Pre-Code Cinema and the Gallup Poll

My two month vacation officially comes to an end on Monday. Beginning bright and early, I've got to attend the first day of my summer film class on pre-code cinema. The class is going to have a heavy emphasis on horror flicks, which is always good. From what I've gathered, the class is going to be highlighting a lot of stuff Richard Maltby finds ridiculous. A word to the wise: If you know your professor is going to have a certain view and teach a certain way, prepare yourself ahead of time in order to challenge them on some of their points. This accomplishes a couple things. First, it makes class much more interesting and second, you're more apt to get a high grade because the professor will think you're smarter than the average student. In one of my film classes a couple years back, I had to challenge a film professor who was completely disrespecting John Carpenter and I had to correct, and sort of argue with, a communication professor (who minored in Film, by the way) that Martin Scorsese didn't direct The Godfather movies. Yeesh! Anyways, I'm looking forward to Monday morning. The girl in the picture is Annette Kellermann, in case you didn't know.

Next week also means I've got to go back to work. Right now, you can check out an interesting video on Gallup's site about Michael Moore and Sicko. Basically, Gallup did what it does best: it polled the countries that Moore pimps in Sicko and asks them directly if what he says is true. The results aren't surprising. I'm pretty excited, all things considered, to be going back to work. Everybody loves living in a Democracy (well, most people) but very few people can claim to do work that directly influences how politicians act, companies do business, and get reactions from the president himself.

I watched all of Bush's Iraq appeal (translation: "um...let the generals decide what to do...even though, you know...i fired previous generals...and uh...didn't listen to the others...but yeah...let's wait a couple more months!") to the American people a few days ago and one quote was really hilarious. He came out and said he wasn't going to run the country based on "a Gallup Poll" (there's a reason he named Gallup, by the way). It's widely known by just about everyone in Washington that Gallup is the only poll that really matters. I could tell you some pretty funny stories about George Bush and how much he depends on what I do. You see, I'm one of the people who calls citizens and lets their opinions be heard. What I do is sent directly to President Bush's desk. When the politicians say they don't look at polls to lead, they're lying. They have to look at polls, otherwise they have no idea what the people really want.

Heavy political seasons are always great because you know that every single call you make, every single opinion you record is going to impact how the media shapes issues, how politicians are going to respond, and most importantly, allows democracy to work. So when you're reading the dozens of polls that are sure to come out over the course of the next year and a half, remember that Gallup is the only one that really matters. Why? Because it's the one that makes Georgey run up to Laura exclaiming "They love me again!" when his approval rating goes up...

As well as the one that makes him say he's not going to base any decision on "a Gallup Poll" when he drops to Nixon levels.