Buenos dias, Sniqueros! Welcome to another episode of the hit or miss podcast Sneaky Dragon! This week the show starts with a big revelation that surprises even Dave; Ian and Dave talk about Christmas, which apparently comes but once a year; also discussed: cats – murder machines; mice – pooping machines; rats – murdered machines; there is some bathroom humour; Ian really isn’t a Star Wars fan – why The Matrix and Star Wars continuations suck; why MI:5 and SPECTRE don’t work as well as they should; and, finally, a long conversation about the “best” songs of 1983 as listed in Scott Miller’s fantastic Music:What Happened?
Department of Corections:
The reason Miller didn’t choose “New Day Rising” as a top song of 1983 was because it wasn’t released until 1985. Also, “Without You” is from Bowie’s album Let’s Dance – it’s a pretty good song that recalls “Ashes to Ashes”. Not as good as the song “Let’s Dance” though.
Thanks for listening.
Here is a clip of Colin Mochrie playing the rather uncomfortable looking “mousetrap game” while blindfolded:
We’ve talked about the Fleischer Bros. character Grampie in the past. Well, let’s celebrate Christmas with this great cartoon:
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Season’s Greetings, Sneaky Guys!
Okay, so I looked up the Billboard Top 100 for 1983. I have pretty mainstream tastes and a weakness for fraught and overwrought love ballads, so I’d say my favourite from that year would be “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” The song has been made fun of over the years, but I still love the power and passion Bonnie Tyler puts into it. I always liked some of the turns of phrases in the lyrics such as “Once upon a time I was falling in love, now I’m only falling apart” and “living in a powder keg and giving off sparks.” I also liked…
“Making Love Out of Nothing At All” by Air Supply
“She Works Hard For The Money” by Donna Summer
“Flashdance/What A Feeling” by Irene Cara
“Come Dancing” by The Kinks
I see “Sweet Dreams” by The Eurythmics also came out that year. The choral group I’m is singing a cool a cappella version of it at our next concert. What Annie says is true true…everybody’s looking for something. (If you’re U2, you still haven’t found what you’re looking for.)
I’m still confused by Ian’s original trilogy analysis. I like the occasional blasterific nothing-but-fun film, but I’m not engaged by a series of them. I want a bit more realism to balance things, and the more adult (slightly–I’m looking at you, “laser-brain,” and similar cringey quips) tone and story elements that Empire brought. I’m probably the worst kind of literary aspirant fan, though, so I’m sure I’m wrong about this.
Also, only the first film was unnumbered in first release. After ESB hit, with Ep. V in the crawl, the stage was set to retcon ANH’s crawl on its re-release in ’81. And, finally, there are now three films in the canon. I have reservations about TFA, but on first viewing, they’re overshadowed by everything I did like.
Rats came up a few weeks ago, and as I often do, I listen to the episode and want to comment, but then forget what I wanted to say by the end of the episode. Luckily, the revisiting of the rats reminded me… I have rats in my basement!
As a vegan, I can’t go full Dave mode and just lay out spring traps, and the non-lethal traps of only been minimally successful. The previous home owner put up fake walls over the foundation walls so it’s a perfect place for the rats to scurry and they’re getting into the house from holes between the foundation and sill plate? (probably called something different, house from 1920) which is hard to reach, partly because of the aforementioned false walls and partially because of the fact that it’s about a foot back from the foundation wall (field stone?) and above my head. Getting to it from the top is also a pain because it’s where my kitchen sink is, which means I’d have to tear all that out and the flooring/subfloor too.
To Dave’s point though, they are tearing the house a part a bit… They’ve probably dug about four or five five gallon buckets worth of dirt up from beneath the basement floor (any little part where the concrete floor didn’t got right up against the foundation.) They also chewed through the water pump on my furnace, so it was just leaking water into the basement, but luckily I just replaced the basin with a piece of tupperware to solve that problem.
It kind of started around the summer, but I was too busy (or perhaps foolish) to deal with it then as I was farming, but the problem just got worse. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to start trapping more, sealing up holes, and taking care of it between Christmas and New Years when I won’t be working as much.
Hi Dave & Ian,
Greeting from Japan. This is the first time I attempt to comment although I’ve been enjoying your shows for nearly a year. I “discovered” you guys through Completely Beatles, and impressed by your ability to bring great humor to such a matter-of-fact content, I naturally became a fan of Sneaky Dragon podcast as well.
The reason I finally decided to comment today is that you mentioned the Smiths, my favorite band who’s definitely up there with the Beatles (at least in my mind). I’d always been wondered why their music mean so much to certain people, and you explained perfectly by saying they are melodramatic. Morrissey’s lyrics are full of poetic languages which somehow talk to you deep in your heart. Like all the great music in the world, their stuff makes you realize the feeling/emotions you never knew you had otherwise.
Maybe I shall look forward to hearing Absolutely Smiths podcast one day? It should be easy, only 4 studio albums although they released so many singles with accompanying B-sides.
Cheers
Yuya
The band I was in before did a cover of The Smiths. It’s pretty absurd. I thought I’d share it with you.
https://chickmagnets.bandcamp.com/track/is-it-really-so-strange