Thursday, June 11, 2009

If I can hand it in tomorrow it'll be all right

An excerpt from a highly entertaining, and penetratingly insightful, e-mail exchange with a friend about the factual discrepancies put forth by that imprimatur of all things teen-aged and 1992, Saved by the Bell.

Me: Zack's willingness to throw away Yale for the purpose of attending Cal U would only make sense in the context of a scholarship, but his Dad's ferrari and his status as an early adopter of the mobile phone obviates that option. Side QQ: If Saved by the Bell were set today, would Zack have an iPhone or Blackberry? I say Blackberry bc he'd probably be texting multiple girls at a time, and that's easier via Blackberry.
Zack's attendance at Cal U is completely unbelievable, as is the idea that Slater and Screech would go to the same college. Either Screech is willing to toss aside a successful career and all those years of studying (at severe risk to his social life) to go to college with his buddies, or Slater was a lot smarter than we thought.

But given his latently chauvinistic tendencies I doubt he was terribly bright. Not to mention unresolved Oedipal issues, given that we never saw his Mom and know he had a contentious relationship with his Dad over not wanting to join the Army, calling his girlfriend Momma starts making more sense.

Lillian:You're right that Zack was definitely wealthy enough to attend Yale, so the Cal U scenario doesn't really wash. I think Zack would have been a Blackberry man as well, it's a bit more "little black book" than the iPhone. By the way, "Little Black Book," with Brittany Murphy and Ron Livingston? Worst movie ever made. (Ed. note--Lillian is completely right. That movie is awful.) Slater attended Cal U on a wrestling scholarship, only to find out upon arrival that he was a very small fish in a very big wrestling pond, and needed to step up his game if he wanted to stay. He got a 1050 on his SATs, so he was obviously not the brightest crayon in the box, and, as you said, clearly had mommy issues. Screech's attendance was less easily explained, as he was the valedictorian
of Bayside High, but perhaps his decision was financially based. We never really knew much about his family life, did we? If we hadn't witnessed his whole junior and high school experience, I would have pegged him as a typical homeschooled kid.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Après moi, l'Excel!

I'm at a banking conference in Midtown today, and within 15 minutes see a woman using her Hermès scarf as a sling for a sprained arm. I also heard her suggest to a caterer that we all eat cake.