From the Couch Hole: When Your Day Is Long

Previously on FTCH, murder, she said, because everybody’s got to learn sometime about the monogram murders. The seven dials were not as much a bundle of love as sugar cookie cold foam. This week was a return to non-ice storm related activities. I’m less interested in the Super Bowl than most years, but it feels like my American duty to tune in tonight. This week, one battle after another brought the family together for a right and proper goodbye. The lady in the lake reminded us that everybody hurts and everybody loves cocoa loops. Remember, FTCH includes an 18% gratuity for your convenience.

Pop Culture Ephemera

• Raymond Chandler – The Lady in the Lake (1943) (Published by Alfred A. Knopf): “I’m all done with hating you. It’s all washed out of me. I hate people hard, but I don’t hate them very long.” Raymond Chandler’s fourth Philip Marlowe novel resembles The Big Sleep (1939) in that it’s a couple parallel short stories rewritten to work together. They weren’t even Marlowe stories, so I’m sure that some of the wonderful dialog has been updated. There are two stories of missing wives, one of a rich man that starts the story and another of a working class man that Marlowe comes across during his investigation. I was less aware of this book than any of the other in the Marlowe run. I am not reading these books for the wonderfully clear mysteries. I love his use of the language; the descriptions of each location and the dialog is top tier. Even after a 15-page exposition of what happened by Marlowe, I can’t tell you the exact sequence of events, and I’m fairly convinced that they let one murder totally slide without explanation. You know that I’m still reading the next Marlowe book later this year.

Buy The Lady in the Lake (A Philip Marlowe Novel)

• Family – “A Right & Proper Goodbye” (S.1 E.4) (ABC) (1976): “Hattie can’t afford that… Neither can we. We may have to have her here with us.” – Kate. This show wasn’t just trying to be a sensationalistic “issue of the week” show, at least early on. This episode, Kate’s mother, Hattie (Mildred Natwick) takes on the issue of a sick, elderly parent in a thoughtful manner. It addresses how it affects the children and the grandchildren. It’s respectful of the hard decisions about bringing a parent into the home, and that a physically sick parent isn’t a mentally sick person. I watched it because I had a crush on Buddy (Kristy McNichol). I find it a little dated because it refers to current events of the day, but the themes are respected in a way that I can’t imagine a show handling it today.

Buy R.E.M. – Automatic for the People

• R.E.M. – “Everybody Hurts” (from Automatic for the People) (1992): “When you’re sure you’ve had enough / Of this life, well hang on.” Here’s a song that could have gone wrong at almost every turn. If the lyrics didn’t feel genuine, if the music was too maudlin or upbeat, or if the group didn’t have the cache to pull it off, it would have been derided instead of celebrated. This isn’t the R.E.M. of 1985, seven years later they are reluctant rock stars. It wouldn’t work as a singular story song, it’s got to be “everybody” and that’s the genius of the song. It’s easy to try to “Shiny Happy People” the song away because it’s remained popular or because it isn’t “Driver 8.” I’m reminded of the same opinion that people took of U2 when they started having hits instead of being indie rockers. This song still gets played 34 years later because the message still hits close to home.

• Together (2025) (Directed by Michael Shanks): “It’s called ‘diazepam’ now! It works quicker if you snort it!” – Tim. This body-horror film is essentially a two-person film at heart. Millie (Alison Brie) and Tim (Dave Franco) have just moved out to the country, and it has served to highlight their codependent relationship. I’ll give Shanks credit for some brevity in storytelling at the start of the film. He communicates the relationship issues quickly before they fall in a cave (a leftover location from one of the more recent Alien films, I’m guessing) and the rest of the film is a roller coaster. I don’t think that either lead did a great job, and I don’t think the most memorable scene (a tryst in a school bathroom stall) had much use in the overall story. Same thing I felt about the neighbor/coworker, Jamie (Damon Herriman), who conveniently entered the film when they needed to move the plot forward. With all of that said, I enjoyed the film. Much more would ruin the last 30 minutes of the film. I don’t think it’s a film you’d wish to watch again, but it was a fun Second and Third Act.

Buy Together

• One Battle After Another (2025) (Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson): “Time doesn’t exist yet it controls us anyway.” – Comrade Josh. Paul Thomas Anderson can cast his films like me ordering from a menu at the local Thai restaurant. He did pick the best actors for all of the roles in this film, which is why despite so many holes in the story, this film is nominated and will win a ton of awards. This film feels like at least two (and maybe three) films told simultaneously, maybe that’s why it borders on the length of two films. The two lead characters are tired. They are tired of fighting and rebellion. Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn are foes but only in the tangential ways that their lives have crossed. They are each fighting more internal battles. The film keeps moving in terms of chases and locations. Don’t mistake that for plot movement. Those moments are reserved in the second half of the film to only when Chase Infiniti is on the screen. This film could have driven right off the road into the ditch of being only symbolic of current politics. Anderson keeps the focus just enough on the main characters that it’s entertaining and an interesting rumination of aging in a time of constant resistance. I foresee a film that will fall into the category of “oft nominated, rarely awarded.”

Buy One Battle After Another

Best of the Rest

• When Reverend Al covers “Everybody Hurts” in 2024, it shouldn’t be surprising that it sounds like he is reading the words from the pulpit. The song didn’t feel like it had this level of religious messaging until Al Green used his ’70s-style production. Not to mention that “don’t throw your hands up” all of a sudden put you in a church setting. I love the way “hurts” has like three extra syllables in his version.

• I’m interested in the synchronicity of a song coming back into our consciousness. Why did 2024 lend itself to Al Green’s cover of “Everybody Hurts” but also a version from Joe Cocker. Here, the piano replaces the symphonic background to lead us through the song.. Joe’s voice isn’t significantly different than Stipes, to me. But slightly slowed down, this version also has a different feel than the R.E.M. and Al Green versions. It’s funny that the original version feels very ’90s, Al Green’s version sounds like it comes from the ’70s and this version is produced like a late-’80s hit.

• It’s Superb Owl Sunday and I’ve paid less attention to the upcoming commercials as I have in maybe two decades. I was disappointed with the lackluster Christmas ad season and I don’t see that trend ending with this batch of ads tonight. Even Budweiser is falling back upon old ways with a little “Free Bird” and the Clydesdales. The Pegasus image is interesting but has a vaguely AI feel that takes away what might have been an emotional advertisement. I hope that jaded ad guy (me) comes away surprised tonight, but that seems unlikely based upon previews.

Sunday Morning Tuneage Flashback

• Sunday Morning Tuneage from 2/21/2010, I was finishing up Caleb’s basketball season and baseball season was just a few weeks away. This would be my first year of watching the boys do track too. These were the days when other than American Idol (FOX), the networks didn’t try anything except repeats up against the Winter Olympics. My list was the second leg of the 1977 lists. My conclusion at the time was that 1972 was better for music and that 1977 was the better year for film. I’m not ready to make that decision until December 2027. It’s still interesting to see where I’m at before I start that project.
  
  My #75 Top TV Show of All-Time was Magnum P.I. (CBS) (1980-1988): I did not watch this show when it aired. Thursday nights were for sitcoms and CBS leaned towards soap-opera-type dramas on that night. In college, I took a detective course and the instructor held this show in high esteem as a modern hard-boiled detective show. It was later on a long morning run on USA Network that I caught up with many of these episodes, and I can appreciate the Sam Spade comparisons. The show doesn’t hold up for me any longer as a storytelling device. The episodes lack the structure I crave in my mysteries. I appreciate this show for its era, but it wouldn’t make my Top 150 list today.
  
• TOP TEN ALBUMS RELEASED IN 1977 (2010)
  • 10. Electric Light Orchestra – Out of the Blue
  • 9. Pink Floyd – Animals
  • 8. Styx – Grand Illusion
  • 7. The Clash – The Clash
  • 6. Television – Marquee Moon
  • 5. Steely Dan – Aja
  • 4. Billy Joel – The Stranger
  • 3. Talking Heads – Talking Heads ’77
  • 2. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
  • 1. Parliament – Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome
    
• TOP TEN ALBUMS RELEASED IN 1977 (2025)
  • 10. Billy Joel – The Stranger: It’s like a Billy Joel diary of things he did for a year. Most of the songs are about daily life in New York. Best song: “Movin’ Out.”
  • 9. Ramones – Rocket to Russia: Their third album has more production value. That might not be the most “punk” thing for a punk album but for the Ramones, it turns it into one of the albums that I will have listened to most from this year. Best song: “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker.”
  • 8. Pink Floyd – Animals: This is the perfect concept album to bridge the themes and sounds from “Wish You Were Here” (1975) to “The Wall” (1979). I didn’t catch all of the Orwellian Animal Farm references, but I still can appreciate it. Best song: “Dogs.”
  • 7. Iggy Pop – Lust For Life / The Idiot: The albums released in September and March, respectively, marked an important transition from proto-punk to punk. These two albums explore the darkness (Idiot) and pleasure (Lust) in life. Best song: “Lust For Life” / “Sister Midnight.”
  • 6. Electric Light Orchestra – Out of the Blue: They have always had solid production values, but now Jeff Lynne has improved his pop sensibilities. This album feels like two steps forward. Best song: “Turn to Stone.”
  • 5. The Clash – The Clash: The band goes hard on their debut album. It’s a great year for punk rock and they come out of the gate with one of the classics of the genre. Best song: “White Riot.”
  • 4. Television – Marquee Moon: We’re in the zone of albums that I wouldn’t discover for at least a decade after they were released. The debut album from Television blends what will become that sweet spot for me between punk and new wave. When I found this album in about 1989, it was a revelation. Best song: “Marquee Moon.”
  • 3. Parliament – Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome: I can defend any of about five Parliament or Funkadelic albums as their pinnacle. Then I listen to this album and it’s a big, “what the hell was I thinking?” Bookended by two of the most important funk jams of the end of the decade. Best songs: “Flashlight” and “Bop Gun.”
  • 2. Steely Dan – Aja: There might not be an album in this era that has improved in my estimation more than this one. Is there a better produced and musically literate album of the year? It’s an album that makes me glad to have music in my life. Best song: “Deacon Blues.”
  • 1. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours. This is the year that produced two albums that were owned by every household that I ever visited (including grandparents) – the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack and Rumours. There isn’t a weak song on the album. It might not be a perfect album, but it’s a perfect pop album for 1977. Sometimes you just gotta be in the right place at the right time. Best songs: “Gold Dust Woman” and “The Chain.”

Buy Fleetwood Mac – Rumours

1976 in Review

• February – Adventure Comics #443 (DC Comics): “Not even a man who can breathe air and water can hope to survive — in a vacuum!” – Fisherman. Cover and art by Jim Aparo. Written by Paul Levitz. The art isn’t bad, but even at ten years old, I thought this was a corny title. Aquaman rarely excited me unless he teamed with Batman or Superman and the back-up story was a Golden Age group called Seven Soldiers of Victory.
• February 6 – Opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics were held in Innsbruck, Austria. Christl Haas (alpine skier) and Josef Feistmantl (luger) of Austria lit the Olympic torch.
• February 14 – TV Guide cover by Charles Santore. Sanford and Son (NBC) was still going strong on Friday nights. It had dropped from solidly the #2 show in the country to #7 in the ratings. It had just passed 100 episodes, meaning it would start in daytime reruns in syndication starting in the dummer of 1976. Even though it would be canceled just a year afterwards, the move to reruns would keep it in the public imagination for decades afterwards.

What the Hell Did I Put in My Mouth?

“If you’re on your own in this life
The days and nights are long
When you think you’ve had too much
Of this life to hang on” – R.E.M.