There aren't a lot of words that rhyme with "Miata".
"Stanley" is the name of a patsy, a guy who thinks he knows what's going on—knows better than others—but is actually getting played by both sides. He's the one who saves the girl who never needed or wanted saving and winds up not betrayed (because she never even proffered her loyalty) but handed over to those from whom he thought he was saving. People named Stanley are probably played by Farley Granger, and they're earnest and guileless; they can't help but get mixed up in bad situations. As the book, movie or short story ends, Stanley is probably a stranger to his surroundings, friendless, and possibly dying.
"Stanley" could also be the name of a rollerskating horse.
Comments
on 2005-08-15 23:40:55.0, Stanley commented:
I hope you die.
and, further, on 2005-08-15 23:45:52.0, rone commented:
stigmata dentata errata frittata ciabatta kata Intifada <-- BZZT! GAAH!
and, further, on 2005-08-16 12:11:02.0, dave zacuto commented:
I disagree.
Stanley is an awkwardly tall man who teaches swimming at the Y on 122nd street. His hair is naturally curly but he shows up with it plastered viscously to his pate. Stanley's parents, to whom he gives no credit for his successes, meagre and rarefied as they are, once owned a restaurant in Salt Lake City which is now closed, unbeknownst to the man himself. People named Stanley tend to lose their shoes and have been pushed out of moving cars on multiple occasions, twice by the same woman, and are more aerodynamic for it. They spend more time than is appropriate gazing with a mixture of infantile awe and furious jealousy at any and all works of art. Stanley bought a gun but couldn't use it. Stanley's memories of himself at seven have him unrealistically straight-nosed and the victim of injudiciously timed avuncular camping trips. At the end of the telenovella Stanley is trying to flush singles down the toilet but stops when he realizes the cops aren't coming.
and, further, on 2005-08-16 7:52:00.0, text commented:
I wrote a story with such a Stanley.
Then again, there's Kowalski.
and, further, on 2005-08-16 8:30:08.0, ben wolfson commented:
I guess that guy could be Stanley too, dave, but really he doesn't seem too too dissimilar from my first Stanley.
and, further, on 2005-08-16 15:05:51.0, ac commented:
John C. Reilly playing Kowalski really annoyed me. He seems more patsy/122nd Y Stanley than Kowalski. His essential Stanleyless was exactly the problem.
and, further, on 2005-08-16 15:43:55.0, text commented:
nobody can ever play that role again. Remaking it was vanity and folly. Fine for students to learn on -- but so long as copies of the film survive, not worth it to any actor to suffer the comparison.
and, further, on 2005-08-16 18:02:38.0, dave zacuto commented:
-master stanley, slave stanley -stanley, co-stanley
and, further, on 2005-08-16 18:04:19.0, eb commented:
piñata
and, further, on 2005-08-17 12:10:37.0, washerdreyer commented:
What's the deal with you and Farley Granger? Is it just his euphonius name? I suppose the reason could be related to what it was last time I asked.
and, further, on 2005-08-17 7:52:15.0, ben wolfson commented:
"He kinda looks like Farley Granger, with his hair slicked back" is a line from Tom Waits' "Burma Shave".