Hucklebug, Episode 133: RIP John Updike, shout-outs, movies (Bet: Auntie Mame, I Love You Alice B. Toklas; Stennie: Simpsons Movie, Burn After Reading, Rear Window), lowlights & highlights, fuck-offs & you-rules, Humdingers.
Music: “The Hucklebuck,” performed by (respectively): The Delltones, Brendan Bowyer, Los Reyes, and Frank Sinatra (x2).
The Hucklebug causes a fire. I went to sync my ipod so I could exercise and I saw that a new Hucklebug had downloaded. I started to listen to it, and I got to the part where Bet says, “Don’t stalk her,” and I heard a crackling noise. The electricity on one part of the room flickered and then I smelled smoke. The outlet was on fire. I had to call the fire department. Luckily, it was just a destroyed surge protector. You gals really are smoking.
In the drama of last night, I forgot to write the most important thing. The Hucklebug saved my home and my life. If the new episode had not been uploaded a little after midnight, I would have gone straight downstairs to exercise. Instead, I chose to listen to the first few minutes, and I was able to see the plug catch on fire so I stopped the fire from spreading beyond the outlet and a small part of carpet. Without the Hucklebug, I would not have heard a fire alarm (my earphones drown out outside noises) or smelled the smoke, and most of my home would have been gutted and I would have been trapped in the basement. I truly can’t thank the show enough. I guess this means I’ll have to listen to episodes in their entirety, play them in order, and listen to them while awake.
I was confused by Bet’s “pastoral” into the “William Tell Overture” initially too. Did research online: There are three sections of the William Tell Overture…Storm – Pastoral – and the Gallop. We know the Pastoral as the “morning and the rooster crows” theme of many cartoons, and of course the Gallop as the “Heigh-ho Silver! Awaaaaaaay!” radio theme for “The Lone Ranger.” I can’t hum the Storm section for the life of me, though. I knew the Pastoral wasn’t Gershwin, though…right off the bat.
I think Rush Limfuckbaugh is a great weekly fuck off, because you know at any point in the week he’s said something inane, racist, wrong, stupid or otherwise fuckoffish in nature. So, he can wear the mantle in my mind of “permanent fuckoffjob of the week.”
Glad you’re going to the doctor, Bet! Sorry I failed to mention something in last week’s comment 🙁
Glad both your moms are hanging in there! That’s all any of us can do these days, even with his Obamaness in the White House.
Oh and Sten, my Wriststrong bracelet broke! My wrist proved to be to strong for it, I guess.
Wasn’t “Being There” a kind of prototype for “Forest Gump”? “Being There” does have a great ending though—subtle, but great.
The ending of “Shane” I saw parodied on the 1960s Batman show LONG before I saw the movie.
I will add “This is England” and “No End in Sight” to the queue. Hey, both are available on Netflix’s Instant Play—maybe I’ll just watch them from home instead of taking up valuable queue real estate.
I’ll happily watch “Das Boot” again!
Which version, though? The Director’s Cut is like four hours long. Is that the one you couldn’t get through, Bet?
Jeez, I think my lowlight of the week is the same thing that wasn’t Bet’s lowlight—that’s the most depressing story I’ve heard in a while.
Which camera did you end up with, Bet?
Wow, I must be as old as Bet since I got the Fibber McGee reference.
I actually think Phelps shouldn’t be doing the drugs. He’s an athlete and a role model. Not cool.
DICK Armey on Hard BALL HAHAHAHAHA
Yeah, I’m going to disagree with Siskita—I wouldn’t make Limbaugh your new regular Fuck-Off. He’s useless, don’t pay him any mind, I say. The less attention we give him the less attention he gets.
I won’t get too into it, but a tiny fraction of the money in our economy is actually paper. The rest of it is abstract and resides only in computers. It’s a little scary, really.
I agree with you guys about Obama being cool but I don’t think he should have apologized for how he handled the Daschle mess. That was Daschle’s fault, not Obama’s. It’s great to have someone in the White House who will admit his mistakes, but he should only admit the mistakes he actually makes. What’s he supposed to do—investigate his cabinet nominees? I wish Bush had done that for his guys…
Wow—Crystal’s story is heartwarming. THE HUCKLEBUG SAVES LIVES; ENTERTAINS
Though that stinger just about killed me!
Go here for the proper response to my joke: http://www.instantrimshot.com/
Here’s for next week’s RIP:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/theater/07whitmore.html?_r=1
And it’s OK to disagree with me, honey. You think any publicity is good publicity. I can understand that, and enough people are badmouthing Rush out there. However, asswipes should be held accountable…just MHO.
Ah yes—James Whitmore—if memory serves he played the power-hungry, but well-meaning despot (of sorts) in that episode of the Twilight Zone (the one with Leslie Nielsen wearing the outfits from “Forbiden Planet” I believe).
OH and I’m glad you guys enjoyed the highlights from the video of our side of recording the Hucklebug
Jay was a bit perturbed being left out of the intro, but he’s a pro. He handled it. No foul-mouthed tirade like someone else who has been in the news lately…
John Updike film adaptations: Witches of Eastwick.
At first, I thought of “The Swimmer” (widely regarded as the ne plus ultra of short fiction) which starred Burt Lancaster and his impressively flat 55-year-old abs. But that was John _Cheever_.
Oddball tech question: Bet’s channel (right) is always considerably louder than Stennie’s. And left is my better ear. What gives? Is Nigel Tufnel involved somehow?
Between Silent Running and Das Boot, I’d prefer the former. Though I do own the Directors Cut of DB—on VHS!
From 132:
Steve Martin is, sadly, so deserving of the HarFo that you should rename it the Steve Martin award in his (dis)honor. Steve had greater promise and has fallen farther and harder than Harrison, IMO. He’s an inspiration to potential-squanderers everywhere.
I have to agree with Bet: Much as I enjoyed Wall-e, Monster’s Inc. is better. But then Pixar movies are like pizza and sex: never bad, only varying degrees of awesomeness.
I’m almost caught up, but not quite. I wanted to pop by and say hello, anyway.
Today’s question du jour—what kind of Girl Scout Cookies? The neighbor children came around selling for their troop, so I now have six boxes. Two Thin Mints, two Samoas and two Lemon Chalet Cremes (surprisingly good, those. The cookie part is meh, but the filling is really tangy). I haven’t seen it yet, but I wonder if they’ll have to recall the peanut butter ones. Unlike most people, I am not that crazy about Thin Mints so they’ll go into the office, but if anyone touches my Samoas, they’re dead people. However, I must recommend the Edy’s/Dreyer’s Girl Scout Cookie ice creams. Amazing.
Glad you’re okay Crystal. Gotta love the Hucklebug!
Glad both of your moms are doing well also.
In your reference to Pittsburgh last week, being from there, I’ll try to speak for the city(although I’ll do a crappy job probably.) It gets a lot of flack because it’s not a very flashy city, it’s very laid back and very blue collar. Many of my uncles are or were coal miners. Pittsburghese, as spoken by many, doesn’t sound like the most intellegent dialect. But the place is quite beautiful with the rolling hills, farmland and all the bridges. It was voted Most Livable City in the country some years ago. The job market isn’t booming, so many people do tend to leave in search of something more. There are some fun things to do, especially if you’re the outdoors-y type, but after awhile, you will run out of new and exciting activities. Most everyone goes to dinner, the movies, bingo, bowling, pub crawl…you get the idea. There is a considerable amount of heart in that city which is refreshing when I come home to visit. Most people forget about Pittsburgh except when one of our sports teams does something great-like win 6 SuperBowls! (Can I get a “Whoop Whoop!”) The major city most people think of first in PA is Philly.
So, that’s my take anyway. I do recommend anyone visiting once in their lifetime. The mountains are magical. You can stay with my parents!
I’ll do what ThePete is doing and just watch “This is England” and “No End in Sight” with the Instant Viewing selection from Netflix, although I will have to huddle around my tiny computer monitor, which isn’t the greatest for long periods of time.
I really should write down more things you guys talk about so I can comment on them.
Oh, you know, you can continue to send a Fuck Off to Bush and Cheney even though they aren’t in office anymore. They’re still around, screwing something up, I’m sure. Or you can continue to send Fuck Offs until the country recovers from their crap leadership.
I agree with you Stennie when you said that the banks that needed a bailout should have gone under and the ones that were smart in business should have reaped the benefits.
RIP & Low Light-my DVR died on me Saturday and I lost everything on it. Plus NO tv the entire weekend.
High light-I got a new bitching DVR today from the cable company. Can’t wait to test it out. This one actually has the HDMI input in back, so now my HD TV truly looks HD!!!
Did anyone get to watch “Chuck” in 3D last week? I couldn’t find a store that had a pair of glasses, so I just watched it without. Was it better in 3D? (Not that it matters now because the episode was lost on my DVR.) I was just curious.
Kelly
I’ll join Kelly (and Patrick out there somewhere) in saluting Pittsburgh and the Steelers. I grew up in Ohio during their run in the 70s (I was about halfway between Cincy and Cleveland, so I felt no real connection to either team) and it was fun to root them on again. I’d like to think Myron Cope was somewhere in the stratosphere on Sunday waving his towel and givng a double “yoi!”
But I’ll confess that if the SB had been Pittsburgh and Philly, my allegiance would have been with the Iggles.
Speaking of the land of Cleves, they seem to have been kicked around more in culture than Pittsburgh. My theory: all the comedy writers from the 50s onward were midwesterners, and many probably lived there. So it was a convenient target.
Btw, I’ve seen me walk into a room. It ain’t much.