I’m going to have to re-watch this episode of Battlestar Galactica, just to catch all the ramifications.
But again, my principle criticism: technologically, everything is all-too-familiar.
I know it’s already been said by smarter folks than me, but DAMN, this is good television.
Two whammies in the last five minutes. Both of them literally knocked some wind out of me.
Wow…
There was discussion on Rock 92 this morning following the reading of a letter to the morning show chastising the Two Guys Named Chris show for saying that Mike Reno (Loverboy) looked and sounded bad on Hit Me Baby One More Time. The letter rant went on and on about the impact of 80’s rock bands, and how the present day music is crap. I personally think Loverboy’s music from the 80’s isn’t all that great now, even though I have their greatest hits and still like the old songs. When I think of great classic rock, I think of bands from the 60’s & 70’s. Now, that may be because I was “in my prime” in the 80’s, and am having a hard time coping with the fact that my husband & I attended his 20-year high school class reunion last weekend.
So I’m curious about what the world outside of the Rock 92 listening area thinks about classic rock. Does it include 80’s rock bands, and if so which ones? Since I’ve gone there, which 90’s – present day bands can/will be considered classic rock? (One caller mentioned Nirvana.)
Does anyone know what Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” is doing back on the charts? Is “Back to School” making a comeback on DVD or something?
…The television was tuned to TBS – Everybody Loves Raymond: Halloween Candy. All I have to say is, any fan of Young Frankenstein will love this.
To: Mr. Steve Bochco
Re: “Over There”
From: Sgt Mom
The following items are noted, in no particular order of importance, based on the numerous reviews of the pilot episode of your TV series about a small Army unit engaged in the current war in Iraq, in the hopes of bringing certain realities to your attention. Please realize that the almost unanimous chorus of pointed criticism and the accompanying storm of brickbats and rotten vegetables are due to disappointment amongst a military audience. There are not many TV shows focusing on the military experience, so our expectations are high of those few. Shows about cops, doctors and lawyers are, god save us, a dime a dozen; the audience can pick and choose those nuggets of hearty, authentic goodness among the dross. A series focusing on soldiers, sailors, airmen or Marines only comes along about once a decade, so all our interest and hopes are directed towards it, instead of being diffused among many. “Over There” may yet be salvageable, should you and your writers embrace the following:
1. We have had an all-volunteer military for thirty years. Only a bare handful are left on active-duty service that had anything to do with the draft, were draftees, or had to cope with draftees, or remember Vietnam.
2. Random urinalysis means that drug users are caught, sooner rather than later. There may very well be pot-heads in the service, but not for very long. Golden Flow will get ’em.
3. Units rotate in-country together; people have usually known each other for a bit before going “over there”.
4. Read the milblogs. Please.
5. Put in an application for some new clichés. The old ones are threadbare, and unsuited to further service. Replacement clichés are necessary and desirable; especially of you expect this show to last longer than “Cop Rock.” (Ohhhh, that was mean of me. Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
6. Hire a new military advisor. Or pay more attention to the one you have.
Sincerely
Sgt Mom
I LOVE Melissa Etheridge. No, I don’t think you understand. It’s not the impossible love that some guys have for lesbians because they know there’s just no way in the world it’s going to happen and that drives them nuts and they live for being driven nuts. It’s quite simply her voice and her guitar and the way she knows how to use them. From the first moment I saw her doing “Bring me Some Water” on David Letterman back in the 80s she had me. She’s got that way of grabbing you by the collar of your heart and saying “Ya ready, hang on here we go.” that just makes me grin from ear to ear.
I just downloaded her version of Tom Petty’s Refugee off iTunes and Oh. My. God.
Springsteen once called her his little sister…I think lil sister grew up and is getting ready to leave big brother in his own dust.
WPA Project 891
Of course, you could Google that, and get the answer right now. But let’s allow somebody that knows the answer, and hopefully the backstory, respond first, ok?
Update: What? Googled, and no freaking answer; this is beyond the realm.
Ok, here’s another hint: John Houseman, Orson Wells.
Tom Smith presents an amusing post here, with his critique of the futurist prognostications of super-synth inventor, and extropist, Ray Kurzweil. But he really has his head up his ass.
First, let’s address the topic of the post: His contention that there will be no bio-implanted human-to-machine interfaces in a 50-to-100 year timeframe is absurd. This technology is already developing – most notably in the field of animated prosthetics (bionics, if you will). And the idea that the individual wouldn’t have several layers of firewalls and filters, so that he/she has absolute discretion over his/her exposure to the greater world, is absurd.
But, on to my main motivation for this post – the specifics which prove how off-the-button this idiot is:
If that were in the cards, I think we would have already developed a cure for back pain,
That happened in 1874, idiot. It’s called heroin. But the government won’t let you have it.
lo-cal ice cream that tastes good,
an automatic way to both write and grade exams,
Why would you want to “grade” an exam you were writing? And why would you want a machine to write it for you?
a cure for baldness,
The Bosley technique has been quite successful
and television worth watching.
Well, idiot: Last night, I tuned to my local PBS station, and watched a marvelous two-hour history of Broadway musicals, narrated by the enchanting Julie Andrews. Then I watched the opening episode of Frontier House (perhaps the best “reality” show that’s ever been aired). And I finished my evening with episode 6 of Ken Burns’ Jazz. Tonight, I’m watching TCM: First, I watched Key Largo. And now I’m watching To Have and Have Not (Hoagy himself is worth the whole price of admission). And between them was Robert Osborne’s intelligent, stimulating interview show: Private Screenings: Lauren Bacall.
Nothing on TV worth watching? Take your head out of your ass, and buy a TiVo.
Update: What a nice nightcap: They just played the rarely-seen WB animated short, Bacall to Arms. “Nothing to watch on TV?” I don’t think so.
Hat Tip: InstaPundit
I just switched away from Head Over Heals on USA, in favor of Key Largo on TCM (can you blame me?). And I have only this to say: Monica Potter looks like what Julia Roberts would look like if she were only attractive.
Ok, here’s another easy one:
This mediocre musical was turned into a classic using an old newspaper and a loose floorboard.
Update: Oh, c’mon, folks; this is an eazzzzzy one.
Where is Stryker, who was braging about his “massive” video collection (don’t we men tend to brag about “massiveness?)? 🙂
Where is Sgt Mom, my reliable foil on matters of art deco and neo-classic culture?
Where is DemoMan, who has surprised us a couple of times?
Oh, c’mon folks: classic musical, floorboard, newspaper – Google the fucking thing.
I guess there’s something wrong with my family, we liked it. Boyo’s main comment was, “AWESOME!!!”
No, this isn’t cutting edge Science Fiction, no deep morality play. This is “what if?” And it’s embedded in a LOT of blowing of shit up and things breaking and yes it’s worth seeing it on the big screen because I don’t think anybody blows shit up and breaks things better than Michael Bay and crew.
It’s fun. It’s a ride. No, you’re home theater isn’t going to cut it for this one.
This Hollywood bigshot’s name was unknown outside the business until columnist Sidney Skolsky linked him with Katharine Hepburn in 1934.
…Is just as good as last season – if not better.
Liz Phair’s next album, Somebody’s Miracle, is scheduled for release Oct. 4th.
I must say, after hearing Exile in Guyville, I had not been more excited by a new act since Arrested Development’s 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of…. But since then, while Arrested Development has blazed new trails (I have yet to hear Among the Trees, but understand it’s great), Liz has failed to impress. But, with the “unplugged” format, and Shanks and Alagia on her team, I have high hopes.
Just a reminder: Steven Bochco’s Over There pilot episode airs tonight at 10 EDT (with encores at 11, and 1am), on FX. Between Bochco and FX, I’m expecting a high standard of quality. Bochco promises to stay out of the politics of the Iraqi campaign (and I doubt Murdoch would buy his show if Bochco wanted to), and concentrate on the personal stories of his fictional platoon, and their families back home.
Update: Well, the reviews, the real reviews, from real service people, are coming in on this, and just about every other milblog on the planet. And, as in this Seattle Post-Intelligencer story, are running on the negative side of mixed.
A lot of the criticism centers around the details: The Taster’s Choice slam, for instance, was excellent. Other details, like the buried IED, with a little flag on the trigger, where down-right idiotic. Bochco certainly needs some qualified technical consultants involved in production.
The most prevalent negative opinions though, seem to center around the stereotyping of the characters, and the matter of good taste, over producing an entertainment program while people are fighting and dying.
I’m a bit more philosophical about it. I mean, during WWII, Washington actively encouraged and supported Hollywood’s production of war movies. But, because of that, there was a massive propaganda factor. As far as being true-to-life goes, relative to the war movies produced from 1942 to 1945, Over There is a newsreel. Further, anyone that gets there bustle in a bunch over the stereotyping simply doesn’t understand the realities of producing series television. It takes time to flesh-out a character; if this squad is as cartoonish at the start of season two as it is now, that would be a problem. But, for a pilot, this is pretty much par-for-the course.
Could it be Carol Lynley? The movie is The Pleasure Seekers (1964). How do we know?
Oh, BTW, this is movie trivia question for 7/27/05: While we all know what Ann-Margaret looks like, and can identify her at a glance, How do we identify Carol Lynley from the other ravishing beauties in this film?
Update: Gawd: All I can say is, I hope I’m never the victim of a crime with you guys as witnesses – you would have a police sketch artist pulling his hair out. Ok, so one of you got the distinctive lip-curl right, and another (vaguely) got the eyes. But you missed the #1 point – the prominent, rounded cheekbones. This was a feature she shared (to a lesser degree) with her other blond, “wholesome and fresh-faced” predecessors, Debbie Reynolds and Doris Day.
Anyway, if you are interested, here’s some other Carol minutiae: Any movie trivia buff will tell you that it was actually French vocalist Renee Armand singing The Morning After on The Poseidon Adventure, with Carol lip-syncing. But, did you know that Carol actually recorded the number herself, and the final result was a mix of their two voices?
Ok: next one, I’ll go easier on you. 🙂
Most of you know I am a regular viewer of several “ambush” reality shows, including Discovery’s Overhaulin’.
But I have to make this observation: It seems as though these are taking on a “Queen For A Day” (whether or not the show is Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) bent. This is to say: the producers seem to be gravitating toward subjects with increasingly heart-rending back-stories. Case-in-point: tonight’s Overhaulin’ trickee was a kidney donor for one of the “insiders”.
This is all well-and-good; I’m happy to see such deserving souls get rewarded for the sacrifices they have made. But, eventually, the well will run dry. As it did in the early ’60s, with Queen for a Day, so it will today. The public’s fascination with the “Queen for a Day” format will wane. And then such shows as Overhaulin’ and Queer Eye will be up a creek without a paddle.
Correlate these three names with one movie title:
Sinclair Lewis
John Steinbeck
George Clooney
Update, 7/31/05: Oh yeah; Sullivan’s Travels is on TCM right now. 🙂
Veronica Lake – Yum-yum. 🙂
Oh, here’s some interesting trivia, dcourtesy of TCM’s Robert Osbourne: Sturgis originaly wanted to use Barbara Stanwyck (not a bad choice). But the studio insisted he use Veronica (a better choice).
This innovative director set Hollywood’s infamous Production Code on its ear with his artful circumvention of the “three second” rule in this movie.
SciFi announced this evening that they’re running Firefly starting next week before the rest of their SciFi Fridays lineup.
Very smart to run them before Serenity opens.
If they’re very smart, they’ll pick it up again. But these are the people who took Farscape off the air.
This should make the folks over at ASV very happy.
What, you ask? Well, the new season of Battlestar Galactica, of course. I can hardly wait.
You are invited to chime in here; I really want some other input:
This [Fast Times at Ridgemont High] was one of the two “pivotal” teen-age coming-of-age movies, in American cinema, a position it shares with American Graffiti.
Of course, to establish this cusp, we must discount such monumental cinematic achievements as Summer of ’42. But, even the casual observer must agree that these films are of a different genre.
Ok, readers: how would you write the rest of this post?
Update: Well, there’s a couple of comments which, while anything but vacuous, are pretty non-sequitur. 🙂 Are either of these movies great? Well, that depends upon where one places the threshold of greatness. But American Graffiti is #77 on AFI’s 100 Greatest Movies list.
What I’m getting at, is more along the lines of them marking the beginning and end of an era with teen coming-of-age comedies ascendeding from the cheap, formulaic crap of the ’60s (the Tammy series, the Gidget series, the Beach Party series, most of the Elvis movies), and then descending back into today’s cheap, formulaic crap, as parodied with Not Another Teen Movie.
I am about to watch Corvette Summer on TCM. Well, ANY film featuring Annie Potts commands my total attention (OK, call me a fan). But, by any stretch of the imagination, can this film be called a “classic”?
Update: L, fucking OL. Our villain has just pulled up to a gas pump in a beaten-down, but complete ’59 Cadillac Convertible (a Series 62, not an Eldo) – a car that today, despite its condition, is worth ten times what that nigger-rigged ’73 Corvette is.
Update II: This film really. REALLY, REALLY sucks. But, at this point, I’m just waiting for Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Now there’s a real classic. 🙂
Update III: Skywalker and Annie are living like pashas on “$850/wk.”. Give me a fucking break: I was making $850/wk. when this movie came out – and on my way to $1000. And that was just upper-middle-class money.
There may be intelligent life in the universe, but if they landed at the multiplex this week, chances are they saw what was playing, barfed and departed in disgust. They, like me, can probably wait until the current collection comes out on DVD… and goes on special, marked down 50%. Even at that, the movie makers may go on waiting for my entertainment dollar. Looking at the cinematic joys on the schedule now and in the near future makes for depressing reading. Movie versions of comic books. Remakes of old and not so old movies. Movie versions of old television shows. Bloated special effects extravaganzas, by auteurs whose own self-importance is nearly as bloated as their production. Historical melodramas, whose actual fidelity to history is merely coincidental, of the sort that my mother used to describe as an “Urp-ic”…. Frankly, it’s all enough to make me barf as well. The last movie I went to see in a theater was “Phantom of the Opera” and only because Blondie dragged me, kicking and screaming; the one before that was “Return of the King”. Since then, it’s been all downhill, or at least, me looking at the movie reviews and schedules and thinking, “Bleah…I have better things to do… like wash my hair…brush the cats… haul mulch to the back yard… experiment with do- it-yourself-root-canal surgery.”
I shouldn’t have to tell you how sad and pathetic this is for our once-vaunted American movie industry, which still bestrides the world like a colossus, but is doing somewhat less well in American markets. Nearly fifteen years ago, my daughter and I rotated home from a decade spent in Europe, and counted one of the blessings of coming back to our home country, (along with having a telephone AND a washing machine in our house!) that of being able to go see a movie… the very day that it opened! To go and see a movie, ten hours after I read the review of it in the newspaper, instead of waiting six months until it appeared on the AAFES circuit for a couple of showings! Bliss was it to be alive in those days, to hit the multiplex in Layton for a weekend matinee, with a ten-dollar bill and a couple of supermarket candy bars tucked into my purse. (What, you think I am made of money, I want to pay the markup at the theater? Do I look like an idiot??!!) We loved going to the movies, I even had subscriptions to Premiere, and to Entertainment Weekly.
And then it just began to seem like all the fun of it, all the joy and anticipation just drained away, as if the plug on a lovely pristine pond full of goldfish and bordered by rushes and banks grown with violets all drained away, and there was nothing left but a baking mud flat, a couple of carp skeletons and a desiccated fringe of dead shrubbery. Going to a movie began to seem like a grim chore, a duty, something you had to do. There is a word for something you have to do, it’s called work. (Line stolen from someone else, not my own) Nothing much I read about movies lately, nothing much about the current crop induces me to spend two hours and the first run ticket price…it’s all too damn much like a grim duty and obligation.
I don’t want to see explosions and buildings collapsing— I’ve sort of been off that kind of thing since 9/11— I want to see sparkling conversation, not brief and easily translated sarcastic remarks filling in the short interim between explosions and buildings collapsing. I want to see stories about people, interesting, or admirable people, or at least people I wouldn’t mind knowing. (Sgt. Mom’s criteria for characters: “If you wouldn’t want to spend fifteen minutes with them stuck in an elevator, in real life… why the hell do you want to spend two hours and change stuck with them in a movie theater!???”) I don’t much care for graphic violence (emotional or the other kind) , torture, or spurting arteries, and no, I don’t much care for it in slow-mo or artistically choreographed, either. And I don’t care for car chases as a substitute for intelligent (or coherent plotting), and if that makes me the Little Mary Sunshine… well, I have been withholding my movie-jones dollar for a couple of years now, and it looks like a lot of other people are as well.
Is there a quiet, unfocused and non-centralized boycott in effect? Over a decade ago, Michael Medved outlined some of the discontents attendant on the contemporary movie industry—disrespect to religious values, to conventional families, to communities in fly-over-country, willful disregard, in other words, of every conventional standard in values and tastes. He detected a slump in movie attendance then, a slump that bears a resemblance to an avalanche in recent months.
All I can say is… thanks for catalogues of VHS and DVD movies and television shows— if it weren’t for the old stuff available to watch at home, I’d not have anything to watch at all.
(Discuss amongst yourselves)
Mean lil shites, aren’t they?
One woman in the row in front of me actually had to leave the theater.
Boyo thought it was “cool when they were blowing stuff up.” I swear they could make a movie simply called “Explosions” and the lad would be ecstatic. No one tell him about EOD, ‘k?
You think that by now I’d not be suprised that Tom Cruise can act. Yeah-yeah-yeah, he’s a meltdown in real life, but I’m okay with that. It’s not like he lives in my neighborhood.
Dakota Fanning is one of the coolest little kids on the planet.
I really liked the way the sound effect(s) from the original movie underlies the sound effects in this version. Very nicely done.
Eowyn’s pregnant? Way to go Farimir.