Also Sprach Cloyce

One of the long time plumbers I sell to, I'll call him Cloyce just to give him a name, doesn't always get the drift of a conversation. His snake had broke, and he was begging me to fix it ASAP if not sooner as he had no other. Reluctant to do so as I was way behind that day yet genuinely feeling bad for him, I agreed to do his major repair quickly, telling him to leave the unit and it would be ready in about three hours.

I got the job done as promised and Cloyce duly arrived to pick it up. "You know, Cloyce, you've been in business long enough that you ought to think about getting a spare machine," I told him. "If I'm not available or don't have a part you could be down for days, even a couple weeks"

"That's a good idea, Cosgriff. What's a new power unit cost?"

"$1900."

Cloyce responded, "Say, that's not a bad price. Do you have one in stock?"

"Yes, sir."

"Cool." Cloyce paused. "What would you give me as a trade in for mine?"

I sighed. "I can give you $300, Cloyce, if you want to do that, but it defeats the point of having a spare."

Cloyce stared at me, blank eyed and mouth agape. Then, I swear I could hear the opening chords of the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Also Sprach Zarathustra, growing in the background. As the melody grew, a new life came into Cloyce's eyes. His mouth pursed, and his eyes widened. You could hear the kettle drum roll as the music hit crescendo. "Ah. I get it, Cosgriff. Buy it as a backup."

"That's right, my friend."

He shook his head in agreement. "Let me try to get the money together then."

Yet as he left the old barn he said, "But $300 for my old one if I want, right?"

I sighed again, just a bit more heavily. "Yes, Cloyce, $300 trade in." Just when you think you've made an inroad...

Classic Movies

Me son Charlie and I exchanged a series of text messages last night talking, basically, about the classic holiday specials and movies. It reminded me that, like the many books I haven't read, there are many great movies I'd like to see.

I love what I've seen by Frank Capra of It's a Wonderful Life fame. Among my standards of what makes a film classic is that it needs to leave a lump in your throat at least once, and Wonderful Life does that several times. When George Bailey is begging for his life back and it begins to snow, signaling that he's alive again, wow. That's how you make movies. Still, Capra's made many highly regarded, even legendary, films which I have yet to see. It Happened One Night, Lost Horizon, and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town head that list.

Stanley Kubrick is one who's made some solid movies, although he tends to excess. But unless and until I see something better 2001: A Space Odyssey will be my favorite movie. Of his movies which I haven't seen, I want to see Spartacus.

After seeing Metropolis (I wrote about that here) I'm open to silent films, yet nothing comes to mind as I write. Any suggestions?

Charlie and I agreed we need to make lists of what movies we need to see. Perhaps this will serve to start.

The two edged sword

Knowledge is good. I believe the movie Animal House taught us that. Following the theme of what we can learn from movies, I want to briefly mention what I think we learn from my personal favorite movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. It addresses the question of knowledge too.

When the monolith appears to the apes early in the film (Spoiler alert: a monolith appears to apes early in the film) the pre-humans are frightened, then curious. Summoning up their courage, they touch the monolith and are given knowledge. Well, what's the first thing they do with it? They learn how to better get food. They eat better. That's a good thing, of course. But what's the next thing they do?

They attack the neighboring tribe of apes.

What does that tell us about knowledge? First that, yes, John Belushi is right. Knowledge is good. But is our use of knowledge good? And that, my friends, is what I will leave you with today.