From the Couch Hole: Shine On, Shine the Lights on Me

Previously on FTCH, someone, somewhere in the Summertime there was a Phoenician scheme for the razor girl to find Howdy Doody some bacon, grilled-cheese chips. This week the stress of moving moved from the packing mode to the waiting to sell mode. I’m not sure that waiting isn’t worse. This week there was a glittering prize of Chips Ahoy!, but one of our olives was missing. The coda of the life of Chuck came 28 days later with sugar cookie Pop-Tarts. Remember, FTCH is for viewers like you.

Pop Culture Ephemera

• The Life of Chuck (2025) (Directed by Mike Flanagan): “The Universe is large and it contains multitudes.” – Charles Krantz. I loved the original novella from If It Bleeds (2020). I love this adaptation as much as any film adaptation of a Stephen King story since Mike Flanagan adapted Doctor Sleep (2019). In the hands of any other director, this story had the potential to feel like a superficial grab at your heart. Flanagan has a perfect partner in Tom Hiddleston as the titular adult version of Chuck Krantz. The story is revealed in three separate timelines working backwards from the end of Chuck’s life that parallels the end of the world, through the events that put this all in motion in Chuck’s youth. I’m rarely a fan of stories told out of chronological order, but this proves the exception because the thematic reveal works best in reverse.
  
  The film is filled with long conversations that are a mark of a good Mike Flanagan work. Each separate act revolves around the seemingly small events that make up the importance of life. There are moments in our futures that are more powerful when we see them as a reflection of what happened in our past. Life goes faster as we get older. I like discovering the lessons of life as they slow down more. The message to slow down and enjoy the moments isn’t a new theme. It’s the core of the best holiday films like It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol. The mixture of Walt Whitman, American musicals, and Carl Sagan is right up my alley. This is a multi-viewing film for sure.

Buy If It Bleeds paperback

• Get Smart – “One of Our Olives Is Missing” (1967) (S.3 E.7) (NBC): “Sorry, gang, I don’t usually bust in on people like this and squeeze their olives, but this is an emergency.” – Maxwell Smart. This episode is why I’m making my way through this show. Carol Burnett plays country singer, Ozark Annie, who accidentally swallows a KAOS transmitter in an olive. It’s up to Max to protect her from KAOS. Burnett is at her best Lucille Ball throughout the episode. Her exaggerated laugh gets me every time. As a bonus, there’s a good amount of Siegfried (Bernie Kopell), although no Chief. This is the best episode of Season Three so far.

Buy Get Smart: The Complete Series DVD set

• Simple Minds – “Glittering Prize” (1982) (from New Gold Dream [81-82-83-84]): “I saw you up on a clear day / First taking hearts / The our last breath away.” This was Simple Minds second single. I can’t explain what is happening in their official video for the song. I can surmise that the song is about catching that glimpse of something that you want and going after it. It could be as simple as a lover or something more ethereal. That bassline is impressive. What a nightmare this had to be for DJs with the vocals starting 0.2 seconds into the song. This is how I like my Simple Minds songs, with Jim Kerr’s vocal buried in the mix until it is almost just another instrument. Turn this one up.

• CODA (2021) (Directed by Sian Heder): “I can’t do my job unless you do yours. And I certainly don’t need a lesson in failure from someone who’s too afraid to even try.” – Bernardo Villalobos. Finally catching up with a few recent Oscar winners. It didn’t hurt that it’s set in the area that I’m planning on moving. I wasn’t warned that this film would wreck me. I don’t handle emotional films about fathers and daughters. Coming-of-age stories don’t often win Academy Awards, but this one certainly deserved the acclaim. Everything you’d expect from the genre is present here. There’s a shy teen with a talent that isn’t known to everyone, an idealistic teacher who sees her potential, and the obstacles to get to a very important audition. There’s even the troubled older sibling and a crush who has to go to lengths to win her back. The film succeeds because of the positivity and tenderness of the family. The unique situation of having deaf parents and a deaf sibling allows the lead, Emily Jones, to carve out an appealing niche. The heart of this story is the family, which pushes it above other similar films. Too many films would concentrate on the journey of the teen to pass the audition. In many ways, that actual beat is one of the weakest parts of the story. Family is what I will remember of this film. I’m sad that I waited a few years to catch up with this picture.

• 28 Days Later (2002) (Directed by Danny Boyle): “‘With endless love, we left you sleeping. Now we’re sleeping with you. Don’t wake up. X'” – Jim’s mother’s note. Danny Boyle has directed better films. Alex Garland has written better films. There have been better zombie films. Before you call me out on some technicality that they aren’t dead and it’s a rage virus, I get it, but you are in the minority if you don’t rank this against the other giants of the genre. In 2002, this was a brilliant take. In a post-9/11 world, we were all about rage. It was an infection upon our society. Don’t confuse this with Romero’s social satire Dead films. It’s a love story disguised as a horror story, set within an end-of-the-world dystopian scenario. I’m torn how to convey that I still enjoy this film, but the movie appears to be shot on Super VHS. We’ve gone through a couple decades of zombies being on our televisions weekly. I have expectations on how Danny Boyle would do this today, and maybe that’s why I hold out hope for the new film. I’m prepped now and let’s see how the world has changed.

Best of the Rest

• The Cannes Lion awards are more prestigious than the Clio awards for advertisers. There’s a level of artistic sensibility needed to win one of them. A Grand Prix award was won by a 17-minute L’Oreal Paris documentary that I haven’t watched yet and you probably won’t either. The second Grand Prix went to a wonderful Channel 4 commercial for the 2024 Paris Paralympic games. The ad reminds me of a recent-era Nike ad that turns the stereotype back in on itself. The “for someone like him,” words hit hard when it comes a full 90 seconds into the ad.

• Entertainment Weekly (3/28/97): “Best Commercials of All-Time” #16: Nike “Hang Time” (1989): “Do you know who the best player in the game is?” As an ad campaign, Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon with Michael Jordan as Michael Jordan was brilliance on so many levels. Shot in black and white to look like an independent film, they touched upon something that just wasn’t happening at the time. They humanized the athlete. Adding that touch of humor to Jordan’s personality would continue as long as Jordan’s ad career lasted. Previously, you had to go back to Joe Namath to find an athlete willing to not appear superhuman in a commercial. The shoes happened to be pretty cool, which helped, but there’s no doubt that these ads helped make Nike a bit player in both the shoe and advertising game.

• By the time Nike became one of the most profitable companies in the world, they could afford to become a brand instead of a shoe company. That’s when a company either fails or leaps forward. They took a triple jump forward. It’s almost forbidden to talk about “failure” in sports or in life. Nike did it in a way that paired it with success. First it was Michael Jordan in a very clever advertisement. Then Giannis took it to a whole other level with what is a master class is turning a cultural moment into a philosophical statement. “You will become clever through your mistakes.”

Sunday Morning Tuneage Flashback

Buy She’s Having a Baby Blu-ray

• Sunday Morning Tuneage from 8/9/2009, I returned from almost a month off of “normal” Sunday Tuneage. The biggest news was the addition of the most loved doggy, Miles, to our little family. I ranked my favorite John Hughes moments. I don’t see that there would be much movement, so I’m reluctant to redo those accurate rankings. I had the “This Woman’s Work” montage from She’s Having a Baby (1989) at number two and the Simple Minds “Don’t You Forget About Me” walk across the football field at Number One. I might flip those two today.
  
  I started a sub-project that I’ll have to put lots of thought into. With my Top 100 Movie rankings behind me, I started my Top 100 TV Show rankings. My rules were no shows that I hadn’t at least watched a majority of episodes and no miniseries. That miniseries rule would have to be clarified today, but that was meant to leave out short, one-time stories that were popular through that time frame. My #100 Favorite Show of All-Time was Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) (2000-2024). I know this has moved up my rankings since 2009. Just not sure if it has broken into my Top Fifty.

1975 in Review

• June – Fantastic Four #159 (Marvel): Cover and art by Rich Buckler. Written by Roy Thomas. Sue Storm ends up back with the group and her powers are stronger than before. Medusa leaves the group to keep it at a fantastic number. Johnny returns to his original blue and black costume. This cover was used on some Mead Trapper Keeper covers in my childhood.
• June 30 – By order of the Dept. of Justice, women could no longer be involuntarily discharged for pregnancy.
• June 23 – People Weekly: Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden were married from 1973 to 1990. The two activists were married just days after her divorce from director Roger Vadim. Hayden would lose the Senate bid in the primary in 1976. He would later serve as a State Senator. They continued their activism for the environment and animal rights throughout their marriage.

What the Hell Did I Put in My Mouth?

“We were spending time
We were starting out
Take in, take in more
Endless breath away
We were starting out
Now we’re staring in
Could there ever be
Ever more than one
Called an act of love” – Simple Minds