Friday LinkFrogging – 9/17/10

Wino Forever!

My birthday was last week.

One of my gifts was Chuck Klosterman’s “Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs.”  We enjoy Mr. Klosterman’s work here at GonzoGeek.  We’ve made no bones about it.  He’s a kindred spirit.

What makes Mr. Klosterman’s work so interesting is his ability to weave the most mundance threads from the pop culture landscape into the big observations about life.  In the essay “This is Emo,” he starts with a discussion Generation X females love of Lloyd Dobler, not John Cusack,  into explaining why Coldplay sucks and finally hits on how all this ties into the differences between true and fake love.  Pretty heady stuff to be pulled from an Ione Skye movie.

Still, one of my favorites is entitled “Sulking with Lisa Loeb on the Ice Planet Hoth.”  In this one Mr. Klosterman examines the deeper meaning of the original Star Wars trilogy to Generation X.  This leads to discussion of how Reality Bites has similar themes.

What?

Trust me.  Find the essay.  Its worth a read.

All of this leads me to the introduction of this week’s cheesecake.  Say hello to Winona Ryder.

In the aforementioned essay, Mr. Klosterman analogizes Ms. Ryder’s character in Reality Bites to the original moody Jedi, Luke Skywalker. 

She pursued a path that was difficult and depressing, and she did so because it showed the slightest potential for transcendence.  Not coincidentally, this is also the Jedi’s path.  Adventure?  Excitement?  The Jedi craves not these things.  However, he does crave something greater than the bloodless existence of his father.  Quite simply, Winona Ryder is Luke Skywalker, only with a better haircut and a killer rack.

That’s good stuff kids.

Ever since she appeared as a band geek with a thing for Corey Haim in Lucas, Ms. Ryder has been part of our collective geek culture.  She dated Depp and Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum.  She was Tim Burton’s original muse.  She was Jerry Lee Lewis‘ wife, Ripley’s clone and Spock’s mom.  Of course, no discussion of Ms. Ryder’s place in the geek girl pantheon would be complete without a mention of her defining role as Veronica, the original gossip girl, in 1989′s Heathers.  That movie set the template for all teen angst in media since.

Sure, she got pinched for shoplifting in 2001, but after Mr. Klosterman’ examination, I prefer to think that Ms. Ryder was practicing her Jedi mind trick on the Saks sales clerk.

The Force is strong in that one.

On to the links.

Friday LinkFrogging – 3/12/10

Welcome to Friday kids.  Given the week it was, today just couldn’t come fast enough.

Healthcare debate continues to rage.  All the healthcare conversation in the world couldn’t save Corey Haim.  Of course, Haim’s death gave his “best friend,” Corey Feldman another chance to grab that brass ring.

Hold on tight Corey.  Hold on tight.

Before we hit the links, let’s meet this week’s cheesecake.  Say hello to Elizabeth Banks.   You make recognize her from such varied roles as Laura Bush in Oliver Stone’s W and Beth, the bathtub girl, in The 40 Year Old Virgin.  Come to think of it, maybe her roles aren’t so varied.

What you may not know is that Ms. Banks is one of the highest grossing actresses of all time.

“What?” you may ask.

It’s true.  According to The Movie Times at Ugo, Ms. Banks is the 5th highest grossing actress in history.  When I first stumbled onto their chart, she was 4th.  Since then, Cate Blanchett has eeked ahead of her.  How did Elizabeth Banks turn into the female Samuel L. Jackson?  I’m guessing her role as Betty Brant in the 3 Spider-Man movies had something to do with it.  She is currently over $600 billion ahead of last week’s cheesecake and Oscar winner, Sandra Bullock.

Keep ‘em…it…up Elizabeth.

On to the links.