Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Episode 587 of the People’s podcast!
This week: gratitude; I think you mean Sneaky Dragon cards; no guff; getting better; risky Disney-ness; Fleischer follies; blue Velma; funny or die; pas de chair; Wickworld; giving them the finger; dodge ballistics; quantum theory; Ian enjoys Cocaine Bear; Dave recoils at Clerks III; Ian hates it; hates it; hates it; preachy keen; disappointing montage; Dave is surprised by We Have a Ghost; Harbour views; fighting old people; we need a talking tiger; in praise of silly action movies; is Jaime Foxx doing okay: the DC not-universe; let’s put on a musical; stepping stone films; too many people; Dave sees A Man Called Otto; Top 5 Songs; Questions of the Week – Sneakers respond; be Steele, my heart; a horse by any other name; the well-Polish detective; Cohen update; Star tropes; and, finally, blue butts.
Top 5 Songs – Changes Pt. 1
- Jeanne & the Darlings – “Changes” – We’re the Soul Girls! The Compete Volt Recordings, 2012 – 2:01:04
- Fanny – “Changes” – Fanny [Canadian mispress], 1970 – 2:06:25
- Charles Bradley – “Changes” – Changes, 2016 – 2:12:50
- Sugar – “Changes” – Copper Blue, 1992 – 2:23:02
- Phil Ochs – “Changes” – Phil Ochs in Concert, 1966 – 2:30:25
Question of the Week: What movie/TV show made you cry?
Sub-question of the Week: What’s a favourite pet name you’ve heard?
Thanks for listening.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
1. The final episode of the TV show Medium made me cry. I read the book The time-traveler’s Wife and I don’t think that made me cry but the movie did.
2. I may get back to you on favourite pet names. Or maybe not.
Re: #2 pet names
I know there are some great ones I’m forgetting, but one group that springs to mind was my old riding teacher’s own show horses. While they had fancy show names like Lash and Swank and Baccarat, their barn names always evoked images of little old ladies: Muriel and Myrtle and Mavis.
Growing up I got to name a lot of our animals. In grade 2 I got a cat who I named Musette after a character in my favourite TV cartoon movie. Musette then had just one baby, a very handsome blue/grey I called Chautin (I’m not sure how I came up with that one).
We also had an old tom called Tousie, and a turkey called Franksgiving (he died of old age).
One foal we had was very tall and leggy so he was Skinny Malinky Longlegs (Skin for short) and another used to make a little grunting sound that sounded like he was saying ‘Hey!’ – we had nicknamed him Herbert already, which then became Herbie and his registered name was Hey Herbie, which was great to hear called out when he came running down the racetrack toward the finish line.
Then later I started naming most of our animals human names: we had some great cats – Bobby (a bobtail), Gerald and Madeline; we had horses named Millie, Simon, Elke, and Norman.
My mom mainly got the job of naming our calves – we had Aberdeen Angus so they ended up with names like Hamish and Morag.
Currently, both our dog (Al) and our cat (Reesa) came with their names, as did our pony (Harris) and my horse (Archie). I did get to name the chickens, though – I named them after rappers, but then Ian joked about an even better name for one of them so now they are 2Pecks and Puff Mommy. But I usually just refer to them as The Chicks.
Hi Sneakers,
1. So many episodes of The Twilight Zone made me cry. At random – and submitted for your approval – an episode called The Trade Ins, with Sterling’s closing narration:”….not a lesson, just a reminder, from all us Sentimentalists…in the Twilight Zone”. Big sniff for me.
2. Ive never owned a pet as an adult, but I do like the name Cohen.(not just sucking up) and Freckles for dogs. Or even just Daniel, our first dog.
Stop sneaking Dragons, never forget your roots, but time to start .. strutting
P.S Ian when was the last time you danced?
Dave, chicken update please.
Also, as you read this, find the biggest object in plain sight (not in drawers etc) in the room that is red in colour. Ask the owner how long they have it for approximately. Further question next week. That is all.
The most recent film to get me all choked up is the Oscar-nominated live-action/stop-motion animated movie Marcel The Shell With Shoes On. It’s a full-length faux documentary about a plucky little shell with one google eye and a pair of sneakers who lives in the nooks and crannies of a B&B with his grandma. The rest of his family went missing when the couple who used to live there split up. The emotions it evokes are so human, it could be used an empathy test to spot replicants. Don’t watch the trailer. It gives away too many of the story’s twists and turns.
I liked the name of the family dog in Pierre Berton’s children’s book The Secret World of Og. It was “Earless Osdick,” a riff on Fearless Fosdick from the L’il Abner comic strip.
Loved The Secret World of Og. Fun fact: my grandfather was Pierre Berton’s mentor when PB worked here in Vancouver. At that time, PB was the youngest editor of a national newspaper (in Canada, I assume); he was 21, and this was during WW2.
Before Q&A, allow me to address this whole SHAZAM! issue. I looked up the cast because I was curious what the names of these characters are being that they’ve been around for sometime now. Without one Marvel in sight, Mary was named “Superhero” Mary as were her siblings, so I guess they have no names for these characters yet when they’re super-powered. Oh, and there are TWO SHAZAMS, both Superhero Billy Batson and the Wizard. I agree 100% that Warner Brothers should have made SHAZAM! in the same style that the original Fawcett books used, I think they could have made something for families as well as a quirky and fun team that stood out from all the rest. I’m not up to date on why Warner Brothers can’t call him Captain Marvel, he’ll always be Captain Marvel to me, I’m sure it’s some legal issue with Marvel Comics. Haven’t we come far enough to play nice together in the superhero film sandbox together? I will go see the film because I liked the first one, but again you guys are 100% right that Black Adam should have been connected with SHAZAM! somehow…and who knows if they’re on different Earths but Black Adam was a wasted opportunity to build something onto SHAZAM!.
David also hit the nail on the head quite hard for me when he gave his analysis of the differences between DC and Marvel films and I completely agree…again! When I was working at Lone Star, we had a saying, “Marvel had the better characters and DC had the better stories.” DC famously created the idea on alternate Earths and multiple variant characters years before Marvel. Marvel sustained a single world with singular characters and teams up until the “Ultimate” comics started up about 25 years ago. DC can get away with the multiple “Batmen” because they own that from way back, Marvel is still finding their way with the multiverse concept they’ve created and I look forward to how that all lands. DC also owns the “One-Shot” stories that aren’t held to any ongoing storyline, they just “happen” without any connection to any sort of timeline, Marvel has always seemed to be held to their own timelines and the current position of all their characters. With this in mind, I buy the fact that DC has successfully produced films like “Joker”, “Watchmen” and “The Batman” that aren’t held to any congruent storyline, in fact I saw that going forward James Gunn will refer to these as “Elseworlds” films, just like the one-shot comics are named. Too bad SHAZAM! wasn’t treated as an Elseworlds story but can you imagine if Gunn plans anything as epic as “Justice”, “Identity Crisis” or “Kingdom Come”? Those were all three huge DC stories that need no buildup or previous introduction and I hope they keep up that method of non linear storytelling. Then on the other hand you have Marvel Studios who have their own way of doing films and I’ve always been happy the two studios haven’t tried mimic or outdo one another’s style.
I saw “Star Trek Beyond” in 2016 with my son. There’s the scene near the beginning where Spock (Zachary Quinto) is going through Spock Prime’s (Leonard Nimoy) belongings after his death and he comes across a photo of the original Enterprise Crew. I lost it. It’s mainly because we had just lost Nimoy and that really hit me hard…I had no idea it was coming. My son looked at me during the scene and whispered, “Are you okay Dad?” I told him I was fine, “Ill explain later after the movie.” My son isn’t the Trekkie that dear old Dad is, so afterwards I explain my blubbering outburst.
Growing up, my Dad reserved the right to name all the pets. My family dog we got when I was two years-old was named “Alphonso de Palatine” or “Alfie” for short. He died when I was twenty, so I basically grew up with him. Dad named all the cats too, we had Louise and her one kitten Rudy that we kept. There was E.T., who we found in a field running through the high grass much like the famous Extraterrestrial of the time. My Grandparents named all their German Shepherds after royalty, so they had King, Prince, Duchess and Duke. My senior art director at my previous workplace was a cover editor for DC before we met and he named all his cats after the Catwoman actresses over the years. He had Meriwether, Newmar and Kitt, Pfeiffer was the latest feline in the long line the last time I was at his house. Thanks Dave for noticing the detail in naming my late Mina Harker, I picked out that name for her. It came to me at the time we adopted her since Susan was reading “Dracula” at the time. Mr. Jinx is obvious, I always liked the Hanna-Barbera cartoon with Pixie & Dixie. Last but not least we have Charlie, who is a female with a Charlie Chaplin mustache print on her face. Groucho or Ollie didn’t seem feminine enough and Hitler didn’t work because Mr. Jinx is Jewish…so there’s simply Charlie.
If you’re still alive after reading this, thanks for everything guys. You’re still killing it and it’s not a proper weekend without the both of you. I think I’ll go have a cup of coffee now in my Sneaky Dragon mug! And don’t forget to “Spring Forward” this weekend!
Draganski out!!
Hi gents,
The biggest tear gushing episode I ever had at the movies was in 1989 when I saw Dead Poets Society. I was pretty much the exact age of the characters in the film and was at a fairly strict private school which had more interest in its own reputation than the individualism of its students. I was a total wreck at the end of it. My friend I was seeing it with was thoughtful enough to suggest that we leave the cinema by a side entrance least the entire foyer see me in my blotchy-faced shame.
It’s a little known film, but The Mighty with Keiran Culkin also used to flush out my entire tear ducts. Ditto To Kill a Mockingbird. There was something about the Elmer Bernstein title music and the opening credit sequence that would leave me emotionally raw before the film had even started.
More recently, I finally saw the Richard Linklater film Boyhood (almost 10 years after it came out.) It totally tore me apart as it cuts to the heart of being a father.
Enjoyed your discussion of CLERKS 3, by the way. I have only seen the original Clerks back when it was released and – though it won’t be popular to his fans to say it – have always thought that Kevin Smith’s films were lazy and self indulgent. He seems to be over-enamoured with his own pretty repellent characters and doesn’t seem to push his scripts too far beyond a first draft. There are infinite other low-budget indy directors from the 1990s whose films deserve sequels than Clerks. (Would love to see where all the characters from Whit Stillman’s early films have ended up in 2023.)
That is all.
Ooooh! Good one, Mick. I loved Boyhood. Great film. Should have got an Oscar IMHO.
Hey Dave, Ian, Edward, Lezah, Louise, Jonathan etc –
Ducking in under the wire (congers crossed) to chip in with a couple of things.
Starting with the QOTW’s:
Nothing makes me cry like people handling awful situations with quiet dignity and decency. The documentary ‘Searching for Sugar Man’ about the disappearance and musical renaissance of the musician ‘Rodríguez’ had me welling up at three points, particularly an interview with his daughter. In fiction, Roma is quietly, shockingly, and cathartically tear-inducing.
Favourite pet name is easy – a sheepdog I met on the bus, named Malcolm.
I can’t express how delighted I was to hear David talk about ‘The Endless’ the other week – one of my favourite films of recent years whose ideas and ellipses have lingered in my mind like few works manage to do. I love the meta-commentary that the characters are contained by the medium through which we are seeing their story, and I love that many puzzles are left unanswered. I would strongly recommend Benson and Motörhead’s even-lower-budget romantic horror ‘spring’, which explores the paranoia of new love and features two uncomfortably well sketched ‘British oiks abroad’.
One last recommendation before I skedaddle:
‘The Lovecraft Investigations’ is a radio drama which transposes a trio of HP’s weird tales into a modern setting, in the form of a true-crime serial podcast. And it’s utterly brilliant. Intriguing, hair-raisingly creepy and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, with strong performances and a witty, playful script. I’ve probably oversold it but do give it a go.
Thanks for all the sneaking and dragoning,
TTFN
Peter
(PS to David – not for broadcast)
Following Ian’s appreciation of talking boogie the other week, could I request a top 5 Proto-rap songs?
For example:
– “Who, Me” by Tex Williams
– Here comes the Judge by Pigmeat Markham
– Do the monkey with James by Perry and the Harmonics
…
Thanks!