Sex and Power

Such is my curse: I was watching TCM last night and there was young William Powell as a man of importance. He put a cigarette in his mouth and a dozen underlings rushed forward with a light. I am doomed for all eternity to notice this gesture, which is sometimes about sex, sometimes about power, probably always about both, as I have said before, but neglected to mention in my cigarette lighter book (the part about power, anyway). The good news is that the resulting title of this "post" is sure to make "blogs" popular again.

Coda

"Got a light?" Clint Eastwood constantly asks in his 1990 movie THE ROOKIE, which Dr. Theresa and I watched last night. Usually, no one does (have a light, that is). That's the joke. Wait! I should warn you there will be spoilers for this Clint Eastwood movie from 1990. Anyway, at the end, he asks his friend "Got a light?" and his friend does not have a light, and Clint Eastwood says, "Story of my life," and slumps over dead. Great ending! Except they keep going. There's a brief coda to let us know that our hero Clint Eastwood is not dead after all. Big mistake, in my opinion. It ruined the cool ending, which definitely would have gone in my cigarette lighter book, even though what Clint is looking for all through the movie would technically be a cigar lighter, because he smokes cigars. Still, there is something existentially irresistible about a man who always needs a light and never can get one and does not have one of his own. (See also.)

It's Over

It is only fair to mention that my sister beat my head in, 16-5, in our annual Oscar guessing contest. We both claim to know nothing about the Oscars, and I think it is clear that at least one of us is telling the truth. That must be my lowest count of correct guesses ever! But we'll never know for sure, because at some point I stopped recording the scores out of shame. I was curious to know exactly when I began losing interest in the Oscars, which I watched every year since 1973, until last year when I just... stopped. And of course I missed the big brouhaha! But I didn't learn my lesson, and I skipped it again this year, but I don't think any big brouhahas occurred. Anyway ("click" here for confirmation), imagine my surprise upon discovering that my interest in the Oscars has been very, very slowly fading for ten miserable years now.

That's Right

I'm under no legal obligation to tell you this, but I picked up Ovid again. I was like, where was I in this? And I opened it at random, and what do you think I read? That's right: "above the bridal chamber brooded the evil hoot-owl." So another owl in Ovid, big shock. Similarly absent of shock: the other night I couldn't sleep, so I got up and turned on TCM and there sat Robert Redford with an obelisk, and I wasn't even going to tell you about it.

Star

I keep forgetting to mention that McNeil saw an obelisk in WHERE THE SPIES ARE (1966). "This one has a star on top," he reported soberly. I would have put an exclamation point on that! McNeil provided no photographic evidence of this unusual star-topped obelisk, but he is my oldest friend and his word is solid gold in my book.