Skippy of the Day: Larry Knapp

In the latest issue of American Libraries, there is a story out of Idaho about the Nampa Public Library's decision to retain a couple of books that some citizens wanted banned. Included among these was a businessman named Larry Knapp, who withdrew a $10,000 donation to the library as a result of this decision.

That is, of course, his prerogative. His statement regarding it, however, was insipid. Here's the excerpt from the article:

"'Why would you want to create a larger problem?' Knapp said in the June 27 Nampa Idaho Press Tribune, noting that the library official's decision was an unpopular one and 'from a business perspective that’s a bad policy.'"

Alright, who wants to be the person to tell this joker that a library is not a business? We serve the public, Larry, and that means all of them. As a result, we're strictly a please-all-of-the-people-some-of-the-time organization. Maybe you can use some of that ten thousand to buy yourself a nice big dictionary to look it up. Or better yet, go by the Nampa Public Library and you can use theirs. We serve everybody, Larry, even nitwits like you.

Bushlandia

Never was there a more appropriately titled website than Damn Interesting. In a recent story titled The Ruins of Fordlandia, you can read about an ill-fated attempt by automobile mogul Henry Ford to establish a rubber tree plantation in South America.

It's fascinating stuff, as is always the case with articles on the site. Most fascinating was the following two sections:

"Ford chose not to employ any botanists in the development of Fordlandia's rubber tree fields, instead relying on the cleverness of company engineers. Having no prior knowledge of rubber-raising, the engineers made their best guess, and planted about two hundred trees per acre despite the fact that there were only about seven wild rubber trees per acre in the Amazon jungle."

"Certainly he was unable to buy his way into rubber royalty, and his efforts to spread his American "healthy lifestyle" were met with resentment and hostility ... but history has repeatedly shown that obscene wealth gives one the privilege - perhaps even the obligation - to make bizarre and astonishing mistakes on a grand scale."

Hmm ... not soliciting the advice of experts before going into a foreign venture, trying to change a culture without any understanding of it, and then throwing tons of money at it in the false hope that it will all get better. Did Dubya study this guy at Yale?

A bit of the old ultra-gambling

Martin Scorsese's Casino taught us a number of things, but what stayed with me longest was the little history lesson the film ended with: Las Vegas, which was once a City of Sin that was ruled over by the Mob, has now been Disney-fied in order to attract family tourist dollars. Whether that's a good thing or not is all according to your point of view.

This little tidbit came to mind when I saw this ad over on Roger Ebert's website the other day:

In case you can't read the small print, this ad is for the Circus Circus Casino in Las Vegas which, they assure us, is "Fun For The Whole Family". But take a look at this clown. For an ad that wishes to impart a Barnum and Bailey's feel, right down to the two classic circus fonts used, they didn't blow much money on the clown. His make-up is very minimal, as is also his costume. He could be a valet at the hotel for all we know. The image itself isn't very sharply photographed, which somehow makes the ad more creepy. But the overriding quality that really seems counter-productive is the choice of the man playing the clown. Is it just me, or does he look like Malcolm McDowell. And not just any Malcolm McDowell, but that Malcolm McDowell.


I suddenly have the fear that, were I to go to this place, that clown would break into my hotel room, bind and gag me, and then kick the living crap out of me whilst crooning "Singing in the Rain".

But maybe I have this all wrong. Maybe this ad is some very subtle dual-programming initiative. A child might see this as simply a clown, nothing more. His or her thoughts may lead plainly to the circus and, therefore, a good fun time. Meanwhile, any adult who has seen A Clockwork Orange will see the poster and pick up on the sense of menace and the darker side of Vegas. "Yes, we have something for adults too", it seems to say, much in keeping with the current slogan "What Happens Here, Stays Here".

I may be reading too much into it, I suppose. But if Mrs. Mosley and I ever go to Vegas, I'm sure as hell deadbolting the door against possible droogie/clown invasions.

A chart so easy that even Dubya would understand it ...

... and probably wouldn't change a g&dd%mn thing:

A VISUAL LOOK AT WHERE YOUR TAX DOLLARS GO

The Professionals and misleading ratings

I put in my DVD copy of The Professionals in order to while away a lazy Saturday afternoon. It remains one of the best classic Westerns to come out of Hollywood, so it was perfectly suited for this purpose.

Before the Columbia Pictures Annette-Benning-as-the-Statue-of-Liberty logo is shown, the standard rating stamp comes up. In this case, it says this film is rated PG-13 for "Violence and Nudity". Now, the official ratings system did not go into effect until 1968. That was two years after this film was released, so the rating is retroactive. This is even more obvious if, like me, you remember that the PG-13 rating was actually created back in 1984 (Red Dawn was the first film released as PG-13).

Now there is plenty of gunfire and people do bleed (though it's not at Wild Bunch level), so the violence moniker is understandable. However, the nudity thing is misleading. There is a scene where Claudia Cardinale tries to seduce Burt Lancaster by unbuttoning her blouse and letting it all hang out. However, a black smudge appears at the bottom of the screen where the justifications for the rating should be staring us in the face (Note to whoever put that smudge there: dirty pool, my friend). By the way, for those of you unfortunate to have not seen her in this film or Once Upon a Time in the West, check her out here.

On top of this, there was an interesting discovery when I started playing with the buttons on the DVD remote. In the original film as shown in theaters, the filmmakers made the choice to not present any subtitles when anyone speaks Spanish. Anyone in the audience who doesn't speak Spanish is left to wonder what the characters are saying, but the general gist is easy enough to guess. On the DVD, however, when you choose the English Subtitles option, the subtitles also surprisingly translate the Spanish lines into English. This includes one line in a scene where two Mexicans are fighting and one yells out, "I don't give a shit!".

Now, MASH is recognized as the first major studio film to have the word "Fuck" spoken, but it would seem that The Professionals is the first one to use "Shit", and use it four years before MASH to boot. None of this is to say that I'm offended by any of this, but it is an interesting bit of trivia for the film.

And in the interest of continuity, let me end this post with the great last lines of the film and their own milder profanity:

J.W. Grant: "You bastard."

Rico: "Yes, Sir. In my case an accident of birth. But you, Sir, you're a self-made man."

"thug-life stroll"

I had been considering dropping some links I have on right-hand bar. Little Yellow Different (LYD), which blogger Ernie updates at the rate of about once a month lately, was one of these. But it's comments like this one, which is in reference to a concert he went to recently, that keeps him over there.

"Dear homeboy doing your thug-life stroll with a beer in your hand trying to look all hard: YOU'RE AT A KELLY CLARKSON CONCERT."