April 17, 2013

Pop Goes the Culture: Repo Man (1984) " The life of a repo man is always intense."

"I had a lobotomy."
"A lobotomy? Isn't that for loonies?"
"Not at all. A friend of mine had one."

In which Miller explains the weirdness that is going on:

Miller: A lot o' people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch o' unconnected incidents 'n things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice o' coincidence that lays on top o' everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.

Otto: You eat a lot of acid, Miller, back in the hippie days?

Miller: I'll give you another instance: you know how everybody's into weirdness right now?...

"I do my best thinking on the bus. That's how come I don't drive. The more you drive the less intelligent you are."

Posted by gerardvanderleun at April 17, 2013 6:26 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

...one of my all time favorite films. Miller was right about the lattice of coincidence. I always just called it a web. But he's right.
I've known people who are that kind of crazy, too. They have a weird sort of radar, and somehow I always cause it to ping. That's why I don't take the bus

JWM

Posted by: jwm at April 17, 2013 8:15 PM

Dig the book on the way into the fire barrel:

Dioretix: The Science of Matter Over Mind

by A. Rum somebodyorother....

Posted by: Rob De Witt at April 17, 2013 8:31 PM

I owned a 4 door version of that Malibu. Same color. Maybe my favorite car ever.

Posted by: Fat Man at April 17, 2013 9:02 PM

Gerard, to add even more pop culture wackiness to this post, Repo Man was produced by former Monkee Michael Nesmith, heir to the Liquid Paper fortune (invented by his mother), and he was appointed trustee of the Gihon Foundation, which was founded by his mother.

Posted by: John Venlet at April 18, 2013 4:28 AM

John Venlet,

I knew Mike Nesmith in San Antonio around 1966 or '67. He was one of two guys in the folk music scene who exemplified the "Self Righteous Hippie" pose, forever telling everybody else they needed to mellow out and loosen up. Eventually he packed up his stuff and his girlfriend in a bug-eye A.H. Sprite and headed "Off to Californ-i-o," after making sure everybody got the word for a week or so.

It wasn't until years later that I learned that all that hip was undergirded by his mother's safety net. The mother of the other guy, by the way, turned out to own Heavenly Valley ski resort. And people wonder why I'm cynical.

Posted by: Rob De Witt at April 18, 2013 2:42 PM

Rob, I guess Nesmith is kind of an American Alain de Botton, in a way, though I don't hear of Nesmith advocating for the expansion of the state, or desiring to build atheist cathedrals in the sky.

Posted by: John Venlet at April 18, 2013 4:31 PM

Gerard, once again you manage to peek into my collection. I have the soundtrack to this movie on vinyl.

Posted by: Mike at April 19, 2013 8:36 PM