The way things were

I've never been one to seek out an episode of South Park, but if one's on I don't run the other way either. Because, let's face it, the show is funny and has been for a long time--a rare accomplishment.

I'm certainly not in love with the show. Mr. Hankey was stupid. Towelie is boring. And if I hear another fucking musical number . . . Hackneyed much?

But I have liked this season's treatment of two of the most painful cinematic experiences of my young life.

I was a little heartened when a friend of mine said he didn't recognize Cartman's turn as Jaime Escalante/Edward James Olmos in a recent episode. I was just happy that my friend had been spared, unlike the schoolchildren of USD 489, repeated viewings of that Stand and Deliver movie.

Our teachers and administrators probably thought that because we had a diverse school population and were pretty crappy students districtwide, that this movie would really inspire us. The thing is, I've known many teachers--worked closely with them, lived with them, spoken to them outside of the classroom--and they actually believe stuff like that works. The punchline of course, is that from 3rd grade on, if a movie was playing in school it was Stand and Deliver, Johnny.

In another episode Cartman and Kyle contract HIV and Cartman gets all Ryan White on us.

I only watched the made for tv Ryan White Story once. When I was in fourth grade. And it terrified me.

I wasn't scared of AIDS or anything. This movie kind of with my head because it opened up a whole new world of ways adults could to be unrelentingly stupid, mean, and annoying. To a child who already believed the world was a dark, forbidding, and irritating place to begin with, a movie about a kid who gets AIDS from his medicine and then gets treated like garbage until he dies was just too beyond the pale.

Around this time I also became obsessed with Mississippi Burning. I think I just had a real hard kink for people causing other people unspeakable misery.

And speaking of misery. Here's a clip.