From the Couch Hole: Moving Through the Doorway of a Nation

Previously on FTCH, the dream on becoming a guinea fowl went from highest to lowest for Stranger pizza Doritos. The Stepford wives say ,”it’s my life” while they eat pigs in a blanket chips. This week we started the trip towards actual seasonal change by have a few days only in the high 80s. Work kept me busy during the days, and baseball playoffs are conveniently on nightly. This week Godzilla vs. Mothra were in a deep-red situation. When the chair company said, “Bring her back,” they didn’t mean pecan pie ice cream. Remember, FTCH for the stay.

Pop Culture Ephemera

• Bring Her Back (2025) (Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou): “It’s just meat.” – Laura. I was pleasantly surprised with the directors’ previous film, Talk To Me (2022). This film tries to cover more ground, which is a worthy attempt, although it inevitably leaves more threads unexplored. It’s about parents and children and death and grief. Andy and Piper are orphaned when they find their father dead in the shower. They are put into the foster care of Laura (Sally Hawkins) and her son, Oliver. Laura has recently lost her own daughter. We have the grief of children who have lost a parent overlapping the loss of a daughter by a mother. These dynamics are explored in some of the few quiet moments, and I think that a little extra attention here would have really ramped up the ending. This is one of the better horror films of the year. Much like Weapons (2025), Talk To Me or further back to Hereditary (2018), the film succeeds because it keeps reminding us that we are in a real world where normal things happen while the surreal things are happening in the film. It’s got some of the creepiest scenes of the year, and these directors are officially on my “to watch” list. I should have gone to theaters for this one.

Buy Bring Her Back Blu-ray

• The Chair Company – “Life Goes by Too Fu**ing Fast, It Really Does” (2025) (S.1 E.1) (HBO): “This is a workplace, not a grab-ass party.” – Ron. Tim Robinson and his director Andrew DeYoung are having a moment. They are coming off the success of Friendship (2025) and expanding on that uncomfortable situational humor with an eight-episode series on HBO. While it would be easy to see this as an extension of Friendship, this initially feels like it has more to say about the fragile male psyche trying to fit in socially in the world. The film lacked a consistent self appraisal that this looks to have. A chair accident in the first episode sends Ron (Tim Robinson) down a path that’s equal parts conspiracy, mystery, paranoia, and just plain losing his mind. This show has potential to have the rare combination of humor and message.

Buy Yaz – Upstairs at Eric’s

• Yaz (aka Yazoo) – “Situation” (1982) (from Upstairs at Eric’s): “Now he’s in control, he is my lover.” Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet weren’t the first electronic dance albums I purchased. They were the first ones I fell in love with way back in 1982. I love “Don’t Go” and “Only You” but the first synth beats of “Situation” can get me right out of my seat (a problem if I’m driving). Then you get Alison’s laugh, and the time machine is engaged. When I would DJ the school dances, this was the album that we played at top levels to test the sound before the event started. I can still here the way it echoed through the the cafetorium. Every five to ten years, it seems to come back into vogue with a slightly different remix. It’s about time.

• Deep Red (aka The Hatchet Murders) (1975) (Directed by Dario Argento): “There’s someone in the house… absolutely trying to kill me, ya’know?” – Marcus. I can easily make a case for this being the best place to start if you are interested in Italian giallo films. I say that even though I believe that Suspiria (1977) is Argento’s masterwork, just not as accessible. This film has the best balance of Hitchcock influences mixed with pushing the envelope of modern sensibilities of gore. The plot starts off with the simple event of Marcus (David Hemmings) witnessing a murder from the street in an upstairs window. He arrives just as the murderer gets away. That starts a series of more and more complicated events as Marcus tries to solve the murder parallel from the authorities.
  
  I think this is a film that you have to discuss much more than the plot to really appreciate. The first thing about this, and all of the giallo films I have watched, is the extreme color palette. It’s called Deep Red for a reason. The film leans on darkness and light, with blacks and whites dominating. Then there’s the splashes of red, and that’s not just the blood. The different shades of red placed throughout the film are almost overwhelming to keep track of. I want to see this on the big screen to really appreciate. The soundtrack is another important character, especially the Goblin soundtrack. The prog-rock sound is more appropriate for a horror film than one would think. The percussion alone feels like a heartbeat in certain scenes. The red herrings of the plot might be another “red”, but they can be distracting if you get too into your head while watching. It’s a film to best be “in the moment” and stay along for an amazing ride.

Buy Deep Red

• Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) (Directed by Takao Okawara): “What is all this? What’s happening to our planet?” – Yuzo. The nineteenth film in the series and the fourth film in the Heisei Era brings back fan-favorite Mothra. If this was written today, you’d claim it was AI. Toho brought back the most popular monster, they added a child protagonist, and never strayed too far from the battles. Mothra would have her own trilogy after the success of this film.
  
  The series is coming off the time-travel, science-fiction messy story with King Ghidorah. The Mothra stories have always leaned more into the fantasy elements on South Pacific islands with environmental-themed stories. That’s the case here with Mothra and Battra (a darker version of Mothra) warning humans about the decay of their planet. If that level of preachy isn’t your thing, you’ll tune out 20 minutes into the film. The film isn’t amazing, but the battles are enjoyable. The subplots aren’t as annoying as some of the more recent films. The film would be the second highest grossing film in Japan for 1993, only behind Jurassic Park (1993). This was a shot in the arm for the series, and you can feel it as you watch Mothra emerge from her cocoon.

Best of the Rest

• With still over a week until Halloween, this Xfinity commercial wins the October advertising season, hands down. “Not a word about the bangs?” The use of Yaz’s “Situation” is an inspired choice to give it an old-fashioned feel. A song with popularity over 40 years ago might as well be WWII era for the Millennials that this ad is aimed at. I hope this has a sequel, preferably for Christmas.

• I think I had completely removed this Tom Jones cover of “Situation” from my memory until this week. Now that I listen again, I can see why. At the same time, there’s something so 1994 about the sound of this that I’m going to give it some respect for capturing the sound of 75% of the dance songs of the day.

• I don’t know remember much about this band other than they weren’t the superior the Sundays. If you had a pre-teen girl in this 2008 era, you would have come across this Irish-English girl band. Their type of dance pop was all over the charts, and there had to be a few dozen artists living in the shadow of the Spice Girls. I remember this song because of the interpolation of “Situation” but little else.

Sunday Morning Tuneage Flashback

• Sunday Morning Tuneage from 12/13/2009, it was all about basketball and work. Both boys were in leagues with multiple games a week including practices. This was the time of year with buyback and graduation ahead of me that I was going to work 60 hours the next week. I don’t miss that at all. I was excited for the new Dollhouse (Fox), impressed with Russell on Survivor: Samoa (CBS), and meaning to finally start watching Dexter (SHO). My Top Ten was very different than most of them and worth a second look.
  
  My #84 Top TV Show of All-Time was Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles (Fox) (2008-2009): I talked about this show earlier in a list of cancelled too early series from FOX. I’ve been thinking about watching this again. I have a desire now to own the physical media of it. I liked it that much, especially the first season. Is it a Top 100 show? I think it’s close, but there have been so many good shows since then that it might get bumped With the revisionist histories of other science-fiction properties from this era, I don’t see how there isn’t a new version of this on a network like FX in the near future.
  
• STADIUMS ON SHAWN’S BUCKET LIST AS OF 2009 (2009)
  • 10. Beaver Stadium (Penn State)
  • 9. Camden Yards (Baltimore)
  • 8. AT&T Park (San Francisco)
  • 7. Anfield (Liverpool)
  • 6. Ohio Stadium (Ohio State)
  • 5. Soldier Field (Chicago)
  • 4. The Staples Center (Los Angeles)
  • 3. Heinz Field (Pittsburgh)
  • 2. Fenway Park (Boston)
  • 1. Lambeau Field (Green Bay)
    
• STADIUMS ON SHAWN’S BUCKET LIST AS OF 2025 (2025)
  • 10. Wembley Stadium (London): I’d love to see a proper English football championship game here.
  • 9. Camp Nou (Barcelona): Currently under construction to add a third tier. I would love to see an FC Barcelona / Madrid match here.
  • 8. Emirates Stadium (London): My ultimate European football goal is to see something like a Chelsea or Liverpool vs. Arsenal match on these grounds.
  • 7. Mercedes Benz Stadium (Atlanta): Not a fan of the teams as much as the unique design of the stadium.
  • 6. Soldier Field (Chicago): Of all of my trips to Chicago, I’ve yet to enter these hallowed grounds.
  • 5. SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles): It’s not a classic, and I’m not even certain it’s attractive in design. I’m excited to attend a game here no matter.
  • 4. Madison Square Garden (New York): There’s just too much history here to be ignored. I’m always fascinated by downtown sport stadiums and venues.
  • 3. Kyle Field (Texas A&M): My interest is piqued since my son started attending the college. The stadium is very impressive from the outside.
  • 2. Lambeau Field (Green Bay): Are you even a football fan if you haven’t made the pilgrimage to this classic football field?
  • 1. Fenway Park (Boston): Of all the ones on my current list, this seems to be the most likely to happen once I get moved to Massachusetts in the near future. I’ve done Wrigley and this is the next one that needs to be on every baseball fan’s list.

1975 in Review

• October – Creepy #74 (Warren): Cover by Reed Crandall. Art by Reed Crandall. I’ve wanted to own a copy of this for a long time. The adaptation of Poe’s “The Cask of the Amontillado” in this issue is one of the best ever. It’s essentially Warren taking the cheap way out and printing a Best Of Reed Crandall issue for Halloween 1975, and I’m all about it.
• October 11 – NBC airs the first episode of NBC’s Saturday Night Live (NBC) with guest George Carlin and featuring music from Janis Ian and Billy Preston.
• October 20 – The 72nd World Series is credited with “saving baseball.” It’s also consistently ranked in the Top Three World Series of all-time. The seven game series didn’t have a clunker in the bunch, even though it’s mostly remembered for the Game Six heroics by Fisk. Both teams are full of Hall of Famers, and the stadiums were rocking. The Reds were in the middle of a dynasty run through the decade only mirrored at the time by a four-year run of the Oakland A’s. Pete Rose would be the MVP of the series, but you could make the case for any of at least five other players.

What the Hell Did I Put in My Mouth?

“Now he’s in control, he is my lover
Nations stand against him, he’s your brother
Been a long time, been a long time now
I’ll get to you somehow, yeah” – Yaz