Monday, September 30, 2024

Paul Jr. Has a Podcast



Continuing to pretend that the sudden re-emergence of "American Chopper" is real and organic, it turns out that Paul Jr. has a podcast now.

Above is the third episode where he talks about recently watching the episodes and finding that so much time has past that he feels more like a viewer than a participant. He also says he's working on getting a new show but it's early stages.

So he has a podcast and a youtube channel, Paul Sr. has (at least) a youtube channel, it looks like Mikey has a podcastVinnie has a youtube channel... does Rick have a podcast? - no, I think he was a guest on Paul Sr.'s podcast... Basically it's 2024 and everyone in the world is on youtube with a podcast. There isn't enough time in the world to keep up with it.... except I'll probably keep up with Paul Jr.'s channel because I have the American Chopper brain damage and this is how bad it is.

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Andy Richter in The Real Live Brady Bunch


Apparently there was a live show in 1991 where actors would re-enact episodes of "The Brady Bunch" and the cast included Andy Richter as Mike (the dad). Other cast members included Jane Lynch and Melanie Hutsell (who would go on to parody the same part on SNL.) Becky Thyre as Marcia is spot-on.

Quite a time capsule. Man, I wish I enjoyed anything as much as this audience loves this show. Does this support my theory that people in the past were much more joyous? My instincts tell me this is just an aberration.

You can watch a behind-the-scenes "making of" look at the show here.

Thoughts on the Little House on the Prairie Series Finale

The following post contains spoilers for a 40 year old tv show.



The stories I heard about "Little House on the Prairie" ending with a BONKERS finale were true.

After the end of the TV series, 3 made-for-tv movies were made, as an unofficial "Season 10." The first of these movies features a teenager contracting a terminal illness and dying. The third of these movies, the last one to air, is about a woman who loses a child during birth, goes crazy and kidnaps another child to substitute as her own. It should be noted that this is a Christmas episode. And even though it takes place in Minnesota, at Christmastime, the weather is sunny and hot and all the leaves are green... it looks suspiciously like California. Ho ho hoooo.

The second movie, "Little House: The Last Farewell," was the last filmed and the last chronologically within the world of the show, so it is, for all intents and purposes, the series finale.

As the story begins, it's discovered that a land development tycoon owns all the land of Walnut Grove, the little town around which the entire series has taken place. Yes, all the years in which we've seen them buying and selling deeds, farming the land, building upon their land, leaving deeds in their wills as they contract terminal illnesses... it was all somehow in error, none of it was legitimate. There was even that one episode (S09E09) where a large train company wanted to take the land to build a railroad and they had a conflict with the residents over who can use the land... No, no, forget all that, those lawyers didn't look at THE REAL records, someone else owned the town all along, it's just that nobody was noticing the real, real, real.

So upon that insane rock is built a story in which the rich real-estate tycoon tries to take possession of the land from the everyday townsfolk who've built their lives there. They're not going to give up without a fight. They gather guns, band together and refuse to leave. It's at this point of the story where it is most effective - though somewhat out of character, the show has become a fairly convincing Western and there is real tension.

The rich railroad tycoon enlists the help of the government (the Union army) and there is a tense standoff. The people of the town do the moral calculus and stand down.

Finally, resolved to abandon their homes and livelihoods - their entire lives, really - they decide that the railroad company may take the land but they will not give up the buildings. They dynamite the town and blow it up.

The town preacher gives a eulogy for the buildings of the town as tears flow from his face. And as each citizen, in turn, takes the plunger detonator to blow up their own structure, they all cry and react as if watching a massacre. It is insanely executed. It is such incredible schlock.

It's hard to convey what a complete non-sequitur this finale to the series is. In case you're not aware of "Little House on the Prairie," this show is about (was about) a family trying to survive on the frontier, trying to do what's right in a harsh world and bring their children up to have that same moral backbone. The morals of the show were hard work, determination, honesty, respect, forgiveness, courage and especially community. And the ultimate end of all this... blow up the community. Nine seasons of the family show were just building up to pyrotechnics. Do you want heartfelt emotions or do you want to see some 'splosions?!

At a loss for words, I'm also at a loss for how to conclude this. I don't understand and have not seen anything to help me understand. Yes, the show arguably jumped the shark a while back but nothing has ever prepared anyone for anything like this. 

The idea of the town banding together to fight the powerful, combined with the rigging (and setting off) of the explosives, feels somewhat like an "A-Team" plot. This movie aired in 1984 and "The A-Team" had become a big hit in 1983. Is it possible that some dopey corporate executive saw the sagging ratings of "Little House" against the massive ratings of "The A-Team" and said, "I know what will draw in the viewers... Here's what the people of the 80s want to see..."? I have no proof or evidence that anything like that happened but it's the only thing I can think of to make sense of what I just watched.

Friday, September 27, 2024

Fixing an American Chopper (Continued)

The guy who bought an American Chopper bike and is trying to fix it up, meets and hangs out with Paul Sr.  


I think I've fallen into a soap opera. I started watching a video, and that video led to another video, then it became a series and now it's spinning off a new series... It's too much! It's still enjoyable but I may have to cut these off at some point. But I don't know, I do still have American Chopper brain-rot, after all.

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Popcorn in Bed - Star Trek TNG Series Finale

 


Cassie has reached the end of her goal to watch the most important "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episodes. In this episode, she watches the series finale.

She's certainly going to go on to the TNG movies but we know how that goes...

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Thoughts on Little House on the Prairie

In various conversations among people, and on this blog, I had mused that "Little House on the Prairie" was a very popular show but I somehow had never watched it. Finally, repeating this same thought before my family, I suddenly heard my older sister exclaim, "'Little House on the Prairie' was SOOOO DEPRESSING!" Instantly, in just that moment, I time-traveled 30, maybe 40, years into the past to when I first heard that same phrase ringing in my ears, said in the exact same way by the exact same person. It was suddenly clear why I had no history with this show. My sister had seen it, had formed a very decidedly negative opinion of the show and then had wielded much more power over the TV.

Another mystery solved.

Now, back in our own time, having watched the entire run of the series, I consider it to be one of the great TV shows of all-time. But even as I enjoyed the show very much, I had to contend with the thought, all throughout, that, "Well, my sister wasn't exactly wrong." The two things can be true at the same time. "Little House" was a "family drama" and how does one generate drama week-in and week-out for years? There is only one way: create likable characters and then hurl an unceasing barrage of tragedies at them until their lives are a Hellish nightmarescape.

The "family" template is best illustrated by a thumbnail sketch of "Family Ties." "Family Ties" was something of a sitcom but generally you'd watch an episode and it would be, for instance, Uncle Bob is visiting from out of town and he announces he has terminal cancer. That's one week. But then the next episode, they're visited by Uncle Ned but it is revealed that Uncle Ned is hiding the secret that he has become an alcoholic. We're up to episode 3 now and in this episode, they'd throw a curve-ball - in this episode, a black family moves into the neighborhood and suddenly the suburban Ohio town of the 1980s turns into a Deep South KKK stronghold because, it turns out, racism is everywhere.

"Little House" is a lot like that but without all the laughs.

Early on, there are two main themes of the show: the man-versus-nature struggle (the harshness of living on the frontier) and the cruelty of children towards their fellow children. The former is one of my favorite aspects of the show and, as a plot device, it's abandoned pretty early on. The latter continues throughout and it's nuts. I mean, these children are monsters to each other - I would say they're demon children but that's being too kind. Words fail me to describe it, I can only say it's hard to watch.

As for the rest of the episodes, every pregnancy is a potential complication, every baby is going to get sick, every building is in danger of burning down, every dear friend can die, every loved one presents a potential for irredeemable grief and don't forget - never forget - that sometimes children with bright futures can suddenly contract an illness that brings on permanent blindness...  The onset of blindness will be slow, of course, but it will be sure and it will be permanent. Yes, it's a "delightful Bambi romp through a flowery fairy land of happy, harmless, froufrou family fun for the whole family of all ages."

To that point, an imdb trivia note from S01E18 is illustrative:

Matt Clark appears in this episode as "Eric Boulton", a man whose wife and son die after contracting Typhus after eating rat-infected cornmeal. He would return in Season Five's "Mortal Mission" as a character whose family die from Anthrax infected meat.

That actor just can't catch a break.

That said, I will defend the show's position in the Pantheon of Television with 3 semi-counter-points. 

  1. It is a family drama and this is the core of drama. You know this is what you're getting into (like I said about "Family Ties" above.) 
  2. It rarely feels forced. The hardships may seem a little overwrought in that 70s style, but they're rarely gratuitous - the quality of the writing is so high, it mostly earns its awful extremity.
  3. The show seeks to depict not just frontier America but actual people who lived on the frontier. These were hard times and certain tragic events did happen to these real people. Another imdb trivia note from S08E18 is illustrative here:

The real Almanzo and Laura Wilder contracted diphtheria in 1888; then in August 1889, Laura gave birth to a son who died two weeks later, and in the same month they lost their house to a fire and their crops to drought. These circumstances, along with Almanzo's inability to do physical work, led the Wilder's into debt and poverty.

So that's fun. "Hey kids, what do you want to watch tonight?!"

I've covered the quality of the show in general terms - generally it's excellent - but there is a great variance in quality across the hundreds of episodes, spread across 9 seasons. There are weaknesses, aspects I hate, episodes I loathe and it is arguable that the show jumps the shark at a point. Along with the great episodes destined for the TV Hall of Fame, there are certainly terrible episodes also. My complaints and criticisms of this series could be an entire post of their own but I'll spare you that. Suffice it to say that the series has high highs and low lows but, for any given season, the ratio of excellent episodes to bad episodes never goes below 2:1. That is, until Season 9 when the series settles into a heat death of mediocrity; Season 9 is just unremarkable, tired and pointless.

There's just one loose end left. My biggest reason for pursuing the series was how impressed I was by the amazing pilot episode/movie. But, following that, I was spurred on by the rumor that the show ends with one of the most bizarre finales in any television show ever. The last episode of the series, true to the 9th season, is not bizarre or unusual in any way. But I have not been rugpulled yet. For there have been 3 "Little House" made-for-tv movies made after the series ended and I will be watching those next. We shall see...

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Fixing an American Chopper (Continued)

 This is a continuation of a previous post where a guy is trying to get an OCC Bike in working order.

I'll give a heads-up, I don't like this video, I think it's pretty lame but we have a series going and I don't want to drop the ball for anyone interested.

This kind of back-and-forth reaction debate doesn't work here. You don't use the term "straw man argument" in a garage. Paul Sr. did not get to where he is by listening to what people say and considering it with an open mind. Paul Sr. does two things: he gets offended and yells at people - that's it.

Oh well. I trust the next episode will be better.

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Is This the Most Boring Video Ever Made?

This person has a Microsoft Word tutorial from 1989. They have a has niche interest to a few people. It's an oddity that might attract some curious viewers. But I have to admire that they've had the brainwave to call it "THE MOST BORING VIDEO EVER MADE (Microsoft Word tutorial, 1989)."

Immediately they have a potential viral hit.


Of course, everyone can decide for themselves and if you're having trouble sleeping, this might be a good attempt at a cure. But I've been around for a while and seen a few boring videos in my day and I'm not convinced. In particular, this arouses my "I'm a kid and I want a computer" nostalgia, so in that way it's actually exciting.

This is not the most boring video in the world, this is a blog post. I don't remember the most boring video in the world, no, but this is a blog post.

Monday, September 16, 2024

Youtube Genre: Falling Rocks

This youtube video, entitled "Cobblestones unloading relaxing and healing." is my exemplar for this genre.

It is no doubt relaxing but is it also healing?


There are loads of these. The genre could be called "Falling Rocks," "Falling Stones," "Sifting Sands" or maybe something like "Unloading Stones from Barge." None of these is really a homerun. Maybe "Conveyor Belt Unloading" is another possibility but the weakness of that one is that the conveyor belt isn't the star of the show, it's the rocks.

It also seems that they mostly come from China and there's a lot of re-posting/stealing content. It ticks the "Oddly Satisfying" box and I don't know of any others - other than that you should watch it on mute while listening to something else.  I find it mesmerizing.

Sunday, September 15, 2024

Catching Up with Tom Myers

 Tom Myers took a break for the Summer and is back with a backlog of terrible, old jokes.



The other day someone mentioned that they asked AI something and then were too afraid to ask a further follow-up. I kind of understand that. I'm curious what AI Tom Myers would do but I'm also fearful to see what it's capable of. Whether or not the world is ready, I'm not ready. 

Saturday, September 14, 2024

Popcorn in Bed - No Country for Old Men

 



I've never really penetrated what the Coen Brothers are trying to say with "No Country for Old Men." I have a general guess but that's it. Even so, it is a masterpiece in the aspect of creating tension and dread.

Thursday, September 12, 2024

3 Songs for the Summer to Fall Transition

 I don't know what the weather is like where you are, and it's a fragile thing, but over here it's solidly in that hazy transition between Summer and Fall. Here are 3 songs that are comfortable at this time. Gotta stock up on apple cider.


Fazerdaze - Little Uneasy



Haerts - All the Days
 


Radiohead - Gagging Order
 

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Jonathan Frakes Has Questions for You

 


And he expects you to answer them immediately.

Sunday, September 8, 2024

100 Years of Pasta

  


I don't know if other people will enjoy 25 minutes of pasta or if it's just me. But I'm throwing it out there.

Saturday, September 7, 2024

Popcorn in Bed - Invincible

  


I'm appreciative of this reminiscence of "Invincible" - it's not a movie I think of often or one that I've thought of recently, but it is a good one.

Friday, September 6, 2024

Game Grumps Joke Songs #4

 


Another collection of songs made from Game Grumps moments. This one is Dad-heavy.

Schnigedy Ding Dong.

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

GG - More Supermarket Simulator

 


Another great episode of a great series.

Dabbleverse 101

  


A guy tries to explain the Dabbleverse to a couple normal people... An intro to the Dabbleverse.

The documentary mentioned.

Sunday, September 1, 2024

September Morn


September Morn. We danced until the night became a brand new day. Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play. September mornings still can make me feel that way.

There's a local radio show that plays this song every morning in September and it's now become part of me.

Am I sharing this song ironically or because I genuinely like it? I honestly don't know. That's the thing about Neil Diamond.

YOU BET YOUR BALLS IT'S NEIL DIAMOND.