The political conventions start this week. Many speeches will be given, and we’ll have to see whether any of them stack up with the greatest speeches ever delivered. Like Shakespeare’s speech about St. Crispin’s Day in Henry V. Or Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Or Winston Churchill’s “we shall fight on the beaches” stemwinder during the dark days of World War II.
But as we look forward to the gatherings of our gutsy political leaders, right and left, in this our nation’s hour of need, my thoughts turn to another famous oration — the Cowardly Lion’s remarks on “courage” prior to his first encounter with the Wizard of Oz:
Courage!
What makes a King out of a slave? Courage!
What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage!
What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage!
What makes the Sphinx the Seventh Wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage!
What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the ape in ape-ricot? What have they got that I ain’t got? (Courage)
You can say that again!
Seems particularly apt these days, doesn’t it?
Mr. Jingeling, how you ting-a-ling,
Consider the Youtube clip below. It shows a “female” Japanese robot known as HRP-4C, pictured at left, singing an annoying song as several young Japanese women frolic around her doing dances from the ’60s. The robot herself looks like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz from the waist down, like a high-end blow-up doll from the neck up, is wearing what appears to be a yellow shower curtain, and has enormous “man hands” a la Seinfeld. The robot looks like she could palm a medicine ball or crush an elephant’s skull with those mitts! To top it off, the robot has a whiny voice and is about as fluid in her dance moves as the robot from Lost in Space. Danger, Will Robinson!
It seems like 75% of the movies showing at any given time are movie versions of TV shows or comic books, or sequels of prior successful movies, or remakes of old movies, or even remakes of sequels. Everybody seems to be searching for a “franchise” that they can ride for a few sequels until diminishing quality and declining audience interest have irreparably damaged the memory of the excellent original movie.
