From the Couch Hole: Change Your Heart, Look Around You

Previously on FTCH, I got the time to kill because I saw the Christmas invasion from the high window. The Brasher doubloon can buy you two flavors of Stranger Things cake bites. This week we survived our Big Freeze of 2026. It was about five days of inconvenience from the sleet/snow on Saturday through the final end of the icy roads Wednesday afternoon. It’s not nearly as memorable when you don’t have kids at home to go sledding or when you work from home and don’t get to take a snow day off. This week we’ve got a bundle of love but everybody’s got to learn sometime about the monogram murders. Murder, she said, but he said, the seven dials mystery is about those cinnamon Pebbles. Remember, FTCH, you don’t have to put on the red light.

Pop Culture Ephemera

• Sophie Hannah – Agatha Christie: The Monogram Murders (2014) (Published by Harper Collins): “One cannot do such harm to another and not wound one’s own soul in the process.” I’ll start with the obvious. Sophie Hannah isn’t Agatha Christie. Once you get past that ludicrous expectation, this isn’t nearly as bad a novel as I had been led to believe. I broke a personal reading rule by starting this when I still have so many Hercule Poirot novels by Christie to read. This book is “authorized” by the Christie Estate. I’m not sure how much influence or say they had in the final product, but this was well received enough to have three more sequels so far.
  
  The Hercule Poirot portrayal is perfectly acceptable. The mystery itself – the murder of three people in three separate locked hotel rooms at once – is certainly worthy of a Christie story. The issue here is that instead of bringing back the beloved Captain Hastings, Hannah introduces the bumbling Inspector Catchpool. The problem isn’t that Poirot does most of the mental heavy lifting, that was the case with Captain Hastings often, but that Catchpool misses such basic elements that I was questioning if he really did work for Scotland Yard. It’s not a perfect story, there are some twists that really push my suspension of disbelief, but thinking that someone will write a perfect Poirot is only going to ruin enjoyment of a decent mystery. There are a few decisions that I question, but it was nice to drop in with one of my favorite detectives for 320 pages.

Buy The Monogram Murders: A New Hercule Poirot Mystery

• Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials Mystery – “Bundle of Love” (Episode 1) (Netflix) (2026): “Keep your nose out of Seven Dials or it will be the end of you.” – Tredwell. The story starts with a death in 1920 in Spain that has no other connection to the rest of the first episode. The real plot starts up in England in 1925. Based upon the 1929 novel by Agatha Christie, this doesn’t have Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple to put together the clues. Instead, we have Bundle (Mia McKenna-Bruce) who may be a fine actress, but I’m having a hard time with her pulling off the attitude of a Christie detective, albeit an amateur. It’s beautifully shot and keeps moving along, as I would expect from a former showrunner of Doctor Who. There are two more deaths to bookend the English portion of the story. It’s off to a decent start, but in my current Agatha Christie fixation, I’m pinning high hopes on the last two episodes.

Buy The Korgis – Dumb Waiters

• The Korgis – “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime” (from Dumb Waiters) (1980): “Change your heart / It will astound you.” The Korgis are a duo of James Warren and Andy Davis. If you weren’t listening to deep cuts on FM radio in 1980, you might think this was an original of any of the many artists who have covered it. The very first bars make this unmistakably a hit. That first lyric “Change your heart” sounds like any of the pop psychology of the day and the song doesn’t exactly go into synchronicity-level philosophy like the Police. What captures me is the ethereal feel to the song. It’s one of a handful of songs that take me back to an early musical awakening at age 12 when the radio was full of multiple genres and artists that I was just discovering. Or I was just a sucker for a violin solo.

• Murder, She Said (1961) (Directed by George Pollock): “You contrived to introduce arsenic into my curry – which I find unforgivable, by the way.” – Miss Marple. Margaret Rutherford is well cast as Miss Marple. She has a sense of when to just use her face to let a scene sit, especially a humorous one. She also has a way to deliver lines that you wouldn’t dare say “no” to her. Miss Marple awakes on a train to look out her train window to see a woman being choked to death on a passing train. The mystery has a number of red herrings but it’s still easy to follow. She ends up at Ackenthorpe Hall as a maid to investigate the murder since no one believes what she saw. This is a light story, not many of the darker elements of the Christie stories. I haven’t read 4:50 from Paddington (1957) upon which it’s based, but I understand there are quite a few differences. Don’t expect the intensity of the film poster; instead, enjoy a fun afternoon mystery.

Buy Murder, She Said

• Seven Dials Mystery (1981) (Directed by Tony Wharmby): “You really shouldn’t go about shooting people, you know. They don’t like it. I dare say some of them richly deserve it, but it only leads to trouble in the end.” – Marquis of Caterhan The first thing that hit me about this British adaptation was that I didn’t realize after a single episode of the Netflix series that this was a pretty straightforward espionage mystery. Bundle is fun but instead of relying on her to put together all of the clues, she’s more of the impetus for clues to be discovered and Superintendent Battle ultimately explains the mystery when all the action stops for the last ten minutes. The script gives Sir John Gielgud as Marquis of Caterhan, Bundle’s father, all of the hilarious lines. His delivery is so dry and the humor so biting; it’s so typical of what I’ve learned to appreciate about the Christie books. This is Masterpiece Theater (PBS) type of presentation that exists somewhere between a television production and a film. That isn’t for everyone, but if you want a good period piece mystery, there are worse ways to spend two hours.
  

Best of the Rest

• I don’t say this often about even the best songs, but a song like Korgis’ “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime” doesn’t need a cover. At least until 2004, when this cover by Beck was used for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Taking away the orchestral elements turns this into a very introspective song that matches the themes of the film. The positive take of the original turns to frustration when slowed down just slightly. All of a sudden it’s about the struggle to find connection in life. I have much respect for this film.

• I’m not saying that it’s a coincidence but now that the first Western Diamondback Rattlesnake has been found in my county, I’m leaving as soon as possible for Massachusetts. They might be seeking shelter from the storm in our garages, but they can keep moving if they are even thinking about my garage.

• You wake up to “Oh, baby. Don’t move. There is like a 2.5 meter python on you.” My first question might be “Why is this dude with an Australian accent calling me “baby”” and next “Is 2.5 meters long?” Of course it is and the woman woke up thinking her dog was on her but it was a python. Of course it was Australia because where else do pythons crawl on you while sleeping? Not only did the woman shoosh the python outside by herself, but she was thankful that it wasn’t a toad, because those are the animals that freak her out.

Sunday Morning Tuneage Flashback

• Sunday Morning Tuneage from 2/14/2010, we had just come through the most snowfall in a 24-hour period in North Texas history. The kids were enjoying some time sledding down our tiny hills. I was watching Johnny Weir, Apollo Ohno, and women’s curling at the Winter Olympics. I was excited for Season 16 of The Amazing Race (CBS) to get underway. The list of the week was suggested to me by Matty G. as an answer to my 1972 lists. I’m still a year away from really making an informed version of this list, so take it for what it’s worth now.
  
  My #76 Top TV Show of All-Time was Newhart (CBS) (1982-1990): This was a Monday night staple for me through high school, into college and then briefly while I lived in California. It wasn’t significantly different than fish-out-of-water shows like Green Acres. It carries many good memories for me sitting in front of the television on those Monday nights. I haven’t watched more than an episode or two since it left the air. I kinda like the spot it occupies in my memories. I’m afraid that it would not occupy a Top 100 spot if I was to rerank.
  
• TOP TEN MOVIES RELEASED IN 1977 (2010)
  • 10. The Deep (Directed by Peter Yates)
  • 9. Audrey Rose (Directed by Robert Wise)
  • 8. Orca (Directed by Michael Anderson)
  • 7. Slap Shot (Directed by George Roy Hill)
  • 6. The Rescuers (Directed by John Lounsbery)
  • 5. The Spy Who Loved Me (Directed by Lewis Gilbert)
  • 4. Smokey and the Bandit (Directed by Hal Needham)
  • 3. Annie Hall (Directed by Woody Allen)
  • 2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Directed by Steven Spielberg)
  • 1. Star Wars (Directed by George Lucas)
    
• TOP TEN MOVIES RELEASED IN 1977 (2025)
  • 10. Eraserhead (Directed by David Lynch): The film isn’t an amazing story that will capture your attention. The filmmaking will stick with you for a long time. Sometimes the best films of a year are the ones that start me on a rewarding journey.
  • 9. Annie Hall (Directed by Woody Allen): Arguably the best film of his career. It’s probably suffered in my estimation because of his reputation. I went through a stage where I watched it yearly and now I haven’t seen it in over a decade.
  • 8. The Duellists (Directed by Ridley Scott): It’s not for everyone. You wouldn’t guess Ridley’s future career path from this film. What you can see here is a director that knows how to tell a story and controls the camera like a veteran.
  • 7. The Spy Who Loved Me (Directed by Lewis Gilbert): I was in my top-tier fandom of James Bond from 1974-1986 and this one was a favorite. I then ignored it for years until a marathon with Christian in about 2009 when I came to respect it again.
  • 6. The Hills Have Eyes (Directed by Wes Craven): He was just getting up to speed on what horror would look like in the ’80s. This horror is a perfect bridge from one decade to another, even if three years early. I rented this so much they probably needed to retire it when I left town.
  • 5. Martin (Directed by George Romero): When I ran Gen X, this was one of those films that we recommended to horror fans when they thought they had seen everything. I can’t recall a time that someone came back disappointed.
  • 4. Sorcerer (Directed by William Friedkin): I didn’t know about this film until decades later. I was a fan of Wages of Fear (1953), and happened to read about this film in an article in a film magazine. Now I’m a big proponent of the film.
  • 3. Star Wars (Directed by George Lucas): Other than Jaws (1975), no other film has meant more to my interests than this one. So why isn’t it still #1 on the ranking? For a large portion of my life, there were only three of these films. Now there’s a new film or television series a couple times a year. It’s still “the one that started it all” but it’s lost a bit of luster in the intervening years. It’s easily in the top four of amount of times I’ve watched a film.
  • 2. Suspiria (Directed by Dario Argento): I’ll admit that this moves into this spot during a two- or three-year run of watching as many giallo as Tubi acquires. It’s one of the titans of the genre and it gets this spot because these Top Three are some of the best that their respective genres have ever put on screen.
  • 1. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Directed by Steven Spielberg): This film shows on the big screen every couple of years, and I make a point to catch it every time. The film is only a little bit of editing in the Third Act away from being a perfect film. The first 30 minutes are still some of the most compelling of Spielberg’s filmography.

Buy Close Encounters of the Third Kind

1976 in Review

• February – Avengers #144 (Marvel): “Turn around gentlemen and meet – The Hellcat” – Patsy Walker. Cover by Gil Kane. Written by Steve Englehart. Art by George Perez. It’s the fourth part of what would be called “The Serpent Crown Saga.” Mostly, it’s remembered for when the characters of the Cat and Patsy Walker became The Hellcat. The finale sets up a battle between the Avengers and Squadron Supreme.
• February 3 – The lawsuit that was filed by Oscar Robertson and 13 other NBA players against the NBA in 1970 was finally settled, setting the table for merger with the ABA.
• February 3 – The David Bowie tour known as Isolar started the previous night in Vancouver. The tour would become known unofficially as the Thin White Duke Tour. The tour to support the Station to Station album would start each performance with a showing of Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali’s film Un Chien Andalou (1928).

What the Hell Did I Put in My Mouth?

“Change your heart
Look around you
Change your heart
It will astound you
I need your lovin’
Mm, like the sunshine” – Korgis