A scene from one of those movies I've seen far too many times. Janet (Bridget Fonda) sunbathing on the roof in Cameron Crowe's Singles.

I suppose when you can dub almost every scene in a movie or start acting the prompter (quite annoying for other unfortunate members of audience) it should be safe to say you've seen it one too many times. Unless of course you're "studying" the movie, dissecting camera shots, use of props, etc.

I found with Singles that after a while (certain number of viewings) the dissecting started to happen naturally. Props began popping out of scenes. I noticed Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead in the scene above, and through a quick googling found that the book was featured in the original publicity still as well. Karen Frederick's review (circa 1993) refers to The Fountainhead as Rand's "treatise on individualism". I've yet to read any Rand, though most reviews seem to point to her exaggerated emphasis on individualism.

I recalled noticing The Fountainhead when re-reading Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying. I was led to compare the narratives of romance and professional strife in Singles and Aspidistra, and initially couldn't decide whether or not Crowe's movie was slightly lacking when it comes to portraying a major influencer in relationships - namely "income" or "wealth". I felt this way to begin with but thinking back to Linda's (Kyra Sedgwick) prospects of research in Alaska, and Steve's (Campbell Scott) work on the supertrain I should probably concede that I may have been wrong. Following his failure to convince the mayor to invest in the supertrain project (and Linda's miscarriage) we find Steve lapsing into depression before finally getting a grip of himself and mass-faxing (!) his resume in hopes of securing a new role. One of a number of themes in the movie that do provide a glimpse into the ups-and-downs of late 20th century working-middle class adults.

Singles boasts a great sountrack of course, but a hidden gem (not included in the soundtrack) that sets the mood for Steve's period of recuperation is Coltrane's "Blue Train" - great tune!