Daily Dialogue — April 21, 2013
INT. CHAMPIONSHIP VINYL — DAY
Rob sits there, reflecting.
LOUIS (O.S.): Rob, it’s your turn!
ROB: Ok, I’m feeling kind of basic today. Top five Side 1’s. Track 1’s. “Janie Jones,” Clash. From The Clash.
Rob STANDS, AMBLES towards the counter. Barry and Louis sort through records on display.
BARRY: Eh.
ROB: “Let’s Get it On,” Marvin Gaye from Let’s Get it On… Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” off of Nevermind.
BARRY: Oh Rob, that’s not obvious enough. Not at all. How about “Point of No Return” on Point of No Return?
Barry and Louis chuckle.
ROB: Shut up. “White Light-White Heat,” Velvet Underground.
LOUIS: Ok, that would be on my list.
BARRY: Though not on mine.
ROB: And Massive Attack, No Protection. The song is “Radiation Ruling the Nation.”
BARRY: Oh, kind of a new record. Very-
A Customer SLINKS in.
CUSTOMER: Excuse me, do you still have-
BARRY: (to Customer) In a minute. (to Rob) Very nice, Rob. A sly declaration of new classic status slipped into a list of old safe ones. Very PUSSY!
CUSTOMER: Excuse me, do you still have-
BARRY: (to Customer) In a minute! (to Rob) Couldn’t you be more obvious than that, Rob? How about uh, I don’t know, The Beatles? How about fucking, fucking Beethoven? Track 1 Side 1 of the Fifth Symphony! How can someone who has no interest in music own a record store?
CUSTOMER: Hey, do you still have that Beefheart French import, “Safe as Milk”?
Barry paces towards the counter. Customer follows.
BARRY: Let’s see…
Barry bends behind the counter.
BARRY: Ah, yes. Here it is.
Barry hands it over. The Customer SNATCHES it, CARESSES it, even BLOWS on it.
CUSTOMER: How much you want for it?
Barry gestures for it back. Customer abides.
BARRY: Oh, no. You know what? I don’t think I’m selling it this week. Maybe next week.
CUSTOMER: Oh no, you said that last week!
BARRY: Did I? Yeah, well I just…
Barry shrugs with indifference. Customer storms away. Louis approaches.
LOUIS: Hey, I don’t have that record. I’ll buy it for forty.
BARRY: Rob?
ROB: Sold.
Rob passes the record from Barry to Louis.
LOUIS: Now why would you sell it to me and not to him?
BARRY: Because you’re not a geek, Louis.
LOUIS: You guys are snobs.
— High Fidelity (2000), screenplay by D.V. DeVincentis & Steve Pink & John Cusack and Scott Rosenberg, based on a novel by Nick Hornby
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is fan boy/girl conversations, suggeted by plinytheelder. Today’s suggestion by rgiamatteo.
Trivia: Touchstone acquired the rights to Nick Hornby’s book for $500,000 with Mike Newell attached to direct.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by rgiamatteo: “This scene immediately follows one in which Rob accuses Laura of becoming someone who she isn’t, which she admits insofar as she’s undergone personal growth. Rob, on the other hand, and to use Laura’s words, “hasn’t changed as much of a pair of socks” since she first met him. Rob’s music list perfectly demonstrates the fear behind why that is. He rattles off “obvious” classics that critics have praised for decades, strengthening the limb upon which he climbs out on to endorse newer talent. He couches his open-mindedness in age-old plaudits of bygone eras. Some might call this sly, others cowardly. Barry, in so many words, says it’s both.”