NYCweboy

When You're Not Around

Between the rain, my finances, the general annoyances associated with working things out on the web, and having to work today... it was not a good day. And what is usually a simple matter of faking being the cheerful outgoing person that customers expect, became much harder than usual. In order to fake successfully, you need something to draw on, and today my reserves were just depleted.

So I just thought I'd share something you may have suspected: yes, we talk about you when you're not around.

We talk about your clothes and your jewelery, and the fact that you think leaving the change from a $1.99 cup of coffee constitutes a tip (or that you have the nerve to reach into our tip jar when your order is $3.01). We talk about your noisy kids - or the adorableness of your baby - we talk about how you shouldn't leave your blouse undone that extra button, or how you should, and the quality of the work of your plastic surgeon.

And we kid about the way every 16 year old girl orders a frappucino as if she invented the idea, and how every 20-something college girl orders as if she's Lauren on The Hills. We discuss what constitutes a girly drink and how you want to tell the burly construction guy that ordering a Strawberry and Cream frap may not be the way to go. And while we're at it, we'd kind of like to tell people that ordering a mocha frappucino light with extra mocha is really not "light." And that's before you added whipped cream.

It's not that we mean anything by it; it really just passes the time, and from the service side of the register, you get to observe things about human behavior... if nothing else, the ways that we look at people when we think of them as the help. It's why, really, I try to be nice to every salesperson I meet, at least the ones who give good service; it's hard work, and a lot of people don't understand, and I'd rather they say "that fat guy was really nice" rather than "he left a bad tip." Please don't talk about me when I'm gone... but I know you will.

Anyway, that's probably enough bold honesty for one evening.  See ya tomorrow.

Defending Your Life... And Theirs

Well, things seem to be shaking out okay on the adserving front, so I'm starting to calm down.  And maybe I can even get to one or two of the things I was meaning to take up.

So, first off, over the weekend I caught this post by Jeralyn Merritt over at Talk Left, talking about Mickey Sherman's new book, How Can You Defend Those People? I hadn't realized that Merritt is a well known attorney who defended Timothy McVeigh, and her own decisions about who to defend thus become an interesting part of the overall discussion.

Merritt talks about Sherman's interviews with various lawyers, asking them where they would "draw the line" in defending bad characters - child molesters, bombers, mass murderers... these are the sorts of responses that come out. 

The reason I mention this, though, is because my mom's reaction was strong, and reminded me why I'm glad I get her insights.  She pointed out that in fact one shouldn't draw lines.  Everyone is entitled to a defense. It's not for us to judge who should and shouldn't get one.  She reminded me of debates she had with her students - back when she was teaching professional ethics in healthcare - where they wanted to pick and choose "good" clients from "bad" ones (it's why many of them wanted to wind up working with children... less moral qualms). 

Obviously, there's a difference between medical and rehabilitative treatment and legal services.  But still; I'm reminded of how Alan Dershowitz can suggest that he'd defend Hitler if the alternative was no one. That's what it is, I think, to believe in the law, and to believe in the rights of all people, however monstrous. It's an interesting question (and here, already I've managed to invoke Godwin's Law), a reminder of our humanity. I wouldn't want to be the one, necessarily, defending Timothy McVeigh either.  But if you have, I'd wonder why then decide you can't defend someone... for something.

Ad Bleg

Hi - I really don't usually do this... but does anyone know anything about using Google Adsense?  I am having a devil of a time getting the code they supplied me to display ads properly... and I can't figure out how you're supposed to get an answer from a person over at their site.  Any suggestions, thoughts? Comment here or e-mail me.

Thanks!
I am feeling very frustrated, which is keeping me from writing more.  Grrr....

Ketchup!

Although I have a number of posts in the planning stages, there wasn't a lot of time today to write.

However, it's been an exciting weekend, in a number of ways, so I wanted to mention a couple of things about changes here and elsewhere.

(I'm always nervous when someone writes something like "changes here and elsewhere.")

Since I started blogging (uh-oh), I've been waiting to see what develops.  I started out with a paid gig - for which I am still grateful - but wound up largely here, on my own, hoping to see if anyone would notice little old me. As it turns out, people have... though not necessarily in ways, or for things, I ever dreamed. A world of Clinton blogging, and a post about Joan Crawford... who'd'a thunk?

Because of the confidence I am feeling about increased traffic to the site - as well as a couple of amazing, unexpected opportunities - I am going to try and upgrade the site over the next couple of weeks; hopefully this will include new features for the site, maybe a few ads, and hopefully some additional contributors (something that may lead to a name change... I don't know).

So, first, though I find myself saddened somewhat by the news that my dear pal RedStar is planning to quit the "personal blog" game, I'm thrilled to say that it looks like we may get to act on some ambitious talk to share a blog space.   It's premature to say what shape it may take (it depends in part on my upgrade, and just how much of me she'll put up with)), but I'm  glad to help keep her in the blogosphere, talking about the issues we both care about so much.

Second, but really first, I'm also incredibly grateful that Tom Watson graciously invited me to join the crowd at New Critics, a group of cultural observers - including the Self Styled Siren who got me onto the Crawford beat - doing the kind of cultural criticism I've been longing to do all along (and I mean "all along" as in "since I was about 16"). Look for me there shortly... but mostly look there.  It's great stuff, and I'm humbled to think I have something to add of value.

Really, I go to be tonight a satisfied, yet still excited weboy. Blogging has been fulfilling like French Fries - improving pretty much everything. And all these new opportunities... ketchup! :)

Okay... But It Probably Speaks More to My Feelings About Joan Collins as Alexis

I am truly blushing at the latest link from James Wolcott:

Inspired by the Siren's Joan Crawford birthday wishes, NYCweboy unveils his shrine to Cukor's The Women, where Crawford and Shearer had their memorable slag match over some dope named Steve.

I can't say The Women (based on the Clare Booth Luce play that she apparently batted out in a blink) is one of my film faves. The clackity-clack of the gossip and wisecracks I find wearing, and Rosalind Russell's peacock hen performance is an endurance test that I can never quite pass. Though it's still worth its weight in platinum compared to the recent stage edition starring Cynthia Nixon as Mary the betrayed wife (Shearer) and a shrilly miscast Jennifer Tilly as Crystal (the Joan Crawford role). Crystal, as her name indicates, should be a cutting, bright schemer with ratlike cunning, not a breathy honey pot of a bimbo.

Reading NYCweboy's terrific take on the Crawford-Shearer showdown scene makes one realize that what he admires in Crawford ("the unapologetic nature of her work--tough, uncompromising, sexual") speaks to his support of Hillary Clinton.

I actually saw the Cynthia Nixon version on Broadway - and, like Shearer, I'm not sure Nixon was right for Mary Haines; she's smarter than that, and it showed. And I can see Wolcott's point about Jennifer Tilly, though I found her kind of inspired - she handled the famous "bubble bath" sequence with Mary's daughter with some aplomb, I thought (Crawford, in what I think may be her only work with Virginia Weidler - MGM's precocious  "little rich girl" of 1939 in The Women and The Philadelphia Story - was hard as nails). And Tilly's no bimbo, which I thought came through in her work, but maybe not. See? I could go on and on... and thanks to the Self Styled Siren herself for her kind, and illuminating comments (and may I recommend her in depth follow up on Joan's work in A Woman's Face, which I've seen once, but long ago).

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, Down On The Riviera

Managed to get in a second movie viewing last night, the French comedy Priceless (Hors De Prix). Released in France in 2006, it's the cheerful tale of a gold-digger and the man she bankrupts into a similar position.

Irene picks up Jean, the innocent bartender, mistaking him for a wealthy man about town; she finds him alone in the bar, but not behind the counter, having wandered away from her current paramour, drunk and passed out in their suite.  After a one night stand in the hotel's (conveniently empty) Imperial Suite, they do not meet again until a year later (Irene likes to go to Saint Tropez for her birthday), when Irene discovers that Jean is merely a sad sack bartender, not a man of the world. 

Jean however is smitten, and attempts to sustain Irene in the manner she prefers... which lasts less than 24 hours as she wipes out pretty much all of his life's savings on fancy dinner, high priced hotel and a massive shopping spree (Pretty Woman and the like have nothing on the high end product lust shown here). Destitute, abandoned by Irene, Jean falls into an affair with an older (but well preserved) widow who turns him into a male Irene.

From here, things froth along merrily as Irene teaches Jean the ropes of pouting and promising in order to get what one wants.  They one-up each other, comparing their latest swag - when Jean nets a 30,000 Euro watch (Jaeger Le Couture, for those in the know), Irene promptly smashes her own to get one as well. Meanwhile, Jean and Irene can't keep their hands off one another... which leads to disaster, on both fronts.

Directed by longtime French comedy director Pierre Salvadori, Priceless is all froth with very little distraction. And in the leads, Audrey Tatou and Gad Elmaleh are first rate; Tatou, in particular, manages to play Irene as hard and calculating without losing the audience, while Elmaleh's understated work builds to a series of terrific payoffs. Tatou, by the way, is also superbly costumed in a series of barely there dresses, bikinis and the like. If there's something to object to, I think it would probably be that there's way too much celebration of "the Wisdom of Prostitutes" these days - this is probably the third or fourth film I've seen where a hard living party girl both gets to sleep around and then realize the error of her ways and settle down with a Nice Man. Life is not so tidy... just ask Ashley Dupre.  I think I might have enjoyed an even more amoral, blacker comedy in which these two grifters milk their marks while still having each other on the side. As it is, watching the two lovers ride off, penniless into the sunset, you wonder just how long the shelf life for that madcap escapade is likely to be. But it's a minor quibble in a film that's truly charming.  Especially when contemplating the ruinous American remake someone will lurch into, undoubtedly. Go see the real thing.

A Separate Peace, Seen In Bright Blue Eyes

Took the afternoon to catch up on my moviegoing, and finally stop avoiding every Iraq film: I took in Stop/Loss.

I did it partly because I trust Kimberley Peirce; since Boys Don't Cry, I've admired Peirce (she's the best, most insightful thing in the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated about the MPAA ratings system) and her abilities as a filmmaker. Stop/Loss is no exception: the film isn't easy, and it's not, necessarily even what people will say it is, and that's a credit to Peirce's intelligence and her skill as a storyteller.  But Stop/Loss is flawed, and its flaws, I think, will limit both its appeal and its ability to move a discussion about Iraq, about our soldiers, and about our nation's responsibility to those who serve.

Peirce's skill as a storyteller, as in Boys Don't Cry, is readily apparent - chronicling the lives of a group of soldiers who served together in the war, she once gets in and under the life of small town middle America, the restless, familiar lives of young people with few options and lots of distractions. It's the matter of fact way in which Peirce deals with the questions of Post-Traumatic Stress, lives interrupted and put on hold, and the perilous economic state of much of the working class that give Stop/Loss enormous power. As well, Peirce here, as in Boys, shows equal skill marshaling a talented, and especially good looking cast: this may well be the handsomest troop battalion outside of gay porn ever, which is saying something.  But it says more that for all their good looks,not everything here can be dismissed as merely surface; these actors deeply inhabit their roles.

But When Anything I Wear Doesn't Please Steven, I Take It Off

I've been writing too much politics.

Via James Wolcott - a fan as much as I, I can tell - is this impressive reconsideration of Joan Crawford, framed around her 100th birthday, though as the Siren notes, it's probably a good 3 years past 100 for Joan.

I'd like to add my thoughts, but to do so, I need to quote the Siren:

Anyway, this renewed interest is good news for those of us who love Joan, who find great pleasure in her movies and don't want to hear about the goddamn wire hangers anymore. The Siren believes the book [Mommie Dearest] alone probably wouldn't have permanently altered Crawford's image to the extent that it has. It was the movie, with Faye Dunaway playing Crawford as a cross between Maleficent and Gregory Peck in The Boys From Brazil, that really did the extensive damage. Thank god nobody ever filmed the atrocious My Mother's Keeper or we'd have to go through the same routine every time we wanted to talk about Jezebel.

I tend to agree; those of us who admire Crawford's work, I think, always tend to do it the way she did - defending her as if she never got a fair shake.  That interpretation itself, I think, isn't entirely fair; it's arguing from a defensive crouch, as if Dunaway's mad, out of bounds performance should be the starting point and not, as it is, the outlier. If you love old movies, after a while, it grows wearying to see gay boys and drag queens trot out the familiar lines about wire hangers, the mile wide shoulders, all the falderal. There was a real woman there, a striking looking one, who turned herself into an actress of surprising skill. It's a shame to let it fall into arch camp - as if that was all there was.

As the Joan Crawford Encyclopedia points out, the idea that she played a lot of shopgirls in the 1930s isn't borne out by her filmography. In fact, during the decade she only played three. It's probably more accurate to say, as one British critic did, that she was the shopgirl's delight. Her ascent to the upper classes, or her presence there from the movie's beginning, is sweet revenge if you're trying to alter your own lot in life. And lord knows there were plenty of people desperate to do that in the 1930s.

Also true; though I think it also goes to, as the Siren notes, the fact that her acting, wasn't Method, but was: she did best playing women who were trying to improve themselves, remake themselves; and even in contexts where it wasn't precisely a "shopgirl" role, that dynamic plays itself out.  But certainly, it was the way she was relatable and identifiable to her fan base that drove her success.

Now, on to my favorite topic - The Women.

More Midday Morsels

I am running around... but still feeling a little roughed up... so here's what's cheering me up:

• Greg Palmer guesting at My DD with a ground-level assessment of why Hillary Clinton will win PA
• Via Talk Left (via Corrente), Gene Lyons on why the Michigan/Florida crisis is so detrimental... and so is Rev. Wright
• Susie Madrak Chris over at Suburban Guerrilla teases the Obama-Bloomberg lovefest in NYC (mere blocks from where I am)... all I will add is, when Bloomberg runs as a Republican for Governor of New York... I suspect the love affair with the Obamaites will come to a sad end.
• Melissa over at Shakes takes on that abysmal Nick Kristof column
• And in the Hollywood Minute: I've tried to ignore it... but "Jay Leno's gayest look" clearly has, er, legs

Morning McNuggets (Can I Even Say That?)

Comfort food for the beleaguered:

• Sure, you're gonna pick up the Times, see Nicholas Kristof, and grimace (I particularly love this graph: "Mrs. Clinton is more than 700,000 votes behind in the popular vote. With 10 states and territories still to vote, perhaps another six million votes could be cast if turnout is very high, by the count of Ben Smith at Politico.com." - which is so rife with the math problem, I could barely go on)... but try and follow it with the bemused, calmer take of my heroine Gail Collins, who offers this:
  • There isn’t a right or wrong to this argument — only strategy. Obama didn’t overexert himself to help find a way to let Michigan and Florida re-vote because it wasn’t to his advantage. And while ending the negativity would be nice, the Obamaites would mainly like to call a halt because they don’t want to risk something weird and undesirable happening.
• Meanwhile, the Times also reminds us that Deval Patrick is fizzling as Governor of Massachusetts, and asks him why, and he blames... Clinton supporters (well, okay, the Speaker of the State Assembly... a Clinton supporter)
• Or, check out Jerome Armstrong at My DD, who gives the grim assessment the Obama folks don't want to hear: that the Wright controversy, poorly handled, has hurt Obama's chances in the general election.
• And, for the moment, check out this discussion over at Ezra Klein, which has been surprisingly muted on the ultimate value of Harry Reid's astonishing comments from yesterday.
• You could of course be like RedStar (sunning herself at winter baseball in Florida), or Tom Watson (exploring the Jersey shore in winter), and simply take a break from it all. Seriously, you might need a nap, too, or you'll be seeing things.
• ... things like Ann Coulter actually making sense - and being mildly amusing - on the topic of Elliott Spitzer.
• Speaking of Ann... before we drift too far on the wave of self congratulatory praise the white liberal men gave themselves for Obama's speech, they - and you - might take note of the blowback from Ann, Jonah Goldberg and Bill Kristol... and remember what we're up against when we want to have the Conversation about Race.
• And in the "aw, shucks" file of the Hollywood Minute... JC Chasez relieves the minds of Gossip Girl (girl) fans everywhere. I mean it's got to be totally not true if he denies it. Right? ;)