Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Episode 523 of the podcast that gives you feelin’s!
This week: co-sidekicks; Gilligan’s Island: Who’s to Blame?; schlub-a-likes; from naughty to nudey; teen-for-all; gentiles on the roof; high school betrayal; prank performance; the sound of disappointment; the last gasp of the Hollywood musical; unfunny Coens; walk outs; the disappearing past; expensive tastes; laughing cats; we’re funny; changeless; befuddled audience; back to Get back; interesting failures; mid-range jokes; visual storytelling; the perfect Pride and Prejudice; lead character actor; possible ghost; what weird ass segment is next?; meta-bad; cow butts; schmozzle up; Scooby-Doo controversy; ratzis; electronical pop; Question of the Week – Sneakers response; angling; Beatles watch party; choking nostalgia; ping-pong productions; ineffectual pseudonyms; rain cartoon dogs; and, finally, say hello to my little hoo-hah!
Top 5 Feelin’ Songs!
- Little Junior Parker – “Feelin’ Good” – The Chronological Little Junior Parker 1952-1955, 2006 – 1:45:42
- The Luv’d Ones – “Yeah, I’m Feelin’ Fine” – Truth Gotta Stand, 1999 – 1:52:12
- The Archies – “Feelin’ So Good (S.K.O.O.B.Y.-D.O.O.) – Everything’s Archie, 1969 – 1:56:31
- The Mamas and the Papas – “Got a Feelin'” – If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, 1966 – 2:05:04
- The Human League – “(Keep Feelin’) Fascination” – Fascination! EP, 1983 – 2:19:11
Question of the Week: What is something that wasn’t great, but was saved by a good ending?
Sub-question of the Week: What is a place that you loved, but has now disappeared.
Thanks for listening.
At least someone is keeping track of our anniversaries! Thanks so much to Chris Roberts for sending us this celebratory video marking ten years of sneaking!
That’s Chris Roberts, everyone! (Subscribe to his YouTube channel!)
There was a bit of controversy this week over the origins of the name of everyone’s favourite ghost-chasing canine Scooby-Doo. It’s pretty universally recognized that the first use of “scooby-doo” was in the song “Denise” by Randy and the Rainbows – one of many groups that sprang up during the great doo-wop revival of the early ’60s.
The legendary story of Fred Silverman coming up with the name of Scooby-Doo based on Frank Sinatra’s scatting at the end of “Strangers in the Night” is often told. However, on “Strangers in the Night”, Sinatra scats “Doo-be-doo-be-doo”, which doesn’t explain how the name became Scooby-Doo.
It seemed likely that the show’s name is a combination of Silverman’s idea and The Archies’ song, which had come out in late 1968 at a time when the show was still titled Mysteries Five and featured a dog named Too Much. But here is the twist! “Everyday People” which also features the phrase “scooby-dooby-doo” came out in November 1968 – a month before The Archies’ song! So maybe we have to give Sly Stone the credit for inspiring Scooby’s name.
The great Sly Stone for the win! (By the way, the Scooby gang was based on characters from The Many Loves of Dobey Gillis!)
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Can we please get a Compleatley Beatles about Get Back?
It is such a great documentary.
I wrote about it as well, if anyone is interested.
How about slowly taking us through “Get Back” like you do “Dark Shadows”, it’s about as long, maybe longer.
Hi,
I owe you some apologies. Last time I lectured you about english high classes and meat naming. But, Tom Scott (the youtube one, not the Blues Brother one) contradicted me 5 years ago.
How rude !
He claims that the naming is related to anglo-saxon vs anglo-normand invasions, way way back to some 1000-ish years ago.
Yeah right, buuuut maybe those normands where actually cooks… prove me wrong Scott! Like warrior cooks, and I’m sure it’s why kitchen organisation is so military, the kitchen crew is a brigade, for crying out loud!
Funny thing, younger I always was right, but getting older I realise that things I known for sure are not so true, resulting in the fact that, probably, I never was so right.
Am I getting wiser, accepting to be wrong?
But, wait a minute, so if I’m a wrong, I’m wrong about the fact that younger I was wrong about thinking I was always right, so in fact I was right… right?
Let’s that tought and some alka seltzer sinks in.
Do you know that it’s a zeugma? Not the confusion about the truth in old age, that’s Alzheimer, which, by the way and funnily, is an approximative homophony of Alka seltzer. It’s close in pronunciation, and even if it’s related to brain problems, not in meaning, in which case it will be a synonym.
Zeugma is kind of killing two birds with one stone, literally, I mean because it’s a figurative saying which really described it… If the two birds are not of the same species. Or really, that one of the bird is something else your throw stone at… like a storefront window. Which in this case it will, more likely, be cobblestones, the things you’are throwing. So the other bird will be quit difficult to hit with it. Regarding the size and the velocity of such a projectile, except if the bird is in front of the store front. Maybe, it’s on the glass, painted, because it’s a grain shop. But it will be contradictory with the saying as the glass and the painting are really only one thing.
Arf…
Seems I throw myself in some convoluted and obscure explanation and a dead end, like the bird of selfbelief hitting the window of reality and its demise.
Two more zeugmas, I think, and something like an allegory. Making it a zeugmallegory?
I always loved complicated words, the ones you throw in conversations just to get that confuse look in your listener.
But sometimes it backfires, when as you explain what it means, proud of yourself, some random Tom Scott corrects you… because HE knows and contrary to what you were sure of, you’re not always right.
Just realised that it is quit representative of the ADHD thinking, or what you can read or hear about it.
Difficulty to concentrate on the matters at end, tendencies to digress, and not paying attention, resulting in a somewhat defective memory, and over compensating to try to make sense of all of it adding in the process extra layers of confusions, and sometimes resulting in social awkwardness (real or feeled),
Ian on my last rant you reacted like you seemingly were looking into it (ADHD) one way or an other… May I ask in which way(s) ?
Well, I liked to answer some of your past questions, but each times I try to think about it the answers seems to elude me. Then the sneakers answers them and I cried « Yeees! Excatly!! I knew it… Darn.» And when I get a good one it’s one month after in the middle of the night when going to pee. Then I forget it.
In conclusion you’ve got the sneaky dragon, I’ve got the sneaky brain.
PS : Glad to hear that the shitty things passes and the Ian still barks.
PS2 : Is Stranger Things is nostalgic show or the best way to describe our time ? Or maybe everything is connected ????
Hello, gentlemen. Several years ago I discovered your show and enjoyed it a great deal. Even though our cultural interests don’t completely overlap (I’m not much interested in comics or science fiction, though I don’t dislike them), I enjoyed your banter, your humor, and your smart commentary. But then life intervened and I had a lot less time on my hands, so I lost the thread. Then, last week, I started watching Get Back, and I thought of you guys and wondered what you were up to, so I listened again, and it was like seeing old friends again after a long separation.
I listen in bits and pieces while walking the dog and washing dishes, and I’m thinking about an experiment: I might (very slowly) go through your episodes in reverse order. That way, I can experience time backwards, like Merlin in The Once and Future King, and the inside jokes and self-references will gradually reveal themselves as I travel through the years.
Best wishes and happy holidays to you both,
John
You know Ian, maybe Alex Ross saw that comic strip you mentioned last week and got the idea for the JLA to use proper names from it! I was a Marvel brat for years and only read DC at a friend’s house after school. It all seemed so dense that nothing really caught me, all the Earth-2 stuff and the Justice Society being from different worlds just sent back to my Marvel comics. It wasn’t until the mid-80’s that I started reading DC faithfully, so I missed those early strips you mentioned. My main reference to anything DC back then was probably Super Friends or the occasional DC/Marvel crossover.
I distinctly remember renting “About Schmidt” years ago and found it just kind of mediocre but not bad. Jack Nicholson didn’t really play his normal role in the film and it seemed somewhat dreary as his widowed character tries to find some sense in his life after retirement. Then the ending came as he receives a painting from six year old Ndugu in another country he’s been writing to throughout the film. Ndugu doesn’t know how to read or write, so a nun writes for the child to Schmidt along with the painting. It’s a painting of Ndugu and Schmidt holding hands in front of a big sun and Jack Nicholson delivers one of his best scenes ever as he breaks down from this simple gesture of love. This ending changed “About Schmidt” into a far better movie for me and made repeat viewings more enjoyable even though I know I’ll cry at the final scene. I think it’s time to watch “About Schmidt” again soon.
There was a theater in Dallas, the North Park I & II that showed all the first run films…the great ones. Built the year I was born, 1965, North Park is where I first saw “Star Wars”, “The Empire Strikes Back”, “Jurassic Park”, “Schindler’s List” and many others. It was literally the biggest theater in Dallas and one of the first of three theaters to use Lucasfilm THX Sound System, this place was a moviegoing experience. For reasons unknown to me, they closed it in 1998 and tore it down in 2001. The North Park Mall which wasn’t connected to the theater, is still one of the most successful malls in Dallas and the oldest. To this day I can’t understand why North Park I & II had to close instead of just being renovated. I think there’s a Bed Bath & Beyond in it’s place now or just more mall. If I could just see one move movie there….
Dave, did you say you’ve watched “Get Back” twice?! My speed is probably more equal to Ian’s and I’m about half way through the second episode. I love The Beatles, I do, but getting into this thing was like sitting in therapy with them. My late friend Sean who I’ve mentioned in the past was more of an audiophile like you Dave, this documentary would have been like heroin in his veins. I think that the more musically inclined audience gets more out of “Get Back” than someone like me who hasn’t a clue as to what they’re talking about when it comes to making music. What I did enjoy was seeing those moments of clarity when the first moments of a song were recognized or the banter they shared each morning. I didn’t like how George was treated and I thought Paul was a bigger prick than I’ve ever imagined…but I knew this was all coming. The proposed film project and performance that the crew was badgering The Beatles was so misguided, these four men were put on this Earth to write and perform music, not art direct and visually produce what surrounded them. I did find it interesting that they recognized the absence of “Mr. Epstein” and his role in handling everything else outside the music. I am chiseling away at it because I realize the payoff is worth it, it’s just taking be longer to Get Back.
Hi Dave and Ian! I have a confession… I over-extended myself helping with community Christmas activities during the past fortnight which means I didn’t watch Dark Shadows, my Christmas tree isn’t decorated, and I’m still trying to make it through part two of Get Back. But I did manage to keep up with listening to the podcast each week– gotta keep those priorities straight. 😉
Ian, I am truly sorry that you are having heart issues. Please take care of yourself and be mindful of the foods you are consuming, your heart rate while being active, and your stress level. You need a balance of both salt (not too much, though) and potassium to help with regulating the heart. Carnitine also helps with heart function. Red meat is the most readily consumable source of carnitine, but your cardiologist can prescribe an extracted form if you are deficient. Hopefully, you will have some time off during the holidays to rest and take some much needed “me” time.
Dave, I’ve been thinking about possible ideas for Top 5 songs. Here are a few of my suggestions: non-Beatles Apple releases, best B-sides (no particular group in mind), five best mashups you’ve heard (the Tom Petty / Beatles mashup of Last Dance with Mary Jane and Girl is particularly well done), songs that were produced by a famous musician (like how Paul McCartney produced Mello Yellow for Donovan under the name Apollo C Vermouth), songs that are a tribute to another band, songs that mention food, and finally, because my most favorite Monkee just passed, five best Michael Nesmith solo songs.
In response to one of last week’s questions: I enjoy watching the Goldbergs because of its recreation of the 1980s, although to be perfectly honest, I don’t remember homes in the 80s being quite so colorful. I remember a lot of brown– dark brown paneling, dark brown couches, and avocado greens and harvest yellows. But I enjoy the nostalgia and think the producers do a pretty good job with recreating the 1980s.
I miss getting to go shopping at Shady Brook Mall over in Columbia. When it opened in 1981, it was the happening place to go. There was an arcade called the Pirates Cove, a bookstore called Readmore; a record store called the Sound Shop; a store called the Homespun Shop where you could buy handmade soaps, candles, and stuff that looked it came straight from Colonial Williamsburg. The mall started dying out in the late 1990s. Now the hospital has a cancer center there and most of the building is empty. I have heard rumors about it being torn down.
Getting back to Get Back, I’ve heard how horrible this time was for the Beatles and I think it might have been mentioned by Dave in Compleatly Beatles that Let It Be the movie was edited to heighten the negative drama among the group–choosing to focus on the bad and not as much of the fun. What I didn’t expect to see was how little confidence George Harrison had in his musical ability. In episode one, he said multiple times how great Eric Clampton was and then would speak poorly of his own ability. Right before he walks out, he says “You need Eric Clampton.” And then John immediately fires back with “We need George Harrison,” and Paul says, “No, we need George Harrison,” too. Although George walked out, that is my favorite quote so far.
One more thought and I’ll hush: I looked over at the calendar and feel compelled to say this. I absolutely love the show, guys… You are so diligent and dedicated to amusing all the little Sneaksters, but please take time off from being rockstars of the podcasting world to enjoy Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day with your family and friends. I would much rather enjoy listening to episode 524 knowing you didn’t have to push through, rush through, or miss out on some reindeer games just to spread joy and witty quips to the masses.
I would say Merry Happy Hangover, but Dave doesn’t drink so I wish you both a very happy Merry everything and hope your Season is Merry and Bright.