Alison (Elvis Costello)

Language: Russian

Sorry. I've been slacking a bit lately.

I have two dreadful secrets to confess along with this song: one, I actually like Jay McInerney.¹ Which this song gets quoted in Story of My Life, is why the association, and the main character's name there is Allison.

Two, I actually like the show "Medium." (lately on NBC Wednesdays at 8 PM Central) Which is not like me. I mean, it's yet another cop show², which is bad, but it gets around this most of the time by trying to be an entirely different cop show every week (the "Monkeyheads" episode blew me away, as did the one where Allison gets "I Will Survive" stuck in her head), plus there's some really well-imagined stuff in there about how being a crime psychic would effect one's home life. Some marvelously-written arguments, funny bits, TV children who have personalities: it's a well-written show about a completely absurd premise³. Much like "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer." Or "Dead Like Me." Or "Veronica Mars." Or etc. I think "Medium" has actually bumped off "House" for a spot in my top five current TV shows.⁴

-Jessi

¹Or at least I like some Jay McInerney. His earlier stuff, though I could do without Ransom. Bright Lights, Big City is really good, Michael J. Fox movie or no, and Story of My Life is probably even better than that. I re-read BLBC and SOML semi-regularly. Whether I still like Jay McInerney as an oeuvre or not, I don't know. And I never knew whether I liked him personally, of course, but I always suspected that I didn't.

²I liked "CSI" when I first saw it. Hell, I even liked "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: New York" to some degree or another. But, first, somebody needs to sit down the executives at CBS and read them the story of the goose that laid golden eggs, 'cause I think they've missed the point. And second, the longer these have gone on, the more bizarre and gruesome they have to be to "top" what prior episodes have done, and at some point it's just like, you think to yourself, well, I could watch several people be horribly tortured, mutilated and killed for the sake of that bit of relief at the end of the show when justice is served, or I could watch a "Blossom" marathon.

³No, I do not believe in psychics.

⁴It's a competitive field, with "Dead Like Me," "Battlestar Galactica," "Medium," "Lost," "Metalocalypse," "Robot Chicken," "Veronica Mars," "Eureka," "House," and "The Office" all competing from week to week. Fortunately, several of these are bound to be on hiatus or in repeats at any given time, so there are only ever about five real contenders anyway.
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Oh, girl, it's so funny to see you afterward, so "in order."
You understood the road with me, and you look
unimpressed. That's you.
But I heard that you prevented my small friend
from taking off your party dress.
I am not too sentimental to get
those valentines sticky, as others are.
I don't know if you're loving someone, which is the reason
I know this won't only be mine.

Alison, I know this peace will be killing you.
Oh truly, Alison is my purpose.

See that you obtain a husband now. Kindly
leave your dear fingers lying in the wedding cake. (She did?)
You used to hold them correctly in your hand.
I bet you accepted everything; I was what you could accept.
Sometimes I desire that I could stop you from speaking,
when I hear you speaking silly things.
I think someone outside high society assumed that's better: more to
reason, it's what I can't stand. You saw that road.

Alison, I know this peace will be killing you.
Oh truly, Alison is my purpose.
Truly my purpose.