Narcissism. It's a basic requirement for many entertainers, actors, television performers and most anyone who works in front of a camera and is successful. This is not a diss on narcissists. It takes a great deal to prevail in their arenas. They endure waves of rejection in the beginning of their careers. There's massive competition for these highly prized on-camera jobs. You've got to have powerful motivation to make it and that fuel can only come from you.
The key to thriving as a narcissist is knowing you are a narcissist and covering it with something more palatable like self-deprecation, humility or humor. People generally don't like people who are all full of themselves with the possible exception of The Trumpeter. Apparently Fox TV anchor Megyn Kelly hasn't quite figured this out yet. In her first prime-time, Barbara Walters-style interview show featuring Robin Wright-style hair, she joked with Michael Douglas saying she how she felt "honored to be on your bucket list."
"Let's talk about us" she says to a man running for president of the United States. And when Trump makes an observation about her, the Vanity Fair cover girl says, "It's not about me" while wearing a bright red dress that says, look at me. She certainly could be the next Barbara Walters if she ever figures out how to get a celebrity to talk with her, not about her.
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Conservatives need to find a new way of saying the same thing year after year. 'Smaller'...'less government' is so Fifties. We Americans don't do less or small. McDonalds doesn't call it the Little Mac.
For your consideration, how about the phrase 'minimally invasive' as in 'minimally invasive government,' 'minimally invasive laws,' 'minimally invasive politicians.' It is the go-to phrase for all things medical and sounds so simple, so pain-free, so necessary. By adjusting the rhetoric, don't Republicans have a better chance of adjusting new voters' opinions?
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A jazzy criminal: 'Felonious Monk'
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Fine news writing: "While the line separating smart and smart aleck isn't all that thin or blurry, he never could stay on the winning side of it" Frank Bruni, NY Times writing about Sen. Ted Cruz.
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If the closing airport scene in Casablanca were re-written for today's movie-going audience...
Rick Blaine: Last night we said a great many things
Blaine: We covered a lot of issues last night, right?
Blaine: You said I was to do the thinking for both of us. Well, I've done a lot of it since then, and it all adds up to one thing: you're getting on that plane with Victor where you belong.
BLAINE: So, I'm saying - give up control, Lady. Go with the flow. Vic is the flow. He's beautiful, you're beautiful, believe me. You stay here, you're in deep shit.
Ilsa: But, Richard, no, I... I...
Ilsa: (her bosom heaves)
Blaine: Now, you've got to listen to me! You have any idea what you'd have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten, we'd both wind up in a concentration camp. Isn't that true, Louie?
Blaine: Hey chill, you're having a panic attack. Focus. You wanna do time? You stay here, you do time. Check with Big Lou, am I right, Big Lou?
Capt. Louis Renault: I'm afraid Major Strasser would insist.
Renault: The dude is scary times ten.
Ilsa: You're saying this only to make me go.
Ilsa: You're playing me, why are you playing me?
Blaine: I'm saying it because it's true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You're part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
Blaine: Whoa, lady, don't get all up in your head. Vic needs you, believe me. You blow him off, you'll be seeing a shrink five-days a week.
Ilsa: But what about us?
Ilsa: So, we're toast?
Blaine: We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.
Blaine: C'mon, Paris was awesome. We were hot. Then not. Then...(he shrugs) Well anyway, here's looking at you, kid.
Ilsa: Looking at me? What does that even mean? You always say crap like that. You ARE looking at me, I'm looking at you, I'm talking, you're talking, that's what we're doing,
right, looking and talking, this is such bullshit....you're right, I am so out of here. (she leaves)
Blaine: (a slight, satisfied smile appears on his face as we...)
FADE OUT