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Jul. 5th, 2009 07:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wheres_walnutI'm not sure who here does or doesn't read the New York Times as religiously as I do , but you should all give the magazine section from today's edition a go. There's an article on the possible candidates to replace Arnold Schwarzenegger as the governor of California. It's hilarious because the photographs of each possible candidate (however well taken) aren't necessarily meant to show them in the best light. Yes, yes, they're tip-toeing through the rose beds and posing on the crashing shoreline but REALLY, they're just shown cheesy men in suits who aren't quite in their right minds. All of them. The author tries his best to be enamored with their stories and their ticks (one takes obsessive notes. Highlighting and tearing apart books and getting interns to categorize them into Cliff-note like columns).
"Size is important to Schwarzenegger, as befits a champion body builder. The first thing he asked me was how long this article would be. 'About 9,000 words,' I said, exaggerating slightly, wanting to impress him. 'It's a big story,' he said, nodding, pleased. Schwarzenegger then relit his cigar, using a lighter about the size of my hand. It was the biggest lighter I had ever seen, I told him, and he grinned, seeming glad that I had noticed. He flicked up another big orange flame, for special effect.' "
"In the middle of June, Schwarzenegger sent a melon, size sculpture of bull testicles to the leader of the Democratic-controlled senate, Darrell Steinberg, to encourage lawmakers to find the requisite fortitude to close the budget deficit. Not amused, Steinberg returned 'the gift' to the governor."
Normally, I'd sort of breeze through this article, take in the policies of the candidates, laugh at the writer's apparent awe at Arnold's larger than life lifestyle and presence and move on. But it stuck with me because each of the other candidates are shown in such a human light. The stupid things they say over dinner conversation, "You have a big inauguration party, all your friends come - 'and then they leave because no one lives in Sacramento,' Jerry Brown says. 'It's like that game - what do you call it? Where's... where's... Nemo." Even Arnold is shown as this incredibly biased, stuck in his ways, character. Read it, it'll make you giggle guys.
One more, for the road.
'After our meeting, Schwarzenegger led me out of the tent and walked away to more cheers and screams before diseappering around a corner, no doubt headed to put out wildfires with his bare hands or something. I took a brief tour of his office - hallways blanketed with his photos and magazine covers, an enormous conference rooms stocked with bottles of booze, plates of fruit and souvenir cigars and the original sword from 'Conan the Barbarian."
"Size is important to Schwarzenegger, as befits a champion body builder. The first thing he asked me was how long this article would be. 'About 9,000 words,' I said, exaggerating slightly, wanting to impress him. 'It's a big story,' he said, nodding, pleased. Schwarzenegger then relit his cigar, using a lighter about the size of my hand. It was the biggest lighter I had ever seen, I told him, and he grinned, seeming glad that I had noticed. He flicked up another big orange flame, for special effect.' "
"In the middle of June, Schwarzenegger sent a melon, size sculpture of bull testicles to the leader of the Democratic-controlled senate, Darrell Steinberg, to encourage lawmakers to find the requisite fortitude to close the budget deficit. Not amused, Steinberg returned 'the gift' to the governor."
Normally, I'd sort of breeze through this article, take in the policies of the candidates, laugh at the writer's apparent awe at Arnold's larger than life lifestyle and presence and move on. But it stuck with me because each of the other candidates are shown in such a human light. The stupid things they say over dinner conversation, "You have a big inauguration party, all your friends come - 'and then they leave because no one lives in Sacramento,' Jerry Brown says. 'It's like that game - what do you call it? Where's... where's... Nemo." Even Arnold is shown as this incredibly biased, stuck in his ways, character. Read it, it'll make you giggle guys.
One more, for the road.
'After our meeting, Schwarzenegger led me out of the tent and walked away to more cheers and screams before diseappering around a corner, no doubt headed to put out wildfires with his bare hands or something. I took a brief tour of his office - hallways blanketed with his photos and magazine covers, an enormous conference rooms stocked with bottles of booze, plates of fruit and souvenir cigars and the original sword from 'Conan the Barbarian."
