Pop Song of the Week: "Jump Around"

The week after St. Patrick's Day, almost everyone is Irish. At least in their dreams.

Movie Song of the Week: "Relax"

It seems almost impossible to find an official version of the "Relax" number from the 1984 Brian DePalma movie "Body Double" on the Internet, which is probably just as well since even the comparatively "tame" music video is more than a bit NSFW.

Anyway, the first time I saw Body Double, the audience reaction was such that I was never quite sure if they were laughing with the movie or at it. No doubt you might have the same reaction to the shamelessly over-the-top video as well.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Shameless (U.S.): “You'll Know the Bottom When You Hit It”

The first time I saw this episode, I could not help but wonder how many of the people I used to argue with on the Internet saw me as the male equivalent of Fiona Gallagher, particularly the Fiona Gallagher who appeared halfway through this episode. Heck, even I could not help seeing some unflattering parallels between me and Fiona -- and I'm not even Irish. Nor do I drink. And I certainly never owned a building...

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Shameless (U.S.): “Los Diablos!”

Every time I'm tempted to write this show off as just one long exercise in bad taste, it manages to come up with surprising sharp -- if not always subtle -- social commentary. For example. it seems to be the one show on TV right now which seems to show a little sympathy for the people who have seen their jobs disappear due to changing technology and in this episode, it actually bothered to tackle the very controversial subject of interracial prejudice -- specifically black-on-Hispanic prejudice -- without the usual PC rationalizations. So, good job.

Granted, it might have been nice if the writers had come up with a better solution than having the nice brown-skinned people just go away but I suppose it could have been worse. At least, they tried to depict the problem in a relatively honest fashion without the usual pretenses about how such a problem would never occur in an all-white neighborhood.

Quote of the Week

I know but of one religion in which the god and the victim are the same.
--Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Pop Song of the Week: "Just a Girl"

One of the first songs to make Gwen Stefani famous. Of course, nowadays her main claim to fame is allegedly inspiring Donald Trump to run for President -- which only makes sense because if there's one politician who's likely to let a female celebrity talk him into doing something he doesn't really want to do, it's undoubtedly Donald Trump...

Movie Song of the Week: "Main Theme from The Warriors"

Barry De Vorzon's famous theme from the 1979 cult film that made director Walter Hill famous.

Quote of the Week

There are, no doubt, lessons here for the contemporary reader. The changing character of the native population, brought about through unremarked pressures on porous borders; the creation of an increasingly unwieldy and rigid bureaucracy, whose own survival became its overriding goal; the despising of the military and the avoidance of its service by established families, while its offices present unprecedented opportunity for marginal men to whom its ranks had once been closed; the lip service paid to values long dead; the pretense that we still are what we once were; the increasing concentrations of the populace into richer and poorer by way of a corrupt tax system, and the desperation that inevitably follows; the aggrandizement of executive power at the expense of the legislature; ineffectual legislation promulgated with great show; the moral vocation of the man at the top to maintain order at all costs, while growing blind to the cruel dilemmas of ordinary life -- these are all themes with which our world is familiar, nor are they the God-given property of any party or political point of view, even though we often act as if they were. At least, the emperor could not heap his economic burdens on posterity by creating long-term public debt, for floating capital had not yet been conceptualized. The only kinds of wealth worth speaking of were the fruits of the earth.
--Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe

Pop Song of the Week: "Arizona"

Yes, it's corny but its use over the opening credits of the 2018 movie with the same name marks one of the few good moments in that same movie -- even if said use doesn't make a whole lot of sense in the context of that movie. Oh, well. It's still a nice piece of Nixon-era ear candy -- even though you all may have a hard time believing that it was sung by the same vocalist who once headed up the 1960s group Paul Revere and the Raiders.

Movie Song of the Week: "#1 Crush"

Springtime is right around the corner so why not play a love song or two? Or failing that, I could play this song from the soundtrack of the 1996 movie version of Romeo + Juliet instead -- even though it makes even some of the darker songs of my beloved West Side Story seem relatively upbeat by comparison.

Movie Quote of the Week

It was great to be Catholic and go to confession. You could start over every week.
--Lillo Brancato, A Bronx Tale (1993)

TV Quote of the Week

Sin gets us something? Awesome!
--Nancy Cartwright, The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror XVIII"

High Toon: Rango

Mariachi owls are cool. I don't care what anyone says: the mariachi owls in the 2011 movie Rango were far cooler than the usual token hip-hop singer in an otherwise all-white cartoon which we so often get as some wise guy's nod to diversity. At the very least, they were different.

I actually liked the movie Rango a lot better than I did Paul and the last two entries in director Gore Verbinski's original Pirates trilogy. Yes, it could have stretched things out further but I thought it did a good thing stretching things out as long as it did. It is not every Western that can successfully combine magic realism, surrealism, the Man with No Name movies and Chinatown and not look stupid. Besides, it's not like they tied things up with a corny line like "Relax, Jake. It's Chameleontown."

Trailer of the Week: Sin City

My favorite memory of this movie was seeing the way it managed to elicit a "oh, wow" from the usually unwowable film critic Jill Cozzi. Apart from that, my view of the movie is too complicated to sum up here. However, it must be said that director Robert Rodriguez does know how to get your attention. And just look at that cast list!

Quote of the Week

Man’s sins may be the relics of his rise rather than the stigmata of his fall.
--Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History

I Don't Care How Awesome Her Rainbow Shades Are! Stay Away from Arizona!

There is undoubtedly a very good dark comedy that can be made about the recent subprime mortgage crisis but the 2018 movie Arizona is not it.

The movie started off very promisingly by introducing us to divorced single mom and real estate agent Cassie Fowler (played by Rosemarie DeWitt) whose attempt to sell a house was interrupted by a tragic incident. But then after the first ten minutes and a brief rendition of an old Mark Lindsay song that played over the opening credits, we were introduced to Sonny, an angry client (played by Danny McBride) who kidnapped Ms. Fowler to keep her from reporting his murder of Ms. Fowler's boss. A little Sonny went a long way yet Danny McBride was an executive producer so we the audience ended up getting a whole lot of Sonny. A lot more than this particular audience member cared for.

Anyway, once Sonny kidnapped Ms. Fowler, the whole movie turned into a wacky hostage movie in which we the audience were supposed to root for Ms. Fowler to get away while at the same time putting up with Sonny's bad jokes. If you had ever seen the 1987 thriller The Stepfather, you could probably predict most of the events of the last half of the movie in which one possible source of rescue after another was eliminated until Ms. Fowler had no choice left except to become a final girl. She even started to lose bits of her clothing as if she were auditioning for a Reagan-era slasher movie. Fortunately, she managed to escape without finding herself in a state of total nudity -- which was a good thing because as much as I liked Ms. DeWitt's performance, I could not help wishing her character had had a less misogynistic story arc. On the plus side, though, it didn't seem likely that the bad guy will return for a sequel. So thank Heaven for that!

R.I.P. John Heard

American actor John Heard -- best known for his roles in such movies as Cutter's Way and Home Alone -- walked off the set for the last time on July 21, 2017, at age 71.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Geoffrey Bayldon

English actor Geoffrey Bayldon -- best known in his native land for playing the title character in the British TV series Catweazle as well as for movie roles in such films as the 1972 horror movie Asylum and the 1976 comedy The Pink Panther Strikes Again -- made his final exit on May 10, 2017, at age 93.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Robert Osborne

American author and actor Robert Osborne -- best known for his 1965 book Academy Awards Illustrated as well as for his gig as host for the Turner Classic Movies Channel -- officially became a part of film history on March 6, 2017, at age 84.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Bill Paxton

American actor Bill Paxton -- best known for his roles in such films as Twister and Edge of Tomorrow as well as for his starring role in the HBO TV series Big Love --took his last bow on February 25, 2017, at age 61.

He will be missed.

Pop Song of the Week: "It's a Sin"

Yes, I've posted this song before but Lent starts next week so I might as well post it again. Besides, this time I'm posting a cover version made by a young singer named Janet Devlin. It's not the only cover version of this song that exists but it's the one that I like the best so far. I hope you all like it as well.

Movie Song of the Week: "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)"

Just in time for Lent -- which starts next week -- it's the late David Bowie singing the title song from the 1982 version of Cat People. As is the case with High Tension, I must admit that I keep going back and forth on this film but I must admit that I still find the title song pretty memorable. I'm not sure if this is the official music video for this song, but it's close enough for government work. I hope you all enjoy it.

Song Quote of the Week

I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me.
-- Fred Fairbrass, Jack Antonoff, Richard Fairbrass, Robert Manzoli, Taylor Swift, Christopher Fairbrass,"Look What You Made Me Do"

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Alfred Hitchcock Presents: “Beta Delta Gamma”

Wait! There was an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that managed to include both classic horror actress Barbara Steele and the late Barbara Harris among its cast members? Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?

Of course, the roles Harris and Steele were relatively minor compared to the roles both actresses would later become famous for. Indeed, if you did not already know they were in this episode, you might not have guessed that the characters they were playing were played by them. (I certainly didn't.)

Anyway, the plot involved a party in a beach house involving various members of the Beta Delta Gamma fraternity and their girlfriends. (Hence the title of the episode.) During the party, one of the frat boys drank so much alcohol that he literally passed out. One of the girls suggested that the other members play a nasty prank on him by arranging to have him believe that he killed another frat member while he was drunk. His best friend then volunteered to be shot up with a drug that reduced his breathing to nearly undetectable levels so that he could play the role of said corpse. The remaining frat members then fled to another residence to await the results of their prank, only to eventually find out...

Ah! To say more would be telling. Suffice it to say that the ending of this episode might end up haunting your dreams. It certainly did mine the first time I saw it in my twenties. And yet it has lingered in my memory far longer than more famous episodes even though I first saw it in media res and never knew the title of this episode until just this past week.