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Scorned and covered with scars
Nov. 7th, 2006 11:09 amLast night on NPR they featured two of the guys who get a lot of voice work on negative political ads--Dennis Steele and Scott Sanders. They said they're hired guns--they leave their politics at the door and just do an acting job. Then the host had them read some adapted nursery rhymes as if they were attack ads. It was hiLARious! These guys clearly didn't take any of this seriously and were having a good time. My favorite:
"London bridge is falling down--falling down, falling down. And who is responsible for this critical lack of funding of our infrastructure? My fair lady! Take the key and lock her up!"
(Trust me, it's much funnier if you hear it read in one of those voices.
You can listen to it here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6444183
Then this morning they played The Impossible Dream in connection with a story about perennial candidates, those guys and gals who are always running for elective office even though they haven't got a prayer. That sent me on a memory cruise back to growing up. My mother loved that musical and she used to play the cast album all the time. I can still sing all those songs word-for-word. I serenaded my cat. She looked at me like I had two heads. If she's sitting on my lap when I start to sing, she commonly meows a complaint or, if close enough, sticks her head over my mouth.
Everyone's a critic.
Then on the way to work I was thinking about the perennial candidates and their impossible dreams versus the guys who can hire voiceover artists to make slick, cynical ads. I had a real Mr. Smith Goes to Washington moment there, I can tell you. Because the little guys have got it right, and the slick ad producers have got it so wrong.
I think everyone in America should be forced to watch Mr. Smith before they go into vote. Sure, it's corny, but it's right. Power corrupts, and the ones in power forget that they are legislators appointed by the people, for the people. They have completely forgotten or ignored what is for the good of the country, concentrating instead on to-the-death grudge matches that mean nothing more than bragging about who's got the biggest . . . majority.
Throw the rascals out.
ETA: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, not Mr. Deeds. Don't know why I can't keep that title straight, but I am embarrassed. In public. What else is new?
Random quote of the day:
"Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper, not eternal bronze: let that first sentence be as stupid as it wishes. No one will rush out and print it as it stands."
—Jacques Barzun
"Most people are just as happy as they make up their minds to be."
—commonly attributed to Abraham Lincoln
(Although there's no proof he actually said it.) (Yes, I'm one of those geeks who verifies quotes.) (Beware of Charles De Lint, btw.) (I like De Lint, he just doesn't always get the quotes quite right.) (Yeah, I know, I know, it's the spirit of the thing that counts...)
"London bridge is falling down--falling down, falling down. And who is responsible for this critical lack of funding of our infrastructure? My fair lady! Take the key and lock her up!"
(Trust me, it's much funnier if you hear it read in one of those voices.
You can listen to it here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6444183
Then this morning they played The Impossible Dream in connection with a story about perennial candidates, those guys and gals who are always running for elective office even though they haven't got a prayer. That sent me on a memory cruise back to growing up. My mother loved that musical and she used to play the cast album all the time. I can still sing all those songs word-for-word. I serenaded my cat. She looked at me like I had two heads. If she's sitting on my lap when I start to sing, she commonly meows a complaint or, if close enough, sticks her head over my mouth.
Everyone's a critic.
Then on the way to work I was thinking about the perennial candidates and their impossible dreams versus the guys who can hire voiceover artists to make slick, cynical ads. I had a real Mr. Smith Goes to Washington moment there, I can tell you. Because the little guys have got it right, and the slick ad producers have got it so wrong.
I think everyone in America should be forced to watch Mr. Smith before they go into vote. Sure, it's corny, but it's right. Power corrupts, and the ones in power forget that they are legislators appointed by the people, for the people. They have completely forgotten or ignored what is for the good of the country, concentrating instead on to-the-death grudge matches that mean nothing more than bragging about who's got the biggest . . . majority.
Throw the rascals out.
ETA: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, not Mr. Deeds. Don't know why I can't keep that title straight, but I am embarrassed. In public. What else is new?
Random quote of the day:
"Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper, not eternal bronze: let that first sentence be as stupid as it wishes. No one will rush out and print it as it stands."
—Jacques Barzun
"Most people are just as happy as they make up their minds to be."
—commonly attributed to Abraham Lincoln
(Although there's no proof he actually said it.) (Yes, I'm one of those geeks who verifies quotes.) (Beware of Charles De Lint, btw.) (I like De Lint, he just doesn't always get the quotes quite right.) (Yeah, I know, I know, it's the spirit of the thing that counts...)