Hucklebug, Episode 103: Happy Memorial Day, shout-outs, movies (Bet: Wild in the Streets, 13 Rue Madeleine, Ragtime, High Fidelity; Stennie: Hobson’s Choice, The Full Monty), fuck-offs and you-rules, special guest Patrick, late-breaking RIP for Sydney Pollack, CD Mix #7 alternate tracks 11-15.
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I was thrilled to hear (a sober?) Bet give three stars to HIGH FIDELITY which I loathe. People forget that most of the film is not set in the radio store and the women in this film are one-dimensional cyphers. The movie is a sexist piece of garbage. Plus, it has way too many white people.
THE FULL MONTY is another overrated film. It was way too long and the characters just weren’t developed. It would have worked better as a short film. Plus, I dislike dishonesty in titles.
I can’t believe a Fuck off to Coupling! It’s one of my favorite shows. Clever writing, real-life characters and two out of three sexy leads. I was contacted by BBCAMERICA for a viewer phone survey and I told them COUPLING and TORCHWOOD were my favorite shows so I suppose I’m partly to blame. I also like DANCING WITH THE STARS because of the sexy men, but it didn’t belong on BBC AMERICA, but I’d rather have DWTS than that damn TOP GEAR.
I’m ashmed to admit that I actually watched VIVA HOLLYWOOD on VH-1. Half-naked Latin men in a house (and some females, but I don’t care about them) on a show hosted by Carlos Ponce and Mario Conchita Alonso; I couldn’t resist. I think I’d rather admit to kleptomania.
I guess we had confusion over the term B movie. I used it by the definition of the Studio System in Hollywood where they had actual B movie units and A movie units. The B units made the second feature of the double bill. These movies were lower budget and kept the contract workers busy while providing new movies each week to the studio owned theaters. The Thin Man was a B movie because it was made in the B movie unit and not the A movie unit. Calling something a B movie defines where it was made in the system and not necessarily a judgement on quality.
Sounds like Bet is on the hooch again.
It’s nice to be missed! Thanks
I wasn’t a big fan of Sydney Pollack direction either. Can’t really name one of his movies I think too highly of. His acting was wonderful though. I liked him in Michael Clayton a lot although I have no use for the movie in general. Pollack was excellent in it as he was in other roles.
Lots of entertainment types died last week. Every day there was a new one.
Let’s hear it for Patrick! Yeah Patrick!
Coupling is gawdawful. The BBC can crank out the most horrible tripe. Incredible potboilers like Footballers Wives defy description. They more than make up for it with Top Gear and Bargain Hunt though. David Dickinson is still my hero.
I was kidding. Hucklebug is always a 5 star podcast. It wasn’t made by the B team either!
I had a great time talking with you, though I secretly wished for Tim Conway to also make an appearance. (RIP fellow C. Burnett alum Harvey Korman.) ‘Twas good to be had.
Re: High Fidelity commentary. I was in a tribute band called Way Too Many White People. We covered Edgar & Johnny Winter.
I must admit, I’m not a BBC America watcher. But while watching Python reruns on Sunday, I saw promo spots for the following shows: Transvestite Wives, Coupling, something called Not Going Out and AbFab. That lineup ain’t gonna win me as a viewer w/out Gordon Ramsay calling people donkeys a bit to mix things up. Forgive me the comparison – but it’s like TLC mixed with BRAVO (just add the UK dialect). I know, I might ruffle some feathers here. Sorry in advance.
Oh no, not Bo Diddley too! He was the Man. Spelled M…
I think this may be the week of the RIP, as it seems pointless to say you’re not going to do any more as it doesn’t seem to stick.
Favorite Harvey K. moments?
One of these days I’m going to have to actually listen to the podcast all the way through. Someone doesn’t sleep much any more. He does seem to respond to your voices, though and likes Auntie Stennie and Auntie Bet. Either that or he’s heckling you. He’s very opinionated, whichever it is.
High Fidelity: fine film, wonderful book. One of my favorites. I got into a nice groove of Nick Hornby books a few years back (incl. Fever Pitch, About A Boy, and 31 Songs), but it ended with How To Be Good. It wasn’t bad, but about 1/3 into it I just never felt like picking it up again.
Big props to Patrick for a great appearance on the HB and some excellent alternate tracks, and for surviving a heavily drunken Bet, you deserve a commendation medal.
RIP Bo. Rock and roll pioneers aren’t supposed to die. They need to be around forever to show every new generation what it’s all about.
And not since has there been a rock star whose name looked so graceful on his song and album titles:
Bo Diddley
Hey! Bo Diddley
Diddley Daddy
Story Of Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley’s Dog
Go Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger
Surfin’ With Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley’s Beach Party
Bo Diddley’s A Twister
Bo Diddley Is A Lover
Bo Diddley & Company
The assistant for the cryogenics lab I lived next to was named Bet and her voice sounds just like yours. I am shocked it’s not you. Oh well. A lost connection.
Ha. David Edelstein at NY Magazine agrees with us: Sydney really could ACT.
I’d completely forgotten about Husbands and Wives, another good performance.
OK, thanks for the suggestion of “Where’s ThePete”. I think that would have been a great idea, but like Stennie said, I am in NYC now. I suppose we could do a Manhattan edition. I *did* just buy the new iPhone that has GPS built in—I might be able to rig something up that would automatically post my location. The only thing is that GPS in the city doesn’t always work so well so we might just end up with updates like “ThePete is somewhere in northern Manhattan.”
I’m fascinated with Jane—I’m wondering if she can tell us if cryogenics labs have started freezing full humans for later resuscitation yet.
14 OR FIGHT!!
I really enjoyed “Wild in the Streets”, Bet. You’re right, it’s definitely a B-movie and I’m not sure it fully said anything it was really trying to say, but it was a fun film. My only gripe was that Shelley Winters seemed stapled into the movie. Cut her out and the movie would have been shorter and better—not that I don’t like Shelley, it’s just that she seemed useless in this movie. It even looked like her scenes were shot without the other actors half the time. Of course, I think she co-produced it, which explains why she was in it at all. Though I’m curious why she *wanted* to make it at all.
Are you two on the smack? Coupling is brilliant. Well, everything but the fourth season is brilliant. Seriously—the creator of that show is my favorite writer alive today. Stephen Moffat is brilliant. I’m with Crystal on Coupling, but first season Torchwood was pretty bad—though second season was better. Ironically, the creator of Coupling also created the lead character in Torchwood.
My thing with Coupling is that it really does take traditional stupid sitcom writing and turn it on it’s head. The episode where Jeff falls for the Israeli woman is my favorite—the episode has one scene shot twice in two different languages—I don’t ever remember Friends being that interesting.
Also, ironically, BBC was looking for a something like Friends when Moffat pitched Coupling as, essentially, a rip off of Friends. Of course, you’re allowed to find it unfunny, it’s just surprising for some of us “believers” when you say so. My instinct is to ask if you’ve really given it a chance. TheWife got me hooked on it by just having it on in the background and I couldn’t help but laugh at so much of it. Before no time I knew that Moffat was someone I’d leave the country to work with.
Just sayin’…
I’m with you both on the chick from What Not to Wear. I hate most TV that is like that.
I’m a big fan of Pollack’s stuff. Three Days of the Condor is great, I thought and pretty damn predictive. I also think his films are solidly made.
HATED Tootsie, however. I just couldn’t get behind that premise. As for his acting? Meh. He’s fine. Neither here nor there for me.
I agree with Stennie on Brian May—one of the best guitar players ever, that guy.
A Perfect Circle put out a full album of war songs—some covers, some not. It’s a great album called “Emotive” and they do some serious alternative versions of some good war songs, including John Lennon’s “Imagine” which I don’t think is literally a war song, but might as well be. APC’s version is wonderfully dark and sinister.
OK, that’s all I got for this episode! Just five more to go!