Hola, Sneakers! It’s Episode 621 of the least most popular podcast on the internet!
This week Ian and David talk: old duffer brothers; essential logo; salad days; semi-mush; veggie tales; to hell with it; fishy food; lobster guide; band profiles; he lost control; Taylor’s version; nostalgic criticism; awkward conversation; rules of attractive; older sister act; we didn’t firestarter; the King of Misery; the pursuit of happiness; down in the grumps; Baldwin pines; comforting presence; peak period; character actor; tef-Lorne; the Carvey on gang; underdeveloped; the quiet man; girl powered; no direction; through the ages; family business; coffee clash; the filter of failure; grim endings; different Stiles of improv; talking Simpsons; the reluctant writer; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; a stolid Bond; the phantom movie, and, finally, scam bam thank you ma’am.
Question of the Week: What was the best costume that you saw this year?
Sub-question of the Week: Do you have any clothing that celebrates the past?
Thanks for listening.
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Helloooo Sneakers and Sneaker Hosts!!
Contrary to what David believes, I do listen to every show even if I don’t write in each week. I appreciate the kind words from two weeks ago about my Charlie and the weight I’ve been carrying lately, thank you for that. Work is still unbearably busy but I caught up today so I could write.
Scammed? Yes, I wrote about the pigeon drop I was a victim of back in 1991 on episode 569 last year. The question was “Have you been scammed?” due to David getting his wallet lifted from him on the trip in Europe. I won’t copy and paste it here since it’s quite lengthy but I have indeed been scammed. It’s on episode 569 if you feel so inclined.
You know what an alpha fan I am of Star Wars, so the question of what film franchise was second to it resonated with me. As near and dear as Star Wars has been with me since 1977, I do admit it’s ebbed and flowed over the years as Louise also explained. My fandom for Star Wars has always been at a 100%, even in the years it was absent, it’s my generational pop culture beacon. If you look at other film franchises for the most sustainable property, you have to look at one that has been consistent and maybe even had a built-in fan-base when it began. My pick would be the 007 films. They had an audience of readers going into “Dr. No.” in 1962 and found the magic formula to keep the 007 franchise going on film…by re-casting James Bond whenever they needed to. The 007 audience is strong, affluent and when a new film is released they go all out. The merchandising is over the top and they roll those films out on a global level to this day. I also thought a close second may be The Lord of the Rings franchise for almost the same reasons but 007 has sustained an audience for over 60 years. There’s no other film franchise that delivers around the world like 007.
Back to Avatar for a minute… I saw a box office growth chart for the DC films since Snyder’s involvement and it puts “Aquaman” as the top earner, very high over all the others. I had no idea “Aquaman” had done so well. The article explained that “Aquaman” connected heavily with the overseas market in China and Japan because they love films that honor family, the father of the family and they enjoy films that take place in the sea or in the water. This would explain a great deal of why Avatar was number one for so many years, perhaps it was the overseas market. I asked two online friends about this, one lives in Taiwan and the other in China. Both said that films that have water action or any form of Kaiju, like “Godzilla”, “Pacific Rim” or the “Transformers” score really big in their countries…and yes, Avatar as well. I asked about Star Wars and both admitted they haven’t watched Star Wars in years, it’s run it’s course for many over there. So maybe that’s a huge clue why some of these films score so high elsewhere and only okay here. It’s a big world man and most of it is water.
I’m exhausted but I’m happy I grabbed some time to write. Halloween was lame here but cold!! In the 30’s at night and half the office was sick, so we didn’t do much.
However….our local MLB team, The Texas Rangers just won the World Series for the first time ever. I’m not a huge fan but there are a lot of Texans who are very happy tonight. This was only after they beat our state’s only other team, The Houston Astros, out of the American League pennant, so quite a battle in the Lone Star State has been going on to get to this championship.
I’m out. All you Sneakers out there enjoy your November and one another!
The best costume I saw at our door was a toddler dressed as a sloth. Their dad was carrying them in his arms and the kid was clinging to his side in a very cute sloth-like fashion. I saw another great costume on the Saturday afternoon before Halloween. I was in an Uber stuck in gridlock downtown. Someone in a full Mandalorian costume went zipping past us in the bike lane riding one of those electric mono-wheel things. He looked like he was gliding on air. That was pretty cool.