Catch the references
My friend Steve, who I've known for nearly thirty years and who has been, variously, an actor, a director, a theater manager, a candidate for municipal office, director of an educational nonprofit, and a political appointee in the Clinton Administration, sent me this article from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21dowd-sorkin.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin
In it, Adam Sorkin has written an imaginary dialogue in which real presidential candidate Barak Obama seeks advise from fictional president Jed Bartlett.
Now, we all know I'm a Democrat by now, so I'm predisposed to like a thing like this. But I loved the West Wing more for its repartee than anything else, and this bit of dialogue just made me smile with nostalgia.
But I noticed something most people didn't. Within just a few lines of each other, there are two individual lines that come from the same 1968 film (which was a stageplay first). They're not exact quotations, but they're close; basically they substitute one or two words in order to make the lines contemporary.
So, here's my offer:
I probably ought to disqualify antosha_c, iamstarmom, tinaconnollyand all three of my sisters on the grounds that they have an unfair advantage, but I won't. Give it your best shot, kids.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21dowd-sorkin.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin
In it, Adam Sorkin has written an imaginary dialogue in which real presidential candidate Barak Obama seeks advise from fictional president Jed Bartlett.
Now, we all know I'm a Democrat by now, so I'm predisposed to like a thing like this. But I loved the West Wing more for its repartee than anything else, and this bit of dialogue just made me smile with nostalgia.
But I noticed something most people didn't. Within just a few lines of each other, there are two individual lines that come from the same 1968 film (which was a stageplay first). They're not exact quotations, but they're close; basically they substitute one or two words in order to make the lines contemporary.
So, here's my offer:
- The first person who can identify the film/play gets a free drabble.
- After the film is identified (it can be the same person in the same post, if s/he wants), the first person who can identify both of the lines (in the article) I'm talking about gets another drabble.
- I will give another drabble to the first person who can present a plausible argument for why that particular film/play is referenced in this article.
I probably ought to disqualify antosha_c, iamstarmom, tinaconnollyand all three of my sisters on the grounds that they have an unfair advantage, but I won't. Give it your best shot, kids.