Episode 260: Shout-outs, RIP Etta James, Movies (Bet: The Help; Stennie: none), Pet Story, Stennie’s Lowlight & Highlight, What’s Up With That?, Surprising Fact of the Week, Bet’s New Favorite, Stennie’s Earworm, Bet’s Commercial of the Week, Stennie Makes a Faux Pas, Fuck Offs and You Rules, Remakes We’d Like To See.
Music: “The Hucklebuck,” performed Sierra Rein, Lee Rocker and Frank Sinatra, “Movies” bumper by Duke, “New Favorite” bumper by Krizzer.
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Love the remakes topic–even the TKAM idea. I was skeptical at first, but you won me over with the mini-series angle. Still, it’s not just Atticus who’d be impossible to cast; you’d have a hard time finding someone to play pretty much any part without being compared with, and found inferior to, the original actor.
And now for something equally heretical: I’ve always thought Kevin Kline (ca. 89-95) would make a damn fine Nick Charles, but I could never think of a good Nora. And trying to replicate that Powell-Loy chemistry would be like trying to bottle lightning.
Here’s a “What’s Up with That?” for remakes: The new BBC/PBS production of A Room with a View. I haven’t seen it, but I personally found the original so nearly perfect, I can’t imagine what anyone could hope to achieve by taking another crack at it.
A couple random thoughts/observations:
One perk of my day job (contract document review) is that I can listen to music on my iPod. It’s given me the chance to revisit all of the CD Mixes that I got. I have to tell you, I’ve discovered some real gems that I missed on the first pass, many going all the way back to Mix 4. Bet, that Paul Pena song “Gonna Move” is so phenomenally great, it breaks my heart a little to think that it languished on my hard drive for the better part of four or five years. I’m making up for it now, though. Same with “I Think I Know” by The Vinyl Kings from Stennie’s Mix 7.
So what do you think–if I came up with the categories, would y’all be up for another CD Mix exchange? It could be The One that Goes to 11! And we could use Dropbox, so nobody has to burn or mail CDs.
Also, Bet, I’ve been meaning to say how much I’ve enjoyed the radio spots that J.K. Simmons does (or did) for The Company You Work For, that air(ed) on Pandora. If you listen to Pandora (and don’t have a subscription) you know how they tend to play the same (usually crappy) spots over and over until you want to drive ice picks into your ears. But those are really well written and brilliantly produced. I’m not leaving USAA, but I’m also not jamming pencils into my head when I hear them, which is saying something.
Very jealous of Siskita seeing Bernadette Peters in Follies. In the late 80’s, I went to NYC for the first time. We took the train up on Friday morning and my first Broadway show was a matinee performance of Into The Woods with her! We had front row “partial view” seats but it was great.
Stennie, my first cousin also had a baby on January 19th. That was my parent’s wedding anniversary so it was nice to have it now associated with something joyful.
I cannot remember my first CD. I imagine I have it still but I looked through our CD’s and nothing jumped out and said “I was your first.” It was probably some “best of” album, maybe Elton or Roberta Flack.
I think Clooney might could pull off the To Kill a Mockingbird role, too, IF we could concentrate on the movie content. Even this ol’ lesbian can get lost in his beautiful eyes.
Go Giants! Gotta pull for the real G-man on that team, right Bet?
Wasn’t “Finnegan” the name of Captain Kirk’s rival at Starfleet Academy?
The remake I’d like to see is a period version of “War of the Worlds”. As in, I’d love to see it set in the period in which it was written. Sierra and I also saw a movie recently called “Peeping Tom” which had some interesting ideas on the pyschology of voyeurism and fear that was really kind of bleh, but the premise, I think, is super topical and would make a much better movie now than when it was made in the 60s. I do think the remake should stay set in the 60s, however.
I think that’s all I got this week! I’ve been busy studying Japanese (started class again this week–yayyyyy!) and been doing a bunch of other projects including thepete.mag–have you guys seen it? http://mag.thepete.com/latest 🙂 It’s a photomag filled with pics I took. On sale for just $3.50 until 2/14! After that just $4.50 or get the ebook version for $1 Sorry, am I plugging too much?
Still behind, what with the move and all. But here’s my comments for the week… when the hell did I become an abortion rights activist? I’m actually kind of opinionated against abortion, but between the idiots who don’t understand why people have late-term abortions and the extremely idiotic Virginia Senate, I find myself trying to figure out ways to get the holier-than-thou right-to-lifers to go away. I also found myself in the bizarre position of discovering I know someone who is a correspondent for Glenn Beck TV. What is this world coming to?
I plan to drown my sorrows in the purchase of a nice wide-screen TV tomorrow. Harrumph.
I just remembered another movie that I’d love to see remade, so long as it’s done well: “They Live”. That movie would be awesome remade with today’s 99% thing going on.
I know I’m way too late for comments, but I loved the topic of Remakes We’d Like To See. Although I don’t have any remakes I’d like to see in mind, I was stunned by your choices of Casablanca and Gone With The Wind. Those are terrible choices, for exactly the same reason Gus Van Sant should have never remade Psycho. Whether your cup of tea or not, those films are all-time classics, beloved to millions around the world. Even my 19-year-old Chinese students know Gone With The Wind! The problem with remaking a classic is you can never top the original. For example, how could you remake Star Wars? Well, George Lucas has already tried that a bunch of times. Hell, why not remake The Wizard of Oz? Or how about Breakfast at Tiffany’s? Scarlett Johansson can play Holly and Ryan Gosling can be Paul. Replace Henry Mancini’s “Moon River” with Trent Reznor’s “I Want To F*@# You Like An Animal.” PUH-LEASE!
On the other hand, People Will Talk with Clooney as Cary is intriguing! The story is a bit dated since it’s not such a scandal to be an unwed mother anymore. However Joseph L. Mankiewics’s political overtones and allegory to the McCarthy witch hunts could be updated to focus on the condemnation of unfettered capitalism and the human cost of war.
Wait, I just thought of one that is widely unknown today yet ever so relevant: Billy Wilder’s Ace In The Hole (aka The Big Carnival). I know that’s one of mine and Stennie’s favorites!