I Also Am Lame

I've been saying a commercial catchphrase for the past week.

Have you seen the Dunkin Donuts commercial where the woman gets up on top of her roof and says how much she loves Dunkin Donuts coffee? The announcer says taste tests or whatever have shown that people like it better than Starbucks. Meanwhile other people are getting up on their roofs, hoisting their steaming cups, agreeing with the first woman.

That's when one guy on a distant rooftop shouts, "I also love it."

That's the phrase I've been saying. It's an odd sentence, considering you could just say, "I love it, too." I say it with the same inflection as the guy in the ad. But now my meme has already sort of mutated into a random catch-all slogan with my circle of friends and coworkers.

My best bud Tom was in her Honors class yesterday, and when the teacher assigned a huge project that everyone groaned about, Tom said, "I also love it."

So now we're using it in situations that don't even apply to the meaning.

I encourage you to use it today. Say it to the boss when he tells you he loved your work on the TPS report. Or as a swear-substitute when you stub your toe.

Excerpt from Born Standing Up

Due to illness and insomnia, I finally had the time to finish listening to Steve Martin's riveting memoir Born Standing Up.* Until now, I'd never heard any comedian explain in such depth how they shaped their comedic philosophy and honed their routine. Martin mainly touches on his personal journey and early career on stage. The book ends with the reasons he left stand-up behind, shortly after making The Jerk. I think he needs to write another book about his Hollywood years.

This is a great quote where he's talking about a girlfriend who left him behind:

"...Mitzi sent me a gentle and direct Dear John letter. She had been swept away by the director John Frankenheimer, who, 20 years later, tried and failed to seduce my then wife, the actress Victoria Tennant, whom he was directing in a movie.

Incidentally, Frankenheimer died a few years ago, but it was not I who killed him."

* I normally read novels but there are certain books I prefer hearing in audiobook format, such as memoirs read by the author.

Your Hard Candy Quote Blog

Beginning Christmas morning, Google searches for quotes from Hard Candy started directing surfers to Rider's Block. It hasn't been a week yet, and the number of those visitors has reached a dozen.

Aside from not understanding why a movie about a girl confronting a pedophile is on people's minds on little Baby Jebus' birthday, I'm concerned about another matter. I feel like I short-changed the folks who read my original post and found just one quote.

Here are three more quotes from Hard Candy. But first, a fun (made up) fact about Ellen Page.

Didja know™ Ellen Page will only appear in a film, or help promote it, if she's allowed to wear Chuck Taylors? That's because she was born wearing them! It should be true!

"Well, four out of five doctors agree that I am actually insane."

"Honor student, remember? Nothing I can't do when I put my mind to it."

"Was I born a cute, vindictive, little bitch or...did society make me that way?"

Don't Play Me, Bro

I'm a little bothered that an infamous quote involving a Taser has been declared the quote of 2007. This is more Broadcast News-like proof of the dumbing down of the media.

Memorable quotes should be meaningful enough for one to ponder and gain some personal insight from, or to help put cultural or political events into perspective.

There are allegations that the student involved in the "Tasing" incident was doing it as a prank--which I happen to believe. Joe Six-Pack generally tries not to call attention to himself in a crowd.


Any question about this kid's intent should have automatically excluded his quote from consideration. I expected better from the Yale University Press.*


My vote for quote of 2007 comes from Stephen Colbert on setting and enforcing arbitrary rules for children: "If you look at a cat and it sneezes, no dessert for a week."

* Update: It's interesting to note that it took less than three hours from the time I published this for someone browsing from Yale's campus to find it. Welcome to The Block! I visited your campus once in '92. It was beautiful. No--wait...my mistake--it was Harvard. Sorry for my ignorance (I attended a state university).

Excerpt from Powers: Cosmic

Brian Michael Bendis has written the best Powers story arc so far. "Cosmic," the tenth trade collection, features on-stage monologues as narrative framing devices between action scenes. This piece of dialogue has stuck with me for several days after reading it:

"My sister had a baby...and I was thinking, this niece of mine...she has nothing left to learn about human beings other than how horribly disappointing they can and will be. I'm saying: right now, all people in the eyes of a two year old are equally fine. All she has left to learn is they are not!"

Excerpt from Assassination Vacation

Halfway through Sarah Vowell's compelling and hilarious bestseller, I thought this was worth noting for a possible story idea:

"As [Lincoln] was carried out of the Theatre, the blood from the wound in his head dropped along the floor, and many of the people dipped their handkerchiefs therein to preserve as a sacred souvenir of the beloved President."

Best Movie Quote from Hard Candy

At least one other blogger has written a comprehensive study of actress Ellen Page and her performance in the 2005 independent movie Hard Candy, so I'll just limit this post to one quote.

"I guess they, uh, weren't brass." *

Add this to your Netflix queue and watch it with a guy. He'll wriggle uncomfortably for 103 minutes.


* I so called the disposal.