September 15, 2006
Friday Movie Question - Close To Home Division
Uncle Dave?
I tried again the other night to watch The Big Lebowski.
Well, actually, I did watch it. What I mean is that I tried again to enjoy it.
And once again, I failed.
I would really like to like this film. It's clever, it's full of priceless dialogue, the actors are terrific, etc., etc. But there is one serious problem.
The Dude. I can't get over the Dude.
Y'see, the trouble is that I have a long-lost uncle who could be the real-life dead-spit ringer for the Dude. Considerably younger than my father, he hit college right at the height of the hippie movement. And in his impressionable teenaged state, he swallowed the Free Love plus Free Pot equals World Peace bit hook, line and sinker, completely oblivious to the fact that he was being used simply as cannon fodder by the more forward thinking leaders of the movement who now occupy positions of power in government, business and society.
After college and an abortive couple weeks of law school, he drifted in and out of a few small-time jobs and a few common-law marriages. The last I heard of him was about ten years ago when, so the report goes, he was working as a part-time bartender and sleeping on a friend's sofa.
So while in the film, the Dude's deadbeat lifestyle is portrayed as quirky, funny and sometimes surreal, all I can see is the real life pathos of my derelict uncle.
So how about it - have you ever had this kind of experience with a character out of stage, screen or literature?
UPDATE: Smart-asses. Bet if Sheila asked a question like that you wouldn't be ragging her, now, would you?
YIPS from Steve-O: On a more serious note, I have the same Uncle, in that my Dad's younger brother has the excuse of being actually quite mentally ill (a full blown paranoid-schizophrenic).
But on a much more serious note (from a, erm, traffic-building perspective that is), I think we need a full, umm, blown discussion on whether or not Phin's sister in law is in fact a porn star. He alleges in the comments section:
"I ran into a similar situation where my sister-in-law looked like a chick in an "adult movie". I wasn't so much disturbed as I was, um, turned on. Well at least until the missus killed the dream and said there was no way in hell her sister was that naughty, bendy or willing to have relations in front of a camera.
I think we need to do some old-school, Reutersgate blogswarming on this. Only the Army of Daves can determine, once and for all, the age old question: has Phinneas just found himself in a cheesy melodrama with Richard Chamberlain in the lead roll as a noble and selfless blogger tormented by the realization that his sister in law starred in "Becky Bops Boise."
I can almost see the IMDB listing now.....
PICAROONISH PIXELS OF DESIRE
Richard Chamberlain..............Phinneas Blogbody
Aunt Bea...............Clarice Tootlelanker aka "The Sister in Law"
Let me just add that I think "Naughty, Bendy, and Willing to Have Relations in Front of a Camera" should become the "Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy" of the 2006 Election Cycle.
Yes, James Bond is so like me it's scary. I can't watch the movies.
Also... I once watched a porno where one of the women looked like my sister in law... which was disturbing.
Posted by: steve at September 15, 2006 11:28 AMOther than being able to identify with Ray Finkel when Dan Mario cost the Dolphins the superbowl I only have one experience like this.
A good friend of mine has decided in recent months to "go out" like Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage) in Leaving Las Vegas. He was pretty much target except for the hooker part and he ended up in rehab earlier this week instead of dead (which is what he was aiming for).
Not my normal happy go lucky type comments I know. Which is why I feel compled to say.
Wait for it.
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Wait for it.
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Wait for it.
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LACES OUT.
steve I ran into a similar situation where my sister-in-law looked like a chick in an "adult movie". I wasn't so much disturbed as I was, um, turned on. Well at least until the missus killed said there was no way in hell her sister was that naughty, bendy or willing to have relations in front of a camera.
Posted by: phin at September 15, 2006 11:35 AMI wonder if there is an association between resembling a movie character and sleeping on couches? Because when I tried dressing up like Robin Williams in Popeye my wife insisted I sleep on the couch, too.
Posted by: Jeff at September 15, 2006 11:38 AMshould be until the missus killed the dream
damned keyboard.
Posted by: phin at September 15, 2006 11:38 AMPhin: Maybe the dream yet lives. You said she said, "sister was [not] that naughty, bendy or willing to have relations in front of a camera."
The big question here is what is the meaning of "or."
Maybe she IS naughty and bendy (to boot) but camera shy...
Posted by: Steve the LLamabutcher at September 15, 2006 11:50 AMI think an investigation may be in order. If y'all here about a man's wife bludgeoning him to death with a laptop this weekend it's me. Just promise to remember me fondly and to have a nice Irish Wake.
Posted by: phin at September 15, 2006 12:01 PMAs a matter of fact, yes. Every time I try to enjoy Animal House, I see Neidermeyer, and I think of you, Robbo.
;-)
Posted by: Pep at September 15, 2006 12:35 PMI usually see myself as Fred in "Barcelona." Except not as good looking. Or funny. And with a lot more hangups. OK, you got me. I'm Ted in "Barcelona", dammit.
Posted by: The Colossus at September 15, 2006 12:55 PMHere we are, pouring out our hearts and our inner most secrets and what do we get in return? Mockery and scorn.
I've come to expect derogatory comments from my wife and have come to the realization that I'll never be "good enough" for her. Hell I've even come to grips I'll never measure of to the myth of a man who she claims can last a whole ten minutes in the sack.
But to be compared to another group of commenters, well, quite frankly, that stings.
Posted by: phin at September 15, 2006 01:29 PMYou want "stings"? I'll give you "stings"!
Day after day I laugh and dance and sing and try to entertain you people. Just once I try to be serious and look what happens.
Tears of the clown, buddy. Tears of the clown. That greasepaint leaks into your eyes, gets under your contacts and hurts like sin, let me tell ya.
Posted by: Robbo the LB at September 15, 2006 01:42 PMRobbo is much more of the Greg Marmalade type of guy---Nixon aide raped in prison rather than fragged by his troops in Nam the way Neidermeier was.
Posted by: Steve the LLamabutcher at September 15, 2006 02:54 PMThe greasepaint! It burns! It burns!
BTW, why hasn't somebody come up with a "What Animal House Character Are You?" quiz yet?
Posted by: Robbo the LB at September 15, 2006 03:07 PM
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