The answer, of course, is that they have both been placed in films consistently over the last 80 years or so. To read more interesting details about product placement in Hollywood films, check out my research report here. It looks at Wings (1927), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), The Graduate (1967), Jaws (1975), E.T. (1982), Independence Day (1996), and The Dark Knight (2008).

More posts will come soon. I promise. It has been a busy semester, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Great movie! The soundtrack, the cinematography, the screenplay, the car- everything is perfect. Classic American cinema, and a must-see.

Enjoy!

(Jump to the 6:25 mark for the glorious driving scenes set to Simon & Garfunkel’s Mrs. Robinson.)

- Gyro

The Makerbot CupCake CNC machine from Makerbot Industries is on the market. The kits are now available for home hobbyists to build their own CNC machines.

For people who might not know, the Makerbot CNC is a 3-D printer, or for lack of a better analogy–an EasyBake™ “CupCake” oven for geeks.

CupCake CNC
I am an open, hackable robot for making nearly anything.
Overview
The basic structure of a MakerBot is:

A 3D positioning system.
A toolhead that does work.
Electronics to drive it.
As the CupCake CNC is a MakerBot, it contains all of these elements. The 3D positioning system is a standard cartesian (X,Y,Z) system. In our particular configuration, the build platform moves in the X and Y directions and toolhead is mounted on the Z stage which moves up and down. The X and Y axes are belt driven, and the Z axis is screw driven.

The owner has to build the CNC from a kit, and each kit comes with all the parts that are required, minus tools:

This particular kit comes with:

* The lasercut parts to assemble a CupCake CNC machine.
* 3 x NEMA 17 motors to drive your machine
* The nuts, bolts, and various hardware to assemble it.
* The belts and pulleys for it to move things around.
* All the bearings to make your machine nice and smooth.
* The highest quality precision ground shafts for the X and Y axes we could find.
* Fully assembled 3rd Generation Electronics to drive it better, faster, and stronger.
* A magnetized, detachable build platform to make removing your finished prints easier.
* A pinch-wheel Plastruder to make things in plastic with.
* 1lb of ABS plastic to get you started printing.
* Allen keys to make it easy to put together

The “Deluxe Kit” adds the following for $200 US more:

Additionally, we include lots of extras to make your kit building experience easier:

* a USB2TTL cable to talk to it
* cat5e cables to wire things up
* a standard ATX power supply
* a tools kit with all the hex keys, wrenches, and other bits you need to construct it.
* a full 5lbs of ABS plastic so you can print your heart out (in addition to the 1lb of ABS)
* an extra acrylic build surface, and a spare build platform
* SD card to buffer your prints

The basic process to print a 3-D object is:

1. Find or design a 3D model (.STL) of your thing.
2. Use Skeinforge to convert your STL into a GCode file.
3. Use ReplicatorG to run the GCode and build the thing.

At the moment, the CupCake CNC requires some specialized skills, though there seems to be a lot of supportive posts and papers available as resources.

There is even a “Bluetooth to Serial” kit that can be adapted so that the maker can just “print” in 3-D.

What I wonder about is:

I have more questions but I feel kind of overwhelmed by them at the moment.

Summary: CNC CupCake in your house. You can now, with about a 1k investment, make your own plastic things.

Trend (from The Graduate):

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

Det andra taiwanesiska drama jag ser är lite speciellt. Det är nämligen bara fem avsnitt, med lika många separata historier. Därför blir det här ett lite annorlunda inlägg.

Bi Ye Sheng
(The Graduate)

Originaltitel: 畢業
Visades: 2006
Sågs av mig: November 2009
Antal avsnitt: 5
Skådespelare: Zhou Zian, Zhang Jun Ming, Huang Zi Xuan, Huang Ke Jing m.fl.
Genre: Ungdomsdrama.

The Lonely Game
Handling och kommentar: Två unga tjejer lämnar hemmet för att söka lyckan i Taipei. De vill helst av allt bli frisörer, och i sin jakt efter drömyrket kommer de ifrån varandra. När de återigen möts, har den ena förändrats. Det är ett allvarligt avsnitt som fokuserar på tunga ämnen som prostitution och droger, men det är den komplicerade och svåra vänskapen som känns som det allra tyngsta. Förutom att det saknas ett mer förklarande parti i början, så är The Lonely Game riktigt kusligt och väl genomfört.

Personligt betyg:

Scen ur The Lonely Game.

Black Summer
Handling och kommentar: När en av skolans flitigaste elever, A Zhe, hamnar i fel kompiskrets börjar allt spåra ur. Hans nya vänner håller på med droger och är osams med andra gäng, och A Zhe vill egentligen inte ha någonting med det att göra. Han vågar dock inte dra sig ur, och mot sin vilja börjar han falla för gängledarens flickvän. Avsnittet Black Summer känns mer som en stereotypiserad skolpjäs än det välriktade pekfinger det egentligen vill vara. Ämnet känns också något framstressat – eftersom de bara har 48 minuter på sig att berätta vad som skulle kunna vara en hel roman, finns det nästan inget utrymme för bakgrundshistoria eller känslosvall. Men förutom några av de grovt klichéartade gängmedlemmarna, är skådespeleriet åtminstone en rätt hyfsad prestation.

Personligt betyg:

Fortunately, We’re Still Here
Handling och kommentar: Fortunately, We’re Still Here är en gripande beskrivning av hur två pojkar vill stå upp mot sina översittare, och hur de förändras i processen. Det här avsnittet är det svåraste att få något grepp om då det är ganska abstrakt, och mer filmiskt än något av de andra. De vackraste och mest minnesvärda scenerna är mellan de två huvudpersonerna när de lekfullt slåss och kallar varandra fula ord. Sedan omsätts deras lek i verklighet.

Personligt betyg:

En scen ur avsnittet Fortunately, We’re Still Here.

Mimi’s Wandering Mind
Handling och kommentar: Mimi kommer från trasiga hemförhållanden till en internatskola för flickor med problem. Genom flashbacks får vi veta vad hon varit med om. Mimi’s Wandering Mind är ett ganska stillsamt avsnitt, med ett ämne som om det behandlas rätt verkligen kan engagera. Det känns dock platt, och klyschorna haglar ner på sina håll. Huang Zi Xuan som spelar Mimi är dessutom riktigt svag i rollen. Till sin fördel har avsnittet åtminstone en ganska gripande berättelse, med en rätt schysst tidsföljd.

Personligt betyg:

Waves of Nature
Handling och kommentar: När Zhang Ya Hui börjar i en ny skola, blir hon vän med klassens mobbningsobjekt. Men efter ett tag vill hon hellre passa in i det coola tjejgänget, vilket innebär att hon måste förnedra sin nyfunna vän. Detta avsnitt känns blekt om man jämför med andra draman som behandlar mobbing. Allra mest grådaskigt blir det om man försöker dra paralleller till LIFE - mobbingdramornas epicentrum. Varför inte dra historian längre? Det känns som att de inte vågar överdriva, men det är ju trots allt ett drama. För att kunna engagera bör det dras till sin spets lite mer. Det är dock ett intressant koncept, men det skulle ha kunnat bli så mycket bättre.

Personligt betyg:

Sub/releasegrupp: DoReMii Fansubs.
För dig som gillar: tonårsskildringar, trassliga familjer, mopeder och subtil kärlek.

There’s a new song available from The Graduate – the first new material I’ve heard from the band in at least a year. It’s just a demo, but that’s good enough for me. Listen to it below, and sign up for their mailing list here if you want to download the song.

Sunday seems as good a day as any other to post some recommendations, so here they are (well, technically, they’re after the jump. So click “Sunday Recommendations” below). Then come back next Sunday for some more. That’s right, every Sunday. Want to see some old recommendations? Click here.

The Devil And The Lion (Myspace) :: With the release of their debut EP in January of 2009, The Devil And The Lion were counted amongst my favorite new bands. It was short lived however, as the band broke up a few months later. At times they sound similar to Brand New’s TDAGARIM material, but they’ve got enough of their own style to distinguish themselves. They’re still offering their EP over at bandcamp, doing the whole pay-what-you-want scheme.

The Graduate (Myspace) :: It’s been far too long without any news from The Graduate camp. Thankfully they broke their silence recently, and are now offering a song for free download if you sign up for their mailing list. “Don’t Die Digging” picks up right where this talented band left off with 2007’s The Evergreen EP; the song is catchy, perfectly-crafted rock. I hope their sophomore album comes out soon, I can’t go much longer without new music from these guys.

Sign up to The Graduate’s mailing list and get their song “Don’t Die Digging” for free here.

Every time I talk about top 10 lists,  I always start with the  disclaimer that I know  how pointless they are.

And then I ask myself:  OK, if they are  so pointless, why do I have so much fun reading them and doing  them and sharing them?

No good answer, In fact, making lists is far from the only pointless thing I do.

Today, I am adding some new films and slightly changing the order.   It is not a 10 best list.  It is a list of my ten favorites. A  list of 10 best films  would be beyond nervy given how many films have a legitimate claim to inclusion.

But it seems perfectly fair to make a list of ten favorites since they are, in fact,  only my favorites.

My favorites have stayed the same for over a year.  But for the last few months I have been mulling over “No Country for Old Men”  and “The Lives of Others.” (Now I can really hear you saying: This guy need a life! Who has time to mull anything over?)

Seriously, I want to make some changes to my list.  But according to ground rules that some friends of mine and I set up many years ago in a UCLA dorm room, I have to remove one film for each one I add.  I posted my last 10 favorite about a year ago. Here is my new one along with a list of contenders.

Comments welcome. Lists welcome. Ridicule welcome.

My Ten Favorite Films as of November 15, 2009

1. Dekalog

2. Godfather 1/Godfather 2

3.  Salesman

4. The Lives of Others

5. Amarcord

6.  Goodfellas

7  No Country for Old Men

8  Fargo

9. Rear Window

10 Night and Fog

__________________________________

Other Contenders (not in order)

Midnight Cowboy

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Au Revoir les Enfants

Shop on Main Street  (1965)

It’s a Wonderful Life

Jeux interdits

Come and See

Smile

Atlantic City

Three Kings

Das Boot

The General

Paris, Texas

Shoah

Invaders from Mars

Strangers on a Train

The Graduate

The French Connection

Double Indemnity

Les Enfants du Paradis

Les Diaboliques

Psycho

Le Salaire de la peur

Sunset Boulevard

The Exiles

The Last Laugh

Hotel Terminus

Happiness

The Third Man

M

The Marriage of Maria Braun

What is it about professors?

Usually, I’m not the kind of girl to find much older men attractive. I guess I just like ‘em bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I know it’s perfectly normal, and even expected, for women to date older men, but I don’t see the appeal of it. I’ll take Zac Efron over George Clooney any day of the week.

I just don’t get it when my friends talk about how hot George Clooney is. Isn’t he, like, 50? I mean, come on. His skin is so leathery I can almost smell it. And when Monica dated Richard on Friends, I cringed every time they kissed. Mostly because Tom Selleck looks like my Uncle Dennis, but still. Am I really supposed to find the bushy mustache sexy?

But then all that changed a couple months ago as I sat taking notes in class…

Maybe it’s his bifocals. Maybe it’s his silver hoop earring, or his penny loafers, or the fact that he bears a striking resemblance to Benjamin Bratt (with wrinkles and gray hair). But I’ve got a serious thing for my over-the-hill film professor. It doesn’t help that his name is Mark Robinson, which has inspired more than a handful of before-bed daydreams featuring myself murmuring the phrase, “Are you trying to seduce me, Professor Robinson?” as he slowly reveals his argyle knee socks.

The way he lectures is just so…passionate. I have honestly learned more in his class than I have in any other one this semester, and it’s not just because I show up to every class and hang on his every word.

The class meets every Tuesday night from 6:00 to 10:00. First we (passionately) discuss readings, and then we watch a film together. So in my deranged and perhaps delusional mind, Professor Robinson and I  have already been on several dates. What? … He turns off the lights, and he sits in the row RIGHT next to me! It counts. It does.

Shut up.

I’m not the type to flirt with professors (young or old) simply because I’m paranoid they will assume I’m trying to suck up for a good grade, so I just hide my love away while other girls talk to him. Although on the last exam, I dotted the ‘i’ in my last name with a heart. Hopefully he’ll get the hint and ask me out. Then we’ll spend an evening caught up in intellectual conversation and laughing about the younger, less civilized college boys in my class as I run my hands through his thinning gray hair.

Until then, though, I’ll be sitting front row at the showing of my imagination’s production of The Undergraduate, starring myself and the Silver Fox. I can’t help it; I’ve fallen head over the hill for this guy.

I know you guys have sexy professors. Are any of you as hopelessly in love as I am?

Do you know what T.V. is missing? The advice and snappy dialogue of an educator and elder. Not a young hip teacher like Mr. Kotter (Welcome Back Kotter), Doug Stevens (Swingtown), or even Mr. Matthews (90210). What T.V. needs is a new Mr. Feeny.

Mr. Feeny was arguably the best part of ABC’s Boy Meets World and now he has disappeared completely. William Daniels was the man behind the grey mustache.

Daniels had a stellar pre-Boy career. He has co-starred in some of the most influential pieces of pop-culture; he was Dustin Hoffman’s father in The Graduate (1967), as John Adams in 1776 (1972) and as the voice of KITT in the original Night Rider.

Good news, Daniels is still alive and ready for a Boy Meets World Reunion. Currently he has no new projects, although a KITT GPS voice is rumored.

William, I miss your large eternally present mustache, your various neutral colored sweaters and your frank lectures.

William Daniels, I miss your face.

Resumes, that is … at the very least.

Some of the sagest career advice I’ve ever heard is “Specialize.” It was told to me by a jack-of-all-trades boss who suffered the consequences. It’s as grating as “plastics” in its simplicity, but as far as earning power and job security goes, you can’t beat it.

In a perfect world, we would all be hyper-specialists, having mastered our one little corner of the marketplace, and no one could touch us. In this perfect world, all we would need was one resume. (OK, OK, in a perfect world we wouldn’t need resumes at all, but make this leap with me, people.) We would only need one because there would be only one type of job we would be suited for, and we would be the only person who could do it.

To anyone who’s actually achieved this in the real world, I salute you. (I’m looking at you, Richard Simmons, Gene Simmons and this woman.) But for the rest of us, we will at some point have to capitulate to market demands, which means we will have to look at different ways to apply our skills if we’re going to continue to put food on the table (or more food on the table, or have dinner in Paris … whatever it is you’re looking for). For instance, journalists may have to apply for marketing copywriting jobs, scientists may have to seque from academia into defense, and artists may have to see if Starbucks is hiring. The same resume simply won’t do for both, and rarely are the choices as simple as Mrs. Robinson vs. Elaine. Lucky are the few who only need two!

Don’t even get me started on cover letters.

With the Paley Center’s “Dawson’s Creek: A Look Back” panel and the release of “Dawson’s Creek: The Complete Series,” I’ve been on a DC high the past week and a half.  Imagine my delight in finding someone who was not only just as enthusiastic but also chock full of insider stories only true fans like TDW readers could appreciate. And when you combine that with the fact that this guy is also partly responsible for introducing Beverly Hills 90210 to the world, well, that pretty much makes him a teen drama god.

After reading all the DC and 90210 goodness executive producer Paul Stupin shared with me, you’ll never want TDW’s stroll down memory creek to end!

TeenDramaWhore: How was the Paley Center panel?  How did it come about?

Paul Stupin: It came about for two sets of reasons. The first was that there are a  lot of die-hard Dawson’s supporters and fans out there that could support such a event. And the second key element is Sony is planning to issue this monumental all-seasons of Dawson’s DVD collection.

TDW: Yeah! It came out yesterday and I went to three different stores and finally found it!

Stupin: I just think it’s the coolest thing ever. So it was a good opportunity to call some attention to the DVD collection while at the same time having an event for the fans. It was really fun for me because when I did Dawson’s, I look back on it as a very special and rewarding time in my life and to be able to talk about it and see some cast members and see Kevin [Williamson, creator] again was just a blast.

TDW: I’m sure. I wish I could’ve been there!

Stupin: Yeah, you would’ve liked it!

TDW: Oh, I’m sure. Well let’s go back even further, to 1997-1998, and Kevin Williamson comes to you with this idea to make this semi-autobiographical show. What made you come on board?

Stupin: Well, that’s not exactly how it happened but I can tell you. I had read an early draft of this film that he wrote. At the time, it was called Scary Movie but that was going to turn into Scream and they used the original title for something else. I had read a draft of that and I had really responded to the writing. One of the things I loved about it is not only did it have some smart thrills and chills but it also had this great sort of teenage/20-something dialogue. I just loved his voice and I loved the different perspectives that he had brought to the horror genre so I pushed really hard to his agent for Kevin and I to sit down. Originally, I wanted to run two areas by him. The first area was sort of a younger X-Files-esque kind of show and the second one was just a really smart, young ensemble sort of show that could tap into younger characters’ voices. I had ran programming at Fox, so the idea of doing a family show was kind of not on the board because Fox had Party of Five. So we started to talk about potentially doing a show about a number of younger characters who live on the same street. Then Kevin sort of went away and came back and sort of pitched to me a bunch of characters living on the same creek, which, of course, was semi-autobiographical. What made that so interesting is that it specified the idea and made it something unique and took us to a place I had never seen before. And the other thing that made that original pitch so exciting was the characters. He pitched to me the characters of Dawson [James Van Der Beek] and Joey [Katie Holmes] and Jen [Michelle Williams] and how that triangle would work. And then as we were talking about that, we came up with the idea of incorporating another character into the mix who could be a confidante for Dawson and that’s how the character of Pacey [Joshua Jackson] originated.

TDW: I think you really hit it when you said the show was unique. There are a couple of specific things that people are still talking about today and they really want the inside details of how it happened. I know you guys went over a bit of this at the panel but I’d love to hear it from you yourself.  So if we can just go over a couple of different storylines, I’d love to hear what you guys were thinking and the genesis of those. So the first one is in season 2 when we have Jack [Kerr Smith] announce that he’s gay [Episodes 2.14 & 2.15, To Be Or Not To Be... & ...That Is The Question].

Stupin: I think there were two reasons for that. The first reason is it was a great way to integrate in a gay character on our series and to do it from the perspective of the kids we’d come to know and love on the show from the get-go. So the thought of involving Joey in a relationship with Jack and seeing that relationship take a completely unexpected turn and then understanding the emotional impact it would have on Joey’s character, and what it would do to Dawson and Pacey–all that seemed really interesting. And at the time, the thought of integrating a gay character and following that journey seemed really powerful and a way to tap into a whole set of emotions that would make our show even more memorable. One of the things that I love about Dawson’s is that it sort of wore its heart on its sleeve. Not only did it capture the voices and that sense of teenage yearning and teenage love and first-time love, and the power and the strength of all that, with love comes heartache as well in many stories. I think it enabled us to tell a really emotional and powerful story for a character that we’d really come to enjoy in the form of Jack. So that was one element to it and I think for Kevin it was a very personal story as well, and it was a way to again put a whole different perspective on the teen ensemble drama in a way that it hadn’t been done before. The second element to it was the fact that when Joey started that relationship with Jack, it was not going to go on forever. The key relationship in our series was what was going on between Joey and Dawson and Pacey, so the Jack character, that romance, was ultimately going to come to an end. And I think there was the thought of what a powerful way to see the relationship head south when the character starts to realize an insight into his own sexuality.

TDW: Going back to the Dawson-Joey-Pacey relationship, I read in Jeff Stepakoff’s book “Billion-Dollar Kiss” that Greg Berlanti–whom I adore–was the one to suggest putting Joey and Pacey together. I was wondering how accurate that story was in the book.

Stupin: Well, at the top of every season, we’ll sit and we’ll talk about [our plans]. We take a couple of weeks and we talk about each character and where we were going and what the sort of macro-issues were that we want to cover over the course of that particular group of 22 episodes. And Greg was definitely a part of that and the thought  of telling sort of a whole Joey-Pacey romance did in fact come out of that, absolutely. But I think you can go back, you can look at the pilot and you can look at the chemistry–and I did, in looking at the pilot last week–you can look at the chemistry between Joey and Pacey and you just know they’re sort of two peas in a pod and sooner or later that element of the triangle is going to get explored. So it’s definitely true what Jeff had in the book but I think that Greg was building from the seeds that were established in the original conception of the show, to tell you the truth.

TDW: Right.  Going to a more somber note: this probably came early on for you guys given how you plan the season but a lot of people were really surprised and devastated when in the 5th season Mitch [John Wesley Shipp] died [Episodes 5.03 & 5.04, Capeside Revisited & The Long Goodbye].

Stupin: Yes.

TDW: I’m wondering what the idea for that was. We never knew if it was casting reasons or storyline-dictated.

Stupin: It wasn’t really casting issues. The thing with Mitch was every year we would figure out a way to have 1 or 2 sort of emotional stories between Dawson and his mom and dad. In the first season we had all that great stuff with her affair with a newscaster. That was just sort of natural. The second season we have the story with mom and dad trying the open marriage, and it’s arguable as to how memorable that actually was. It seemed like such a fresh idea. I’m not sure that it translated quite as well as the idea initially seemed. And then after that, when the inter-relationships between the teenagers grew ever-more prominent and people became much more invested, it felt like the parents–though still important–were not quite as much a part of the storylines. So that’s when we would always try to include them, to have them in different things, to have great sort of Dawson-mom, Dawson-dad scenes but I think we were straining a little bit. And I think that when we got to the point of deciding the fate with Mitch, it seemed like we weren’t using him altogether that much in the series, in the seasons. We were using him but we weren’t using him in a huge way. There weren’t any financial or casting considerations. It really did come from the creative angle, in terms of how would it affect Dawson’s character if in fact this happened to his dad, and exploring that, and exploring the unexpected tragedy of it seemed like another way to really heighten the exploration as to who Dawson was, so that’s basically where that came from. And I remember talking to John Wesley and mentioning that the one thing that this would provide is that it was going to take the Dawson-father storyline to a really heartbreaking sense of conclusion and, at that point, we weren’t using him as much as we had in the past.

TDW: How does that contrast, then, to the decision in the series finale [Episodes 6.23 & 624, All Good Things... & ...Must Come To An End] to have another death and this time it be Jen?

Stupin: It was so interesting last week; it came up that in a way it was a great book-end for the series. It frankly never occurred when we were talking about the beginning or the end of the show but one could argue that the series began with a catalyst and that was the arrival of Jen. And the series ended with a catalyst as well, and that was the departure of Jen. And the one thing that I think that it did is it really brought a sense of emotional resonance and power to that final episode, because one of the things with a final episode you want to be able to do, you want to be able to end a series in a satisfying and emotional and interesting way. And if we essentially had the last episode in history for Dawson’s Creek, we could talk about and we could explore issues of mortality involving some of our characters. Then when we talked about it, if we were going to be dealing with the characters’ mortality, she seemed like the most natural character in which to explore that.

TDW: Going back to the catalyst idea, it could be extended that that was really what it took for Joey to finally make up her mind between the two boys.

Stupin: Yeah, I think a little bit. I think the interesting thing was the series sort of ends twice. It ends in the episode before then [Episode 6.22, Joey Potter And The Capeside Redemption] where we get the sense that finally Dawson and Pacey are going to be friends and Joey did actually get to Europe. And I think that had a sense of closure. Then we took it another step and went to a sort of even more sort of larger-than-life ending of exploring who she was going to end up with. I think that was the big question: who was she going to end up with? And I think that that was handled pretty well, too. Like I personally love the thought that what this show was really about was not the romance of Dawson and Joey but about the strength and depth of that friendship and how that friendship was going to exist forever.

TDW: So if you had to answer the question, in your heart of hearts, do you think Dawson belongs with Joey in a platonic, friends soulmates sense and Pacey in the romantic soulmate way?

Stupin: In my heart of hearts, I think we ended it the right away. I think that what she did have in the romance with Pacey was as powerful as the friendship with Dawson. And I think that we were able to come up with a sense of satisfying closure for both of them. ‘Cause I will tell you, weirdly enough, when I was looking at The Sopranos–I’ll weirdly liken it to the conclusion of The Sopranos, at least from my weird perspective, because I was a fan of that. I like to think, in my mind, that Tony Soprano is still out there–maybe it wasn’t going to last forever, but maybe he’s still out there with his family, still dealing with the issues and still dealing with all the balls he was juggling. And in my mind, I like to think that Dawson and Joey are still out there in our alternate TV universe, still communicating with each other and still sharing the inner-most aspects of their hearts and still dealing with their friendship as adults, and that Joey and Pacey still have that romance. Because I feel like what we were able to come up with was, for me, an emotionally-satisfying conclusion for both stories which doesn’t let anyone down. And I know there are people who think Dawson and Joey should’ve been together romantically and I totally understand that point of view but I think we did the right thing.

TDW: Well, as a Joey and Pacey fan, I completely agree with you!

Stupin: Well, I can tell you this: that decision wasn’t made until the last hour was being shot and so if you look at the first hour of that final two-hour, I think at that point we were leaning toward her ending up with Dawson and so there are a few, I think, little cues–for the life of me I don’t remember exactly–that were set up to lead us in that direction and then, frankly, in the last hour, when the last hour was being shot–because it wasn’t shot as a two-hour; it was shot as two separate 1-hours–that when we came up with that conclusion, it caused us to shift things around a little bit. So I’ll tell ya, we were undecided up until the very last minute ourselves.

TDW: Wow. Well, switching gears slightly, you spoke about Dawson and the way he would communicate with Joey. Going off that, both Kevin Williamson and James Van Der Beek are on Twitter these days. I was wondering, had the service existed when the show was on the air, how do you think Dawson would’ve used it, if he would’ve used it? As I said, They’re both on it now, and Dawson was very much a storyteller.

Stupin: Well, I think Dawson might’ve used it to express his emotions. I think he might’ve used it as a shorthand way of communicating with both Joey and Pacey. It’s certainly easier to communicate things to someone by Twitter than it is necessarily in real life. He might’ve, at some point in our storytelling, he might’ve used it to express something that he might not have been so willing to express in person.

TDW: When you look back on the show and the television landscape then and now, what do you think the show’s legacy is?

Stupin: You know, I think for me it’s–well, first of all, I’m so proud of the show. I think the characters were amazing. I think their stories were amazing. I think the quality of the writing, the quality of the direction was–of course I’m biased but I think it was just top-flight. And I really do think it took the young adult teen genre and elevated it from just a niche kind of show to something universal and iconic. I think adults could look at it. When we were doing it we never looked at it as just a teen show.  We looked at it as just a smart, interesting, relationship show that happened to deal with teenagers and though our core audience was teenagers, it was written for everybody, for people in their 20s, their 30s, their 40s. And I really think it managed to transcend all of that and bring an element of quality and exploration to the genre that really took it to the next step.

TDW: Do you have a favorite episode or storyline?

Stupin: You know, I’m so biased. It’s like trying to pick if you have 120 kids which one’s your favorite. But I think for me there are certain sort of moments that I love. There’s certain episodes, like the pilot because it introduced us to that world, and I remember so much of it almost like it was yesterday. The first season-ender when Joey went to visit her dad in prison, I loved that. I loved the detention episode [Episode 1.07, Detention]. A lot of them are some of the original ones. But then I think I love the episode when they graduated high school [Episode 4.22, The Graduate]. I thought that was just sensational. I love the one-hour ender as well as the two-hour series finale ender. I think there’s so many. The episode where they studied and it was an all-nighter [Episode 2.07, The All-Nighter]. The episode where Joey had to enter the beauty pageant [Episode 1.12, Beauty Contest]. I just love all of those.

TDW: Well, conversely, do you have a big regret or something you wish you did differently?

Stupin: Yeah. My biggest regret would probably be, as I think about it–and it was a mistake we made–was the character of Eve. Remember that character?

TDW: Yeah. You guys even have a joke about that in the episode before the series finale.

Stupin: Yeah. I don’t think the first episodes of season 3 really were as memorable as the other episodes. And I think that whole notion of “Is she Jen’s sister? Is she not?”–I don’t think that was that effective. I don’t look back on that run of episodes as my favorites.

TDW: Yeah, I think the fans do agree with that.

Stupin: Yeah, but you know what, we turn it around.  In the middle of that season we turned it around with–

TDW: With Joey and Pacey.

Stupin: Yeah, with Joey and Pacey. And that certainly helped get us back, I think, to our roots.

TDW: Going more to your history, I know you played a bit of a role with the creation of Beverly Hills 90210.

Stupin: Yes, I did.

TDW: What influence, if any, did that show have on Dawson‘s Creek?  If you learned anything from how viewers took to what was really the first teenage show, as Dawson’s Creek is largely considered the next step in the genre.

Stupin: Well, two things. And it’s an interesting question. The first thing: when I hired Darren Star to write 90210, I felt as if his voice was just so unique in terms of his ability to write characters and come up with dialogue and wit that seemed like it would be a particularly good fit if he put into teenager characters’ mouths. So in a way I think that when I read Kevin’s voice, I felt some of it was the same in terms of being clever and sharp and smart and pop culturally-savvy. I felt like I had found another voice who was capable of taking the genre to the next step. So I felt like both Kevin and Darren brought originally a really unique sense of humor and sharpness to their creation of characters and dialogue. So I think there was a similarity there. The one issue that I took away from 90210, that was very effective in 90210, was the mix of issue-oriented episodes and personal inter-relationships. Though, when we jumped into Dawson’s, we veered away from doing the issue-oriented episodes and explored further just all of the great inter-relationships.

TDW: Going further ahead to the rest of the genre and the teen dramas that are on today, do you think Dawson’s Creek influenced them?

Stupin: I’m sure it did, though I can’t say–you know, again, I’m biased. I don’t know. In my mind, I’m undecided as to what the next real step in the genre is after Dawson’s. I’m not sure what it is. I haven’t watched enough of the shows. I hold, of course again I’m so biased, but I hold everything up to the prism of Dawson’s. I don’t know if any of them that have come since have quite represented that cultural milestone that Dawson’s did.

TDW: Do you think Dawson’s Creek would fly on The CW today? Because it’s so different than what The WB was.

Stupin: Yeah. I’m not sure. I’ve often thought would I be able to sell Dawson’s today? Would I be able to pitch that as a series and get it going, and I’m not altogether sure. Because now, when you look at Dawson’s, we sold it off the strength of the characters and off of the strength of Kevin’s voice being so fresh. Now, I think that the networks are looking for slightly higher concepts. So I’m not altogether sure that a Dawson’s would be able to sell today.

TDW: I have to ask, then, why do you think the 90210 spin-off sold?

Stupin: Oh, I see, are you talking about bringing able to bring it back, for instance?

TDW: Well, no, not for it to be a spin-off. But the 90210 concept today is working.

Stupin: Well, I think the 90210 concept–everyone, myself included, has fondness for that original show. The thought of sort of putting two new outsiders into that world and bringing the  show back is a great way to hook people into a whole new group of characters, and I think it was a great idea. The thing with Dawson’s is I don’t know if bringing the world of Dawson’s Creek back with a bunch of new characters would generate quite the excitement. Because I think when you think about the show, you think about Dawson and you think about the very unique 3 characters, the 4 characters we had, and the actors that played them. And I’m not sure if it was brought back again–I certainly wouldn’t want to redo it with a new Dawson or a new Pacey. So the question would be could we go back to Capeside with a whole new group of characters, and I’m not sure we would be able to put together a new group of people as memorably as we did originally.

TDW: Right. You know, they say lightening strikes once.

Stupin: Right. And you know, I’m afraid you always run the risk of–when you make a sequel to a movie that’s not as good, it kind of reflects negatively on the original movie.

TDW: I completely agree.

Stupin: And I like to think of all our episodes as being so special, I’m not sure it’s something you could bring back.

TDW: Well, my biggest disappointment right now is that Dawson’s Creek is no longer on any channel in America.

Stupin: Really? You know, they gotta get on that! Wasn’t it running like forever in the early morning hours?

TDW: It used to be on TBS. When I was in high school, it used to be on at like 10am. And then they pushed it to 4:30am, 5:30am and then it just faded away there and now it’s not on at all.

Stupin: I’m not sure what the design is on that because I always like to know that Dawson’s is out there.

TDW: I know, I know. It saddens me that it’s just not in repeats anywhere anymore in this country.

Stupin: You know what, those things tend to be cyclical. Maybe in the future you’ll be channel surfing one night. Knowing you, you’ll know way before then but maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

TDW: Fingers crossed.

Stupin: Exactly.

TDW: Well, let’s bring it back and finish on today. You’re with Make It Or Break It on ABC Family. Just looking at your career over the years, what is it about Make It or Break It that you’re here now?

Stupin: Well, what I love about Make It Or Break It is I’m a big fan of the genre, having originally developed 90210 and then developed Dawson’s. When I left to become a producer, I never really thought that my first real success would be in the same genre as 90210 because I actually never thought that lightning would strike twice in that genre for me as quickly as it did. But after I ran Dawson’s, you know, for six years, I developed a real love for the genre. And the thing that I love about Make It or Break It is the idea. It’s a fresh idea, it’s a fresh world. And it provides a pretty unique prism in which to explore sort of teenage relationships in a really unusual way. I mean, these girls aren’t normal teenagers. They’re elite gymnasts and there are rules against relationships as they’re pursuing their passion. How do they deal with that? And how do we deal with the same elements of teenage love and relationships and heartbreak but from a whole different perspective? And I love that about it, and I also love the relationships between the main characters and their parents and their parental figures. I think they’re a really organic element to the show and give us an opportunity to deal with really unusual family situations as well. So that’s why I love it. And also the gymnastics is just really cool. It’s a lot of fun just to see the gymnastics.

TDW: Oh, the gymnastics is just phenomenal to watch.

Stupin: So I think that Make It Or Break It is just such a special show. We’ve done 10 episodes and I think it’s just starting to get its sea legs. I think it has a huge successful life in front of it, I hope.

TDW: Well, best of luck to you on that!

Stupin: Thank you!

Come back next Sunday for another exclusive interview!

TDW Interview Index

The answers to all our questions about these and other famously ambiguous film endings here.

Your Thoughts?

A woman who is 35+, sexually cunning, that prefers to hunt rather than be hunted…

Some urban myth busting by The Daily Mash; Cougars not as good as they sound…

Mrs. Robinson – Simon & Garfunkel Mp3

The Graduate often appears near the top of many ‘all-time’ lists, especially among US cinephiles. On the other hand, it also attracts the odd backlash from those who claim it’s tonally incoherent and over-rated as a portrait of disillusioned rebellious American Youth.

What I Reckon is that while I can easily understand it not flawless, I think its a brilliant film that has relevance today for anyone who has done what they’re told, but somehow just wants to get off that merry-go-round…

Please note this review contains spoilers throughout…

This Mike Nichols film from 1967 is usually billed as a comedy, but from the opening shots we’re immediately aware this is not a run-of-the-mill example of the genre. Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) travels silently, stony-faced, through an airport, accompanied by Art Garfunkel’s angelic, haunting voice singing “Hello darkness my old friend…” For much of the title sequence, Benjamin is cropped out of the frame. He returns home with barely a word spoken. Slapstick this is not.

The first half of the film is all about alienation and a complete breakdown of communication within the apparent American Dream. Ben is frequently sullen and silent, either hiding from or cut off from the world: in a diving suit, underwater in the gorgeously blue swimming pool, behind dark glasses, even when he and Elaine retreat beneath the roof of his car, withdrawing from the noise of the outside world. Indeed, even when Benjamin pursues Elaine to Berkeley, we see him sat still while everyone else rushes around him, or later being shut out of her classroom in the silent, empty hallway.

Conversations are often clipped to point of monosyllables. A friend of Ben’s parents accosts him almost conspiratorially with “I’m going to say one word to you, just one word… Plastics.” Nothing the elder generation says to him even begins to connect. But similarly he cannot seem to engage Mrs Robinson, despite his embarrassinbgly awkward best efforts: “We’re going to do this. We’re going to have a conversation.” On perhaps the worst first date ever, Elaine has to shout above the roar of Ben’s car engine, and we can barely hear his one-word replies.

In addition to the fractured dialogue, the way frames are constructed heightens the feelings of dislocation – both of the characters from each other, and indeed from the audience. During their ill-feted affair, Ben and Mrs Robinson are rarely seen clearly together. One or both of them is cut off the edge of the shot, in silhouette, or sat with their back to the camera. Even when we can see them both, there’s not a great deal of eye contact. The bedrooms are white and clean to the point of being cold, clinical and distant, not at all intimate or personal. Within all of this, the humour of the alleged comedy is often painful, and almost always arises through miscommunication or misunderstanding. This is a dark, disjointed view of the world.

Anne Bancroft is tremendous as Mrs Robinson. If Jesus does love her more than she can know, He truly is a saviour of souls. Mrs Robinson is a desperate predator, clinging onto her historic pre-eminence in a changing world. We often see her in animal print coats, robes or slips, a hint at the exotic or dangerous in Benjamin’s preppy world. She lures him into her lair, and never lets him escape. Fearing the worst when Elaine returns, she forbids him from seeing her, because she know her daughter’s youth and innocent beauty will steal Benjamin (her new plaything) away. Her eyes are dark, clouded and empty. In one agonising moment she removes her stocking, coldly vacant. It’s devastating.

In the truly wonderful scene when Ben finally confesses his affair to Elaine, we see Mrs Robinson between them, outside the door, mascara streaked across her face, dejected, resigned, beaten. She silently leaves the frame but the camera stays focused on her, on her absence, for an achingly long couple of seconds before returning to Elaine. That’s the moment the film shifts from the split between the generations to a struggle within the younger characters to discover their own purpose and place in the world.

From the very first to the very last frame, music plays an important part. Like the weather & landscape in Thomas Hardy novels, Simon & Garfunkel’s songs are a character in themselves, the lyrics often expressing the unspoken feelings of Benjamin’s personality. “The Sound of Silence” perfectly reflects and builds on the theme of alienation and isolation all through the first half. Benjamin is reacting against the world of his parents, but he has little or no direction: he certainly doesn’t know what he actually wants; just that he wants things to be “different”. When the focus switches from his home to Berkeley, “Scarborough Fayre” becomes a lilting love song: Ben has found his purpose, a quest to recapture and regain Elaine’s affection.

But Benjamin Braddock, for all his gawky angst, can be a pretty unlikeable character. If he weren’t so incompetent, he could almost be described as a sociopath. He’s nihilistic, he rejects his parents, he’s very creepy towards Elaine in Berkeley when he practically stalks her for weeks, and he does take her on that terrible first date: although he does crack at the last minute, so perhaps he’s not a monster! We can only assume that Elaine sees something of herself in Ben, or simply recognises his struggle to express himself. But for the most part she seems pretty well-adjusted and more at ease with herself.

And then there’s the famous final sequence which has even been copied by The Simpsons, where Ben actually achieves something. Seemingly victorious in his quest for Elaine, the younger generation escape from the clutches of the old. Mrs Robinson (in a leopard-print suit) hisses at Elaine “It’s too late” before her daughter snaps back “Not for me”, fleeing from the Church and her preppy catalogue fiancé Carl. Yet as our hero and heroine leap onto a bus, directionless and alone, “The Sound of Silence” returns. Staring straight ahead, not even touching, they may be in it together, but this must be one of the least triumphant happy endings ever.

This November, The Graduate will spend a couple weeks playing shows in the Midwest, full details after the jump. The Morning Of and The Hoodies will join the tour in supporting roles. Isn’t it about time a label signed The Graduate? Seriously, somebody get on that.

Tour Dates:
11/04 :: St. Louis, MO :: Firebird
11/06 :: Mountain Home, AR :: The Brickyard
11/07 :: Davidson, NC :: Davidson College
11/08 :: Raleigh, NC :: The Brewery
11/09 :: Philadelphia, PA :: Northstar
11/10 :: Baltimore, MD :: Ottobar
11/11 :: Poughkeepsie, NY :: The Loft @ Chance Theater
11/12 :: Cleveland, OH :: Peabody’s
11/13 :: Rochester, NY :: Water Street Music Hall
11/14 :: Jacksonville, IL :: IC Dining Hall
11/15 :: Madison, WI :: The New Loft
11/17 :: Minneapolis, MN :: Triple Rock
11/18 :: Chicago, IL :: The Beat Kitchen
11/19 :: Quincy, IL :: Turner Hall

According to Syd Field’s book Screenplay, it is on page 25 that the first Plot Point should occur. And he’s right. It works. Here’s a few examples of page 25 moments through movie history…

CASABLANCA, min. 25: Ilsa and Victor Laszlo enter Rick’s bar for the first time. Up until this point, Rick has continually pointed out to others that he sticks his neck out for no one — his goal is to merely stay out of trouble. He seems unfazed by others, be they Nazi Majors, Police Captains or beautiful women. But when Ilsa and Rick’s eyes lock at min 25, we know the stakes have been raised — he might stick his neck out for this one. This Plot Point ushers us into ACT II, where he will cease merely existing and CHOOSE to seduce Ilsa away from Victor — he’ll stick his neck out now, but only to pursue selfish desires. The second Plot Point, at the start of ACT III, will be the moment Rick springs his plan to get Ilsa and Victor onto a plane into action and he becomes the opposite of what he was at the beginning. Not only has he been reborn as a man who will stick his neck out, he’ll stick it out for a cause bigger than himself or Ilsa.

SOME LIKE IT HOT, min 25:  We learn of Joe and Jerry’s choice to flee town with the all-women band by cutting to them, in drag, on the train platform. Up to that point, they’d been exhausting every other option to avoid being rubbed-out by the mob.  With nothing left to lose, they CHOOSE to leave Chicago, and their dignity, behind. It’s also at minute 25 that we first see Marilyn Monroe as she boards the train, and the camera gives her a head-to-toe goings-over that lets us know, in the language of cinema, that her intellect is respected above all else.

THE GRADUATE, min 25:  Ben calls Mrs. Robinson and invites her to a hotel. Back at minute 12, she had tried to seduce him (in a scene you may have seen referenced several thousand times). But he resists her smokey, smokey charms because…well…it would turn future, family dinners into etiquette nightmares. But then her gin-soaked husband lectures Ben about making the most of his youth — playing the field, and so on — and his parents throw him the world’s lamest, birthday, pool-party. Seeing the adults around him trapped in a lifestyle he’s not eager to embrace, he CHOOSES to call Mrs. Robinson at minute 25 as a way of procrastinating his own perceived decent into his parent’s stolid existence (see: dictionary definition of “passive-aggressive”).

MORE EXAMPLES…

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, min 25:  Indiana Jones walks into Marion’s bar, gaining the world’s worst sidekick and the bronze medallion that leads him to the Ark. But first they have a Casablanca moment with the genders reversed — he left her and now she’s the drunk with a bar — “Of all the Mongolian gin joints in the world, he had to walk into mine.”

GROUNDHOG DAY, min 25: Phil wakes-up to “I Got You Babe” for the third time. He’s already lived the same day over again once, but at minute 25, he realizes this problem isn’t going away. He CHOOSES to stop going through the motions and actively changes his behavior. He refuses to cover Punxsuntawney Phil and begins his journey of…doing stuff without consequences…

On page 25, your character should make a CHOICE that changes the direction of the story and sends it on an irreversible journey towards the film’s climax. Some films have this moment happen at minute 27 or 29, and that’s fine. But in your script, discipline yourself and make Readers, Agents and Producers know you’ve got a handle on your story by sticking Plot Point One on good ol’ 25.

Thanks for reading. Tune in tomorrow for another tip from Screenplay that I’ll be discussing. And feel free to leave your own thoughts in the “Comments” section!

– Benjamin

Her last album “Fires” (2006) was a great collection of pop songs, now british singer Nerina Pallot (34) released her third one, the fantastic “The Graduate”, her best work so far.

Her music is classy pop, piano-driven with woozy electronics and beefed up bass. Her lyrics are great too and on the new album there are 10 new songs, which are all wonderful. Lyrcis are about family (Coming Home) or the ironic question why she became such a bitch (When did i become such a bitch). She also sings about “Cigarettes” or “I Don`t Want To Go Out”. Besides up-tempo songs there are 2 great ballads, “It Starts” and “It Was Me” on the only 38 minutes long album.

Pallot grew up in London with a half-french father and her indian mother. The pretty singer had a hit with “Everybody goes to war” and her second album got gold in the UK after his second release. Nerina got an Ivor Novello award and a Brit award nomination for her work. It took a long time before her new album was ready, she wrote lots of songs with other people, but in the end there are only self-written songs on “The Graduate”. The album has just been released in the UK and the single “Real Late Starter” is available worldwide. Warner will be releasing the album in Germany later. You can listen to snippets of the new album on Nerina`s website.

Nerina Pallot Cover

http://www.nerinapallot.tv/

It’s been a bit rough lately for Springfield, Ill. pop-punk outfit The Graduate. After their label (Icon) ceased to exist the band was forced to self-produce the follow-up to 2007’s Anhedonia.

The band took their money and went back the recording studio they recorded at in Baltimore, Md. with engineer Brian McTernan. In their time there the band posted a few videos on YouTube, but for the most part has not released any new material in the past two years.

That is, until Monday evening when the five-piece posted a little nugget on Purevolume.com as a part of their Unsigned Showcase.

The song, entitled “Don’t Die Digging,” picks up almost exactly where they left off. It kicks off with quick, pulsating drums and is quickly met by Corey Warning’s unique, piercing vocals.

Musically this song is similar to “Anhedonia” or “The Formula:” guitar dripping with delay and a sweeping synthesizer met in the chorus by overdriven power-chords. The gang vocals seem a bit cheesy, but surely it’s a prerequisite for pop-punk bands to do it at least once per album.

Lyrically this song does not progress much beyond what was evident in Anhedonia, however, for the genre that this band is dabbling in, it’s fine.

Warning yells about being “out of control” and an apparent disregard for whatever “they” care about. Overall, the lyrics leave something to be desired. However, on that same note there is still a progression that can be seen from their earlier songs like “Justified,” which express a sense of teenage sexual angst.

Though the song does not explore new depths for the band, it isn’t the worst music I’ve ever heard either. I feel as though this review is coming off a bit harsh on The Graduate, but what they do is done pretty well. This brand of synthesized, sugary pop-punk is enjoyable, and certainly good for a jolt of energy.

The most important thing about this song about this song is that there is definitely an audience.

The Graduate make intricate pop-punk and they do it better than most bands on mediocre labels today. I hope that a label takes interest in their work based upon this sample, and gives them a chance to distribute their music beyond their own means.

Take a listen to “Don’t Die Digging,” and judge for yourself.

The Graduate – “Don’t Die Digging”

Have you ever been seduced by something? By an idea, a place, or a desire that was so overpowering that you couldn’t think of anything else. Before you knew what you were doing, you had quit your job, or bought a plane ticket, or one morning, you found yourself in bed with someone, and you aren’t quite sure of how you got there. The odds are that you were lured, or seduced.

In the 1976 film Network, a savage send up of television directed by Sidney Lumet, we are introduced to the head of a news department of a fictional television network. This character, called Max Schumacher, played by William Holden, has to deal with the fact that his news division is struggling with falling ratings.

Under pressure from a senior network executive (Robert Duvall, in an icy and juicy role) Max finds himself paired up with a voracious Faye Dunaway, as Diana Christensen, the new VP of Programming, who wants success at any price. Max is looking at the younger Diana with designs, not knowing she has already targeted him. From his middle-aged vantage point, this might be his last chance at grand passion. He doesn’t stand a chance:

Max: Do you have a favorite restaurant?
Diana: I eat anything.
Max: Son of a bitch, I get a feeling I’m being made.
Diana: You are.
Max: I’ve got to warn you, I-I don’t do anything on my first date.
Diana: We’ll see.

And so, Max was seduced. And so were we. Of course you will recall the movies’ famous tagline: “I’m Mad as Hell, and I’m Not Going To Take it Anymore!” which was spoken by the newscaster Howard Beale.

Actor Peter Finch won an Oscar for his role as the ill-fated newsman. Finch himself died before the Oscar ceremony so this was a posthumous award. Poor Finch never did get to experience the seduction by Hollywood that always follows an Oscar.

In the famed movie The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman stars as Benjamin, a recent college graduate trying to find his way in the world. He doesn’t have clue as to what he wants to do with his life. His father’s business partner’s wife, Mrs Robinson, played by Anne Bancroft, who got an Academy Award nomination for her role, has a definite game plan designed for Benjamin.

Ben: For God’s sake, Mrs Robinson, here we are, you’ve got me into your house. You give me a drink. You put on music, now you start opening up your personal life to me and tell me your husband won’t be home for hours.
Mrs Robinson: So?
Ben: Mrs Robinson — you are trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?
Mrs Robinson: Well, no. I hadn’t thought of it. I feel very flattered.

As he is leaving she calls to him from the upstairs, asking him to bring her purse upstairs, He tries to refuse, but she insists. He brings the purse upstairs, and enters her bedroom. She enters the room behind him, naked, and locks the door:

Ben: Oh God, let me out.
Mrs Robinson: Don’t be nervous.
Ben: Get away from that door.
Mrs Robinson: I want to say something first.
Ben: Dear God.
Mrs Robinson: Benjamin. I want you to know that I’m available to you, and if you won’t sleep with me this time….
Ben: Oh, my God.

Ben manages to escape this time, but later he gives in to his desires …

… and they meet at a hotel. “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you,” indeed. It wasn’t ‘plastics’ that seduced Ben, no, it was Mrs. Robinson.

Hotels, or motels, often figure in our grand seduction plans and schemes. You will never forget the Bates Motel in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film, Psycho. Janet Leigh’s character checked in but she never checked out. Aside from her desperate desire and need for money, you’d never associate the word seduction with what happened to her character. Yes poor Janet’s seduction is entirely off-topic for this discussion.

However, to stay on topic, let’s have a look at the brilliant film North By Northwest, where seduction is at the film’s core. The debonair Cary Grant, as Roger O. Thornhill (R.O.T – another one of director Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘jokes’ within the film)  more than meets his match in Eva Marie Saint, as Eve Kendall, who beds him on the train from New York to Chicago.

The seduction is played out with many memorable lines. The first of which played out in the dining car:

Roger: What I mean is, the moment I meet an attractive woman, I have to start pretending I have no desire to make love to her.
Eve: What makes you think you have to conceal it?
Roger: She might find the idea objectionable.
Eve: Then again, she might not.

And the second of the more memorable dialogies that will get R.O.T. into Eve’s clutches:

Roger: Think how lucky I am to have been seated here.
Eve: Well, luck had nothing to do with it.
Roger: Fate?
Eve: I tipped the steward $5 dollars to seat you here if you should come in.
Roger: Is that a proposition?
Eve: I never discuss love on an empty stomach.
Roger: You’ve already eaten.
Eve: But you haven’t.

Yes, the movies are filled with seductions, and these are but three of the best. If you will visit The Arts on a regular basis, you may learn more about the art of seduction; or you may not ever see seduction mentioned again.  Either way, we hope you enjoy yourself here.

dear record industry,

the hell wrong wit’ you? as if you haven’t made enough mistakes in recent memory, you’re gonna let this band sit unsigned?! i’m talking to you too, indie labels. someone stop being a moron, pick up a phone/send an email, and make this shit happen. listen to this song and tell me this band doesn’t deserve to be signed. take in a live show and tell me the same thing, and i’ll tell you that you should be A&R at shit town records.

the graduate on myspace.

stream don’t die digging at absolutepunk.net.

- panda