From the Couch Hole: Facing Our Fear and Standing Out There Alone

Previously on FTCH, the chaser alien met Deadpool and Wolverine but there was no surrender to the power of love of mint Oreos. This week is the full return of August busy work for me. That leaves little time to do anything but mourn the time running out on my Rangers this baseball season. Don’t despair because we are mere weeks away from college football. This week Didi reaches a point break where the relationship with the Hellcats becomes a higher love. The aliens bring a copy of Frankenstein to our Star Spangled Splash. Remember, FTCH is a Mark Goodson – Bill Todman production.

Pop Culture Ephemera

• Rifftrax Live!: Point Break (1991) (2024) (Directed by Kathryn Bigelow): “Reagan. Raaaayyyguuunn.” – Kevin riffs as Johnny chases Bohdi in a Reagan mask through the alleyways. There are tiny moments through the year that help you mark time. The summer has Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Comic-Con, and then the Rifftrax Live! event each August. This year’s Riff continues the recent tradition of films from the ’90s. This isn’t exactly a “bad” niche film of the era. It’s almost easier to riff a film that the audience already has a general knowledge about. I find comfort in my “friends,” Mike, Kevin and Bill. It’s not groundbreaking humor. It’s what you expect, it’s got some great meatball sub jokes, and it’s just what I expect when work gets busy in August.

Buy Point Break Blu-ray

• Mystery Science Theater 3000 – “The Hellcats” (1968) (S.2 E.9) (COMEDY): “They look as confused by the film as we are.” – Crow. The second season (third if you count the KTMA season) was in the final third on Comedy Channel before moving to Comedy Central for the 1991-1992 season. The change in voice actor for Crow leads to some funny meta lines like “before my voice changed.” The film is a non-sequitur festival of biker films and teen films of the ’60s. Most of the commentary comes just from trying to figure out what is going on. The weakest point for the episode are the transition scenes which include a number of flashbacks and a weak attempt at Star Trek type of humor. The season has been strong, but this episode is not a complete package.

Buy Steve Winwood – Back in the High Life CD

• Steve Winwood – “Higher Love” (1986) (from Back in the High Life): “I could light the night up with my soul on fire / I could make the sun shine from pure desire.” Steve Winwood had been around since 1965 in the industry; it’s hard to imagine that he was only 38 years old when this became a #1 hit. I’m not going to lie. I did not like this song at the time it was a hit. It was everywhere at the time from MTV to news shows bumper music to weddings to department stores. I’ve grown to not just like it but love it in a symbol of the mid-’80s way. It’s like Winwood created the perfect movie montage of every romance, “we’re falling in love” scene. I bet it’s still played at weddings and car dealerships. The track is driven by the amazing background vocals of Chaka Khan, the fine guitar work of Nile Rodgers, and a perfect ’80s-only drum sound. It might sound gushing, and I don’t mean it to be. This isn’t a perfect song, but it’s great at what it does. It could be a blues song, it could be Gospel or just a dance song, and it’s just good at whatever you think it should be.

• Aliens (1986) (Directed by James Cameron): “We’re on an express elevator to Hell, going down!” – Private Hudson. Is it possible to make a sequel that has better effects, more monsters, more action, and better acting and still be a worse film? This is that example. I’m not saying this is a bad film. In fact, it’s a really great film. The first Alien (1979) excelled as a horror film. This sequel excels as a science-fiction film that gives a nod to war films and monster films. Taking place 57 years after the original, it functions as a sequel only in ways that almost ruin the film. It’s helpful to know what the alien did in the previous film, but it’s not necessary in order to enjoy this film. The film spends 30 minutes getting us to the planet, and then all hell breaks loose for a straight 90 minutes. Cameron has a eye for how to move the camera in an action scene. Has this guy never directed a true war film because this is his blueprint. Sigourney Weaver is our voice of reason and her acting is better here than in the original. What a start to a franchise with one of the best horror films of all-time, followed by one of the best action films of the ’80s.

• Didi (2024) (Directed by Sean Wang): “Nobody likes you.” – Vivian Wang. This coming-of-age film tells the story of Chris Wang (“Wang Wang”) a 13-year-old from Fremont, California in the late summer of 2008. Chris feels the emotional distance of being a foreigner in a foreign land as a Taiwanese family in a mostly White community. He’s separated from his father (who is on a trip to Taiwan the whole film), his sister, and eventually his friends. That era lends itself to the “choose your own adventure” feel of the film as Chris (Didi to his mother) looks at his computer often and has two decisions to make. We might cheer or we might groan with disappointment as he clicks to block a chat or responds to a MySpace post. The depth of Chris’ loneliness is almost too much to handle at points. The best parts are when it is Chris and his mother (Joan Chen). Their connection feels like the most realistic relationship of the film. This story has been done multiple times. I liked the take of Mid90s (2018) where the setting of almost 15 years previous, deals with friendships made and lost, and finding a belonging in the world of skateboarding. This is a great first film directing effort for Sean Wang. It feels very personal, and I look forward to his next work.

Best of the Rest

• Whitney Houston did a mostly by-the-numbers cover of “Higher Love” in 1990. It’s Whitney; of course, it’s above average. It wasn’t until House DJ, Kygo, gave it a remix in 2019. There’s an extra energy to the remix, it turns it into a true updated Dance song, and it shows that the song has some good bones in that it can fit a modern-day sound.

• Irish singer James Vincent McMorrow sits down at a piano and turns this into something quite different. If you are going to play the song at a wedding, here’s your version. It’s a slow dance, not a disco dance. This came out in 2012, and it really begs the question of how it hasn’t become a John Lewis Advert yet.

• Then it happens. It doesn’t translate to every genre and/or every artist. Keith Urban and whatever you call his guitar-heavy, country deal doesn’t work for this song in the least. I don’t know what this was accomplishing during our COVID lockdowns, and it’s just lost what heart it did have. It’s a shell of version, and I don’t 100% blame Keith because it’s hard to imagine it as an upbeat country song.

Sunday Morning Tuneage Flashback

• On the Sunday Morning Tuneage from 2/8/2009, two games of basketball to coach on the previous day and it was warming up towards spring. I was excited about the Roku Player that I would never buy that was $100 and had a new video service from Amazon and YouTube. My #59 Favorite Movie of All-Time was Easy Rider (1969). “A man went looking for America and couldn’t find it anywhere.” It wasn’t made for my generation, but at age 17 it spoke to me. I wouldn’t knock it out of my Top 100, but it would just be barely hanging on. It’s hard to put a film in the list just for historical importance and ignore some real filming flaws. I was trying to get into Dollhouse (Fox) that I would later love, I was feeling a break with Heroes (NBC) and Scrubs (ABC) was being burned by airing two episodes per week. My Top Ten of the week was one that I actually put more thought into than most weeks, and I want to think about it more this week too.
  • TOP TEN BOOKS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ (2009)
    • 10. J.R.R. Tolkien – Lord of the Rings (1954): Even for the non-fantasy fan.
    • 9. J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire (2000): Combines the best elements of all of the books.
    • 8. Joseph Conrad – Heart of Darkness (1899)
    • 7. William Faulkner – The Sound & the Fury (1929): It’s hard to get into, but its rewards are worth it.
    • 6. A.A. Milne – Winnie the Pooh (1926)
    • 5. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (1925): Low on plot – heavy on great, descriptive writing and disillusionment.
    • 4. Joseph Heller – Catch 22 (1961): A confusing and funny tale that’s about as anti-war as they get.
    • 3. Mark Twain – The Adventures of Huck Finn (1884)
    • 2. Aldous Huxley – Brave New World (1932): Better than 1984 (1949). It reflects today’s society still. There are some wonderful insights.
    • 1. John Steinbeck – The Grapes of Wrath (1939): If you care about America, if you care about social justice, families, and history, then it’s all here and well written.
  • TOP TEN BOOKS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ (2024)
    • 10. George Orwell – 1984 (1949): This is doubleplusgood. I’ve come around on this over the years as having more depth than I initially gave it credit. It’s rebellion at its best.
    • 9. Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird (1960): I’m not sure how I left off this unforgettable coming-of-age novel off of the original list. The story deserves to be best read as a teen and then again as an adult.
    • 8. Ken Kesey – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962): I read it first in college. Another book about rebellion against authority and how to be your true self.
    • 7. F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby (1925): My initial assessment is correct in that you don’t read this for the plot or life lessons. This book remains a necessary read because it is simply one of the best written books in American Literature.
    • 6. Aldous Huxley – Brave New World (1932): I find Huxley’s vision of the future to be more useful than Orwell’s for the symbolic story he wants to tell. The idea of finding yourself within such a controlled environment works at almost every age.
    • 5. S.E. Hinton – The Outsiders (1967): I can make an argument that the current Young Adult book market stems from this novel. The story of boys dealing with dysfunctional families through their friendships is very modern.
    • 4. J.R.R. Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings (1954): I think that this is a book that teen boys loved for years and then as adults rarely admitted it. That was until the movies made billions of dollars. The story of a quest to find meaning in your life is now more acceptable of a book topic. I want to go through the story again soon.
    • 3. Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 (1953): It’s not just an excellent story about censorship, but it’s a story about how one stands up to do what one thinks is right and just.
    • 2. E.B. White – Charlotte’s Web (1952): It is beyond the limits of just being a book for children. We can all identify with Wilbur.
    • 1. Mary Shelley – Frankenstein (1816): This book begs to be read by adults even though it is often treated as a book for young adults. Shelley might only have been 17, but she had insights into humanity beyond her years. It invented the genre that I love reading the most, and I get something new from it with every read.
  • There’s no going wrong with reading the title on either the newer or older list. The newer list just reflects more of where I’m at today. If I made this list again in December, it might trend a bit differently. There’s probably a core group of about a hundred books that I hold dearly that move in and out of this list. I left off Stephen King who is one of my favorite modern authors because that might be a list unto itself. I was looking for something that did the proverbial “stood the test of time”. I was also looking for universal appeal. There are stories that speak to the human experience that I chose for this current list.

1974 in Review

• August – Man-Thing #8 (Marvel): Cover by Mike Ploog. Written by Steve Gerber. Art by Mike Ploog. “The Gift of Death” story concludes the story started in issue #7.
• August 5 – The comic strip, Tank McNamara debuts. Tank is an ex-offensive lineman from the NFL who is now a sports reporter. Tank still runs daily and the main character was married to his girlfriend, Barb, in 2022.
• August 5 – Sports Illustrated. The NFL Player’s Strike had started on July 1, 1974 and it would end in just over a week from now with players returning to preseason camps without an agreement. The strike was over the “Rozelle Rule” that would allow teams who lost a Free Agent to pick a compensation player from the team who signed them. The replacement rule would become compensating draft picks until the next strike in 1982.

What the Hell Did I Put in My Mouth?

“Think about it, there must be higher love
Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above
Without it, life is a wasted time
Look inside your heart, I’ll look inside mine” – Steve Winwood

Stay Hard

sb