Category: S1Ep12: Double Date

Lane’s Favorite Musical Artists

LANE: And the amazing thing is, all these girls are screaming and none of them are getting the joke. He’s playing the character of a rock star. I mean, Beck is a genius and all these stupid girls are screaming at him just because they’re buying into the rock star image. I love Beck. I understand Beck. And the Foo Fighters – gods. I mean, have you heard the acoustic version of Everlong? I can’t even talk about it you know? Hey, you know who I’ve really gotten into lately? The Velvet Underground. Oh and Nico – she’s amazing. Depressing scary German chick. I have the CD if you wanna borrow it sometime.

Lane rather nervously attempts to make conversation with her crush, Todd by giving him a list of some of her favourite musical artists in the desperate hope of finding something they might share in common.

Beck Hansen (born Bek Campbell in 1970), known professionally as Beck, is an American alternative rock singer, songwriter, music producer, and musician. First performing in the mid 1980s, he rose to fame in 1994 due to his single Loser, releasing his first album the same year. His most successful album is Odelay, released in 1996. It’s amusing to think that all the “stupid girls” probably also believe they “understand” Beck.

Foo Fighters is an American rock band founded in 1994 by Dave Grohl, the drummer for Nirvana; he conceived of it as a project for himself after Nirvana dissolved following the death of frontman Kurt Cobain. Their 1997 song Everlong is from their second album, The Colour and the Shape; it went to #3 on the alternative music charts and is regarded as a classic rock anthem. Dave Grohl played an impromptu acoustic version of the song on Howard Stern’s radio show in 1997, and it proved so popular that an acoustic version was recorded for radio use in 1998 and became more famous than the original. The band is now more likely to play the acoustic version live.

The Velvet Underground is an American avant-garde band formed in 1964 by founding members Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Angus MacLise. They were first active between 1965 and 1973 and were once managed by Andy Warhol who used them as his house band. They had little commercial success and met with critical indifference, but they were highly influential in the development of punk and experimental rock, and are now regarded as one of the greatest musical acts of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. The Czech writer and activist Václav Havel, earlier mentioned, was a big fan of theirs, and coincidentally or not, a leading figure in the Velvet Revolution of 1989.

Nico was the stage name of Christa Päffgen (1938-1988), a German singer, songwriter, musician, model, and actress. When Andy Warhol began managing The Velvet Underground he suggested they use Nico as a singer, which they reluctantly agreed to. She sings lead vocals on three songs and backing vocals on another for the band’s 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Initially ignored, it is now regarded as one of the greatest albums in music history. This seems to be the CD that Lane is talking about.

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman

This is the movie that Rory, Dean, Lane, and Todd go to see on their double date at the Black-White-Read Bookstore.

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a 1958 science fiction film directed by Nathan H. Juran (credited as Nathan Hertz), and with Allison Hayes in the title role. It is about a beautiful but rather unstable socialite who increases to a gigantic size after contact with a mysterious alien figure. She uses her new stature to take revenge on her cheating husband.

Made on a very low budget, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a technically “bad” sci-fi movie that is fun to watch, and has become a camp classic.

The joke is that they are watching a film about a giant woman while Lorelai is on a double date with Jackson’s cousin Rune, who thinks she is too tall, and acts as if she is freakishly huge.

(A movie date is not really suitable for Lane’s purposes, since she wants to talk to Todd and get to know him better. I’m guessing Lane and Rory chose the cinema as a way to hide from Mrs. Kim – if they went for coffee at the diner or just strolled around town together, there was a higher chance of being spotted. Luckily, Lane only needed a couple of very brief chats with Todd to learn all that she needed to know about him).

The Name Rune

LORELAI: What is that – Rune?
RUNE: What do you mean?
LORELAI: I mean, where did Rune come from?
RUNE: I’m from out of town, I thought Jackson told you?
LORELAI: He did tell me, I meant the name “Rune”. You just don’t meet a lot of Runes, right?

Rune is a Scandinavian name, coming from the Old Norse for “secret lore”; it is the same as Old Norse rune letters and rune stones used for divination and meditation. It’s a rare name in the US so Lorelai is interested in its origins. (The Scandinavians would pronounce the name ROO-ne, whereas in English it’s said ROON). Rune’s father is also named Rune, so perhaps the family has some Scandinavian ancestry).

Tall Lorelai

RUNE: That’s Lorelai?
JACKSON: Yes.
RUNE: Did you see how tall she is?

Lauren Graham (Lorelai) is 1.75 m tall (just under 5 foot 7 and a half inches), while Max Perlich (Rune) is 1.62 m tall (around 5 foot 3). There’s a height difference in Lorelai’s favour – somewhat increased by heels – but Rune ridiculously compares her to a basketball player, an East German maid, and a freak of “bearded lady” proportions.

(The East German comment refers to the decades-long systematic doping of East German athletes with steroids and testosterone for the purposes of cheating, leading to some impressively large and strong athletes. The program ended in 1989 with the fall of communism, but unfortunately the men and women involved – some of whom were only eight years old at the time – are still experiencing physical and mental health disorders because of the doping. Lorelai is in the right age bracket to be an East German maid who was doped as an athlete in the 1980s:  picture shows 1980s East German athlete Marita Koch, who holds the world record for the 400 m, partly due to steroid use).

Lorelai rarely has any trouble attracting men, so having a date openly and constantly insult her physical appearance must be a bizarre experience for her.

“Last looks”

SOOKIE: Last looks. [Does a turn while Lorelai claps]

In film and television industry lingo, “Last looks” is the phrase said by the assistant director to call in hair and make-up to give the final touch to actors before the scene is filmed.

There isn’t any real reason for Sookie the character to know or use the phrase, so it’s an in-joke or meta-comment.

“Really nice thing”

SOOKIE: This is a really nice thing you’re doing for me.
LORELAI: Anytime Sookie.

Lorelai might not have done anything to promote the relationship between Sookie and Jackson, but now that Sookie has made her choice, Lorelai is doing everything she can to make their night special. She goes above and beyond for Sookie in this episode, showing that she really can be a good friend and is determined to make up for her thoughtless comment about Sookie’s single status in the previous episode.

“You run directly for president”

LANE: We’ll tell her [Lorelai] that we’re meeting Dean for a movie, and then we go to the movie, and then somebody who just happens to be a friend of Dean’s just happens to be there for the same movie, and so we figure that it would be completely rude for us to not ask said person to come sit with us.
RORY: I say to hell with governor, you run directly for president.
LANE: It’s not that bad.

Many US Presidents have been Governor of their state before making the run for the White House, including George W. Bush, former Governor of Texas, who had only recently (from Rory’s perspective) been sworn in as President, on January 20 2001.

In 2001, the last US President to run for President without standing as a state Governor was George Bush Sr. [pictured], who was a Congressman, Ambassador to the UN, Ambassador to China, then Director of Central Intelligence before his successful presidential campaign in 1988 (sworn in 1989).

Rory is saying that Lane’s lying is on a scale that only a politician at the highest level could come up with. Lane understandably tries to downplay that one.

“Hey sailor”

SOOKIE: Not too much [make up].
LORELAI: No – just enough to say, “Hey sailor”.

A joke flirtatious catchphrase, supposedly from a prostitute or promiscuous woman (or man) to a male sailor, as if he is sexually frustrated after months at sea.

Lorelai is saying Sookie just needs enough make up to attract the attention of a desperate and not very fussy man. Not all that flattering, but Lorelai’s jokes rarely are.