Rad References in Hot Rod

 

In a previous post I mentioned that "Rad" is available on AltaVod and that one of the special features is an interview between Jorma Taccone (of The Lonely Island) and the cast. Jorma makes it clear that he is a huge fan and says he put "a ton" of "Rad" references into his own works. I thought it would be fun to go through some of them.

First, the phrase "set to jet" used in the "Rad" dance scene is in "MacGruber."

"Hot Rod" and "Rad" are both bike movies, culminating in a big event at the end with crowded bleachers. 

Rod's uniform often has a big star on it, reminiscent of Cru's outfit for the big race.

Both Rod and Cru get special outfits before the big race replete with stars.

Rod's friends' "Team Rod" t-shirts, are clearly referencing "Rad Racing." In both movies, the friends wear them to show support in the big climactic event.

Wesley's "Charming-Check, Witty-Check, etc" shirt is recreated for Richardson in "Hot Rod."

And in both movies, the villains drive a red corvette.

There may be more references that I didn't catch and there are other cases where it's hard to tell the difference between a reference and a coincidence.

Finally, there's a similarity that's a bit of a riddle. In "Hot Rod," Rod gets gifted a new bike in honor of the big event at the end. When Cru is gifted a new bike for Hell Track only in the deleted scene that I grew up with and remembered. Did Jorma watch the same version that I did or is this just a complete coincidence?

Rad on AltaVod

Unbeknownst to me, a special "Superfan" edition of "Rad" was released on AltaVod in 2020. It includes "original bonus footage and an exclusive Q&A with the Rad cast, moderated by The Lonely Island's Jorma Taccone." I bought it, mostly to define exactly what the bonus footage is.

Before the bonus footage, obviously there is a remastered version of the movie. It looks good.

Bonus footage. First, there is the aforementioned interview with the cast. It includes Bart Conner, Bill Allen, the co-writer of the script Sam Bernard and the producer/actor Talia Shire. It's a fairly standard interview with many of the stories and factoids that we've heard already. There's one notable thing within it and I'll be making a post about that later.

Secondly, there is a promotional "making of" film from the time of the movie's release. Aside from the novelty of a 1980s documentary (it reminds me of "Plymouth International Ice Spectacular"), it's mostly just filler: how the movie was made, who's in it, constructing Hell Track, footage from the set. There is one gem. It contains an alternate angle of "Hollywood" Mike Moranda's second dramatic exit of the day. That is the gold nugget in the tons and tons of dirt. Will we ever again uncover more footage of his iconic wipeout? I doubt it. I would share a screenshot but the image is interlaced and so the still looks so bad it's not worth sharing.

Finally, there are interviews with Bart Conner, Bill Allen, Lori Loughlin and Hal Needham. The interviews were conducted at the time that the movie was being made. Aside from the fact that interviews with Hal Needham seem fairly rare, and you learn a little bit more about the actors, it's standard stuff.

And that's it. The movie and special features are all combined into a single video file, which is annoying, but in keeping with the experience of a VHS.

Late Show - Best of Vince Vaughn

It's the best of Vince Vaughn and it's all gold.

Best of the Worst: Terror Squad, Back from Hell, and Traxx

A really solid "Best of the Worst" where they discover "Traxx" - perhaps an all-timer.

Gordon Ramsey Makes Pancakes?

A clever edit of Gordon Ramsey cooking.

I love how this is such a simple idea but so effective.

An Update on the Status of Jabez Rockwell's Powder Horn

 Ever since I reported Jabez Rockwell's powder horn as missing from Valley Forge, I know everyone has been on pins and needles waiting to hear where to find it. I now have an answer.

After being given a contact in the government(?) to ask, I sent an email. And after waiting for them to find my email in their SPAM folder and respond, I can report...

The Jabez Rockwell powder horn is currently on loan for the 250th Revolutionary War special exhibit, “Call to Arms: The Soldier and the Revolutionary War." This exhibit will run from June 14, 2025, through July 2027 and is being displayed in the National Museum of the U.S. Army (NMUSA) located at Ft. Belvoir, VA. National Museum of the United States Army.

That's bad news for me but good news for all the people in Virginia looking to view that particular item (maybe 1 person, maybe as many as 2). Well, June to July is a while but I can re-try sometime after July, maybe. Oh wait... July 2027.

Alright then. Enjoy it, Virginians.

If you'd like to learn the story of Washington and Jabez Rockwell, click here.

Simulated Marble Races

I've posted a number of youtube genres over the years under the heading of "oddly satisfying" but this one has to be the most pointless. Not just a marble race, but a virtual marble race. There are a million of these and they all have millions of views.

Please, no wagering.

I'm wondering if the same race is run multiple times, if the result is exactly the same each time.

From Darkness to Light (2024)

 

"From Darkness to Light" is a documentary which examines another movie, "The Day the Clown Cried," the lost Jerry Lewis movie that has now become legend because of the subject matter and because no one has seen it.

"The Day the Clown Cried" is a comedy that takes place in the holocaust - Jerry Lewis plays a clown who entertains children in a concentration camp, and at the end he leads them to a gas chamber.

I've been curious to see "The Day the Clown Cried" ever since I heard about it. This documentary is the closest I'm ever going to get to that (according to the documentary). It rightfully shows large portions of the actual movie in between interviews and narration. The documentary, astonishingly, also was able to get Jerry Lewis himself to open up and talk about it shortly before he died in 2017. It is a surprising development; when Lewis was in a press conference about when the movie would be viewable he replied "None of your goddamn business!"

And so "From Darkness to Light" is worth watching if you're interested in the subject. There are two aspects about it which I find perplexing. The movie goes through the motions of explaining that a comedy about the holocaust is a crazy concept and should never be done. They've apparently forgotten about "Jacob the Liar" (1974), "Jakob the Liar" (1999) and "Life is Beautiful" (1997). That is, until the end of the documentary when these things are revealed as a "twist" that is not a twist at all. "Life is Beautiful" won an Oscar, we remember. 

The other problem is that they imply that some people, including Harry Shearer, through access to a film vault, have seen a rough cut of the movie. So then the implication that the movie will never be seen is confusing - a copy exists out there, did something happen to it? We're just assuming a leak is impossible? Why?

Bob Dylan in We Are the World - Revisited

 Last year I jokingly posted this video.

A friend recommended "The Greatest Night in Pop," a documentary about the making of "We Are the World" and I have a theory about what's going on.

Quincy Jones was the producer for the song and when all the stars are assembled in their choir formation, he instructs them, if the song goes outside your range, don't make an attempt, don't sing a harmony, just stop singing. The idea is, there are so many voices, no one will miss any particular one so don't force it.

I don't think I can get inside Bob Dylan's head and predict what he thinks but it's possible that he thought, "There isn't a single note in this song in my range so I'm just gonna sit out."

The Video for L.A. is My Lady

There's a lot going on in the music video for Frank Sinatra's "L.A. is My Lady."

The song is yacht rock and the video resembles the Yacht Rock web-series. 

It features Donna Summer(?), James Ingram, Quincy Jones; Latoya Jackson is drinking with Dean Martin. Michael McDonald puts an orange in a grocery bag, the orange travels and disappears. There is an implied Michael Jackson but they couldn't get the real one, so they show archival footage. 

It's bonkers.

A Rad Documentary Trailer

A trailer for "A Rad Documentary" has been released on youtube.

Thanks to Vic for the news tip.

Rad Day is Next Week

 

You may recall that last year "Rad Remastered" was released to theaters on Rad Day. Well, they're doing it again. 

"Rad" will be re-re-released shown in theaters March 20th. Last year's iteration promised "new footage" and I speculated that the extra footage might be the Rad Documentary that was never released. While the extra footage last year turned out to be a new interview with some of the cast, this year's release will be a "double feature" alongside the world premiere of the never-before-seen documentary "A Rad Documentary."

I looked everywhere for a "A Rad Documentary" trailer and found nothing except this trailer for the double feature event has about 2 seconds of documentary footage.... in fact, it maybe 1 second.

I don't know how it's possible to release a movie in 2025 without a trailer on youtube, but ok, here's a BOOTLEG of the trailer that was shown in 2021:

The really exciting thing about the documentary, to me, is that, yes, it does include Hollywood Mike Miranda.

Bear in mind that Rad Day is officially March 21st, though the Fathom theatrical event is March 20th.

Rice Krispies Treats Ice Cream

 That's right, Mr. Falcon, Rice Krispies Treats Ice Cream exists and I found it and I tried it and now you're gonna hear about it.

This ice cream is very elemental, it comes down to 2 or 3 main features. First, it's a cheap artificial vanilla ice cream base - pretty much the same vanilla as the Eggo Waffle flavor, it's probably made by the same people. But to the base is added a light, sugary flavor meant to represent the marshmallow. Finally, it also has chunks of rice krispies. That's it.

Does this simulate Rice Krispies treats? Sort of. Rice Krispies treats are better, no doubt, but it's a hard thing to copy and this is probably as close as can be expected.

But forget about simulating Rice Krispies Treats because all the elements together are actually reminiscent of soft-serve ice cream with the yellow topping. Remember this?

I've had this topping a million times and have no idea what it's called. My research tells me that it's called "crunch coat," "crunch kote" (at Dairy Queen) and "peanut brittle crunch cone."

So, to me, that's a big win and enough to give this ice cream a thumb's up and recommend it. I am a big fan of the old days of soft-serve vanilla ice cream.

You may wonder if the "Original" on the label means that there are other kinds - there are not. Also, there are other cereal-themed ice creams - Apple Jack, Frosted Flakes, Corn Pops, Honey Smacks and Froot Loops. I won't be trying those because I don't find the ideas compelling, but be aware that they exist if that's your thing.

Eggo Waffles Ice Cream

 

Check this, Mr. Falcon: Not only does Eggo Ice Cream exist, but it is available in my area and I was able to get some and eat it. And now you're gonna hear about it.

It comes in three varieties: Blueberry, Buttery Maple and Chocolatey Chip. I only found, and I only got, Buttery Maple.

Although the form of the package is a premium pint ice cream, the base of the ice cream appears to me to be a cheap, artificial-tasting vanilla. To the vanilla base is added a brown syrup that also seems artificial but is simulating maple syrup, which, depending on which you buy, often is artificial. To this mix, there are little cubes of crunch added. The crunchy, bready cubes are supposed to be the waffles. This is a mixed bag. If people out there are eating crunchy waffles, I suppose this is appropriate. My experience with waffles, and Eggo waffles especially, and one of the things I remember most fondly about them, is that they were chewy rather than crunchy. On this point, the replication of the waffle experience fails, for me. I understand it's probably a really tough problem to make a waffle-like substance that both isn't ruined by sitting in the liquid ice cream and, on the other hand, isn't ruined by being frozen; but still you gotta play it as it lies.

In the end, Eggo Ice Cream is a fun experiment, but the cheap vanilla base and unconvincing waffle texture keeps it from being anything more than a fun experiment. I would only recommend it to the extremely curious.

Own A Bill and Ted Phone Booth

You can now buy an authentic "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" phone booth replica. Only $9K.

The limited-edition phone booth features a design inspired by the original film, including an authentic payphone retrofitted for VOIP/landline service, blinking time travel buttons, and an umbrella antenna.

Perhaps surprisingly, among movie prop replicas, this is near the top for me. If only the price was right.

Happy Birthday Glenn Miller

  

Happy Birthday to Glenn Miller who was born this day in 1901.

When the G.I.s of World War II had a night on the town and filled the dance halls, they were dancing to Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" (above).

Glenn Miller was the first musician to make a gold record ("Chattanooga Choo Choo").

Having become a giant star, he served as a band leader in World War II. On December 15th of 1944 he boarded an airplane from London to Paris and was never seen again.

 

Late Show - Best of Conan Compilation

 

A compilation of Conan O'Brien on Letterman. Nothing new here - these are the same clips we've seen a million times - but they're all in one place and it's solid entertainment, regardless.

Pepperoni Pizza Soda

 

Oh, I don't know...

https://drinkperfy.com/products/pepperoni-pizza

Happy Birthday George Washington

 

In my life I have visited Valley Forge countless times but one day it struck me that none of those visits had been in the Winter, and Winter is at the heart of the story of the place. Having decided to make my first Winter visit, I nonetheless kept putting it off until Winter lifted and I had missed my chance. Then I waited for next Winter and then Winter came and I continued to put it off.

But when it came to the point where George Washington's birthday was coming up on Saturday, I had to pull the trigger. Visiting in the Winter on George Washington's birthday was too fitting. So I visited Valley Forge and, for the first time, visited George Washington's headquarters. The people there tell me the wood railing on the stairs is still original so I've now used a railing that George Washington also used.

Aside from visiting in the Winter and honoring the birthday, my other goal was to see the powder horn of Jabez Rockwell. I did a few laps around the museum and didn't see it. When I asked the Park Rangers where it was, they looked at me like I had two heads. No one knew where it was and so that objective ultimately failed. Turning to AI to locate it, it seems to be one of those cases where you get a completely confident answers that are nonetheless completely wrong. One AI answer does tell me this though:

The horn maintains an honored place within the historic collections of Valley Forge National Historical Park.

Oh, does it? Ok, show me. Searching for the horn on the park's website doesn't even return any results. A famous artifact that's nowhere to be seen and not worth mentioning? A "National Treasure" level heist is afoot.

So the final twist of this story is that the Park Rangers actually gave me contact info in case I want to actually call some people up to track this mystery further. Very strange. I may be enough of a loser to do that.

If you'd like to read the story of George Washington, Jabez Rockwell and his powder horn, you can do that here.

The Super Mario 3 Roulette Game Was Rigged

I always assumed that there was something I was missing about the Super Mario Bros 3 sliding picture game - I was sure there was a skill or "trick" to it, but I never figured out what that trick was. The following video goes pretty deep into NES programming, it's not going to be for everyone, but the point is: there is no skill or trick that would guarantee success. It was frustrating because it was always down to blind luck.

Why Not Visit Zombo Com?

 Visit Zombo Com and tell all your friends to visit Zombo Com.

https://zombo.com/

Re-Making Super Mario World in 3D

A guy re-makes Super Mario World so that it's 3D.

This is not so much interesting to me because of the game development - I don't really care - I love the aesthetic of the pixels and colors. It's so visually pleasing.

Late Show - Best of Amy Sedaris

Ah, Amy Sedaris, eases the pain.

Movie Theater Popcorn At Home - Results

 A while back, I shared a video which claimed to have cracked the code on movie theater popcorn at home and I teased that I would try the experiment myself. I have done so and can now report back from the field.

First off, using Amazon and area grocery stores I was able to obtain the recommended elements. Here is my own photo as proof.

The Results

It works. The result tastes exactly like movie theater popcorn in my opinion. In order to be authoritative, I would like to have tried other methods and recipes to determine a ranking but I have not done that so all I can say is this is as authentically movie theater popcorn as I can imagine any popcorn being.

Criticisms and Warnings

Jeers to the original video for not giving ingredient measurements. Yes, everyone is going to need to figure it out according to their own tastes but that's going to happen anyway, you might as well give a starting point. You can keep adding more coconut oil until it's enough, so that's easy, but I overdid the Flavacol and paid the price. So for that I will pass on to you: 1/3 to 1/2 of a tablespoon.

The video mentions using 4 test kernels and waiting until all 4 have popped before adding the rest. It's a small moment in the video but a very important point: wait until all 4 have popped. I lifted the lid and got a kernel pop as I was working with it. The result was a spray pattern of oil on the wall and myself and probably other places that I just haven't found yet. Wait until all 4 have popped.

Other Notes

Part of the movie theater experience is the fake butter chemicals. For the video, I believe that's the "Popping and Topping Oil" that is covered briefly. I love the fake butter chemicals and would have liked to evaluate that as well but here my completionist tendencies butted head-on against my sense of trying not to eat like an absolute madman and I excluded that aspect as overkill. A future consideration perhaps; if you try it, you  let me know.

One of the ingredients that he recommends (and I bought) was the "Movie Theater Butter Salt." That seems unnecessary to me. It's salt and the Flavacol is salt, so why both? Well, you might find at the end it needs more salt, but in that case, why not add more Flavacol? I say you can exclude this item but there may be a nuance I'm missing. Dunno.

What Is This Stuff?

Are you like me, are you horrified by a giant orange vat and a substance called Flavacol? What are we talking about here? Well, here are the ingredients.

Snappy Popcorn Colored Coconut Oil - Coconut oil and beta carotene. So that's actually, surprisingly, not horrifying.

Flavacol - Salt, natural flavors, artificial flavors, dyes. Hmm, so that's not actually horrifying either.

Popping and Topping Oil - Soybean oil, artificial flavor, beta carotene - Don't need more seed oils but not horrifying in the grand scheme of things.

Surprising result! Did not expect that.

NFL Films

Recently the idea came to me - perhaps in preparation for the Super Bowl - to watch all the Eagles' season recaps from NFL Films in chronological order. NFL Films loom large in my past and so I can't explain why I never thought of this sooner. Then, seeing that the Eagles season recaps reach all the way back into the 1940's I narrowed my own scope to start at 1983 and... well, I'm up to 2014 and I haven't decided where to stop. It's an idea I highly recommend if you're so minded (just substitute your own team, era or year).

NFL Films, particularly the NFL Films era from the 70's to 90's is a form of entertainment that will never be duplicated. The combination of the stentorian narrator, the classical music, incredible slow-motion footage and clever writing is unlike any other cinematic experience before or since. They are not just first in their genre, they are the pioneer of the genre.

The particular point of relish for me is the writing. Oh man, the writing. When is the last time you read (or heard) anything like this:

"It was under the hot summer sun of Camp Swamp Fox where the Eagles began to tread their comeback road, a path paved with a back-to-basics brand of fundamental football. The enthusiasm of assistant coaches... spread through the Eagles camp. There was an air of optimism filtering through the August heat. It sent the Eagles sailing through three pre-season victories and in September, it carried them to San Francisco's Candlestick Park where the 49ers' plans for a happy home opener were ambushed." - 1983

Or, consider the intro for the 1989 season:

 "There are moments in a lifetime which defy explanation, moments when the natural becomes supernatural and mere words cannot do justice to a man's deeds- deeds which spring from desperate circumstances."

There was one particular phrase that leaped from my screen and captured my imagination. It was from the 1991 season recap: 

"It was more grit than glitter, more spit than polish and it was the Eagles who sparkled."

I marveled and wondered, has professional writing deteriorated this much that, just a generation ago, we were getting this sterling quality from a football video? I couldn't comprehend it, except I considered maybe phrases like these were available cliches, plucked out of the ether of the time and since-forgotten. Then, as I progressed through further seasons the shroud of mystery lifted: 

1992 - "Even for a defense long established as more grit than glitter, more spit than polish..."

1994 - "Zordich was the classic strong safety - more grit than glitter, more spit than polish."

1995 - "They were more grit than glitter, more spit than polish; most of all, they were winners."

1996 - "And while Ricky Watters projected flash and dazzle, he was really more spit than polish, more grit than glitter."

1997 - "And Michael Zordich, the rugged safety who's more grit than glitter, more spit than polish."

Ok, so yeah, they have their saved templates, sticking them in when needed. It is still an admirable style. Even if there are cliches, they are wonderful cliches. 

It seems to me, the end of this classic writing style of the Golden Era coincides with the end of the 1990's when Pat Summerall takes over as narrator. Around this time, the narration is akin to the list of events you'll see written in a newspaper rather than the dime store novel panache of the past. It's prose rather than poetry, literal rather than literary. Ornate oratory was found old-fashioned, the mechanical was modern. The soaring spirit was discarded and faded - moving onward rather than forward, advance without ascension.

Yes, but NFL Films after that are still pretty great, though.

One of the goofy but endearing idiosyncrasies of the NFL Films season recaps is that they all end with victory. If a team wins the Championship, that's obviously a victory. If a team loses in the playoffs,it's a success and they've established that they're one of the elite teams in the NFL. If a team doesn't make the playoffs, they showed the heart of a champion. If a team only wins 3 games, they showed their courage and character through the adversity and never gave up. If every member of the team gets injured in the first game and they go 0-16, well, we look forward to next year when the players will be back and the ship will be righted. Every team for every season is victorious, either by actual victory or moral victory or looking ahead to a bright future. The narrative can never be: the team just stinks and watching them is a waste of time; the narrative is always: your team is bound for ever-increasing glory, glory, GLORY.

When GameGrumps Met RedLetterMedia

Apparently Arin met Mike from RedLetterMedia. It's not much of a story, just an interesting nugget. 

Skip to 30:00.

Patrick Stewart's Cowboy Classics

One Bite Pizza Reviews

I completely missed the whole Barstool Sports thing. I never saw a second of it in my life, I never heard about it until recently I noticed a pattern where a bunch of the podcasts I listen to say they either love Barstool Sports or were even inspired by Barstool Sports.

Then concurrent to that, "One Bite Pizza Reviews" starts getting recommended to me. This show is hosted by the leader/owner/something of Barstool. I click, I find I don't particularly like it, then I click again, I'm not impressed, then I click again and again. 

At some point you have to recognize that there's something here. I don't know what but something.

The format is simple.  A guy buys a pizza and then rates it after one bite. The rule is one bite and hence the mantra "everybody knows the rules." And somewhere along the line, that led to saying "everybody knows the rules" before housing 8 bites immediately.

These are places I'm never going to get to, so there's no point. I also think my taste in pizza differs from his, so it's doubly pointless. So why am I watching?

I have to respect the rating system. He rates pizzas like I rate movies: a 6 is technically a good score and almost no one gets above a 9. Above a 9 is reserved for the legends.

And then there's the highlight compilations. This one is a tremendous series of train wrecks.

There are also Philly cheesesteak reviews. This is a bottomless pit of time killers.

The Mandela Effect and Super Bowl 39

 

Super Bowl 39 took place in 2005 and was the Philadelphia Eagles vs. New England Patriots. Being a huge Eagles fan, and Super Bowl 39 being the first Super Bowl the Eagles played in the era where I was conscious, Super Bowl 39 was a huge deal for me. And for that reason, it's very strange that I don't remember hardly anything about it - no plays, no moments, not a general outline of what happened -  but the one thing I do remember never happened.

I was mostly happy to not remember anything from the game, it was a painful memory, who revisits the big losses? But I was bothered enough by it and thought that enough time had passed that I decided to re-watch the game today.

First off, it now seems understandable that I didn't remember. Despite being one of the closest Super Bowl games of all time, it's not a particularly good or memorable game. Both offenses start off slow and then get into a better rhythm but somehow the game lacks drama. But eventually, with 5 minutes to go, the Eagles are down by 10 points with possession of the ball, "looking" to make a comeback. At least, in theory. In actuality they are in no hurry to do anything, they appear to be unaware that they're playing the game of football and the point of football is to win. It may be the worst clock management in the history of football and it just so happens to be at the end of a Super Bowl. The Eagles lose by a field goal.

At the epicenter of the Eagles loafing around was the quarterback, Donovan McNabb. Whether he was out of gas, hungover or ill is a matter of controversy to this day, but no one can tell me something wasn't wrong. And, in fact, this brings me to the one thing I remember most distinctly from watching the game live: watching McNabb vomit on live TV. His sickness was probably the difference maker in the Super Bowl and so people have wondered about the cause ever since. And when asked about it, McNabb denied that he ever vomited at all - ludicrous, I saw it, I know what I saw.

Except it never happened. At least it appears that way. Re-watching the game, there is no point where McNabb vomits. Yes, he looks ill, yes he's lethargic in his movement, yes some of his teammates claim he vomited, all the circumstantial evidence supports him being sick, but the point is that the thing that I was sure I remembered seeing on TV in the live broadcast is nowhere to be found in the live broadcast. It was a completely false memory.

Unless someone has gone back and edited the video, that just doesn't exist and never did.

So that's super strange and I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around this reality. I guess that's it. Apologies for the structure and content of this post, I couldn't get it right. This "writing" mirrors the performance of the Eagles' in that fateful game and there's no fixing either.

Late Show - Best of Chris Farley

 

20 minutes of Chris Farley on Letterman. The only thing that would make it better is if it was longer.

The Key to Movie Theater Popcorn?

 

I have not confirmed this as true, and even though I am not Adventurous Chef Man, I'm very intrigued and have to try this.

I will try this, hold me to it.

Although I think the "everyone's wrong" drama is overwrought, I do enjoy the novelty of a cooking show hosted by Ned Ryerson. And "Groundhog Day" is approaching. What if I watched the movie with the popcorn?

Princess Diana

 Here's a photo of the car Princess Diana was in during her fatal car crash.

You can see the license plate (688LTV55) and that, while the front of the car might be in bad shape, the back and top are pristine. Here is another.

Here is a third.

Now the back window is gone and the top of the car is completely damaged and separated from the back. You can see these photos in the context of 'News' here.

Well maybe ambulance workers had to break the back window and cut the car to gain access.

Here's a photo of the first responders at the scene of the crash:

You can see this photo in context here. 

The car is now even more pristine and they're just using the door.

That's a bit weird, innit?

Popcorn in Bed - Gladiator

 

"Gladiator" is one of those classics that I should be re-watching consistently but, in reality, I can't tell you the last time I watched it. The first time I saw it in the theater, it was such an intense, transcendent,  experience but then every time I watched it thereafter I found I liked it a little less each time. So I stopped the bleeding.

If you've followed along, Carly is not a fan of violence in movies so watching "Gladiator" is at least a precarious proposition, if not a very bad idea.

I never put it together that Oliver Reed is in this as Proximo (the gladiator owner). All I know of him comes from the disastrous "Late Night" interview. His excellent performance is possibly due to the fact that he promised Ridley Scott he would not drink during production. According to Wikipedia, he went to an Irish bar, was challenged to a drinking match, accepted, and died of a heart attack. The rest of his scenes had to be completed with a body double and CGI.

Scorch Update for January 2025

 

Checking in on Scorch.

You gotta check in on Scorch. The latest is Scorch has never heard of Google Maps. It's always something.

RIP Garth Hudson

The last remaining member of The Band, Garth Hudson, has passed away at 87.

Here is The Band (sans Robbie and Richard) performing on Late Show with the CBS Orchestra.

RedLetterMedia - Impressions

"Impressions" is a new game show where Rich, Josh (the new Josh) and Jay compete to see who is the best impressionist.

The key here is that the required impressions are randomized.... randomized.

It's interesting to note that Josh was Geoff, the robotic side-kick of Craig Ferguson.

Stay tuned until the end.

What is The Gout?

I've heard of "The Gout" for most of my life, here and there, and I have to admit I had no idea what it referred to. So I found this history and description of the ailment interesting.

I have to say, I suspect there's something still out there that I'm missing. Gout attacks people who eat rich foods (and alcohol) but isn't 2025 America is eating more richly than any of the aristocracy of history? Shouldn't gout be epidemic today? An internet search tells me gout affects 3.9% of the U.S, which isn't great, but isn't as high as I would expect.

Late Show - Remembering Bob Uecker

Bob Uecker has passed away and the Late Show has done its usual thing of releasing a video for them.

This one begins with Norm MacDonald telling a Bob Uecker story. I have no idea what is bleeped.

Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #2 (Laika)

Revisiting Arcade Fire's performance of "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)" on Conan. Of all the musical performances on Conan's "Late Night," this is my #2 all-time*. Perhaps I'm too easily impressed by chaotic percussionists and cute violinists. You decide.

Having loved this version, I listened to, and was disappointed by, the album version. The main key is this version's Talking Heads style vocals vs. the album version's distant bullhorn vocals. Plus, this has the live energy. The good news though is that the rest of the album is superb.

In 1957 the Russian space program launched a stray dog into space with no possibility of return. The dog's name was Laika.

* - In case you're interested, #1 was posted 8 years ago.

Sonic's Best Friend

Christian Yacht Rock

  

First a summary of events from the Yacht or Nyacht Podcast(s) and then a personal anecdote.

On the Beyond Yacht Rock Podcast, Episode 99, they're listening to audience suggestions to determine, officially, whether the song is Yacht Rock. The suggestion is "Can't Stop Runnin'" by Roby Duke (above). The deck is stacked against it. They are decidedly anti-Christian and isn't Christian rock always lame? To top it off, the cover of the album, a photo of Roby himself, looks like this:

Rock Star.

But they listen to the song, and even with all these biases going against it, they are swayed that it is not just Yacht Rock, it garners a 90+ Yachtski score to be recognized as Essential Yacht Rock. They don't want to believe but the power of smooth music is undeniable and irrefutable. For the purposes of this narrative, it was like that clip where Susan Boyle goes on a show and everyone's like "Ugh, ugly people can't sing" and then she sings and everyone is shocked that ugly people can sing. It's just like that.

The floodgates are open. In the Yacht or Nyacht Podcast, Episode 35, they give "Seasons of Change" by Roby Duke an even higher score on the Yachtski Scale - 92.5 - another Essential song. In YONP Episode 58 it's Roby Duke's "All Lost" (below). The result is a lower score but still in the upper echelons of Yacht Rock canon. Finally, for completeness, in YONP Episode 60 they determine that Duke's "Dreams Alive" from 1989 is not Yacht.

"All Lost" and "Can't Stop Runnin'" are my personal favorites so those are the two I've embedded here.

  

And now a personal anecdote.

When I was a young teen, this one singer would sometimes visit my church to do concerts and/or lead the music in the service. I always especially enjoyed when he would make an appearance because he had such a relaxed, casual, somewhat goofy style. He was constantly talking, telling stories and making jokes, even at the expense of the music, if need be. He was like 60% singer with an acoustic guitar, 30% storyteller and 10% stand-up comedian. And when you're a kid in church, that's a really great break from the norm. The singer was Roby Duke.

The thing was, every time I saw him it was pretty much him with an acoustic guitar; he may have had a backing track sometimes but it was never a full band. Furthermore, I only saw him in church, I never investigated any of his albums. So how shocking it was to find that a small Yacht Rock podcast is listening to the "unknown acoustic guitar guy." And how much more shocking to find that he was not just a Yacht Rock artist all along but actually a Yacht Rock legend. Mind blowing.

Roby Duke's albums today are rare and seem to fetch hefty prices; some are apparently being imported from Japan. I learn from the internet that Roby Duke died in 2007. RIP.

The Charismatic Voice - Faithfully

 

It's a little Journey, come on.

While this is one of my favorite Journey songs (perhaps #2), I really hate the music video. It's part of a genre of music videos from the late 80s and early 90s about the dreariness of touring which was so repetitive as to become monotonous. Sitting on the tour bus, getting on and off of planes, occasional black and white footage, roadies hauling equipment - oh being a rock star is drudgery - isn't living the dream a nightmare?

I haven't been able to define the genre sufficiently because I never gave it a name and didn't collect enough examples. Motley Crue "Home Sweet Home" and Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive" both flirt with the genre but don't ultimately succumb to it. The genre-defining examples I had were Journey "Faithfully" and Genesis "Throwing It All Away." I think there are a million examples out there but I needed to do more research and never got around to it.

Oh, and I think my thoughts are independent here but just in case, the Beyond Yacht Rock Podcast has an episode that defines the genre "This Was Supposed to be Fun" which is songs about the difficulties of touring. But they're talking about a type of song and I was thinking of a type of music video.

Youtube's Thumbnail

 

The thumbnail for "The Hunt for Red October" on youtube is blue. Who are the ad wizards who came up with that one?