That's so sad

I was at the Insect Girl and the Enemy Below’s Apartment Sunday watching an episode of the X-files last night – the one where they make a movie about the X-files (it’s a pretty weird deal – dancing zombies and what not). But what struck me was that at one point during the show Mulder is at home watching Plan Nine From Outer Space (apparently to clear his brain or something like that). So Scully comes over and in the course of the conversation learns Mulder has seen Plan Nine 42 times.

“That’s so sad” Scully says “Doesn’t it make you sad? It makes me sad.”

It made me sad too. I’ve spent a lot of evenings that I could have spent otherwise watching brain numbing films – that I had already seen. I’d like to have done other things I supose but I can never quite figure out what – so in goes “The Giant Claw” one more time.

I do plan to write about Plan Nine but since it is one of the ‘classic’ bad movies and Ed Wood’s most famous film it needs time and care (probably more time than Ed put into making it) to do it right. The film deserves no less.

Was at a farewell party Saturday for a friend of The Enemy Below – off to California so we hung about at Dave and Busters where I ended playing a lot of trivia and drinking Mai Tai’s (not anywhere nearly as good as the ones from Otto’s).

I did pretty well at trivia, actually very well – but that’s my mind – I can’t remember my niece’s birthdays but I can remember that Carl Yazstremski hit .301 in 1968 the lowest batting average to will a batting title. (In the National League Pete Rose hit a more reselectable .323 to win that league’s title). Stuff just worms its way in to my head and it stays there. Forever it seems. Like the lyrics to Gillian’s Island, the Plot of the Manster (don’t ask).

However the Mai Tai’s had a bad effect – esp. the next day. It wasn’t quite that bad but I was reminded of a scene in W.C. Fields “The Bank Dick” where he goes to the bar, orders a drink and then shyly leans over to the bartender.

Fields: Was I in here last night and did I spend Twenty Dollars?
Bartender: Yes you did
Fields: (relived smile on his face): Well that’s a relief. I thought I lost it.

Anyway part of Sunday was spend pondering why I had continued to order a drink I didn’t like especially when it had this kind of effect on me. The best answer I could come up with was that I was stupid.

Random Neural firings:

I’ve noticed that for some reason the inside the beltway opinion is turning towards the “surge” idea in Iraq, even Harry Reid, the soon to be Democratic Party’s majority leader in the Senate mush mouthed the idea saying he wasn’t opposed to it. Sweet mother what the hell do we have to do to get them to pay attention? Storm the capital with pikes? The American people have sent a very clear message on Iraq. Out. If not now, as soon as possible. Somehow this was translated into – send more troops and this idea is being presented as the will the middle – by folks who know.

The only problem standing in the way of this idea is where are we going to get the troops. Colin Powel, who apparently got the negatives that W was holding back, has said the army is ‘broken’ which makes some sense – this army isn’t designed for occupying a country – it’s like using a fine Spanish rapier to dig holes in rocky soil, you’re going to get the point dented and dull and nick the whole blade and the holes won’t be that good either.

This cold water to the face has not fazed anybody it seems – Powell is, apparently for talking honestly about the problems, no longer someone you listen to. This whole thing is a grim reminder of something J.K.Galbraith noted years ago that it is far better to be wrong, as long as you agree with the conventional wisdom than it is to be right.

Still you have to wonder just what kind of cloud coo-coo land these people are living in.

W: More troops!
Aide: yes sir as soon as we get them from Guam
W: Why are they on Guam?
Aide: you sent them there to guard against a re-occurrence in Japanese militaristic expansionism in the Pacific.
W (after a very very long pause) Oh. Good. Let know when troops come. Me go bye bye now. (leaves office)
Clerk (to aide): Troops in Guam?
Aide: I have to tell him something – he damn near clawed the secretary of education when they said he couldn’t militarize teachers and send them.
Clerk: Are their troops in Guam?
Aide: No but I can lie about bad weather delaying them for a couple of weeks until he forgets about this.
Clerk: like the manned trip to mars
Aide: Exactly.
Clerk: when you kept telling him
Aide: That they still hadn’t reassembled the flying saucer they found at Roswell.

File this under no good deed goes unpunished:

I was walking to the store Saturday – the usual food shopping what not – I passed by a coffee shop it was a very warm day and there were a lot of people sitting in the sun. One of them was an older guy in wheel chair.
“Hey” he said.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Could you wheel me around the corner?”
I figured well sure – poor guy looked a wreck, little kindness couldn’t hurt – so I said
“Sure where to?”
“The paper store.”
Well that wasn’t much a burden so with out fuss I did so – took all of two minutes.
“Well there you go.” I said.
“Thanks” he said, and then paused, “Listen”
“Yes?”
“could you go into the store and buy my two 40 oz Budweisers?” he asked holding a $5.00 bill in his hand.
For all my snappy patter this time I was completely stuck for an answer. I’m thinking what the hell do I do now? I sort of stared until he got the idea I wasn’t going to do that and with that I sheepishly left feeling rather taken advantage of. While I don’t try and judge people I’m not about to help them destroy themselves either.

Thinking about doing Mothra for this week. Don’t quite know why.

Peace Love Fresh Brains