Not In My Town!

So the other day I was at the playground (WITH MY KIDS!) and got to talking with a grandmother minding her extended brood. Turns out, she was in from out of town; she informed me that she lived in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Hmmmmm. Dispassionately I asked, "Isn't that where they filmed that movie The Ice Storm?"

She gritted her teeth - very gracefully I might add:

NewCanaanGranny - You know, that's not....I'll bet we haven't got but 7 Democrats in the whole town.

CaptiousNut - (digesting the innuendo) You mean it's not a *swingin' town*???

NewCanaanGranny - I don't mean to get political but that's just not at all accurate. That stuff never went on in New Canaan!

Okay. For those of you in the dark, The Ice Storm was a star-studded film released in 1997 that was based in 1973, New Canaan, Connecticut - the last stop on the train from NYC.



The gist of the movie was town-wide sexual perversion, er experimentation, from the pre-teenagers up to the bored Desperate Housewives. The *key party*, first pic above, was this film's defining moment.

I guess according to Grandma, apparently only "Democrats" have ever wife swapped (or "gone camping"). Who knew?

Well that contradicts my local rumor mill. Let's just say the tony town I live in south of Boston has the same *profile* as New Canaan, Connecticut. There are maybe five bars in town and supposedly one of them turns into *swing night* once a month.

I just found it hilarious how hard and how fast Grandma got defensive. Obviously, New Canaanites get this stereotype thrown in their face all the time. Remember, I wasn't assuming anything about her hood, just making innocent conversation. After all, just about every town, city, state, and nation gets unfairly labeled one way or another.

Maybe Ang Lee is a total communist and hates the town of New Canaan? Maybe there's not a kernel of historical truth in his movie? If he in fact set out to sully the town's reputation and achieved it, I'd have to take my hat off to him.

Though if you look at the ridiculous real estate prices in New Canaan today, it'd be hard to see a *swinger* discount. Perhaps it's only this particular grandmother who's aware and/or offended.

Or perhaps, it's rep has dealt local home prices a premium!

Here's the movie trailer:



In my google image searching for the pics above I came across one blogger who admits to seeing The Ice Storm five or six times.

I too must confess that I've probably seen it as much, if not more. It's one of these movies (like Wall Street or St. Elmo's Fire) that I'll always stay up and watch if I come across it on the dial.