January 21, 2005

The Big Lebowski & Buddhism - The Dude is Buddha, & the movie is about the quest for enlightenment. Maybe.

Also, This cop looks like he's never seen a bowling pin pipe before.

posted by Nostrildamus 19 years ago
  • Enlightenment really ties the room together, dude.
  • Hey, Dude! Don't make it bad, Take a sad song and make it better... ;]
  • I read it much more Tao than Zen, myself. But they're both interesting takes.
  • Am I wrong? Am I *wrong*?
  • "Chinaman" is not the preferred nomenclature.
  • 8 year olds, Dude.
  • What do you do for enlightenment? Oh, the usual. I bowl. Drive around. The occasional acid flashback.
  • What's a pederast, Walter? Shut the fuck up, Donny.
  • In 1999, I took 2 months off of work, stayed at home, drank white Russians and played video games. I showered once a week, and stayed in my bathrobe. It was a -good- time.
  • I'm pretty sure if Siddhartha Gautama were alive today, he'd hate The Eagles too.
  • SHUT THE FUCK UP DONNY!!!!
  • Hey Dude, your phone's ringin'. ... Phone's ringin', Dude.
  • What d'you need that for, Dude?
  • Well that's just like, you know, you're opinion, man.
  • your
  • Nihilists? Fuck me. Say what you want about the tenets of national socialism, at least it's an ethos.
  • You're not wrong, OneOliveShort, you're just an asshole. And this site rules. Thanks, Nostril!!!
  • Even before TBL came out, my friends and I were on a massive bowling kick. When it appeared, it was a beautiful affirmation of our hobby. (Sorry, Kingpin just didn't do it.) One day we went bowling and then went to see Lebowski in the theatre. As the opening credits were rolling (oh, those beautiful shots of bowlers), my buddy Jeremy leaned over to me and said "We should go bowling again after this." And so we did. Also -- it is my sad duty to report that the 7-10 pickup in those opening credits is faked. The leftmost pin is over in the gutter. Slow it down and check for yourself.
  • Mr. Koko dug up some Lebowski trivia after we watched it for the umpteenth time last night, so I thought I'd share with my fellow El Duderino fans: A lot of the Dude's clothes in the movie were Jeff Bridges's own clothes. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman makes a background cameo appearance during the interpretive dance scene as another member of the theater audience. Asia Carrera, the girl appearing opposite Bunny Lebowski and the nihilist in the porno movie that Maude shows The Dude is an actual porn star. The private detective that's following Lebowski says that Bunny's family is from a farm "outside Moorhead, Minnesota". Moorhead is the home town of Jeff Bridges' wife and is located directly across the state line from Fargo. The word "fuck" and its variations were spoken 281 times in this movie. Norwegian posters and video cassettes carried the text "anbefales av norsk bowling forbund" (recommended by the Norwegian Bowling Association). The Dude says "man" 144 times in the movie, nearly 1.5 times a minute. Possibly uniquely for an American movie, a bad guy wields a cricket bat rather than a baseball bat. The second time we see Treehorn's thugs, they've swapped clothing! The Coens were inspired by Robert Altman's movie, The Long Goodbye (1973) The Dude's car is a 4-door 1973 Ford Torino. Two vehicles were used in filming: one was destroyed during the filming, the other was destroyed in Season 8 of "The X-Files" in an episode called "Salvage". The title is a reference to the novel "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler. The wheelchair-bound Big Lebowski is largely based on the character General Sternwood in "The Big Sleep". Recipe for making a White Russian: 2 parts vodka, 1 part coffee liqueur (such as Kahlúa) and 1 part cream. Served with ice in a high-ball glass. (It seems a Caucasian is a White Russian sans vodka, but I could be wrong.) The Dude was based on independent film promoter Jeff "The Dude" Dowd, who helped the Coen brothers secure distribution for their first feature, Blood Simple. (1984). Like his fictional counterpart, Dowd was a member of the Seattle Seven and takes a casual approach to grooming and dress. The Dude is in every scene of the movie, with the exception of the scene where the Nihilists are ordering pancakes. This is in keeping with the traditional film-noir, in which the protagonist is the narrator and acts as the audience's guide throughout the film. The Coen brothers was inspired by several sources and stories. At one time they had a friend named Pete, who was very happy about a rug, because "It really tied the room together". Pete also told them about a story where a friends car was stolen, and the thief dropped his homework in the car. Instead of telling the police they put the homework in a bag and drove out to the kids home to confront him.
  • Calmer than you are.
  • Yep. Enjoyin' my coffee.
  • For the tv version, "Here's what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass" was changed to "Here's what happens when you have fun with a stranger in the Alps". ?????????
  • And they say Switzerland is neutral. One of the best quotes-thats-not-a-quote is the sound of the bag phone ringing while they bowl.