02/01/08 Same Old Story

Pathetically, I STILL haven't managed to smoke a cigarette in 2008.
In spite of all my good intentions, I have failed...thankfully I still have time on my side.
The "putting on weight" element of my New Year Resolutions has been going really well so far, although I made a bit of an arse of things today as I found myself doing a 3.5 mile run.
What a twat!
If I keep on with this sort of nonsense, I'll end up burning more calories than I actually consume...and that would be really embarassing.
Thankfully I have some people round fro dinner tonight and I have a spare Xmas pudding in the fridge.
We watched the John Wayne film "McLintock" yesterday.
I remember liking this film a lot as a kid, so was interested to see how it would stand the test of time.
Some interesting politics going on in it...
There are a couple of young men competing for the hand of McLintock's daughter Becky.
One has just arrived from New York with some new dance steps to show off.
He also played a musical instrument.
In the context of the film this categorised him as an effeminate, ineffectual buffoon.
Wayne also referred to him disparagingly as "College Boy!", adding "possessing a formal education" to the list of unacceptable qualities for a would-be suitor.
Thankfully, the other young man was an uncomplicated farmer who enjoyed punching people in the face as a form of cultural expression.
McLintock encourages the farmer to thrash his daughter across the backside with a metal shovel.
He then performs the same act on his wife (Maureen O'Hara).
He carries this out after receiving this advice form an old friend ;
"I'm a peaceable man but my father used to say, 'You raise you voice it doesn't do any good... it's time to raise your hand.'"
(a few jaws dropped in my living room at this point!)
There were also a horribly patronising portrayal of a Chinese person, and some sterotyped Indians, as well as every scene having someone slugging from a bottle of Scotch, (apart from "College Boy" of course)
Then McLintock made a speech to his daughter saying she wouldn't inherit his vast estate as he would be giving it back to the Indians.
"Give it back now you thieving big right-wing bastard! Don't have to wait till you're deid!"
Hmmm...life seemed much simpler when I watched this when I was a wee laddie...a