The world waits for something different; Fargo 2

"To the real world, Fargo is a spatter of brick and wood on the edge of the world, a tight grim cyst of humanity where no one is tanned but everyone is freezer-burned, where Jell-O is a fruit and Heinz 57 is Tabasco."



"I saw "Fargo " in Minneapolis, a supper-hour showing at the Mall of America. Behind us was a couple in their sixties who apparently had chosen this movie based on the title. Perhaps they expected a Western. When characters started cussing, I could hear legs being crossed and uncrossed. When the policeman was brainer'd, there was a slight sigh of disappointment. Half an hour into the film, I heard the woman whisper: "Well, this is different. "

"This is different. " In Fargo-speak, that means this is a raw horror blown straight from Satan's colon, and any decent person would disapprove. I was embarrassed for them. And for me as well. It was a replay of those trying moments when you rent a videotape to watch with your parents, and suddenly the characters are naked and having sex.

For the duration of the movie, I adopted the couple behind me as temporary parent figures, and saw the film through their eyes. It spoiled the entire picture. Actually, the more I think about the film, the better it gets, but I don't think it will ever be more in my mind than a tidy little movie of modest aims and accomplishments. Not that I will admit my opinion in public anymore. Oscar or not, the next time somebody asks, I'll merely grin and say, "'Fargo'? Now that was different! "

And thus I will be hip again." (James Lileks - A Fargoan on Fargo)

People of 56572 (1)

The Girl Behind the Glass

Her husband milks cows, her daughter could very well be the next Shania Twain, her son is going to the State Science Fair, she used to sell satellite dishes, later Coca-Cola. Now she stands behind bullet-proof glass and smiles, her current job in jeopardy due to automation. She's just a farm girl working a day job in town to make ends meet. It's a small town we live in.