C’mon men, ‘Duel’ better
In the Middle Ages, women — even before Harvey, R. Kelly, Raniere, Cosby, etc. — were treated badly. Like lousy.
Comes now Ridley Scott’s newie movie “The Last Duel,” starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Adam Driver dueling over Jodie Comer.
Damon: “In those days women were not seen as people. They were seen as property of their father.”
Affleck: “It maybe has echoes and connections to the present.”
Male roles got scripted PDQ. For the female side, indie writer Nicole Holofcener was brought in and says: “I’ve never written anything like this. I thought at first it was a joke. Is this like ‘Monty Python’? And then I read it, and a comedy it’s not.”
“The Last Duel” must now duel it out with the ultimate screen misogynist — James Bond.
All fired up over arson scourge
OK, climate change ties into horrendous forest fires, but the climate had help — like from the 120 arsonists arrested in California. Criminology professor Gary Maynard, specializing in deviant criminal conduct, is now charged with setting fire in the Sierra Nevadas. He understands the crime of arson. He’s now in a Sacramento jail awaiting trial. Please, what is happening to us?!
Colorful terms
Dealing with language — at least to understand the Mother Tongue sufficiently to mangle it — I undertook a study of its colorful etymology and how it came to be:
Red tape — Red signifies blood. Bloody fight. Symbol of passion. Flushed with color. The phrase began in the 16th century.
Green with envy — Poetess Sappho, seventh century BC, believing a jealous lover’s pallid complexion was from an overproduction of bile, began it.
Yellow-belly — Representing cowardice, wordsmiths liken it to deceitful Judas who gets mostly pictured in a dingy, yellow robe.
Blackball — Ellen Conroy’s 1921 “Symbolism of Color” book likens it to darkness. Lack of human perception or divine wisdom. Absence of light.
White lies — Symbolizing purity, even smallest drop of dye or dirt smudge destroys the color.
In a blue moon — A real blue moon goes back hundreds of years. 1883, Indonesia’s volcano Krakatoa exploded and turned the moon blue worldwide for nearly two years.
Silver spoon — Comes from the 1719 translation of “Don Quixote”: “Not all gold glitters and every man was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.”
In the pink — Dates to the 1500s, a pale flower called dianthus. They’re still known as pinks.
Rose-colored glasses — From the word rosy. Came to use in the 1700s to indicate optimism.
Gray area — 12th century English word “graeg” connotes a place not as desperate as a slum but in decline, in need of rebuilding.
Ahh, germs!!
Henry Winkler. Germophobe. Once, Down Under — before CV — he showed up in Sydney carrying 10 antiseptic wipes. In his pockets. At all times. Just to sanitize the Aussies? . . . Cameron Diaz, with her own fear of picking up whatever, is known to open doors with her elbows to avoid any nasties that maybe set up shop on the knobs . . . Howie Mandel’s bacteriaphobia is known even to unborn lemurs in Madagascar . . . Must be something with versions of the name Howie, because there’s Howard Stern. Try to kiss him, hug him, embrace him or lick his earlobe? It’s not on . . . And Trump? Admittedly it’s “psychological,” but he prefers Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, even Dems to anyone who hasn’t scrubbed their hands before entering his Oval Office.
Lawyer to client: “You need a wife. Think of all the things that happen that you can’t blame on the government.”
Mostly Only in New York, kids, only in New York.