Friday, September 30, 2005

Friday Airport Blogging

HELLO!!! I'M IN THE AIRPORT!!!

NO, THE AIRPORT!!!

YES! I'M ON MY WAY TO LIBERAL MOUNTAIN FOR THE WEEKEND!!! I'M IN THE WIRELESS FOOD COURT RIGHT NOW!!!! THE FOOD COURT!!!


Right, now that the formalities are out of the way, here is a brief quiz to keep you occupied:

1) Are there any other cities besides Pittsburgh with at least 3 major sports teams that all have the same team colors? (Stillers, Pahrrts, and Penguins are all black & gold)

2) Has anyone achieved Major American Icon status with a smaller body of work than James Dean? I have nothing against James Dean - if anything, it's a testament to the impression he made in his only two major film roles - but it does seem a bit unusual.

Unfortunately, I don't have the answers to either question, but I'm hoping someone does...

7 comments:

djhlights said...

To answer number 1 - Pittsburgh is the only city to have that. The Penguins actually changed their colors to black and gold to do so. Their original colors were blue and white.

As a James Dean fan and a stickler, Dean had THREE major film roles. East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant. Both Rebel and Giant were released after his death.

You have to also keep in mind that with his body of work of three films he garnered two Acadamy Award nominations for Best Actor (Eden and Giant), two BAFTA Best Actor Award nominations (Eden and Rebel), and won two Golden Globes.

He was Brando and Monty Clift rolled into one at a time when method acting was new. There was nothing like him.

Eli said...

Remember, the question is not about whether James Dean's status as an icon is deserved, which I'm not disputing, but about whether anybody else became such a big deal with so few movies.

My mistake on East Of Eden; I thought he just had a supporting role in that, but obviously not.

Thers said...

You can get elected president with a very meagre body of work...

oldwhitelady said...

Eli, it sounds as though you're always traveling. Have fun!

Eli said...

Fortunately, Thers and Mary were able to fashion a crude cable modem and wireless router out of twigs and squirrels, so I am able to log on to the internets intermittently.

The liberals all say hi back, jay!

The Kenosha Kid said...

I can think of lots of writers who became icons with similarly skimpy bodies of work:

Nathanael West
James Joyce
John Kennedy Toole
and the ultimate.. Harper Lee

Eli said...

Point taken, but I would question whether any of those have anywhere near the same kind of icon status that James Dean, or that their own icon status outstrips that of their works - i.e., I would say To Kill A Mockingbird is an American Icon, but Harper Lee is not.