Some blogging-on-the-go here… Historian Gordon Wood speaks at Harvard Book Store tonight.
You know, as Will Hunting says:
Of course that’s your contention. You’re a first year grad student. You just finished some Marxian historian, Pete Garrison prob’ly and so naturally that’s what you believe until next month when you get to James Lemon and get convinced that Virginia and Pennsylvania were strongly entrepreneurial and capitalist back in 1740. That’ll last until sometime in your second year, then you’ll be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood about the Pre-revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization.
In revisiting Good Will Hunting one of my reactions is always, dude, what’s with the hair?
Seemingly incongruent with Will’s character as a lower class, no-frills, anti-elitist, true-blue guy from Southie — his hair is always perfectly coiffed, gently gelled, and always bounces back into place. It’s like a Vidal Sassoon ad. Watch the fight scene. His hair whips back and around in slow motion, like that of the best of Loreal models.
Perhaps he just gives his hair a lot of attention. Is that why he always does math in the mirror?
Or maybe he’s just unshowered and his oily, voluminous hair is just a part of who he is? Like his inborn gift of mathematical skill, he didn’t choose this gift of beautiful bouncy hair either. He’s sitting on yet another winning lottery ticket, and owes it to us all to be in a shampoo commercial.
Or he just uses great shampoo? I don’t know. Regardless, his hair is always beautiful.
I of course don’t recall his hair being that distracting back in 1997, and so perhaps it is simply a product of the late nineties. Will is a tough guy, but he still wants to look cool. I suppose we can give him that.
I was trying to remember if I could think of any similar hairstyles from the era. I don’t think I need to explain the startling similarities I discovered.
My only regret in Boston tonight: not fucking up that Southie who asked me how I liked them apples. I didn't like them at all. None apples.
On 4:23 AM Oct 31st 2009from WitStream
i love the word arbitrary. and good will hunting. and matt damen. and flowers. and rainbows. and ice cream. and unicorns.
On 12:32 PM Oct 28th 2009from txt
Thanks to B.E.N. for letting us know that Good Will Hunting is the sixth most popular Netflix rental in Cambridge.
Looks like Robin Williams is out-therapizing Gabriel Byrne. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Though Williams’ character has fewer ethical violations, as far as I can tell.
I find it interesting I actually have two of these films from Netflix currently. Can you guess which two??
And no, despite having rented Rashomon from Netflix twice before, and keeping it for several months each time, I have neither seen it, nor am I renting it now. (It’s back on my queue at #298.)
