is 'south of the Midway,' for a book. Specifically, David Mayhew's Divided We Govern. [By the way, Mayhew rocks. If you want a fairly readable book that gives you an interesting, but incomplete theory (he ignores parties), of how Congress works, try his Congress: The Electoral Connection.] However, the book is not on the shelf. Damn.
This weekend, the wife and I splurged on movies at Virgin Megastore. They were $10 a pop! So we got Once Upon a Time in the West (a fancy 2 disc set), The Big Lebowski, Big Trouble in Little China, and Sleepy Hollow. It was kind of an "arty genre pic" extravagana.
I have to admit, and I *hate* to admit, that the Virgin Megastore really works for me. A lot of the albums that they push hard on their "cool new release" album is stuff that I really dig. The store seems to shoot for a certain demographic - just annoyed enough with Top 40 but not really that into anything too oddball/underground - that is squarely me. Basically, it's a lot of power pop, groovy rock, and quirky stuff that is a throwback to an earlier music sensibility. Yea. So, I'm Richard Branson's bitch...
Here's a question for you: What the fuck is The Big Lebowski actually about?
I mean, I get that the movie is the Coen Brothers version of modern noir (it takes place in LA, has seedy rich people, no one is what they seem, alliances are always changing, and the main character ... isn't exactly traditional "hero" material). In fact, the Coen Brothers dabble in noir a LOT - stuff like Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple, Fargo, and The Man With No Name all share a noir sensibility. So I GET that part of it.
But I'm pretty sure that there is something else going on there. The biggest tip-off is that there is a big deal made about the world affairs - the movie is set during the first Iraq War. And Walter - the Dude's "sidekick" - is constantly aping George H.W. Bush's rhetoric ("This aggression will not stand!").
I have a theory (and not about bunnies - for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference) that the movie is about American character: Walter is millitant jingoism, the Big Lebowski is the empty posturing of economic elites (after all, he's a fool who pretends to be self-made - he's like Citizen Kane but without the glory), Maude Lebowski represents phony bohemianism, Bunny Lebowski is your average consumerist American, and Donnie is the quintessential out-of-touch, blue collar American. It seems that The Dude is who the Coen Brothers wish Americans could be - the Dude does what he has to to get by ("The Dude abides..."), and he just tries to take it easy ("laziest man in LA county"). He ain't out to hurt nobody. I'm not really sure this works - because how do the German nihilists ("We believe in nothing!") fit in? But I'm convinced something else is going on...
Anyone got any light to shed on this?
1. The Law School is NICE. They have *foosball* in their first floor lounge area. Bastards. Just because they PAY to attend, what, they think they get better amenities?
2. I ventured over here, to the deadly ground that is 'south of the Midway,' for a book. Specifically, David Mayhew's Divided We Govern. [By the way, Mayhew rocks. If you want a fairly readable book that gives you an interesting, but incomplete theory (he ignores parties), of how Congress works, try his Congress: The Electoral Connection.] However, the book is not on the shelf. Damn.
This weekend, the wife and I splurged on movies at Virgin Megastore. They were $10 a pop! So we got Once Upon a Time in the West (a fancy 2 disc set), The Big Lebowski, Big Trouble in Little China, and Sleepy Hollow. It was kind of an "arty genre pic" extravagana.
I have to admit, and I *hate* to admit, that the Virgin Megastore really works for me. A lot of the albums that they push hard on their "cool new release" album is stuff that I really dig. The store seems to shoot for a certain demographic - just annoyed enough with Top 40 but not really that into anything too oddball/underground - that is squarely me. Basically, it's a lot of power pop, groovy rock, and quirky stuff that is a throwback to an earlier music sensibility. Yea. So, I'm Richard Branson's bitch...
Here's a question for you: What the fuck is The Big Lebowski actually about?
I mean, I get that the movie is the Coen Brothers version of modern noir (it takes place in LA, has seedy rich people, no one is what they seem, alliances are always changing, and the main character ... isn't exactly traditional "hero" material). In fact, the Coen Brothers dabble in noir a LOT - stuff like Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple, Fargo, and The Man With No Name all share a noir sensibility. So I GET that part of it.
But I'm pretty sure that there is something else going on there. The biggest tip-off is that there is a big deal made about the world affairs - the movie is set during the first Iraq War. And Walter - the Dude's "sidekick" - is constantly aping George H.W. Bush's rhetoric ("This aggression will not stand!").
I have a theory (and not about bunnies - for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference) that the movie is about American character: Walter is millitant jingoism, the Big Lebowski is the empty posturing of economic elites (after all, he's a fool who pretends to be self-made - he's like Citizen Kane but without the glory), Maude Lebowski represents phony bohemianism, Bunny Lebowski is your average consumerist American, and Donnie is the quintessential out-of-touch, blue collar American. It seems that The Dude is who the Coen Brothers wish Americans could be - the Dude does what he has to to get by ("The Dude abides..."), and he just tries to take it easy ("laziest man in LA county"). He ain't out to hurt nobody. I'm not really sure this works - because how do the German nihilists ("We believe in nothing!") fit in? But I'm convinced something else is going on...
Anyone got any light to shed on this?
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FucktardBoy abides.