Week 28: Nebraska

"There's only three men that I'm-a serve my whole life:
 It's my daddy and Nebraska and Jesus Christ...'
 - 'You and I',
 Lady Gaga

Nebraska, eh? What do we know about good old Nebraska? Eh? Anybody...?

I mut admit I had to do a bit of research on Nebraska. I honestly couldn't think of anything about the state except that it was mentioned in the song 'Hazard' by Richard Marx (remember the one? "We used to walk along the river, we used to watch the sun go down...") and that its capital was Omaha (and that was incorrect: Omaha is the largest city, but Lincoln is the capital). I also thought it was a cold, northern state up near the Canadian border; wrong again. From Nebraska we would have to pass through both South and North Dakota before we hit Canada. Nebraska is just north of Kansas and west of Iowa. The conclusion I have rached then is that I don't know jack about Nebraska.

Why is this? Why do I not know anything about Nebraska? Does nothing happen here? And looking at the map again, maybe not. The population seems to be concentrated down in the south-east of the state. Stretching west the population density really dies out, leaving miles and miles of corn fields with no one much on them. These are the Great Plains. As an example of how small the settlements are I came across the following fun fact: during home American football games the Lincoln Memorial Stadium fills up its 85,000 seat capacity, meaning that it temporarily has a larger population than Nebraska's third largest city! And it does happen - Nebraskans (also known as 'Corn Huskers') love their American football...

If there is a perception that nothing much goes on in Nebraska I was always going to be in trouble finding three films set here. To be honest, I had three picked out some time in advance, until Lovefilm failed to deliver the one I thought of as the most iconic Nebraska film: Stephen King's Children of the Corn. That left me searching for film number three at short notice. Should I go for Spencer Tracey's Oscar-winning turn in the terribly worthy Boys Town or porn actress Jenna Jameson in the high-brow Zombie Strippers?

In the end I have compromised between Tracey and Jameson and have gone the undoubted delights of Seann William Scott instead...

• Boys Don't Cry
• About Schmidt
• Balls Out: The Gary Houseman Story