"Thank You For Smoking" * * * * *

Post #271,484 by drewk 10/27/06 10:03:29 PM Reply	"Thank You For Smoking" * * * * * Some things seem so improbable that it's only in retrospect you realize how obvious it should have been. Like that anyone who makes a living talking is probably going to be smart, funny and personable. The main character in Thank You For Smoking is the lead spokesman for a tobacco industry organization. He has spent years taking on policians, doctors, talk-show hosts, cancer survivors and anyone else who wants to take a shot at him, and he usually comes out on top. Why? As he tells his son, as long as you argue right, you're never wrong. My favorite scene was when he demonstrated that point. Joey Naylor: So what happens when you're wrong? Nick Naylor: Well Joey, I'm never wrong Joey: But you can't always be right? Nick: Well if it's your job to be right then you're never wrong Joey: But what if you are wrong? Nick: OK, let's say that you're defending chocolate, and I'm defending vanilla ... now, if I were to say to you, "Vanilla is the best flavor ice cream," you'd say ... Joey: No, chocolate is. Nick: Exactly, but'cha can't win that argument, so, I'll ask you, "So you think chocolate is the end all, and be all of ice cream do ya?" Joey: It's the best ice cream; I wouldn't order any other. Nick: Oh, so it's all chocolate for you is it? Joey: Yes, chocolate is all I need. Nick: Well, I need more than chocolate. And for that matter, I need more than vanilla. I believe that we need freedom and choice when it comes to our ice cream, and that, Joey Naylor, that is the definition of liberty. Joey: But that's not what we're talking about Nick: Ah, but that's what I'm talking about. Joey: But ... you didn't prove that vanilla is the best? Nick: I didn't have to. I proved that you're wrong, and if you're wrong, then I'm right. Joey: But you still didn't convince me. Nick: I'm not after you. I'm after them [points to people walking by] That sums up so much of modern politics. Never have the argument your opponent wants to have. Always have the one you want to have. Sure, you'll end up talking past each other. It's not because you're stupid; you're both just playing the same game. === Kip Hawley is still an idiot. === Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link\|http://DocHope.com\|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats]. [link\|http://DocHope.com\|http://DocHope.com]
Post #271,487 by crazy 10/27/06 11:01:47 PM Reply	Search is your friend [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=250648\|http://z.iwethey.org...?contentid=250648]
Post #271,492 by a6l6e6x 10/28/06 10:15:28 AM Reply	So, that's where I saw it first! :) Alex When fascism comes to America, it'll be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross. -- Sinclair Lewis
Post #271,604 by lincoln 10/30/06 3:41:13 PM Reply	I was too lazy to edit the Subject line lincoln "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem. I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a *Citizen* of the United States. [link\|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net\|contact me]
Post #276,999 by Another Scott 12/30/06 3:33:01 PM Reply	Excellent movie. I agree with you, [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=250648\|#250648] and [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=268523\|#268523]. It's a great movie. I've put Buckley's [link\|http://www.amazon.com/Thank-You-Smoking-Christopher-Buckley/dp/0812976525\|book] on The List. Cheers, Scott.
Post #277,043 by Ashton 12/31/06 4:38:40 AM Reply	Saw it; concur. As in 'Little Miss Sunshine' - The magnificent eptness of all the supporting cast manifests when .. you cringe! - not only at the "logic" happening, but in the fact that it is Effective... it is everywhere (and, don't we often wonder: Is Anyone? paying attention to this crap?!) :-/ (There's a fallacy within the Hottentot Proposition, I wot: ~~ "A civilized person can pretend to be a primitive, but not vice versa". It just is Not Easy to bring this off; a tiny smirk at the wrong place can blow the persona.) I don't see many 'new' movies; fortunately a friend who does see lots, will tag ones I might (umm stomach?) These two, in just past several months == a pretty high number for me. One rubs our noses into the extremely profitable process of creating/rationalizing addictions (and our tolerance -nay, adoration- of ANYthing which is seen to generate $Success. Screw the means and the costs to others: just those Lusers, successfully scammed one more time.) The other rubs noses into (waay into) the small industry of training little girls to vamp, to skip about 5 whole years beyond their emotional development - the premeditated sexualizing of tykes. To make $$ and win prizes, all entirely about the vicarious daydreams of those famous shallow parents. Both flics succeeded IMO because the actors really Could (lower their consciousness) ~perfectly! A pair of bitchin lampoons, effective beyond any outraged polemic or {shudder} documentary. Long Live Indy! - or most anything nonCorporate, by primal intent.
Post #277,047 by Another Scott 12/31/06 9:11:40 AM Reply	Agreed on LMS. It was very well done, too. It's showing up on at least one critic's [link\|http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192375092&path=!flair&s=1045855936229\|list] as the best movie of the year. Cheers, Scott.

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