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Some PR outfit sent me the following email. As our esteemed readers will no doubt recall, Going Rogue is Sarah Palin’s recently released book-like object.
from: Benjamin Kellogg (bkellogg@groupsjr.com)I replied:
to: gau@cnavk.pbz*
date: Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 3:19 PM
subject: Top “Rogue” movies to watch while waiting in line to hear Sarah Palin speakTeresa-
Thought this could be a fun list for your readers…
In honor of Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” book tour, mobile movie site zFcbg.pbz has put together a list of eight rogue-centric movies to watch while waiting in line to hear her speak.
8 Rogue Movies to Watch While Waiting in Line to Hear Sarah Palin Speak:Benjamin Kellogg | Group SJR | 646 495 9722Patriot Games
Braveheart
Mission: Impossible
The Hunt for Red October
American Gangster
The Sum of All Fears
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Van Helsing
You put out a list of “Rogue” movies that doesn’t include the first X-Men movie? Epic fail.It’d be a fail under any circumstances to spam the world with a movie list that’s less than the sum of its parts; but jeez.
Wait, did Palin's own PR firm just compare her to the Grinch?
Harrumph.
More germane viewing
* Dr Strangelove
* High Noon
* Catch 22
* To Kill a Mockingbird
* The Crucible
* A Man for All Seasons
* Murder in the Cathedral
* Mr Roberts
* Lysistrata
Well, I thought those films had something familiar with them, till I read the reply... Thank goodness you'd watch several films to see Sarah Palin. Might as well start planing to finish all new films before thinking of going to buy her book then.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Zelig
Being There
Dave
Wag the Dog
The Candidate
Wax, or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees
Jesus Camp
Into the Wild
Limbo
Insomnia
The Edge
The lines are going to be long enough to watch 8 movies?
Not even Neil Gaiman's lines are that long.
I'd at least hope to see a nod to Kazantzakis' film Z in there, though perhaps they'd prefer to think of her as Zorba....
Moulin Rogue.
(Yes, I know how it's really spelled.)
Downfall
Ruthless People
Liar, Liar
How about a list of the eight best rouge movies?
Maybe they should add suggested music for those who don't watch movies on their cell phones or for places with smaller lines? Some suggestions:
I Can See For Miles
Won't get Fooled Again
Behind Blue Eyes
Hey! How come Rouge Dawn isn't in that list?!
I'm kind of amused that there are three films on that list that are based on Tom Clancy books.
Kirby @ 7... Huston's version, or the ghastly recent musical? That being said, Moulin Rogue sounds like a Girl Genius story.
Serge @14:
They Might be Giants?
I think Tilting at Rogue Windmills sounds like a great title for a memoir or a progressive-rock album.
I'm kind of amused that there are three films on that list that are based on Tom Clancy books.
Well, they know their audience.
Lori Coulson @ 15... I haven't seen that one in ages. George C. Scott as Justin Playfair, and Joanne Woodward as Dr. Mildred Watson...
Serge@18: Oh, the movie. I thought you meant the band, and was thinking "well, their absurdism is a good thematic match, I guess..."
I thought you were saying she might have been a giant but she missed her chance.
Tom beat me to it: all I could think of was Z.
All the Z-ing has made me think of Zardoz, but the notion of Sarah Palin in hooker boots is both too horrifying and too plausible to contemplate for long.
-dsr-, read the thread, don't just search for the phrase. Misspellings'll getcha ev'ry time.
Teresa: Your response, OTOH, is epic win.
Also, if they're talking about the first MI movie, it doesn't focus on a "rogue" but on a traitor -- a highly-placed one. Is that REALLY the association they want us to make?
Hunt for Red October, too -- the sub commander was a traitor to Russia. Or at least the faction currently in power.
I think somewhere between Paula and Alan's list we could put together the ideal list in response:
Well, they couldn't include X-Men. It's got those nasty, terrible messages about acceptance and tolerance.
Plus, appalling percentage of her followers might take the opening scene as the most speculative part of the film.
I just wanted to express my amusement at the rot-13'd domain name. My first thought was "wow, the new TLDs are live already? .pbz sure is an ugly one!"
This is an audience that might also appreciate this comment on the book from LGM:
I stood in line to get my copy of this book from the local bookstore fearing it might be sold out early. Hot chick on the cover, so far so good. Then I opened it and started reading.To my chagrin it didn't start out well. I thought well at some point this has to get better. But guess what it doesn't! There's nothing at all about dex rolls, dps builds, searching for traps, sneak attacks, assassins, +4 daggers or anything!
All it is some woman whining about how everyone in her party wouldn't let her make any decisions...I don't even know where to start addressing this stuff. She doesn't even have any daggers! I mean, that's hardly the group leader's fault! She should have loaded out before the quest started!
I'm pondering Rouge, the based-on-real-life story of a reddish saltie (Australian crocodile) that attacks boats for the too, too delicious screams which emanate. Or am I mis-remembering it?
I have a great idea ("Huh oh") for a SciFi Channel movie about the dangers of genetic engineering.
Coming soon...
Kangarogue
Er, considering the long-time symbol of the GOP, how is it that no one has thought of this alternative title for La Palin's book: Rogue Elephant?
Found on imdb.com and, no, I didn't make that up:
"The Gay Amigo" (1949), aka "The Daring Rogue"
At least two of those movies, the Grinch and Van Helsing, sucked mightily. That might be why they're in the list.
But speaking of movies:
Blood of Dracula's Castle
Mulholland Drive
Spirits of the Dead
Rosemary's Baby
Sweeney Todd
Bonny and Clyde
Waterworld
Quatermass and the Pit
Serge @ 36: had I been drinking when I read that, you'd have owed me a new laptop... :)
Serge, #36: Janet Kagan beat you to it, in Return of the Kangaroo Rex. (Note: this is one of the stories featured in the collection Mirabile.)
Linkmeister, #37: Oh, dear. That just begs to be Photoshopped, doesn't it?
Based on what happened yesterday, eight movies might be far too many.
Arlington Road
Bob Roberts
The Conversation
Edge of Darkness (1985)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1952 or 1978)
The Parallax View
Seven Days in May (should be compulsory viewing for militaristic apologists)
Wag the Dog
...and...Manchurian Candidate (1962 only) FTW!
jim,
At least two of those movies, the Grinch and Van Helsing, sucked mightily.
only if you're talking about the jim carrey version, not the chuck jones version. i love the latter passionately, & i hate christmas.
um, i'm talking about the chuck jones grinch movie, of course. i don't think jones ever took on the dracula mythos, & we are poorer for it.
Teresa, I love your reply. I would write at more length of the depths of my admiration, but Patrick may be a jealous man and I wouldn't want Sarah Palin getting any credit for crimes of passion on top of crimes against literature (and pop culture, and marketing, and rhetoric, and logical thought, and political strategy, and the republic, and US/Canadian relations, and hockey, and...)
miriam beetle @ 44:
If Wiley Coyote plays van Helsing, Dracula will live forever (though hearing him go "beep beep" wouldn't exactly make people quake in fear, now would it?).
James Macdonald @ 39:
"Quatermass and the Pit" wherein millions of screaming humans are psychically taken over and caused to work for a bunch of dead green guys? Sounds right, except for the color.
Tom and Serge and Chris at least, thanks for beating me to Z, Red Dawn, and 7 Days in May.
If we want to make them think, perhaps A Face in the Crowd, An American Crime, or Triumph of the Will?
miriam beetle, #44: i don't think jones ever took on the dracula mythos
miriam @44: um, i'm talking about the chuck jones grinch movie, of course. i don't think jones ever took on the dracula mythos, & we are poorer for it.
"He's Spartacus. Him. Over there. Next one. Yeah. Spartacus."
Syd's link at #42 is interesting, incidentally. Palin appears to be building her career around the idea that she's been dumped on and disrespected, becoming an identification figure for people who've been really dumped on. If she in turn cluelessly dumps on those fans, it might backfire on her.
Syd @ 40... You know, whenever I think there's no way the Skiffy Channel could come up with anything weirder than my spoofs, it does. I mean, a megashark jumps out of the ocean and grabs a jetliner?
serge @ 52:
It has been truly said: "You can't say it jumped the shark if it never comes down".
Eight best going rouge movies? How about:
The Devil Wears Prada
Serial Mom
101 Dalmations (with Glenn Close as Cruella Deville)
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Dolores Claiborne
First Wives Club
Ready to Wear (Prêt à Porter)
Mildred Pierce
I swear it said Dalmatians in the preview!
#55 -- 'Drop Dead Gorgeous' -- ooh, you're good!
And for added oddity, a quiz comparing Ms. Palin's magnum opus with Danielle Steel's Rogue.
Serge @ 52: yes, but it would really have jumped the shark if the giant squid had performed similar aerial maneuvers. Or did it? I haven't actually watched television since I canceled my cable service two years ago...
Syd @ 59... All I saw was the coming attraction for the movie and so can't tell how deftly acrobatic the octopus was. I should probably check and see when Skiffy will show it again.
Yes, I am a glutton for punishment.
Why do you ask?
By the way, at the 2006 worldcon, I attended a talk by someone from Skiffy. I remember his asking the audience "C'mon, aren't you glad to know that there IS a movie out there called Mansquito?"
He does have a point. I guess I'd better go back to writing my unauthorized sequel to that one. What is it called?
Womantis, of course.
Okay. Eight? I think I can do that*:
Americathon
Eraserhead
Shame
Gimme Shelter
Being There
Stop Making Sense
Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
The Long Goodbye
*Can you find the mean-spririted typo? I thought you could.
Soylent Green!
I thought of Z but couldn't remember the name....
Syd @ 61... I even have plans for a sitcom spinoff, Mosquitots.
Miriam @44: i don't think jones ever took on the dracula mythos
I guess you haven't seen "Transylvania 6-5000".
Eraserhead!!! It has been a long-standing point of differentiation between me and normal people that I like Eraserhead, Zardoz and Liv Tyler's Armageddon.
Am I the only person who keeps reading this post title as "Uncleftish Rogue promo"? (Yes.) (I heard that, Serge.)
TexAnne (68): *That's* the echo the thread title set up in my head! Thanks, that was driving me crazy. Which in my case is a short trip.
TexAnne @ 68... Today's kids. They dish it out, but they can't have it dished out at them. They'd rather insult themselves than take it from their elders. Bah humbug.
Geekosaur @ 71... That one has potential. Then spinoff could spin its own spinoff centered around a greasy-spoon that Mansquito often frequents, called Grubs.
Today on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! they asked the panelists what Palin's next book would be called.
One, subtitled A Favor for the American People, was titled Going Away.
How about Echoing Beauty -- My Life as an AM Radio Antenna ?
I couldn't fine a real rogue walkthrough, but while you and I are waiting for it to show up on the intertubes, I give you this: ADOM a roguelike game.
Soo... The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is about a rogue bastard who wants to steal people's stuff, ruin everyone's happiness and make little kids cry.
Hm, maybe it's appropriate after all.
Interesting discussion.
Here's 8 conceivable movies
Palien Nation
3 Faces of Sarah
Palin Comparison
Sarah, Plain and Rogue
Roguetime
Rogue Gallery
DeRogueatory
Inconceivable Truth
Hi Teresa,
I've blogged a list of sarcastic anagrams of
"Sarah Palin : Going Rogue", here :-
http://www.savory.de/blog_nov_09.htm#20091121
eric @75
Going Roguelike about how one day she woke up to discover she'd been trasnformed into a beet^H^H^H^HGiant @ sign?
The Murders in the More Rouge?
Clint Eastwood's Palin Rider.
Teddy Roosevelt's Rouge Riders.
Serge #81: Teddy Roosevelt's Rouge Riders.
As cross-dressing biopic actioners go, that one sounds like it has plenty of potential. Recommended for exercising those under-worked cringe muscle groups.
Earl, 82: Let me guess. The tagline for that one is "Whine loudly and carry a big lipstick."
Fahrenheit 451 (low-hanging fruit, this one?)
A Night to Remember
Ace in the Hole (though she's certainly not as clued-in as Chuck Tatum)
All the King's Men
Brazil
Fantasia (just the broom sequence)
A Self-Made Hero
Leolo
The Butcher Boy
I'm looking forward to the dramatic snow mobile charge up Mount McKinley to defeat the Ruskies during the New Cold War.
TexAnne, fantastic tagline. She thinks she has a Bully Moose Pulpit.
Funny thing about the Clancy movies--I'm pretty sure that Clancy would be happy to put a thinly disguised Palin in one of his novels, but she wouldn't be a heroine. She would be a dupe, an obstacle, or a clever faker with some dastardly plot going on behind the scenes. Clancy did put somebody who had no idea what he was doing in the White House, but he also showed his character screwing up, needing extensive tutoring, and buckling down to _learn his job._ Politics aside, Clancy tends not to be very kind to know-nothings in his fiction.
eric @75:
There's a very good "rouge"/"rogue" pun there — if you speak Hebrew, that is. ("adom" = "red")
87: not to mention Clear and Present Danger, one long screed about the folly of sending the army into other countries to solve a problem much better dealt with by the police and the courts...
I think, given the author people are waiting in line for, that "The Thing" and "Alien" would be appropriate movies to watch.
Two words: loose cannon.
Who's busily holing her own ship.
A number of Nic Roeg movies seem appropriate:
Bad Timing, Puffball, Far from the Madding Crowd,Don't Look Now and Insignificance.
Just noticed that one of the recommended titles is a film about the struggle to bring down a black gangster who runs a massive heroin-smuggling operation.
That's not even remotely subtle.
OR Publishers have released a book re the sp titled Going Rouge, an anthology of pundits.
The Nation via HuffPo posts about Going Rouge today, for that matter.
Love, C
And we may get some blushing weather this afternoon, according to NOAA: INSTABILITY IS EXPECTED TO BE VERY WEAK AND INSUFFICIENT FOR MORE THAN A ROUGE THUNDERSTORM ACROSS FAR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA.
You know, Jenny, there's something wrong with a country when writers start using presidents in the role formerly held by dumb bimbos for the sake of infodumping. One step forward for feminists, one leap backwards for politicians.
Speaking of dumb bimbos, Clancy isn't much for the over-emotional female trope either, but he has a doozy in _Clear and Present Danger_ IIRC. She approaches policy issues as if they were personal attacks and responds accordingly and she doesn't like to be confused with the facts. Unfortunately, she's very close to the sitting President.
Janet@95 - I don't know what color the dirt is in southeast Oklahoma, but a rouge sandstorm might be credible in southern Utah, and lots of Georgia would give you rouge-colored runoff after a good rain...
Ooh, the first spam of the new year (well, for me anyway), @100.