Two observations from going to the movies last night (neither of which are actually about the movie, Who Killed the Electric Car?, which is great).

First. There was a recruiting ad for the National Guard before the movie started. The ad started with a title that said something like, “For over 370 years, the National Guard has been there.”

It took me a second to blink at that, but blink I did. For 370 years? I assume math isn’t the U.S. military’s strongest point, but are they really trying to imply that the National Guard was founded in the 1630s? Wouldn’t the U.S. National Guard have to be, you know, not 150 years older than the U.S.?

A bit of on-line research suggests that the ad was referring to December 13, 1636, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony first organized its militia into regiments. Maybe I’m missing something, but that seems a little arbitrary to me. Is there any real sense in which the National Guard of today has descended, in unbroken lineage, from Pilgrims? This seems a little like dating the founding of the Florida Marlins back to Abner Doubleday and the Civil War.

Second. Have you ever seen this poster in a theater lobby? It’s always disturbed me:

Click on the thumbnail if you’re not familiar with the poster. The same grins that seemed youthful and innocent on the G- and PG-rated moviegoers turn, in an excellent demonstration of the Kuleshov effect, into vacant leers by the time you get down to NC-17. Actually, all of the R and NC-17 moviegoers creep me out in some way. Why is that single mom naively bringing her be-sweatered intellectual pre-teen to an R-rated movie? The Squid and the Whale might be educational, but probably not in the same way she’s thinking. The same couple who took their kid to Curious George in the first panel apparently gets a sitter when they go back the next night to spice up their marriage with some tasteful European softcore. But this time accompanied by that pervy loner in the ski jacket. Gee, why not just draw a trenchcoat on the guy?

But mostly I’m upset by the rabbit. He’s happy to be at a G-rated movie, and needs to have his eyes covered during some of the naughtier PG-13 goings-on. Then he’s not there for the R. He’s definitely a minor, right? But wait…in the bottom panel, he’s back for the NC-17 showing! He apparently snuck in wearing sunglasses. That’s a great lesson for the kids–thanks, MPAA!