The season has officially changed to Autumn here at the offices of
Nitflix, bringing gray skies, cold rain and a touch of seasonal mood
disorder. But we are ready and motivated
for curling up under a fleece blanket on the couch, watching our favorite
movies over a bowl of burnt popcorn (a benign peccadillo) and a beer.
On one such occasion this past week, I caught Grease just as my
favorite guilty pleasure scene comes on the screen. The Hand-Jive at the Rydell High School dance
contest contains a short, but memorable character (whom we cannot accurately
verify any credit for via IMDB), who shall forever be called, “Spazzed-Out
Sweaty Dancing Fool” (SOSDF for short).
I had to revisit this scene for my own joy and self-maintenance. Right here from 3:42 to 3:46
It’s only four seconds of a guy who looks like a cross between a jam-band
tweaker and a death metal fan. With mouth
agape and little if no sound exiting his mouth, the man is committed to his
role as the SOSDF.
This touches a rarely
tapped section of our brain that remembers how silly the characters looked to
us, even though their cut was kept off the editing room floor. We refer to this sort of actor as the Camera-Seeking,
SAG-Card Earner (CSSCE) and they are the glue that keep our interest.
Feel free to express gratitude upon these actors, asking the
heavens for more CSSCE’s and characters like the SOSDF. Try to remember your favorite CSSCE and reopen
the floodgates (through however you stream these days) to your funny bone and
ultimately, your happiness.
You’ll need some once winter hits.
