Archived comment by MistaCat:
Arg! Don't any of In Passing's readers watch Homicide?!

Meldrick: And lemme tellya somethin' else, Frank--
Frank: Wuzzat?
Meldrick: --Love, spelled backwards, is E-VOL.
Frank: [pause] What?
Meldrick: Yeah, E-V-O-L, evil.
Frank: That's, that's not, that's not love spelled backwards, that's *liiive* spelled backwards.
Meldrick: Cut me some poetic slack, woudja Frank?

Archived comment by Eve:
triticale --
Well actually for that matter, "dog" is "evil" spelled backwards and wrong. Really wrong.
:-)

Archived comment by Adele:
Nightfever: Yes, it was Great Gatsby, that was one funny episode! I'm sure I have ADD too then. Once I saw this booklet test to allow oneself a glimpse into the possibility that they are afflicted with ADD...I flipped through the booklet, answered a couple questions, saw the last question which was, "If you skimmed through this booklet, you probably have ADD." How accusative!
Anyway...Jim Carrey also reads Great Gatsby to an audience of college students in Man on the Moon.

Archived comment by nightfever:
Montygirl: being an evil person at heart, I have to say that is SUCH a fun idea!!!
hehehe

Sorry...

Aaaanyway, just to throw in some more FSF...I was trying to think of where I had heard of him recently and it was on South Park when they are trying to see if the kids have ADD and the doc reads them Gatsby or Farewell to Arms or something, and they all fall into catatonic states.

hehe

Archived comment by triticale:
'Like' is 'evil,' spelled backwards... and wrong

Archived comment by Mike:
Niles and Roz tried that on "Frasier," too-- didn't end well.

Archived comment by Montygirl:
Kira - was it 'The Motels'

SG, I couldn't make myself watch the whole A&E movie, it was just too disappointing. Glad to hear that I didn't miss too much.

Re: Valentine's Day: A guy-friend of mine came up with a great Seinfeld-like idea for the two of us. He wants us to break up a certain couple who have recently separated; he likes the girl, and the guy isn't too bad. I know it's horrible, by, hey at least we're recycling!

Archived comment by Mike:
You get to spend Valentine's Day in the company of drunken politicians with money? Man, _that's_ trust! Try not to end up in the scandal sheets-- sweethearts like that must be one in a billion, at least.

Since I'm spending Valentine's Day alone, I may as well do my best to deflate it. Romance aside, Valentine's Day is just one of those Christian "let's cover the older pagan holiday" holidays. The real purists will be ready for Lupercalia, the Rome-based celebration of unbridled-- uh-- contact. It was also the backdrop for some serious violence, according to most sources; a truly manly holiday! It got REPLACED? How'd they get away with this?
Let's go back to celebrating Lupercalia! Come on, candy, chocolate, flowers and cards will be half price by the 15th! Pity the poor saps celebrating this pre-fabricated Hallmark holiday!

Hmm, "romantic" candlelight dinner, or drunk and scoring...

the choice is clear.

(Honestly can't understand why he's alone ;^)

There's a vaguely irritating pop-up with this link, but it's a one-time thing, and the description is worth it.

Archived comment by Pary:
My valentines was celebrated early with my sweetheart....which was wonderful...but the actual day I get to spend in the state capital shmoozing with congressmen, getting them drunk and such...ahh the smell of capatalism.

Archived comment by Arlene:
Oh, I'm sure that is entirely formulaic. I think that Scream was the closest thing to an original slasher flick since, um, hm. I don't keep up with slasher flicks (that whole nightmare thing) but I'm still pretty sure it must be 20 years since the last 'original' one.

Archived comment by umrguy:
It looks to me like Formulaic Teen Horror Flick #12... or was it 12a? I forget, but my point is the same.

IMHO, I think that they need to maybe just cut out the slasher movies for a while (pun definitely intended). I mean, c'mon, Hollywood, come up with more original material, please!

Archived comment by Arlene:
Personally, I am glad to see that V-Day finally has its own slasher flick. It's just so apropos. Especially since, this slasher apparently uses the less utilized weapons of death, maiming & destruction, i.e. the bow & the gun. Butcher knives & chainsaws are just so passe. I especially love the dear little valentine poem from the commercial "Roses are red, Violets are blue, They'll need dental records, To identify you."
I'm not going to see this, btw. I _never_ watch slasher flicks; not since Halloween. I had nightmares for weeks & it was months before I could go into an unlit room.

Archived comment by umrguy:
Hey, here's a thought... on Vday, we should set up a big ol' chat room for all of us InPassing junkies who don't have dates/s.o.'s/spouses/etc..

Archived comment by nightfever:
Ahhh...valentines day.
damn.
didn't get to PO on time.
but, then again, I have no-one to send Val's day cards to really.
Am single and liking it...for the first time.
A few disastrous relnships and a MUCH higher level of cynicism means that I can now be happy...
Also I have friends in worse situations, so stuff is in perspective!
*contented sigh*

Will probably stay in tidying that day because I have a visitor coming on thursday!

Archived comment by Christela:
tess: Watching the Vagina Monologue's too (but with my honey)

amber: I know how it feels. For the past couple of Vdays (pun unintended) I've always felt like hell. And not because I didn't have dates, the guys I went out with were demons in disguise and only made me feel lonelier. But not this time.... =)

Archived comment by Jon:
Thanks, Amber. Now my pathetic life feels so
much better.

Must... stop... bitternes...

I probably will be helping to hang lights for a
show that night - though admittedly the lighting
designer said something like(in paraphrase),
"Bring along along your significant other... as I
will be doing!"

Lonely lonely lonely. Lazy too. I haven't got
around to reading any FSF - if I hadn't read the
earlier posts, I would have thought it was
Fantasy/Science Fiction.

Archived comment by Amber:
V-Day used to make me SO bitter; the most depressing holiday in the middle of a gray blah month. I was convinced its sole purpose was for happly couples to get a chance to gloat insufferably and make all the rest of us feel like losers. Well guess what. THIS Valentine's Day, I am with The Love of My Life, and its MY turn to gloat. Muhahahahah!

Archived comment by Adele:
Oh yeah, Zelda was cool too, for all the reasons you mentioned and because her name was Zelda.

Archived comment by Adele:
I think you have a great point on why Fitzgerald translates poorly to film, and you've further strengthened my resistence to seeing any of it. I haven't yet read Love of the Last Tycoon...working towards it, but I force myself to read a few "other" books between Fitzgeralds. The only short story of his that I've read is A Winter's Tale. It was alright...bore some vague resemblance to GG, I don't remember it all that well. But I've also read Tender is the Night, which is highly enjoyable and I loved how he wrote each section from another character's perspective, though that caused some superficial chronological confusion. If I wasn't so attached to Gatsby, This Side of Paradise might have taken over it's sacred standing. I think the main reason I adored that book was the reflection of myself in both Amory Blaine and at least 2 of his love interests along the way (mostly in Amory though). The only person that would truly understand all those similarities hasn't read the book yet...I keep hoping he will soon so I can see if he caught the same ones I did. Beautiful and Damned is next on the list for me...if I would just finish up all this schoolwork I procrastinated on, I could get back to reading more. It's taking a toll on my sanity and artistry...and that is one of the most frustrating feelings to me. Thanks for the tip on the autobio, I'll most definitely keep that in mind. I think there's so much more I could say, but I'll stop for now.

Archived comment by Eve:
Adele --

Be glad you've never seen any of the films of Fitzgerald's books, most of them are atrocious. I had high hopes for the recent A&E adaptation of Gatsby -- one of my housemates said that by the way I curled up in a ball and cringing, you would have thought I was watching a slasher movie. Paul Rudd (remember the ex-stepbrother in Clueless?) was the saving grace of the film, as Nick Carraway, he was the only one who seemed to understand his character. I think the reason FSF translates so poorly to film is because his stories are so dependent on narration and imagery and what goes unsaid.

I actually did study Fitzgerald in a class, but it was a seminar, from a teacher who really loved him and wanted to show a few students all the things like jazz music, Zelda's diary (and not to mention alcohol,) that influenced his writing.

Have you read anything else by him? If Love of the Last Tycoon had been finished, it might have been his greatest yet. The movie of it with DeNiro is so-so. FSF's short stories are great, if a little formulaic at times, but I think he tried to copy the style of his successful works. And then of course, there are the stories with his byline, that were actually written by Zelda.

If you ever feel like reading a biography of Fitzgerald (I did, for my seminar,) I'd reccommend Tony Buttitta's "After the Good Gay Times," which is an excellent little story of one summer that FSF alone, (Zelda was in an asylum, I believe) and the conversations he had with the owner of a bookstore, (Buttitta.)
Matthew Bruccoli's "Some Sort of Epic Grandeur," is huge and reads more like an encyclopedia. I know Bruccoli's the living FSF expert. And he even sent me an email, (nevermind that it was snippy,) to answer a question I posed at the U of South Carolina FSF page. But frankly though he may own all the rights, I don't think he really appreciates the author.

Anyway, this is getting long winded and as far off topic as you can get. I had a point, and it was.. um... FSF is cool. Zelda kicked ass too -- I mean, not only did she write, paint, dance, etc, but she once got drunk at a party, pulled a fire alarm, and when the firemen came, trucks, ladders and all and asked, "Where's the fire?" She responded, "here!" And pointed at her clevage.

Ok, I'll leave it at that.

Archived comment by tess:
valentine's day plans: go see the vagina monolouges :D

Archived comment by Adele:
Ah, another Fitzgerald fan! I attribute my love of FSF to the same, never having it forced down my throat, having to memorize events and names in high school. Instead, I got to let the Great Gatsby mean something to me, feel out the characters, form the scenes in my head, and everything they said was for my benefit and not that of a teacher. For some reason, Fitzgerald is too personal to me to have been able to study it in school. I also refuse to see any version of GG on film. As much as I reread that book, I don't want some director's image of it to mess with mine. It would be ruined forever and that would be a sad sad thing. Some people resort to drinking, some drugs, some fall into psychotic slumps, but I, I read the Great Gatsby.

Archived comment by Eve:
Actually, we're both wrong. It's neither "hypocracy" nor "hipocrisy," but rather, "hypocrisy."

Now that's a lovely compromise if I ever saw it.

Archived comment by Matt:
Admittedly you said it better, SG, but isn't that basically what I said?
Carrie Fisher's quote offends me.
T. S. Eliot's greatness might be called into much greater question, were it not for the profound editorial skills of his friend and mentor, Ezra Pound.

He was pretty full of himself, due part or entirely to his success with TWL. Hence the "pretentious ass" comment, which actually is something I use in conversation almost daily.

As it is, he's a pretty kickin' poet.

(When I said "the poop," I was making reference to that overused and, I think, entirely misleading phrase, "the shit," when referring to something as being really great, or the best, or whatever.)

So I guess I don't see where we have a difference of opinion, do we?

And BTW, it's spelled "hipocrisy." Sorry. Blame the stiffs in Wheeler Hall for being sticklers on spelling and grammar.

Archived comment by Eve:
Oh goodness, see what happens when I post without a disclaimer? Let me try to right matters:
"The views expressed by Princess Leia are not necessarily representative of the webmistress or commenters, or persons overheard and quoted at In Passing dot Org."
Personally, I started reading Eliot in high school, because someone had mentioned to me that The Wasteland was the backbone for FSF's Great Gatsby. (Yes, I'm one of those rare Fitzgerald fans. I attribute it to having read it on my own, and never having had it spoon fed to me.)
Anyway, he's arguably my favorite poet, I think the man was bloody brilliant, and some of his poetry gives me chills. However, I also think he was a pretentious ass, and I'm all right with my own hypocracy there.

Also, if anyone knows who said, "T.S. Eliot left his organ in the church," I'd love to know.

Archived comment by Matt:
Eve, I'm honestly offended. Not by you, of course, but by Princess Leia herself (portrayed by Meryl Streep in "Postcards From The Edge" if you follow my line of thinking) saying such disparaging things about the great Mr. Eliot.
Maybe it's just my English degree (I graduated! Yay!), and say what you will about how without Ezra Pound, Eliot would just be some minor poet with a messed up sense of verse, but I think that guy was the poop. Really.

At least he wasn't a pretentious ass like his mentor.

I can't tell you how many times I've made reference to the "carbuncular young man" in things I've said or written.

Archived comment by Eve:
And credit Carrie Fisher (yes, that one) with saying, "In a perfect world, T.S. Eliot spelled backward would be 'toilets.'"

Archived comment by Kira:
"Take the 'L' out of LOVER and it's OVER."

Big points to the first person to name that
band (popular about the time FallenAngel
was in kindergarten....)

Archived comment by Kinsey:
I don't think I'd be so jaded about v-day if I wasn't in choir this year. I get to go sing "Love me Tender" to some strangers, then I get to come home alone. Think I'll sit and watch a movie :(

Archived comment by Mike:
Homer: Moe, what do you recommend for severe depression?

Moe: Booze, booze, and more booze.

Lenny: There's nothing like a depressant to cure depression.

The letters in "love" can be rearranged to spell "vole," and we all know what destructive, rabid little vermin those things are. They destroy flowers, they breed too much... okay, I know I'm really reaching here, don't bother me about it.

My Valentine's Day plan: go see a basketball game. That's right, I'm going-- ALL ALONE-- to a brightly lit arena, where I might have my image broadcast on local (if not national) television and everybody can see what a complete loser I am.

You know what? I don't even expect to be involved in anything romantic on Valentine's Day anymore. What I try to do is to irritate some happy couple, bring them down to my level. I'll break this country of the Valentine's Day habit, even if I have to do it two people at a time! Bah-ha-ha-ha-ha!

(sigh)

I'm gonna get as close to courtside as I can, too...

Archived comment by Kevin Fox:
Evian spelled backwards is naive.

Archived comment by Angel:
dfresh- Yup, elementary school...I double checked it on imdb.com, and it came out in 1991..which would have made me 11. :-)

Archived comment by NinjaKitten:
No, the quote on that page is:

"Love is evil spelled backwards with an "O"" - Libby Dillon

Which is the same idea, admittedly, but just doesn't have the same... -rightness- to it. It's much better with the "...and wrong."

Archived comment by Hoss Man:
Alas, it's not orriginal...

http://jaymiller.vbcomm.net/quotes.htm credits it to "Libby Dillon".

Archived comment by Adele:
Love is not evil spelled backwards and wrong, it's evil disguised as itself backwards and wrong. How deceptive.

Archived comment by Joe:
agreed, ninjakitten. this one's a classic.

Archived comment by NinjaKitten:
I love this quote. I think I'm going to start using it places. Yes. I hereby appropriate it for later use.

And Martha: "I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T! S-M-R-T!"

Archived comment by Martha:
Smart is not a four letter word...That would be "smar."

Archived comment by dfresh:
Elementry school? What, no way! It wasn't that long ago. I mean, I was...wow, I am old. Old, playing on the computer at 8 on a Friday night, and thinking "Hmmm, Hannibal alone on Valentines sounds like a great idea." If I wasn't drunk, man I'd be heading for depression right now.

Archived comment by Angel:
I've been online WAY too much today! :-p
Anyway, I loved Silence of the Lambs, but I didn't see it until last year! I was pretty young when it came out (elementary school, if I recall), and then I sorta forgot about it until I read the book a couple summers ago (Excellent book, btw...even better than the movie!)

Archived comment by Montygirl:
Angel, save me a seat.

But, I actually want to see the movie. It would be only fitting for me to do so on Valentine's Day: an exboyfriend actually took me to see Silence of the Lambs on Valentine's Day. (He wanted to see the movie and thought he could score romatic points with me for taking me out instead of allowing me to watch him and his buddies RPGing!) Well, he didn't score, but I did love the movie. ;)

Archived comment by Angel:
Interesting way of looking at it...but hey, in my current state of mind, I'll agree with that. :-) I'm seriously considering "celebrating" Valentine's Day by going to see Hannibal...alone by choice!