I don't know why they spent all that money. I don't understand why they're taking it down in two weeks. I don't understand what it's supposed to do. I think the park probably looked more beautiful before the orange monstrosities went up.
-- Sarah Lancaster (Everwood) on "The Gates" display in NY's Central Park
A number of years ago, NYC was invaded by cow-size statutes of cows in a myriad of colorful and amusing shades (including with the colors of the NYC Transit Authority). It was a nice whimsical campaign and trumps this new saffron (orange) gate thing in spades. Okay, so I did not see the things up close yet, but there must be a better way to spend millions of dollars [private funds, thankfully] in the promotion of artistic vision. Putting aside the fact arguably the architects of Central Park would be against the things, they are also environmentally unfriendly. And, seriously, rather boring.
Mind if I smoke, while you're eating?
-- Helen in Deep Throat
How about using the funds for a really good porn flick? Or, just a good romance with a few really well done and erotic sex scenes, even of the 'R' rated variety. I watched the documentary Inside Deep Throat, a fairly interesting if not in any way profound look at the infamous porn flick that inspired the famed name of the (and according to John Dean, ill) Watergate source.
Never did see the flick, though managed to find another famous porn from the era in the NYC public library system (damn boring and ridiculous with not much sex, so I will not name it) a few years back, but it was the 'in' thing to view back circa 1972. The documentary itself is best viewed as a way to catch a bunch of elderly men (and one woman, sounding like George Constanza's mother) sound goofy while reminiscencing.
The movie itself, according to even the director not a great flick, looks to be a mildly creative effort that would thus easily make it elite in quality among current day porn. The clips of Linda doing her thing suggests a certain skill that suggests her malady easily could be handled, resulting in a still quite satisfying sex life for all involved. Seriously, the movie led some more idealistic sorts to think that the porn industry would go mainstream.
This clearly did not happen -- movies themselves became geared to teenagers, teenage boys in particular, so that even finding "adult" subject matters is often quite difficult. Trying to find serious adult romance, not even raising the possibility of a few well done erotic elements (flicks with Michael Douglas do not count*) became ridiculously difficult.
This is a shame. We need a Deep Throat for 2005 -- for would not a well done and even mildly erotic film that managed to receive wide release outside of porn theatres be a major event today? Of course, the likelihood of a true NC-17 film receiving such treatment in this multiplex world is dubious, though 'R' rated films can be quite erotic as well. In fact, many would say that several films managed to be much more sexy than those out there today even in the censorship era of the 1930s and '40s.
What do we have today? The lame Meg Ryan flick In The Cut? The gap is suggested by how much of a breath of fresh air movies like Kinsey truly are. The 1960s slogan of "love, not war" is especially necessary in the realm of American cinema. We need not have blowjobs at the multiplex (two dominating Times Square, after its Disneyification), Brown Bunny included, but a good sexy love story now and again is not too much to ask for.
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* Sex in the City was really not much of an improvement from the episodes I managed to watch whenever access to HBO was available, except to the degree they all talked a good game, especially since they never really seemed to be truly enjoying themselves. Many like Desperate Housewives because of its playful sexual tone -- Felicity Huffman, one of the housewives, was in an enjoyable Showtime show back in 1996 entitled Bedtime, a largely non-explicit account of six couples' lives, mainly focused on bedroom conversations. In fact, one is more likely to find some sexy romantic story material on television these days, even on broadcast television, than on the screen.