Tuesday, April 29, 2008

On the mysterious, mystical power of eye-glasses

OK, bad guys, time to ditch the hoodies and start wearing glasses. Because glasses, as every TV or movie watcher knows, are a practically impenetrable, fool-proof disguise.
Take Clark Kent. He's surrounded every day by reporters, police officers, and detectives. These are people whose job it is find out the truth. Yet no one can guess that Kent is really Superman, because, well, Clark wears glasses and Superman doesn't.
Imagine detectives back at the precinct, all rubbing their chins about who could possibly be Superman. Suddenly one of them calls out: "I think I've got it." Clark Kent is exactly the same size as Superman. He's the exact same height. He has the same color hair, as well as never being around whenever Superman is seen. The detectives think they're onto something, until one says, "wait a minute, Clark wears glasses and Superman doesn't." Damn it! Now they'll just have to keep combing the city for someone who looks exactly like Clark Kent, but doesn't wear glasses.
But Superman is nothing compared to the greatest glasses-disguise movie of all time, "Weekend at Bernie's." Bernie is a guy in high finance or something like that. He's killed at his Hampton's home by a Mafia-type, by a lethal injection. Yet all the phonies that flock to his place to have a good time can't tell he's dead. Why? He was wearing sunglasses. Dark ones, or at least dark enough.
This movie could have been a bonanza for funeral homes. Instead of all that makeup they use to make a dead body look less disturbing, they could have just put a pair of sunglasses on the deceased and wham! It's a dead man's party.

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