First, the trailers…
The Browser: News & links to raise your eyebrows & furrow your brow. New headlines may be added as the day goes on. Stay tuned.
- Laura Bramon Good delivers Part 2 of her series “Elliot Spitzer Makes a Porno” … at Image’s blog, Good Letters. (If you missed Part 1, it’s here.)
- Greg Wright on “Anatomy of a Christian Approach to Movies” (Hey, thanks, Greg! I’m flattered!)
I read both parts of Good’s series, and I was reminded almost immediately of a story arc that ran through the first season of THE WEST WING. Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborne has a liaison with a woman he later learns is a prostitute (or, as he prefers, “call girl”). Throughout that arc, lovable Sam does his best to steer the woman, named Laurie, away from her night life. She’s studying to be a lawyer, after all, and she has bills to pay. Near season’s end, Sam is caught handing Laurie a gift — an innocent thing, really, but he is a White House staffer and she is a call girl. The usual hand-wringing ensues, and Sam receives a slap on the wrist. The president, in his benevolence, has this to say about the call girl:
“You should tell her,” Bartlett tells Sam, “that if she passes the bar exam, the US Attorney General will personally see that she’s admitted to the bar. Tell her the President of the United States says congratulations on getting her degree.”
That moment, while I appreciate its sentiment, never sat well with me, and thanks to Good’s article, I think I figured out why:
http://fumingpew.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/looking-back-at-a-moment-from-the-west-wing/
Just finished reading Inkheart yesterday actually – the movie doesn’t look terrible – Helen Mirren and Andy Serkis are terrific casting choices, but Brendan Fraser doesn’t do it as Mo for me at all. And what’s up with The Wizard of Oz? We’ll see…