Rush for More
Have you seen Rushmore? I'm sure you just answered, "Yes" just now. I've been led to believe that everyone around the globe has seen this movie. Everyone but me.
The film would come up every once in awhile in conversation, causing Elarryo to exclaim with shock, "I can't believe you haven't seen Rushmore before! It's a classic. Bill Murray's career got revived because of this film."
Let me also go on the record and admit that I have also never seen Purple Rain. I believe I'm fine without having experienced Prince and Apollonia together on film. That opinion is not shared by my spouse.
Tonight, I needed something to take my mind off my endless viewing of coverage of New Orleans. The twenty-four hour news channels were switched off and the dvd player put into action. Although Rushmore was certainly diverting with it's theme of obsession, it really got me thinking about how the role of schools and teachers in our popular culture. After all both Blume and Max Fisher in the movie are obsessed with a teacher.
Michelle Pfieffer in Dangerous Minds probably inspired the advent of Teach For America. And made rapper Coolio a household name for awhile with that "Gangster's Paradise" song. He's not a household name anymore. Oh wait, neither is she. I guess Hollywood considers her too old to cast in anything now.
There's Robin Williams as another boarding school rebel teacher in the horridly boring Dead Poets Society. I've tried to watch that movie countless times, and I've never managed to stay awake.
You need more examples?
Gordon Matthew Sumner b/k/a "Sting" was a teacher before he became a rock star. I wonder does Trudy Styler, his wife, call him Sting. Or does she call him Gordon or Gordie. Or something else. I remember that story bandied about in the media a few years ago about them being able to have 12 hour tantric sex. Or was it 24 hours?
School of Rock was all about a fat substitute named Jack Black teaching kids how to rock-n-roll. Because it's been proven that being proficient at jam sessions will increase SAT scores exponentially.
In Meet the Parents, the daughter is a teacher. I never understood how she has a storefront type window in her classroom. That window must have been a set design idea. "Ok, Ok, so we'll have a huge bay window in the classroom and it'll be at street level. Then Ben can come and gaze lovingly at his soon-to-be fiancee." Because the movie has no pedophiles in it.
Then there's that serendipitous moment in New Jack City.
-Not the part where Keith Sweat sings at the ghetto fabulous wedding. "Oh, no no noooo baby oh noo noo noo."
-Not the part where we get to see Chris Rock as a crackhead who turns informant then gets killed for being caught wearing a wire.
-Not the end where Wesley Snipes' character Nino Brown gets no jail time and the old man from the 'hood sneaks into the courthouse with his gun and pumps a round of bullets into Nino's chest while shouting, "Idolator!" Then Nino falls over the spiral staircase bannister to the floor below. Dead.
No, remember, our theme is teachers. Sure, none of the main characters were teachers but who can forget Nino telling Ice T about shooting a schoolteacher to prove his loyalty to his set. Ice keeps his cool but later, it all comes together as Ice T's character gives Nino Brown a very public beat-down, "That schoolteacher you killed, that was my mother!" And then he kicks Nino in the guts over and over.
I think I'm distracted now.
The film would come up every once in awhile in conversation, causing Elarryo to exclaim with shock, "I can't believe you haven't seen Rushmore before! It's a classic. Bill Murray's career got revived because of this film."
Let me also go on the record and admit that I have also never seen Purple Rain. I believe I'm fine without having experienced Prince and Apollonia together on film. That opinion is not shared by my spouse.
Tonight, I needed something to take my mind off my endless viewing of coverage of New Orleans. The twenty-four hour news channels were switched off and the dvd player put into action. Although Rushmore was certainly diverting with it's theme of obsession, it really got me thinking about how the role of schools and teachers in our popular culture. After all both Blume and Max Fisher in the movie are obsessed with a teacher.
Michelle Pfieffer in Dangerous Minds probably inspired the advent of Teach For America. And made rapper Coolio a household name for awhile with that "Gangster's Paradise" song. He's not a household name anymore. Oh wait, neither is she. I guess Hollywood considers her too old to cast in anything now.
There's Robin Williams as another boarding school rebel teacher in the horridly boring Dead Poets Society. I've tried to watch that movie countless times, and I've never managed to stay awake.
You need more examples?
Gordon Matthew Sumner b/k/a "Sting" was a teacher before he became a rock star. I wonder does Trudy Styler, his wife, call him Sting. Or does she call him Gordon or Gordie. Or something else. I remember that story bandied about in the media a few years ago about them being able to have 12 hour tantric sex. Or was it 24 hours?
School of Rock was all about a fat substitute named Jack Black teaching kids how to rock-n-roll. Because it's been proven that being proficient at jam sessions will increase SAT scores exponentially.
In Meet the Parents, the daughter is a teacher. I never understood how she has a storefront type window in her classroom. That window must have been a set design idea. "Ok, Ok, so we'll have a huge bay window in the classroom and it'll be at street level. Then Ben can come and gaze lovingly at his soon-to-be fiancee." Because the movie has no pedophiles in it.
Then there's that serendipitous moment in New Jack City.
-Not the part where Keith Sweat sings at the ghetto fabulous wedding. "Oh, no no noooo baby oh noo noo noo."
-Not the part where we get to see Chris Rock as a crackhead who turns informant then gets killed for being caught wearing a wire.
-Not the end where Wesley Snipes' character Nino Brown gets no jail time and the old man from the 'hood sneaks into the courthouse with his gun and pumps a round of bullets into Nino's chest while shouting, "Idolator!" Then Nino falls over the spiral staircase bannister to the floor below. Dead.
No, remember, our theme is teachers. Sure, none of the main characters were teachers but who can forget Nino telling Ice T about shooting a schoolteacher to prove his loyalty to his set. Ice keeps his cool but later, it all comes together as Ice T's character gives Nino Brown a very public beat-down, "That schoolteacher you killed, that was my mother!" And then he kicks Nino in the guts over and over.
I think I'm distracted now.
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