Hola Sneakers! Welcome to the second to last Sneaky Dragon that will have a three at the beginning!
This week: rough start; our newest podcast; not monetizing; death to podcast ads; general improvements; one-man show; bean bag chair chat; favourite furniture; rabid; update: Dave did pick up Lezah – marriage safe; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; confetti card pest; scary wall climbing; sports with-it-ness; Top Gun ignorance; who needs The Lion King; cursing Bob Mackey; cool on Mary Poppins; Lindsey Ellis recommendation; fever dreams; don’t drink the aloe vera water; not a nut; Chick Talk returns; disappointing pets; disappearing home repairs; fashionable Dum-Dum; Stranger Things is enjoyable; Legion is coo-coo; don’t be distracted; random Latin-ness; movies are too safe; podcast are good; and, finally, the singular Seventies.
Question of the week: What have you repaired in the past that you are proud to have been able to repair?
Sub-question: What movie would you recommend that you feel is unjustly overlooked?
Thanks for listening.
Here is Episode 1 of Lindsey Ellis’ Transformers-based film studies series:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
For Ian: nutritionfacts.org is a great resource
Thanks!
For the Sub-question:
2002’s Punch Drunk Love by Paul Thomas Anderson. It seems kind of passed over between Anderson’s transition between “Magnolia” and “There Will Be Blood” but leans towards the stranger, more bizarre formula of “Magnolia.” I was never much of a fan of Adam Sandler’s acting, he seemed to play the same silly son of a bitch in all his films, then I saw Punch Drunk Love and I saw that he could really carry a role in a much different way than before. I think at the time this film was released, it had everything you needed to show someone who was addicted to 1-900 telephone sex to drop it immediately. I also liked Sandler’s awkwardness of being the only male sibling with six sisters, this was all too familiar since my own Mom is the only daughter with six brothers. That kind of family unit is a hot mess, and Anderson captures that quite realistically. Throw in Philip Seymour Hoffman and Emily Watson too the make this quirky film one of my favorite recommendations.
Hey chaps,
I agree with the listener above that Punch Drunk Love is an excellent film.
I would also add the 90’s sci-fi film GATTACA with Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman which was smart and understated, while exploring the implications of human genetic engineering. It had excellent art direction and sound design on a much lower budget than most mainstream sci-fi films.
I’d also add the wonderful 1983 British comedy LOCAL HERO. Though the pace is quite slow by today’s Marvel movie standards, this charming comedy about a Texan oil executive sent to acquire a Scottish seaside town is my favourite film. It is brimming with brilliant comedic performances – including a very young future-Dr.Who, Peter Capaldi.
Now one last question for you two to ponder. If you could remove any single pop culture creation or phenomenon from existence- as per the plot of the film Yesterday – without any other ramifications on history, what would it be? (For me, the song Fever, which is traditionally enjoyed by nobody other than the person singing it.)
Mick
Thanks Mick! One of my longtime friends used to recommend “Local Hero” as one of his favorite films too. I’ll have to look that one up and give it a watch!
Answer to question of the week:
I had a 2012 Honda Civic for a few years and due to my own bad driving, had to replace both the driver’s side rear view mirror and the rear passenger tail light on two separate occasions. I found out really fast that 1) You can save a lot of money by ordering the parts online and watching a YouTube video on how to replace them. And 2) Hondas are like Legos, the parts pop right in and are easy to replace. So I’m not really sure if I’m ready to pat myself on the back for being a handy guy, of if Honda has just dumbed-down their maintenance so well that it just seems easy for me. I’m willing to settle on the fact that I was resourceful enough to do it this way I guess.
I’m not particularly handy, but with the help of YouTube demos, I’ve been able to install new bathroom fans, toilet handles and flapper valves.
Hey!
On podcast ads: I appreciate the non-commercial nature of podcasting. A particular podcast can run advertisements, sure, but distribution is managed through an open protocol (RSS), the artifacts themselves are in a relatively unencumbered format without digital locks (MP3), you can use whatever player you want, and there aren’t built-in hooks for, say, ads inserted before or after the episode, or some sort of audio equivalent of pop-ups ads. It’s probably because I grew up in the 90s, when “selling out” is the worst thing you could ever do, but I have a soft spot for any podcast that forgoes ads and relies on listeners for support. And Patreon seems like a no-brainer for people to support podcasts they like.
On Top Gun: I saw it for the first time a few months ago at a Gentlemen Hecklers show. It was fine. It was also pretty dumb, but I get why people are so fond of it. I’d love to hear your take on it.
Lindsay Ellis is great. I’m also a fan of Dan Olson’s “Folding Ideas” YouTube channel, which has similar content, but a wider focus. (Plus he shot the New Zealand footage for her Hobbit series.)
> Question of the week: What have you repaired in the past that you are proud to have been able to repair?
I sewed a button on last year. It wasn’t much, really, but I didn’t know how to do it, so I had to learn, get the basic equipment, and actually do it. It felt much more empowering than, say, putting together a computer, where everything fits together and you’re told where to insert the screws.
Cheers!
I’ll have a go at repairing most things. This wasn’t always the case, but some primitive urge to fix stuff suddenly emerged after I became a husband and father. The one event that sticks in my mind, though, is much further back, when I was around 14. My dad was an engineer, and thought himself handy with mechanics and carpentry. He also had an explosive temper, so we usually tried to stay out of his way when he had a project going on.
Anyway, one day, he had decided to make a new garden gate from some offcuts of wood that were lying around, and I offered to help. My role didn’t amount to much more than passing out tools and fittings, and trying to keep him calm when, inevitably, he mislaid a hammer or screwdriver and dealt with this through some high volume cussing.
Eventually, all the wood was cut to size and we were ready to put the frame together on the garage floor. Only it didn’t fit. Where we should have been looking at a perfect rectangle, roughly six feet by three, this was more like a parallelogram, sides and corners somehow misaligned and out of kilter.
Of course, my dad erupted in self-righteous fury. How could this have happened? He’d planned everything perfectly! Measured all the cuts so carefully! Bastards! Bastards! And so on.
Well, I’m no mathematician, but even I know a parallelogram is just a rectangle that’s been knocked out of shape. So I said, ‘Wait a second, dad,’ and began softly kicking one corner of the frame. Sure enough, this knocked it into the right shape. Dad cooled down to his usual rolling boil, and we continued with the job.
I wish I could write that this was an intimate father-son bonding experience that marked a turning point in our relationship. It didn’t. My dad was a nasty, violent drunk, and I could never love or respect him. And from his side, I was always going to be a disappointment. But I do remember that day, and the pleasure I got from supporting him and creating a brief moment of partnership.
As for underrated movies – oh, so many… I’ll choose one that’s currently available to stream (in the UK anyway). Pride, released in 2014, is a based-on-fact tale of a group of gay activists in 1980s London who decide to raise funds for striking miners. Okay, so the plot isn’t a grabber but, trust me, the movie is wonderful. In other hands it could either have been too earnest or hopelessly sentimental. As it is, however, Pride is a beautifully written, acted and directed movie that’s both moving and hilarious, and ultimately uplifting. And not a CGI monster in sight, not even Margaret Thatcher.