The past few weeks have left me antsy and disappointed. While the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and other major media outlets have descended upon the pregnant Mississippi River in a hurry, we've only had a correspondent on the scene. I can pretend to understand the rationale; the flooded areas are out of our circulation area, our staffing levels in the newsroom make it very difficult to send someone away for days at a time. But some areas have been as little as 100 miles away, and with our very own version of the mighty Miss (the Illinois River), I'd hazard to guess that local interest in how these communities deal with the devastation would be extremely high. Not to mention the fact that we barely sneeze when we drive hours to a dimly lit basketball game that maybe a few hundred people truly care about.
Am I being too bitter? Or should I be even more concerned?
Published 06/25/08– 0
Sometimes I'll waste an evening away by scuttling from article to article on Wikipedia or IMDB, in much the same way a vagabond might troll a highway ditch in search of aluminum cans. I started thinking about my love for the original "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," that 1971 classic film with Gene Wilder. But what makes it stick in the head and chill the heart?
There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing
Is it raining? / Is it snowing? / Is a hurricane a-blowing?
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of hell a-glowing?
Is the grisly reaper mowing?
Yes, the danger must be growing
'Cause the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing.
(video clip of scene)
Eureka! It's the quotes. Every single bit of that movie. In a brilliant flash of screenwriting genius, this old Wonka was given a whole slew of one-liners from Shakespeare to Keats to Hillaire Belloc. "Little surprises around every corner, but nothing dangerous." It's a perfect mad genius archetype, his wacky mutterings closely resembling an asylum patient. The content may often seem nutty and lighthearted, but there may be something very heavy and substantial in his ramblings. Mmm, wonderfully creepy.
Published 06/25/08– 1
A woman is found murdered in the Illinois River; the police still ask "whodunit?"
All photos copyright the Peoria Journal Star
