Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Episode 535 of Sneaky Dragon – the podcast of champions!
This week: laundry lessons; Buddy asshole; fatal mistake; wealthy poopers; the number two rule; poor little rich people; Yoko oh no; somebody’s watching you; Taupin or Taupin; emotional payback; too many Bats; bad dads; God is still not dead; it’s clobberin’ time…precisely; train your children well; church ladies; recovering Catholic; in-groupies; amicable break up; bad Fathers; ghastly silence; TMI; if music be the fruit of loom; Top 5 Surveillance Songs; sentimental eye; weird coincidence; badder dadder; cat detective; pre-murdered; Holmes sweet Holmes; honorary Gemini; living in other people’s nostalgia; precocious ten year-old; crime killers; and, finally, missives and misterves.
Top 5 Surveillance Songs (As requested by Jonathon Bampton)
- The Ruts – “S.U.S.” – The Peel Sessions, 1986 – 1:16:54
- Dionne Warwick – “Are You There (with Another Girl)?” – Scepter Records single b/w “If I Ever make You Cry”, 1965 – 1:22:10
- The Au Pairs – “Headache (For Michelle)” –Playing with a Different Sex, 1981 – 1:29:10
- The Stooges – “T.V. Eye” – Fun House, 1970 – 1:39:04
- Elvis Costello – “Watching the Detectives” – My Aim Is True, 1977 – 1:47:18
Bonus Track (for Ed):
- The Alan Parsons Project – “The Eye in the Sky” – The Eye in the Sky, 1982 – 1:54:16
Question of the Week: What’s better: silence or saying something even if you’re not sure it’s the right thing?
Sub-question of the Week: Do you and your significant other have a big difference or disagreement that you just live with?
Thanks for listening.
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I’m better now and back to posting long posts.
Resident Alien is my current favourite BC-shot series. I love the dark, squid-out-of-water comedy. I especially like the hostile and inappropriate conversations that Alan Tudyk’s character has with the two kids, the boy who can see he’s an alien and his spunky friend. It’s great she’s a girl who just happens to wear a hijab. The town is full of characters who feel alienated in one way or another. The how-to diagrams at the start of each episode are fun. They’re like airline safely card illustrations that show aliens the right way and wrong way to behave like a human.
Speaking of Alan Tudyk, one really silly thing my significant other disagreed with me about was the TV series Firefly. I liked it. He hated the western-in-space aspect of it, especially the dialogue. He said, “That’s not how cowboys talk. I’m from Alberta and I know how cowboys talk!” Well, who’s to say how science-fictional westerners would talk in the future when travelling in space? Maybe he just hated that I liked Nathan Fillion (another improviser from Alberta who presumably knows how cowboys talk too.)
I had the same reaction to The King’s Man as Ian. I found the Rasputin scenes gross but that WAS a great dance-fight. I liked how the story was moved along by events of the early 20th Century that we studied in history class. And twisty-horned sheep. After the movie, I wanted to know more about Lord Kitchener’s involvement in the Boer War and found out that during his command, the British torched Boer farms and put women and children in concentration camps. His name is on a lot of streets and schools in Canada. I wonder if it is time to pull down those signs, as activists recently did with the Gassy Jack statue in Vancouver.
When Fox was a client of mine, I worked on the first two Kingsmen films and they were great fun to work on given that we were supplied with all sorts of wonderful digital art. I wish I had a way of sharing it here. However, this last one threw me for a loop! I had to stop it and look to see if it was directed by the same guy….yep, sure enough, Matthew Vaughn! The part where Rasputin was licking Ralph Fiennes leg kind of freaked me out! But I’m in agreement that the dance/fight was awesome. Rasputin looked like Alan Moore even though I knew he was the same actor who was The Lizard in Spider-Man, Rhys Ifans. The historical basis of the story was kind of interesting but it was a HUGE departure from the tone of the first two and like Louise above, I was inclined to look some of this stuff up.
I have a kind word to say about Dean Cain. I helped my son cosplay as Clark Kent years ago, made him a Daily Planet press pass and loaned him a tie so he could meet Cain in character. Cain gave nothing but praise for my son’s Clark Kent costume and signed a photo as well as pose with him, he was really good with his fans especially the young kids. I’m not sure what he’s like outside of his self promotion of Superman but he was exceptionally kind to everyone when we saw him years ago. I also had the pleasure of meeting Tom Welling a few years later who was also very good with his fans and very kind. I didn’t expect him to be so big, shaking hands with him was like grabbing a bunch of bananas.
I have to weigh it out when it comes to speaking my mind or not since I’ve not handled it well either way in the past. It depends on the situation and outcome. What I have done more of is think about what the outcome may lead to before I offer anything verbally. I think of the workplace most when it comes to these situations, being a creative is at best hugely subjective which lends itself to many solutions whether they’re right or not. So I think first before I decide if it’s a hill I’m prepared to die on and in most cases wait to be asked for my opinion.
I’ve taken a road you two haven’t and hopefully never will, finding a spouse 2.0. When the first marriage declined it gave way to finding someone that had qualities the first marriage lacked, it provides you with a chance of matrimonial improvement. Susan and I have learned to pick our battles based upon those we both had with our first marriages, issues that aren’t worth fighting about like they were with the first spouse. As far as interests, we have enough in common to share with one another instead of competing over it. I remember Susan’s way of telling me gently she wasn’t interested in something I was. “Do you like The Beatles?” I’d ask her. Politely she’d say “I don’t dislike them.” which was her way of telling me she was open to knowing more about them. I’m six years older than Susan so we grew up liking different stuff generationally, so we’ve spent the last 14 years bridging that gap by sharing what we enjoy with one another. So there’s been no big rift in any disagreement except for a few bumps that were worked out long ago. To be fair, Susan was experiencing some mental and anxiety issues so I had to learn how and when to react to her, which circles back to the first question above. We did speak openly together as well as with a therapist which gave us the chance to put it behind us and not just bury it the way we both had to with our first marriages.
I dialed up some Herb Alpert on Apple Music and I had to laugh. David could have picked his five songs about food from a single album of Alpert’s. “Whipped Cream and other Delights” has 12 songs and they’re almost all titled after food. Whipped Cream, Peanuts, Green Peppers, Tangerine and A Taste of Honey round out five songs without ever leaving the album.
Lastly, what is it about “The Eye in the Sky” that reminded you of me for the dedication? I’m flattered of course and I remember the same kinds of 1982 visuals Ian did when he heard it. Great blast from the past.
Don’t forget to Spring Forward this weekend! Everyone else listening, do whatever you want…
I haven’t had a chance to listen to this week’s episode yet as my phone is taking me on a mysterious and unsolicited version of John’s Backwards Sneaky Dragon Project (we’re currently enjoying the July heat and high tailin’ it toward June).
However, I will respond to the question of the week (#2 only, I’d prefer to stay married so won’t delve into #1).
Anyway, without any context, my immediate though about question #2 is to not say anything, but on reflection that was a response assuming it was a situation of conflict (which I prefer to avoid); however, I think if it was a situation where there was no conflict between the two parties, and perhaps one party was sad or upset about something, acknowledging that thing is preferred just as a show of solidarity/I’m with you/I’m here for you sort of thing.
I don’t know what made me laugh harder this week, your Bob Dylan voices, or Dave suggesting that the CK in PACK stood for ‘carnal knowledge’. Classic Dragon moments, both!
Evening fellas –
If I’ve timed this right I should just be able to slip a comment in at the last minute, like Indiana Jones retrieving his hat from under a door fashioned from a gigantic block of granite and perfectly counterweighted so that it closes just slowly enough to create some dramatic tension.
I wanted to chime in on last week’s question regarding favourite murder mysteries.
I’m with Chris Roberts in his annoyance at Agatha Christie’s lack of ‘fair play’ when resolving a mystery. I also have trouble holding an overstuffed cast of characters in my mind’s eye – a problem with many ‘golden age’ murder mysteries.
The classic ‘fair play’ murder mystery film could well be Chinatown, simply because we see and hear everything that Jake Gittes does, and unravel the mystery alongside him. The smart-aleck satisfaction we (and he) get from unravelling the mystery is undercut by the gut wrenching fate that the revelation sets in motion.
I have a great fondness for the short stories of GK Chesterton, which were Postmodern classics before there was a Modernism to be Post about. The cosiness of the era belies the outlandish setups, vibrant characters, witty puzzles, and outrageous solutions. Plus the prose is a constant delight – I can’t forget sunset clouds ‘passing by in their purple pomp’. The only drawback – and it’s a biggie – is the occasional clang of antisemitism. What was going on at the turn of the century that led so many writers to be so horrible?
My personal favourite Holmes & Watson are Clive Merrison & Michael Williams in the uniformly excellent BBC radio adaptations by Bert Coules. The team adapted all sixty stories, then returned with fifteen new stories inspired by references from within the works: Of these, ‘The Abergavenny Murder’ is a particular delight – a ‘bottle’ episode set entirely within the drawing room of 221B, playing out in real time. I might have to go and listen to it right now.
I must also make a last mention of a brilliantly inventive new 2-volume French comic book: “Dans la tete de Sherlock Holmes”. This beautifully drawn and researched story is filled with clever ideas that could only work in the comic book medium, but which I don’t want to spoil here. However, it’s fair to say the central conceit is beautiful – as Sherlock thinks, we are transported inside his head, which is rendered as the interior of a building filled with props, filing cabinets, and experiments all running in tandem. The art is stellar, and so far the book has been translated into German and Catalan (!) and hopefully English can’t be far behind.
Previews at https://tinyurl.com/3ju97pja