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Why Do I Feel as If I’m in a Fellini Film?
In the mid-’70s I moved to Columbus for a new job and to begin graduate studies at Ohio State. I hadn’t been there for more than a few weeks when I became the recipient (as it turned out, the victim) of a “fix-up”. When I picked up my date, I asked her if she would like to see a movie. (I had already determined that I wanted to see the new Jack Nicholson flick, Chinatown.) She didn’t hesitate, “Oh, I’d just love to go to the Fellini festival that’s showing.” I immediately froze; I hoped that she was just jerking my chain. No such luck. I smiled around my teeth and replied, “Oh yeah, that’ll be fine”.
I had already suffered through a Fellini film (“Satyricon”) during an art appreciation class that I had taken as an undergraduate. I had vowed then to never see another one. Now, I know that here at Ricochet, we have some first-class film aficionados and, I suspect, some Fellini fans. That’s fine. However, for me, I’ll pass.
On this occasion, however, I simply accepted my fate and drove to a small theater near the OSU campus that specialized in foreign films. During the drive, my date told me that she was a graduate student in Library Science. I wished (to myself) that she had been a Physical Education major. The movie, Amarcord, was just as dreadful as I thought it would be. I feigned interest in both the movie and my date and chalked the evening off as a mistake.
I had put both movies out of my mind until January the 20th of this year; the day Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. became the President of the United States of America. Since then, I’ve had the feeling that I’m in a horrible Fellini movie.
Each time I see and hear Joe Biden I want to close my eyes and turn away but it has become increasingly difficult. As I watched him falling up the steps of Air Force One, I kept thinking over and over again, “I laughed at Gerald Ford when he fell down the steps of Air Force One, but this guy?” How in the hell can someone fall up a set of steps? As it’s turned out, this scene has become a metaphor for his entire administration.
As I watched the Vice President of the United States give her lesson (?) to those students (?) all I could think of was Shari Lewis. All that was needed was Lamp Chop (or some other puppet) for the Vice Presiden’s “lesson”. After she finished, the words “a heartbeat from the presidency” kept resonating through my mind.
I go through stores and see empty shelves while huge ships sit off harbors, unable to discharge their cargo. I turn on the TV to watch the Secretary of Transportation being interviewed and hear him talk excitedly about becoming a mother.
I see the news about China testing a new hypersonic weapon that could conceivably destroy my country. Then I read about the Secretary of Commerce saying that, “Robust commercial engagement will help to mitigate any potential tensions (with China)“. Then, as if to mock me, she went on to state, “there’s no point in talking about decoupling (our economy from China’s)“.
I look at the rest of Biden’s cabinet and see that each one is like Biden; utterly corrupt and incompetent. Certainly, no administration has been as hostile to America’s interests as this one.
Each time Biden or one of his minions make an announcement, it makes no more sense than the graffiti-covered wall at the beginning of Satyricon. I try to look away but, for me, it’s impossible. I can’t look away as my country is being destroyed.
At times, I’m able to temporarily put this idiocy aside. Living in a rural area, as I do, I’m still able to look at the beauty of nature and even be transported back to a time when my nation didn’t suffer from these doofuses.
However, it seems that these “sanity breaks” don’t last very long. Another day; another absurdity coming out of Washington, D.C.
This is one Fellini film that I can’t wait to see come to an end.
Published in General
No matter HOW it ends?
At least, we’ll no longer be in suspense.
I suppose. But actually dying (for example) does seem worse than wondering if you’re going to.
Maybe a new film will be along the lines of John Ford or Howard Hawks. Keep a good thought…
It’s Glen Ford, not John Ford, but, Ever seen this? It’s really good, and not just because of Suzanne Pleshette:
No, John Ford as in Stagecoach, The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
And yes, Fate is the Hunter is a very good movie.
The TSA is somehow in charge of how I breathe on the bus. Even fully vaccinated (not that that should matter) I have to wear a mask. Meanwhile the bus company has recently added thick plastic shields separating the driver from everything else.
Same for counter-order restaurants: wearing a mask while facing a thick piece of plastic or plexiglass. Largely because of this woman, who has no medical degree of any kind.
If you listen closely, you can tell I was watching The Searchers when this happened:
And I meant, “Fate” is a Glen Ford movie, not a John Ford movie, but…
I’ve done it often enough that I can give lessons. Ten dollars off on the introductory session.
Who wouldn’t have issues if he had a middle name like that?
80% of Democrats tell pollsters that they approve of this stuff. I hope they are lying to the pollsters, but I suspect many of them are not.
I can’t stand Fellini. Never been able to watch any of his films to the end without multitasking with Facebook or something. I did like Captain America, which says something about my low tastes….
It could be worse. It could be Team America: World Police.
It sounds as though I’m fortunate to have never heard of this Fellini fellow.
Chinatown is a much better film than anything Fellini ever made. But Fellini did show the complete dysfunctionality of Italy. And it’s pretty appropriate for the USat the moment. Even Carter had Griffin Bell and Cyrus Vance. Biden has no one of equal capability. Or integrity.
This is just one of the thousands of challenges of heterosexuality. Cis is truly the hero’s path. So its not for everybody. Bet our Secretary of Transportation never had problems like this.
Isn’t fellini best served with a creamy clam sauce?
Wasn’t Captain America good? So maybe you mean Captain Marvel?
Who are these people who still support Slow Joe? Yeah, some deranged NTs, but who else?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/joe-biden-leads-donald-trump-by-2-points-in-hypothetical-2024-matchup-poll/ar-AAPSre2?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531
Lol. Captain America was a bit dumb but also hot (go spandex!) plus great special effects.
Captain Marvel had great special effects (I assume, never saw it).
I’ll pass but thanks for the offer…
Dick Van Dyke may have been the expert.
Got a link?
Not specifically for that, just kinda figures.
You trained Joe well.
He received one of Hunter’s paintings as payment…
Those paintings aren’t worth anything except when they’re originally sold for bribes.
But our garbage service refuses to haul it away.
Hey, trash services have some standards!
Actually, didn’t some of those paintings use some of his blood? That could legitimately make them biohazards.