Hucklebug, Episode 130: Shout-outs, movies (Bet: To Be or Not To Be, Le Samourai; Stennie: In Bruges, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, This is England), lowlights & highlights, fuck-offs & you-rules, Mad Libs, call for nominations for the randomly-awarded Hucklebug Harrison Ford Award. Please leave us your nominees!
Music: “The Hucklebuck,” performed by (respectively): The Griswalds, Lou Monte, Jackie Lee, Kay Starr, Frank Sinatra.
Hey Hucklebuggers! I tried to post a comment to the last podcast, but I missed the Shout-Out deadline. But I’m here and I’m listening and I’m pretty much caught up on the episodes. Andy-Man bought me an iPod for Christmas so I can listen in my car now – Yay! I’m loving listening to the episodes. You gals ain’t half funny.
Stennie, why did you have to vaccuum? Didn’t you get a Roomba?
Marla – you were adorable as a guest a few weeks ago. By the way, that clip of the gal playing the kazoo out her wazoo was (if I’m not mistaken) Amy Gordon. I went to WWU with her. She played Anita in the Guild’s version of West Side Story. How far she’s come…
I sympathize with Crystal, I have hardly heard of any of the bands Stennie and Bet talk about, and I haven’t seen about 98% of the movies either. But it’s fun to listen!
Now that the snow has melted all of the rivers are flooding in the region. My dad’s house is literally an island. The bridge in Ferndale has about a 2 foot clearance between deck and water. All the schools are closed. It’s crazy!
Harrison Ford Award – I’ll submit these rather unorthodox nominations:
Elijah Wood – After a promising start up to and including Lord of the Rings, Elijah went nowhere. Nothing he’s done since is worth watching. He wasn’t good in the Green Street Hooligans along with everything else he’s done (which isn’t much).
Mel Brooks – “Hitler could paint an entire apartment in one afternoon, two coats!”.The Producers could be the perfect film. Mel gave us some great stuff back then but soon went to dismal crap no one thought was funny. Ever see Spaceballs? I rest my case.
Mickey Rourke – Mickey will always have my respect for the knock your ass off performance he did in Sin City but after an early promising career, he went nowhere. He’s basically a good actor that through a bad-boy rep, poorly picked movies, and general lack of judgement, never made the big time.
Orson Wells – Citizen Kane revolutionized movies yet for a few notable exceptions, Wells got lost in making self-indulgent crap. He never lived up to the promise of Kane.
Gary Busey – After a great oscar nominated start in the Buddy Holly Story, Gary turned into some kind of wild Warner Brothers cartoon. What happened?
Robin Williams – Probably one of the funniest men ever to step foot in Hollywood, Robin makes the most unwatchable, unfunny crap it’s possble to put on film. How on earth can he do it?
Of those, Robin Williams would be my pick. How someone with his talent could continue to make putrid movie after putrid movie is one of the great mysteries of life.
That has to be a new tagline, or in the top 10 at least: “SOMEBODY has to be Hitler”. Maybe we can all switch off. I’ll take this week and annex Poland. Or maybe just my neighbor’s storage bin.
You mean the South isn’t like Hee Haw? I’m quite sure it is and I won’t be persuaded otherwise. And how do you modernize Hee Haw? Leave it alone, like they should leave alone Star Trek.
I may soon get on Facebook—some true paranoid Luddites I know have even joined and are talking about their “friends”. I may have to take the plunge. However, Nick-the-child-not-the-cancer will have to be getting to bed earlier and napping more before I get around to it.
Bet, you are wrong on one thing. You are always eight years old to your parents. Actually, if you’re eight, you’re doing well. Most of us are about five or six.
For the Harrison Ford award, I nominate Kenneth Branagh. From Henry V, Dead Again and Much Ado About Nothing to chewing the scenery in various things that I can’t even remember any more.
Actually, even worse than that is Al Pacino. Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon to Ocean’s Thirteen. It started going downhill at Scent of a Woman, and he really is unwatchable now. That pains me so much. You could argue that he did live up to his potential for a while, but we’re starting to approach the point where he’s sucked longer than he’s been sublime.
Oooh. I second the vote for Al Pacino. He has become a caricature of himself. Robin Williams is a good suggestion too.
Re: Harrison Fords. Female nominee: Winona Ryder. Great in Beetlejuice and Heathers. OK in Mermaids and Edward Scissorhands, and then the air went rushing out of the balloon. I’m still waiting for the good adult Winona performance.
Musician nominee: C’mon, haven’t I done enough bitching about Liz Phair? What a debut, and then, where did she go?
Another Hucklebuggery question: Why exactly is Stennie in the left speaker and Bet in the right? Is it done geographically? Also, I have to let you know that when I take out one of my earbuds, I miss out on half of the conversation. Which kinda sucks.
Also, hooray for watching In Bruges. Alas, the dog I was going to shoot ran off long ago. However, I now have a hold of Mr. Peabody, Bet, so if you know what’s good for you…
My own nomination: BBC AMERICA which started off strong, but has shown edited, out of order programming while shoving the worst drivel down viewers’ throats.
I would vote for Al Pacino. What has happened to the man? Except for ANGELS IN AMERICA, he’s been a mess on screen. Was it the face lifts? Mickey Rourke is so good in THE WRESTLER that I’m almost ready to forgive DOUBLE TEAM and 9 1/2 WEEKS II. Almost
I thought I could convince Heidi and Bet to use the new sole-less/soulless shoe as their sponsor, but that does not seem likely:
http://www.stylelist.com/blog/2008/09/30/aminaka-wilmont-sole-less-shoes-style-do-or-dont/
Speaking of feet, Shia LaBeouf must have the most unattractive feet I’ve ever seen on screen.
IN BRUGES has a fantastic ending. Farrell may be one of those actors whose performances suffer when he has to adopt the flat, region-free American accent. His addictions have not helped matters I imagine.
In the past week, we had a snow storm. We had a teen choked to death because of police restraint. We’ve had political corruption. What does the local newscast devote seven minutes of airtime to? The dancing fountain at THE GROVE—a mall in California.
A Fuck off to people who bring their babies or young children to adult-type restaurants. They don’t belong there. They scream, cry, talk loudly, etc. They are disruptive and they ruin your meal. If you want to have children, that’s your decision, but don’t foist your untrained and unruly children on me. Yesterday, this couple next to me had a child that would not stop crying. It was so loud you could hear it as you entered the restaurant. They thought nothing of it. They never once tried to take the baby to the restroom or to remove themselves. These inconsiderate clods thought it was perfectly acceptable to ruin everyone else’s meal. I complained to the manager, and he asked them to leave. When did bad manners become acceptable? There are certain places children do not belong.
Didn’t Al Pacino start going downhill well before Scent Of A Woman? Has anybody been able to watch Scarface with a straight face?
Music nominee: Rod Stewart. I’d always thought I could forgive Rod anything because of the early solo records, the Faces stuff, and his work with Jeff Beck, but the last decade (or two) has been a dark, dark time.
I believe my big piece about country/bluegrass/mountain/hillbilly/rockabilly music had mainly to do with instrumentation and rhythmic properties. Mountain music and bluegrass were all acoustic (obviously), but bluegrass seems to have a structured arrangement: guitar, fiddle, upright bass, mandolin, banjo, and little to no percussion. Mountain music was played on whatever one brought over from the old country: dulcimers, lap harp, psalteries, or whatever was handy: pipes, washboard, babies…
Rockabilly was hillbilly music played faster. The influence of r&b was obviously significant, as was the influence of amphetamines.
And hillbilly was the same as country music, though a term from a different era.
I thought that Bet was supposed to stay away from the arty-ass foreign feelms. See what happens when she doesn’t?
Yeah, well, Bet can fuck off too! I’ve been waiting for years to finally get to tell her-….
Oh.
I was going to try to let a week go by without commenting, just to be a silent bystander, but Krizzer made it REALLY difficult! WELCOME HOME BABY!! Rumor has it you sing to your patients while you are cleaning their teeth. While I adore my dentist and her techs, that would be an experience worth cheating on them for….But still, I planned to be quiet…
Then, Mike DARED to order sweet Bet to “Fuck Off” The gauntlet is thrown…that was shocking and uncalled for…and deserves an apology, flowers and chocolate nothwithstanding….Mike, you must quit wearing the shirt I sent …
And still, I was going to bite my tongue, let someone else yell at him…
But, what really and finally compelled me to comment upon was not your show or your listener’s comments, brilliant though they are. My comment is in reaction to W’s last and Final (thank God) press conference today(?) in which he made up his (hopefully) last stupid word….are you ready???
Misunderestimated.
I swear.
He said it. I think he even surprised himself!!
Mike—I still think prior to Scent of a Woman, you weren’t quite sure whether Pacino was good or not, but tended to give him the doubt that he was good. He was at least watchable. Scent of a Woman was the shark-jumping fridge-nuking time, when you knew he was just bad and it was sad.
I haven’t seen Life of Brian in years, but, as a disciple of the Church of Brian (who is called Brian), I always seem to have a reference or quote on the tip of my tongue. It’s a lifestyle choice.
I thoroughly enjoyed In Bruges, and thought it was possibly the best showcase yet for Colin Farrell’s talent; personally, though, Out of Sight edges out In Bruges, only because the latter’s inclusion of a child in peril made it unwatchable for the mother of the man-cub. Out of Sight, on the other hand, is primo date-movie material. BTW: Jimmy, the actor of short stature, is played by a Canadian actor named Jordan Prentice, not by Peter Dinklage. (IMDb)
Harrison Ford award nominees:
Heroes (the TV show—I just stopped caring), and George Lucas whom I’d nominate for some kind of lifetime achievement in squandered promise: American Graffiti, Star Wars (including letting other, more capable filmmakers direct (I refuse to use “helm” as a verb) Empire and RotJ.) Then the roof caved in . . .
There’s already an updated Hee-Haw: it’s called Austin City Limits.
Maybe instead of updating Hee Haw, you should “Hee Haw” the Hucklebug: Introduce shout-outs in the format of the opening credits: It’s the Hucklebug, starring Bet and Stennie*, with the Whole Hucklebug Gang: Mike the Blogless, Patrick My Little Love, Lily and Nick the child not the Cancer; Mr. Middlebrow, The Hagar Twins, The Mysterious Crystal, Dishy Michelle, Krizzer, Cpt. Asshole, Lulu Barnes…
*Instead of “I’m Bet, I’m Stennie…” you could say [bet] “I’m a-hucklin’ and [stennie] I’m a-buggin’…!
If you want to tell me to shut the hell up and get my own podcast, I completely understand.
Wall-E was among the best movies I saw in 2008…but I’m sure I’m just not remembering something better… Oh! I saw “Stealing America” that was cool. Of course, I helped make it
So Netflix it now!! Actually, you can’t. You can save it, but it’s not on there yet. I think you can buy it at StealingAmericaTheMovie.org though.
Congrats on your no-to-processed-foods, Sten! I do the same and eat a lot of sandwiches. PB&J.
“To Be or Not To Be”!! Great movie! Some brilliant dialog in those first few minutes are amazing—you’re right, Bet!
“I would not eat what you are, sir!”
“Are you calling me a ham?”
Congrats on the NoFactsZone thing, Sten—that sounds like a blast!
Oh and Bet, I have my own nightmare shipping story—on 12/26 I ordered a battery for my new camcorder. It left Maspeth, NY, went out to Cerritos, CA and as of yesterday was in Secaucus, NJ. Today it’s supposed to arrive.
Siskita knows a woman who now has to sell her house because she was in deep with Madoff. Lame.
If Barack Obama gets through the inauguration OK, then I’ll NEVER want him to get the Harrison Ford award. A black man in the White House is all I ask. He’s a politician—we should all know better than to expect him to live up to his potential regardless of race.
Someone I think should get a Harry would be… the mainstream media. They’ve let us all down during the Bush years, I should think.
However, I agree with Duke on Robin Williams and definitely with Lily on Kenneth Branagh.
Or as I like to call him: Kenneth Bran-awww, man! This movie sucks!
Speaking of Harrison Ford letting us down:
http://is.gd/fElj <—that’s a link to a picture of him dressed up as a pea pod for Halloween. I know he did it for his kids, but was an Indiana Jones costume too much for him?
Crystal, I’ve BEEN to the Grove—that fountain is INCREDIBLE! The first time I saw it, I made my own fountain (in my pants) if you know what I mean!
A mangy sight to fart, indeed!
YAY Madlibs! Just slightly more fun than Jenga!
MORE JENGA.
ok enough from me.
HF Awards: I vote Don Cheadle. Didn’t he disappear after Rowanda? He’s currently in Hotel for Dogs.
Crap, class is about to start, can’t make amy more comments right now. Damn!!!
Next time gang!!