screen saviors

went to see art school confidential. it was in walking distance and there's not much around right now to see movie-wise that has enough oomph to warrant a wkend subway ride. and there was a trailer for al gore's save the world manifesto. now, i gots nothing against saving the world against its degradation. i'm pro it. really. whales. ice caps. snow in winter. enfeebled hurricanes—let's keep those.

but here's something akin to the trailer's opening omen (which, i'm absolutely dying to see):

"if you care about the future. if you care about the children. you will see this film..."

what?? hell no. if i care about the future. if i care about the children, i'll make sure my political representatives try their damndest to impose better environmental regulations. i won't use aerosols. i will not burn energy needlessly. i'll support groups like greenpeace or the sierra club or whatever that work on trying to make sure we don't further destroy the ecological balance.

but see a movie? will it help the kids too if i don't faux-butter my popcorn and refrain from soda in favor of l'eau? film-going's not going to avert epic refugee crises that ensue after florida, shanghai, manhattan, california are sunk by ocean waters that swell after the polar ice cap melts. ya dig?

trailers are often stupid (obvious). when the movie came out about the burlesque theater in london during ww2, the one with dench as madame henderson and bob hoskins as her second, the gravelly-voiced ominicient intoner said something like:

'in a time of war. in a city under seige. they fought for what mattered..."

er, the right to dance the can-can with cans exposed? had no blarney idea that's what that war was all about.

well, this ain't hardly about dating today...though there were plenty of folks on dates at the flick. none of them made out, as far i could tell, around me. unlike that time i went to see the documentary about the munich olympics and there was a prominent young novelist and his prominent actress girlfriend sucking face right in front of me, as a narrator spoke of shootouts and dead athletes and the games and jim mckay...but when the mood strikes french...we are all of us powerless to resist.