Hard-wired for sex or romance?

[AllardChardon]

Love as a commodity or status symbol.

Yes, many couples seem to fall into those places. But when you see two people who genuinely like each other, it is refreshing. I watched The Princess Bride last night and they nail that romance, true love that death cannot prevail against, perfectly. No wonder it was successful when you add in all the intrique and strange events occuring without warning.

I also love Christopher Guest and everything he has done from The Little Shop of Horrors to For Your Consideration. Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap is tops in my book. It goes up all the way to eleven, man. Guest plays the six fingered man in Princess Bride.

Good romance is more enduring that great comedy. Shakespeare nailed both in the Taming of the Shrew, one of my favorites. Think of that, those plays were erotica written by a man, or group of men, for men and a few ladies. That must be my problem. I am in the wrong era.

 

[xssve]

"HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE!"

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Othello is pretty intense, maybe the first real psychological thriller. I don't think I've ever read the Taming of the Shrew - I'll have to rectify that.

 

[AllardChardon]

For a quick introduction to Taming of the Shrew, I recommend the movie starring the married couple, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. It is one of the best Shakespearean movies ever made. Right up there with Zeffrelli's Romeo and Juliet, except Taming of the Shrew is a ribald comedy. Enjoy. I own a copy.

 

[xssve]

I'll see if I can find it. When I lived in Tennesee they had this great old movie channel - there were so many great movies from the Forties and Fifties - I'd be laughing my ass off and nobody could figure it out - like B&W is some kind of foreign language or something.

 

[AllardChardon]

Taming of the Shrew was late 60s or early 70s. I could look it up but I am too lazy today.

It deals directly with lust, love and romance. It is funny, but the way the story unfolds, the first two subjects are dealt with first and romance is found at the end. Instead of romance, love, lust or romance, lust, love which is the more usual storyline.

I watched Punch Drunk Love with Adam Sandler last night. It was a romance, lust and then love package with a maniac in the driver's seat. Desperation was dealt with in a very interesting way. Any man who had five sisters poking into his business and remembering every detail of his enraged outbursts would drive anyone crazy. P. T. Anderson managed to make a maniac a real smypathetic character. I was rooting for him all the way. That's good writing.

The ending was a little weak, but what were they going to do there other than let the audience see them flying off in a plane together. A little harmonium worked just fine. Even though I detest weak endings.

 

[xssve]

Weak ending suck - Adam Sandler is a bit uneven, IMO, but when he's good he's good, and PDL was pretty good.

Yeah, I figured, Liz and Dick must have been Sixties sometime so probobly technicolor - musta missed that one but I do remember seeing a lot of Doris Day movies at the drive in. That dates me, I remember when "in living color" was something to brag about.

 

[herecomestherain]

Dopamine junkies - the lot of us! Her lecture at the top of the lectures page is worth a listen.

 

[xssve]

Can't get Quicktime to work on my clunky box rain, thanks for the links though, I'll work on getting these to play.

 

[herecomestherain]

There's another shorter version of the lecture here

It doesn't include quite the detailed focus on the underlying science but it's worth a listen.

 

[AllardChardon]

In Living Color was Fantastic. Fire Marshall is still big at our house. Butt Ugly Wanda and Head Detective, too. I would like to have all the seasons on DVD.

Doris Day, that does date you. I have been accused of looking like Doris Day although I have white hair, got that way very early and looks great, instead of blonde.

We will let Doris lead us back to the thread. Okay, here's Hollywood giving us Doris Day and Rock Hudson to nuture our collective need for romance on the big screen. For years, they kept the truth of Rock's sexual orientation a secret. Once it hit the newsreels, I felt betrayed. I was sure everyone on the set and the studio knew the truth, but they led all of girls into thinking a great looking man like Rock was hetero, when in reality he was Gomer Pyle's lover.

Add in the Santa Clause lie that parents foist on their unsuspectintg children, yes I did the same thing to mine and wondered what the hell I was doing, and it is no wonder we don't trust completely. I am always waiting for the "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this one thing that may make a little difference," disclaimer. Like there is no Santa Clause. I was crushed. Murdering JFK, Martin Luther and Bobby did not help my overall trust issue with those in power. I have a bumper sticker that says, I love my country, but do not trust my government. That about sums it up.

 

[xssve]

Right, the Fly girls, the Head Detective - haven't seen much of the Wyans lately - Damon Wyans rendition of The Little Engine that Could in Major Pain is classic stuff.

Yeah, old Rock - hell I barely even knew there was such a thing as homosexuals until the Eighties - guess it explains why they had seperate beds. America is such a weird country.

I think I got my notions of romanticism from Bogart, hell I think just about every leading man in Hollywood in the Fifites and Sixtes was gay, except for maybe Bogart and Jimmy Stewart - all the good looking ones anyway.

 

[xssve]

Re: Helen Fisher - the best drugs are in your brain.

 

[fifty5]

There's another shorter version of the lecture here

It doesn't include quite the detailed focus on the underlying science but it's worth a listen.

Great stuff. It tallies with my experience. We need a Helen Fisher to research religion and politics!

 

[xssve]

Just ask me.