Quo Vadimus


Thursday, November 04, 2004

 

Concession.



Bill Haverchuck is recovering after being hospitalized early Wednesday morning. The Ohio and Florida returns combined with an allergic reaction to some of the hors d'oeuvres at the election night party rendered Bill unconscious. Surrounded by his wonderful running mate, Lauren Graham, friends, family, and his favorite teacher, Ms. Foote, Bill is doing quite well.

Haverchuck and Graham issued the following joint statement:

"We would like to thank all of our tireless, devoted supporters for our campaign for the White House. We enjoyed delivering our message of fun to the American people and are proud to be the only ticket that visited all 50 states in the final weeks of the campaign. While our decision not to focus on the traditional "swing states" may have cost us electorally, we won in other ways. For example, in South Dakota, a class of third graders now loves to dance to "Space Funk", even though their parents emphatically rejected our plans for the country. Ultimately, our ideas -- secular humanism, the realization that Mr. Woodman was an underrated character on Welcome Back Kotter, changing the national anthem to The Go-Go's "We Got the Beat" -- did not appeal to the "red states". And, yeah, those cross-dressing shots of Bill probably did not help us with rural voters. The American people have spoken. See you in the '08. Get that Smoosh record. Bye."

posted by Linus | 6:50 PM


Tuesday, November 02, 2004

 

Fun Movie News. #116:

Clowes writing Backyard Resistance.

[backgrounder]

posted by Linus | 7:26 AM


Monday, November 01, 2004

 

GOTV: Haverchuck-Graham '04

posted by Linus | 1:25 PM

 

And then there's my path.

From Brian Montopoli's "Prime-time politics" in Salon:

It took me a long time to actually sit down and watch "Gilmore Girls," and for good reason: There seem to be more than enough reasons to avoid it, such as the beatific New England locale populated by seemingly stock "eccentrics" we've all seen on countless other shows and an intro that suggests a level of teenage chickiness most would find impossible to take. But "Gilmore Girls" is a pretty damn good show, with a built-in class critique more powerful, if less obvious, than its spiritual cousin on Fox, "The O.C." The back story is that Lorelai Gilmore ran away from home at age 16, abandoning her wealthy parents to raise her newborn daughter, Rory. Now Rory has become a teenager who lives with Lorelai in Stars Hollow, the same town where Lorelai's parents make their home.

If "Gilmore Girls" had a conservative slant, Lorelai would likely have spiraled downward after her teenage pregnancy, returning to the fold to find her way. But she went her own way, and after a bumpy road, she's actually doing pretty well -- and her daughter, who recently enrolled at Yale, is almost preternaturally well adjusted. Her parents, meanwhile, are a mess, emotionally distant ciphers insulated by their wealth and seemingly unable to maintain a real connection with anyone, including each other. The show, which is awash in clever, rapid-fire repartee, inverts the lessons built into the vast majority of conservative, family-centric shows, from "Leave It to Beaver" to "7th Heaven." The message of "Gilmore Girls" is that unconventional choices can add up to a better life than traditional ones. "The O.C." may have a more obvious wrong-side-of-the-tracks dynamic cribbed from "The Outsiders" and countless predecessors, but "Gilmore Girls"' message is ultimately much more subversive. (And just in case you're still not convinced, consider this: In the alternative America of Gilmore Girls, Al Gore occupies the White House.)

posted by Linus | 7:53 AM

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