DVD: “One of those guys was the Governor.”
The Eliot Spitzer scandal offers ample fodder for commentary. I could contemplate the hypocrisy of a square-jawed reformer being felled by the most sordid personal behavior. Or consider the irony of a former hard-charging prosecutor becoming ensnared in the kind of elaborate investigation he once spearheaded. Or ask why Spitzer felt the need to import a call girl to our nation’s capital. You’d think Washington, D.C. would have plenty to choose from with its mix of money, power, and men separated from their wives. Or do New Yorkers view their prostitutes the way they do their pizza and bagels?
But none of those approaches interests me.
Instead, I will use the love guv’s woes as an excuse to voice one of this site’s long-standing complaints: there is still no special edition DVD of the 1995 sex thriller Jade that includes the extended ending aired on cable television. Joe Eszterhas wrote a prescient script about the governor of a major state frequenting hookers. That fictional governor, to quote a recent affidavit, could also be “difficult” and would ask his escorts “to do things that, like, you might not think were safe.” It’s uncanny. And proof that now more than ever, America needs Jade.
Labels: DVD, Politics
Miscellaneous: More King of Kong
The AV Club is on a roll this week. Today they have a lengthy interview with Billy Mitchell, the putative villain of The King of Kong. I love how it came about: AV Club staffers ordered up a mess of Rickey’s Barbecue Sauce, probably as part of this article on B-list celebrity food products, and Mitchell himself called to confirm the address. Whatever Billy’s faults, the man knows service. A must-read if you’ve seen the movie.
Miscellaneous: Political Art and Science
The Washington State caucuses are on Saturday, and for once they matter. Within a span of 24 hours Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain were all in Seattle. It’s nice to be wanted. For several hours this morning I couldn’t think with the sound of news helicopters circling the Obama rally.
But I won’t be at the big shindig tomorrow, for three reasons.
1. I have a prior engagement. All those Saturdays when I have nothing to do, and now this happens. Great.
2. I still have nightmares about my experience at the 2004 caucus.
3. I don’t feel so strongly about my choice that I want to stand around a high school gym discussing it with strangers.
Still, it was nice to discover I’m not the only person who is intrigued by Obama but vaguely embarrassed by the frenzy surrounding his campaign.
Labels: Miscellaneous, Movies, Politics
