Monday, February 25, 2008

i drink it up!

Learned something interesting today about what is perhaps the weirdest popular cinematic catchphrase in recent memory, There Will Be Blood's "I drink your milkshake!", a quote not only strange for it's content but also for the fact that it's soon followed by **SPOILER INVISOTEXTED** Daniel Day-Lewis bashing a preacher's head in with a bowling pin. I saw the movie twice in one week, and found the scene brilliant in its seemingly incongruous combination of comedy and tragedy, but really had no idea it had reached a level of popularity where it merits an article in ::shudder:: USA Today, where director PT Anderson identifies the source of the odd quote as the Teapot Dome congressional hearings of 1924, in which Senator Albert Fall, accused of accepting bribes for drilling rights in Wyoming and California, explained the concept of oil drainage as thus: "Sir, if you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake and my straw reaches across the room, I'll end up drinking your milkshake." Mystery solved. As for how a movie that's grossed only $35M domestically generated a pop culture phenomenon that culminated in a youtube video soundtracked with Kelis' "Milkshake", that one I can't explain.

**SPOILER**


Also of interest, the blog post that led me to the aforementioned article also mentioned the There Will Be Blood promotional items that were courier-delivered to a select few critics:

Of course. Love it.

No comments: