14 responses to “News & Links:
Saturday, December 9, 2023”

1. 

   johnthebasket

   12/09/2023

   reddit does fine work, but it was Cecil Adams who did the primary research and decoded the tangled history of the pompatus of love — 40 years ago. Enter Maurice . . .

   John

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      12/10/2023

      Ah, Cecil. I should've known. The Reddit post seemed all authoritative and all, and was probably cribbed directly from Cecil. It was news to me, either way, but credit where credit's due.

      Reply
2. 

   johnthebasket

   12/09/2023

   I understand that your music section is mostly about bad covers, but since some of the originals are a little obscure and, at least for today's entries, 100 times better, it might have been useful to include both the originals and the bad covers, as much as I love Solomon Burke. Fred Astaire sang "The Way You Look Tonight" almost perfectly in Swing Time (90 years ago). It can be covered, but can't be made better. And Bob Dylan wrote and created the perfect version of "Maggie's Farm" almost 60 years ago. There could be people in the world who are unaware of the originators is all I'm saying. Especially when they're so much better than the covers.

   John

   Reply
   1. 

      johnthebasket

      12/09/2023

      Addendum: Since I had a phonograph before I had a TV, I was unaware that Fred Astaire also danced. He was a hell of a singer.

      jtb

      Reply
   2. 

      Doug Holland

      12/10/2023

      The originals a re all great, and yeah, maybe better than the covers. It's just that I've heard the originals so many times every note's expected.

      Can't disagree, though. MouseRat's "The Way You Look Tonight" is sort of intentionally bad, and Astaire would've been incapable of that.

      Reply
3. 

   johnthebasket

   12/09/2023

   . . . and I just read my last three entries and I want to make clear that I appreciate your bringing all this information to the people. You do a terrific job with these info columns and I read every word of them. If I sound critical, that's because you have wonderful, provocative entries that frequently touch on universal truths. Thanks for that.

   John

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      12/10/2023

      I thought today's news selections were kind of bland, but the Republicans will do something extra dipshitty tomorrow to make up for it.

      We really are in the end times, I believe. Even ten years ago, what's the fuckers are doing now would've been unthinkable.

      Reply
4. 

   Claude Reigns

   12/10/2023

   Ryan O'Neal

   https://youtu.be/uJktS8nTxXg?feature=shared

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      12/10/2023

      You'll hate me and I'll deserve your hatred, but I've never seen Barry Lyndon. Costume dramas where the ladies wear corsets and the gents wear tights and everyone's rich or royalty, man, I've tried but I just can't.

      Reply
   2. 

      Claude Reigns

      12/10/2023

      Oh my god, dude, it's Kubrick's 2nd best film, and in the top 25 ever made. Seriously, it's so great. Funny as shit, tragic, subversive, formally inventive, on and on.

      The main character is one of Kubrick's most complex and unusual, subject to the same hubristic indulgences and whims of fate as his other protagonists, but he's also kind of a dullard, like Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut. Perfect casting by Kubrick.

      https://outlawvern.com/2020/05/06/barry-lyndon/

      https://youtu.be/TbUYRAS7XI8?feature=shared

      Reply
   3. 

      Claude Reigns

      12/10/2023

      O'Neal's Barry isn't born rich – that's the crux of the flick, and the threat of discovery and expulsion hovers over the entire story. He spends decades scheming his way into money and status, and is undone by his own ambition and stupidity, and the limits of class in a regimented society. It's maybe Kubrick's most cynical film in that regard – you're fucked if you don't have a name or money.

      Reply
   4. 

      Doug Holland

      12/10/2023

      I do simply abhor most costume dramas, but you had me at 'cynical', and I shall give it a watch.

      Reply
   5. 

      Claude Reigns

      12/10/2023

      I look at the genre like science fiction – some folks use sf as escapism, some watch costume dramas for the same reason.

      But we know there's a difference between PK Dick (almost zero spaceships, all psychology) and your run of the mill sci-fi channel junk. And there's a difference between garden variety BBC period pieces and something by Kubrick or Terence Davies (House of Mirth, as cynical and tragic as Barry Lyndon, a devastating look at a woman's place in a man's world, where money is the most important thing).

      And Barry Lyndon has some of that alien quality that science fiction has – Kubrick was smart enough to emphasize that (he made it right after Clockwork Orange, and the violence is just as common in both films, just more "polite" in Barry Lyndon.)

      Reply
   6. 

      Doug Holland

      12/11/2023

      You ought to write movie reviews. You're better at it than me, and you take the movies more seriously too. I now have Barry Lyndon on my watchlist, and you've got me looking forward to it.

      Reply

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