5 Oct 97 
 
Here's Meep's Sunday Review: Bums -- men's, girls', and of becoming one.   
But first a word from our sponsor: 
 
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So first I'll start with the latest -- The Full Monty at the Angelika Film  
Center.  First about the theater itself -- 50 cents less ticket price than  
the regular cinemas, and classier to boot.  When I left they had a bassoon  
duet going on.  The tea I got was a little weak, but all herbal tea starts  
out that way.  
 
In the screen room, it was tastefully lit, new comfy chairs, kind of like  
Studio I/II a little expanded or the Rialto renovated and squished.  The  
pre-movie entertainment was enya without the music -- all effects and very  
soothing.  Not really the atmosphere one wants on a Sunday morning; unless  
you want your patrons to fall asleep so they'll have to pay to see the  
movie again. 
 
The Full Monty was a sweet little flick.  I like this pleasant movie-going  
experience I've had lately -- Shall We Dance and now The Full Monty.  I  
plan to go see In & Out soon, which should also be sweet...  I can't  
remember all the guys names in the movie, but one character kind of looked  
like Glenn Simmonds to me and another like John (Ma's John).  I thought  
the fat guy was really cute, great eyes.  It also reminds me that no one  
has taken me to a stripper show yet.  This is definitely a video I'll buy  
when it comes out. 
 
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Next, I just read a book yesterday called the Body Project.  More like a  
tantalizing taste of the sociology of American adolescent girls throughout  
history -- a few anecdotes and stats, but a brimming full bibliography for  
me to find out the facts in more detail.  Like Reviving Ophelia, a little  
alarmist, but one gets ideas of how to curtail teen angst.  It makes me  
think that home schooling is a terrific idea for today's kids. 
 
It was interesting to discover that acne was considered a sign of  
masturbation, that bangs were a fashion originally created to hide acne,  
and that bras were initially invented to _flatten_ the chest, not "lift  
and separate" or "lift and squeeze" -- whichever your lingerie philosophy.   
I subscribe to the swinging free school, myself. 
 
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Finally, Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens.  The foremost  
characteristic of this book, that most people all agree on, is its length.   
800 some pages.  That's a long book.  Like most Dickens novels, there are  
a couple hundred eminently skippable pages in the book -- namely, when  
young Martin goes to the U.S.  Unfortunately, he undergoes a very  
important character change there, and also unfortunately, there are no  
cliffs notes for this book.  So if you skip the American pages, feel free  
to email me to ask for a synopsis. 
 
I must say, that for a long time I've held a grudge against Dickens.  The  
novel really isn't his form; he was a serial writer, three chapters per  
month (and it shows).  He needed to give readers enough meat to chew on  
for 30 days so that they would be still gnawing at the bone when the next  
issue erupted.  I read Great Expectations with little expectation and  
David Copperfield with no illusion, I found their themes banal and  
predictable.  But I had been watching The Days of Our Lives for several  
years at that point.  Besides, the teachers always get you to read the  
shortest, and most depressing Dickens.  Depressing literature -- always a  
sure bet with kids in puberty.  Who the hell writes English curricula? 
 
Anyway, this book is pretty funny, but the humor seems darker and darker 
as the action goes on.  Seth Pecksniff goes from pompously amusing to 
diabolical and Jonas Chuzzlewit starts as a hideous wretch saying amazing 
thigs and ends even lower.  Some things in the end seem a little tacked on  
(esp. about Young Bailey and Chevy Slyme), but what can you expect.  He  
had to end the damn novel, it was a drag on his popularity, and this novel  
was not intended as a tragedy. 
 
However, the book is a must, if only to understand the "Harris" reference  
in Murder on the Orient Express (the book, not the movie.)   
 
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