F: 9/10/02

"America is like a melting pot. The people at the bottom get
burned,
and the scum floats to the top."
- Charlie King

Good god, what a cynic Mr. King is. Love it! And, really, he has a
point, which I've written about before (ad nauseum, in fact) and won't
beat to death in this entry. I just wanted to share the above quote
with a larger audience.

So, onto something new: Recently, we've been buying a lot of new DVDs.
They get played on our fancy DVD player and flat screen TV again and
again, either by us or friends who are just waiting for dinner to be
ready. A surround sound system turns the TV room into a little theater,
which is loud enough to be heard halfway down the block and which is
realistic enough to convince even the dog that yes, indeed, there are a
pack of wolves just beyond the neighbor's shrub. Some of the DVDs are
like favorite children, brought out to be paraded in front of guests,
while others sit gathering dust until we decide we'd rather "watch
something different."

If our house were to burn down right this minute, we'd be hard pressed
to name all of the titles stashed away in the TV room closet. There's
something disturbingly consumeristic about that, but then, we are
terrific consumers of movies, books, and music.

And is that so bad? Part of most DVDs is a commentary section and - if
it's a science fiction film, in particular - a special effects section.
Movie producers spend millions to make their movies just right, and in
the process they employ countless artists, artisans, musicians, etc,
etc, etc. That's money well-spent, I'd say (not to be confused with the
twenty-five million dollar paycheck given to the likes of Arnold
Schwarznegger, who has ruined every movie he's ever been in with the
possible exception of his own made-for-TV biography, and even that's
pushing it).

Certainly, our favorite stars and directors and the powers-that-be in
Hollywood make too much money. They represent a royalty that would make
Oscar Wilde blanche. I'd make a nasty comment about their excesses, but
I'm not quite sure I wouldn't like to be so excessive myself. Anyway,
they do keep the underlings employed, and while old Arnold probably
can't spell his own name, there is some comfort in knowing that
creativity gets to be alive and well (even if it is on Hollywood's
dime).

And that's just about as positive and optimistic as I can be.