Things younger than Republican Presidential candidate (oh, and did I forget to mention war hero?) John McCain

“Citizen Kane” is younger than John McCain.

I never saw this movie and, barring the blurb I read on IMDB, I have no idea what it’s about. I do know - thanks to an episode of “Family Guy” - that “Rosebud” was a sled from when the main character was a kid. (And people say that show isn’t educational…). I also know that it’s really, really, old.

I think it’s funny that John McCain - the same guy who’s whining about the celebrity status being bestowed upon Barack Obama - has a biography done where he’s compared to the lead of THE #1 MOVIE OF ALL TIME (as reported by the American Film Institute in 2007).

You know what else is funny? This little chestnut describing the book:

“Given unprecedented access to Senator John McCain for a full year, journalist Elizabeth Drew offers a fascinating peek at the man certain to be the 2008 Republican candidate. The year was 2001, and we follow the Senator from his battle for campaign reform to the hours in the aftermath of 9/11 when McCain calmed the nation as Bush dodged around the country on Air Force One.”

Um, excuse me? McCain “calmed the nation”?

I don’t know - I lived about 5 blocks from the WTC on 9/11 and I don’t recall hearing McCain’s name mentioned once. I do recall some cowboy getting a rise out of all the firefighters and construction workers by saying “We’re a-gonna git ‘em!” (which, for the record, he never a-did) but I reckon to guess that McCain was napping in a bunker somewhere in Arizona at the time.

(Thanks to Steve for the tip!)

I seem to be getting a lot of first time visitors to the site lately… and a lot of them hit the wall around page 3. So I thought I’d make it a little easier for people to find the older stuff by putting together a very unscientific list of the top posts (based on page views, number of comments, ones that I think really help make my case, and ones that I just thought were funny)… and here they are:

Assorted Diatribes
Ageism
A day in the life of a middle-class Republican

Books
The Grapes of Wrath

Codes
The Zip Code

Discoveries
Oil in the desert
Penicillin

Foods
The York Peppermint Pattie
The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
Cheerios

Images
A McCain campaign banner ad I wish we’d see
McCain goes after the youth vote
“Caption this photo” contest

Organizations
Mensa

People
Cindy McCain
Larry Flynt
Keith Richards
Ronald Reagan
My Mother
91% of America

Products
The Slinky
Scrabble
Duct Tape

Videos
McCain loses it on birth control issue
McCain says that his age is an issue

“The Wizard of Oz” is younger than John McCain.

I haven’t really done much on the blog with regard to movies because, well, let’s face it, most movies are younger than JMcC. But I thought that I’d do “The Wizard of Oz” in honor of Gay Pride Weekend, where - at least in my neighborhood - there will probably be a lot of guys dressed up like Dororthy (no, really, there will be. Apparently - and I just learned this from a friend yesterday - the gay-equivalent of alcoholics recognizing each other as being a “friend of Bill W.” is to say that you’re a “friend of Dorothy”.)

So anyway, there’s a lot of trivia surrounding this movie - everything from Buddy Ebson’s allergies to the whole stoner-nonsense about “Dark Side of The Moon” but my new favorite has got to be the one that “Elvira” sent me… which is that the “munchkins” are credited at the end of the film as “The Singer Midgets”.

Nice. Midgets.

“Modern Times” is younger than John McCain.

This 1936 comedy was written, produced, directed by Charlie Chaplin and starred… Charlie Chaplin. According to Wikipedia, the film is “a comment on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Depression, conditions created, in Chaplin’s view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialization”.

My next creative project after this blog is going to be a sequel to “Modern Times” called “Modern Times 2: This Time, It’s Personal”. It’ll be “a comment on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Recession, conditions created, in my view, by electing an out-of-touch septuagenarian President”.

Look for it in theaters in November. God help us.

The Grapes of Wrath is younger than John McCain.

I have to admit that I never read the book (1939) and was only turned on to the movie (1940) because of the Springsteen album (The Ghost of Tom Joad) but its message is timeless (I guess that’s part of what makes a classic).
In a nutshell, the economy is down the drain, lenders are foreclosing left and right, there are more applicants than there are jobs, and people are in search of a way to return to dignity.
Hmm, I wonder if they’ll ever make a sequel?