Sunday Morning Tuneage & Weekly TV (3/31/13)

A great Friday for family time.  Celebrated Christian's 17th birthday by taking him and my Dad to Cowboy Stadium to see Michigan.  Turned out to be an awesome game too.  A very special day.  The rest of the week was a little bit of a dud for kids activities - Caleb had rainouts for baseball and soccer.  Christian had a couple baseball games that I wasn't able to watch.  We pick up tickets to go see the Michigan game this afternoon - so, it's going to be another trip to Arlington in just a little bit.  Easter dinner will have to wait until later in the evening.  Gotta leave in just a little bit.  Until then just sitting here talking to Miles and listening to some tuneage . . .

SUNDAY MORNING TUNEAGE

THE POLICE - KING OF PAIN.    I've never made bones about my love of 1983.  And if I had the chance to time machine back to that year, I'd set the controls to late August and early September of that year.  If you hop out of that machine with me and turn on the radio - you'll definitely hear this song.  If you check in on me, in my room, when I just get home from school - I'll be on my phone, in my chair and this album will be playing.  Every song on this album takes me back to a special place.  Sting sings it best like here when he's singing about the pain of love . . . 

AL JARREAU - TROUBLE IN PARADISE.  This 1983 single is off the "Jarreau" album.  It didn't get lots of radio play but it was one of the songs off the album that I played the most. Even as a youngster I loved the Soul song that talks about the moment in a relationship when you have to declare that love or lose it.  Such a raw moment and he talks about the  rewards of it . . . "Well, if you care about her / Don't ever doubt her love / Would you turn around and throw it all away? / Just let her know today."

NIRVANA - COME AS YOU ARE.  A nice little Nirvana song this morning.  I was in the mood for a couple of the other tunes but the guitar work here really makes me feel good this morning.  In 1992, this was the single that proved to everyone that Nirvana wasn't just going to be a one "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit wonder.  This song and "Lithium" that followed were much more interesting musically than "Smells".  This song defines much of what I think Grunge was at the time - it's got all the 1980s punk influences and that guitar solo at the beginning has the slow, underwater feel that I imagine was the sound Kurt was looking to capture.

SOMETHING RANDOM . . .  first is the trailer for the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who . . .

And speaking of traveling in time . . . here's the trailer for the fine George Pal's TIME MACHINE . . . 

DEADLIGHTS OF 2013. . .  Don Payne was one of the better writers for "The Simpsons" and always hilarious at Comic Con on the Simpsons panels.  He had some non-TV writing credits including as a co-writer on THOR . . . Richard Griffiths was best known as Uncle Vernon Dursley in the HARRY POTTER series but he also had memorable roles in Uncle Monty in WITHNAIL & I and King George in PIRATES OF CARIBBEAN.  

QUICK LIST (a random, uninformed list off the top of Shawn's head)

BEST SPORTS STREAKS EVER

10.  OREL HERSHISER'S SCORELESS INNING STREAK.  I had just moved to Los Angeles in time to see Orel throw 59.1 scoreless innings.  That's just crazy talk these days.  When anyone gets to 30 these days it's worth an hour on SportsCenter.

9.  TAMPA BAY BUCCANEER'S LOSING STREAK.   You thought the Lions were bad a few years ago?  They barely tip the scales - Tampa Bay lost 26 straight games in 1976 and 1977.

8.  BYRON NELSON'S WINNING STREAK.  I remember how impressed I was when Tiger won 7 tournaments in a row in 2006-2007.  He was a month of victories away from winning the 11 in a row that Byron did in 1945.  I don't follow golf as close as other sports but I respect how hard this would be.

7.  MARTINA NAVRATILOVA'S WINNING STREAK.  Women do usually have longer winning streaks in tennis.  But Martina's run of 74 straight in 1984 is incredible.  No off days on the court - even in Majors.  Borg won 49 in a row - he was only 2/3rd of the way to this record.

6.  OKLAHOMA'S WINNING STREAK.  It's amazing enough that the University of Oklahoma won 47 straight games.  But I wonder how between 1953 and 1957 did they ONLY win 2 National Championships.  Two sets of players went from their Freshman year through their Senior season without seeing a loss.

5.  CAL RIPKEN'S CONSECUTIVE GAME STREAK.  Maybe I should be more impressed with this.  It built up from my childhood through my adulthood and until I had kids.  He took an unbeatable record and pushed past it by 25%.  2632 games is impressive by any standard - I work just about every day but sometimes you have bad Taco Casa and can't make it in.  Never happened to Cal.

4.  UCLA WINNING STREAK.  Just consider how long it has been since a college team went undefeated in one season?  And UCLA went 88-0, including TWO undefeated seasons in a row.  John Wooden had a magic touch - that doesn't happen by accident - even with great players.

3.  BOSTON CELTICS CHAMPIONSHIP STREAK.  From 1959 to 1966 the Celtics won 8 straight championships.  Had he not "retired", maybe Jordan could have pushed this record.  But consider how many breaks it took for him to win two sets of three championships.  I can't fathom the luck of this happening today - no injuries or free agents to mess up the run?  Not in my lifetime.

2.  WAYNE GRETZKY'S SCORING STREAK.  Hockey is a game that will throw out some 2-1 and 1-0 games every week or so.  So, how did Gretzky score in 51 straight games to start the 1983-84 season?  That's over half of the season with a goal or an assist.  I saw it happen and still can't even tell you how.  Amazing.

1.  JOE DIMAGGIO'S HITTING STREAK.  Baseball is hard.  Hitting is hard.  In 1941, he got a hit in 56 straight games.  How hard is it?  The next closest since then is Pete Rose with 44 straight.  I can't imagine ever seeing any current Major Leaguer even getting to 45 and then thinking at that point that you still have two weeks to go.  Two months of a hit every night?  Not happening.

I started thinking of streaks when I heard the Ray Stevens song . . . well, maybe too as I followed the Miami Heat win streak last week.  I'm rarely impressed with team winning streaks in the middle of a season until they become half the season or more.  Also, I didn't put lots of losing streaks in there although it seems like professional teams would win accidentally ever so often.  The least impressive streaks that get mention as the best?  I hate to say it but I'm not as impressed as I should be with Federer's 23 straight appearances in Grand Slam semi-finals.  The number is impressive but he really just lived up to expectations since he was so obviously one of the best 4 players for that time period.  The Cleveland Cavaliers lost 26 games in a row a couple seasons ago after Lebron left.  But who was there?  It wasn't even a good college team at that point.  BTW - not sorry to see the Heat lose to the Bulls . . . 

NETFLIX PLAY NOW OF THE WEEK . . .  not many good new additions to the lists, so it's a good week to catch up with some "classics" - PRETTY IN PINK, BIG FISH and TREMORS will all fit that bill.

Shawn's fave movies according to FLICKCHART

#99 - Raging Bull
#158 - The Jungle Book
#221 - The Sandlot

RANDOM PROJECT UPDATE -  The DOCTOR WHO project.  Without new episodes, I've been really lacking on my Doctor Who watching in this new year.  The new episode aired last night and in anticipation, I started back up on my trip through the 2nd Doctor.  Just finished up an fun story "The Abominable Snowman" and getting ready to start a series that reflects on current events - "The Ice Warriors".  I love Troughton as the Doctor and I'm finding Jamie and Victoria to be a great combination as companions and probably the model for the companions to come.

SHAWN'S TOP ALBUMS OF ALL-TIME (a tribute to the art of the album)

#42  Prince - 1999 (1982) 

 It was Prince's 5th time around the block with a new album.  And I was finally ready to be on top of one from the very beginning.  I had just picked up on "Controversy" when this album was released in the Fall of 1982.  By the Spring, I know that both myself and my neighbor had a copy because when I wasn't playing it, I could hear it coming from his house.  It's fun.  Pure funk fun.  The first side is the "singles" - 1999, Little Red Corvette and Delirious.  But you are missing out if you don't listen to the other three sides.  The rest of the songs are funk workouts like he rarely does anymore.  The dirty imagery of "Let's Pretend We're Married" and "Automatic" are seriously fun.  But it's the mixture of clever lyrics and song writing of "Lady Cab Driver" and "DMSR".  This albums has such a huge number of memories tied to every song for me.  Like every one of these albums in the Top 50 - there is still lots to love with this album.  It's also a sound that just doesn't exist in this state anymore.  Put it on and take a trip back.  You'll see what I mean.


You have to be creative to find Prince videos around the Internet - let's see if this works.

Lady Cab Driver

Let's Pretend We're Married

DMSR

Previous Rankings

#43 - James Brown - The Payback (1973)

#44 - Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970)#45 - The B-52's - The B-52's (1979)

#46 - Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)
#47 - Billy Joel - The Stranger (1977)

THIS WEEK IN TELEVISION

MONDAY

CASTLE (ABC)  A year ago I hadn't even watched an episode.  Turns out that since June I've watched 99 episodes, since tonight is #100.  It's been a pretty mediocre season but I'm sticking with it for some reason.  Keeping up the hope.  This one looks pretty decent with a REAR WINDOW tribute and the season is about over anyways.

KRISTEN SCHAAL: LIVE AT THE FILMORE (COMEDY)  I think she's pretty funny on "The Daily Show".  This live show might be worth the effort.

TUESDAY
JUSTIFIED (FX)  Well, another season has passed of a show that I know I'll love when I get around to watching.  Season Finale and I have no spoilers for the show yet.  Unheard of.

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and COOL HAND LUKE (TCM)  What a Tuesday night double feature!!!  Hitchcock and Paul Newman!!!  Why would you even want to go out.

WEDNESDAY
BEST INK (OXYGEN)  We need more tattoo shows.  Seriously.  I'm continually fascinated by them.

SPIES OF WARSAW (BBC)  David Tennant is a spy in Poland just before World War II.  I've missed him so much and this looks really good.  I could just watch this station pretty much seven days a week.

THURSDAY
HANNIBAL (NBC)  Oddly, maybe it's because it's NBC or because it has the most mild trailer of all-time, but I really don't have any desire to watch this SILENCE OF THE LAMBS prequel.  Putting it on network TV seems to be the start of the bad idea.

ELEMENTARY (CBS)  The show has lost a little momentum since the Super Bowl episode (which was a high point, really).  But this robbery of a huge bank during a blizzard looks good.

FRIDAY
A WOMAN'S WORLD: THE DEFINING ERA OF WOMEN IN FILM (TCM)  All of April is for the best women in film.  This documentary is the appetizer for the whole month long meal of femme films.

MILDRED PIERCE (TCM)  What a great film to start out the month.  Joan Crawford is at her best in this one as a woman that got rich and then has family troubles.


SATURDAY
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (NBC)  Haven't seen an episode in a few years and this probably won't change but I do like Melissa McCarthy and I have little idea who Phoenix is.

NCAA MENS BASKETBALL (CBS)  It's the Final Four games to see who will play in the Final game on Monday night.  These are typically pretty good games.  But judging from the first weekend - none of them will have been in my original bracket picks.


SUNDAY
MAD MEN (AMC)  Dang.  Thought I would have caught up by now.  Started this show in what 2010?  Watched all but the last episode of the 1st season and then . . . well, stalled.  Now that I'm doing "Breaking Bad" and "Dexter", this one has to be on hold still.

SPELLBOUND (TCM)  With only "Game of Thrones" going on over on HBO and no "Amazing Race" tonight, you best take a break and tune in to one of the better Hitchcock films with a true strong female lead in Ingrid Bergman.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR . . .  These AT&T commercials are simple and they've been cracking me up - especially since the NCAA tourney has started.  The recent one with Celtic and Lakers makes me laugh . . . 

And then there's "Candy Island" . . . 

And the werewolf one . . .

And finally here's why the name Nicky Flash is cool . . .

"You think you're special, well so do I
Why do special women make me cry?"  - Prince


Some things don't compute.  Stay hard.

sb

Sunday Morning Tuneage & Weekly TV (3/24/13)

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Sunday Morning Tuneage & Weekly TV (3/17/13)

Spring Break.  Not much of a break really for me.  The kids kept themselves busy the whole week.  Christian had baseball practice every day that he didn't have games - 3 games during the week.  Caleb had 2 other practices with my baseball team and we've got a scrimmage tonight.  Dee found a way to see every friend that she has over the past week too.  Gotta finish up some work at my desk later today - bills, taxes and planning for the rest of the month.  Until then, I'm making a grocery list for the week and listening to some tuneage . . . 

SUNDAY MORNING TUNEAGE

CYNDI LAUPER - GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN.  This 1983 song was pretty ubiquitous for all of my Junior year in High School.  It was a major influence to a big group of women I knew too.  Only recently did I realize that it was written by the great Robert Hazard who had a minor career with the cool single "Escalator Of Life".  He recorded it in 1979 but Cyndi made it her own with the female version in late 1983 - helped by the famous video with Capt Lou Albano that seemed to air hourly on MTV.   Best cover version might be the Veggie Tales - "Gourds Just Want To Have Fun".

MACY GRAY - I TRY.  "Games, changes and fears / When will they go from here / When will they stop."  This 1999 song is by far Macy's best.  It's one of those songs that melds perfectly with her voice.  And she captures that feeling of not being able to stay away from the man she loves perfectly.  It was Grammy nominated and won Best Female Vocal.  It's got such a smooth feel to it - perfect for a Sunday morning.

JUICE NEWTON - TELL HER NO.  This 1983 single is a cover of the awesome 1965 single by The Zombies.  The original song is very British Invasion sounding.  But Juice took a single that was almost 20 years old and gave it her own Country twang and changed the gender of the lyrics.  Not her best by a mile.  And really, other than a curiosity of the age, it's got little to offer and barely registers on my Sunday morning meter. . . 

SOMETHING RANDOM . . .   from 1972 - here's the Soul Train dance contest winners - 

and let's take another ride on the Soul Train with Kool and the Gang and their "Open Sesame" . . . 

DEADLIGHTS OF 2013. . .  Alvin Lee was a renowned guitarist with Ten Years After and you'd recognize his work from "I'd Love To Change The World" . . . Paul Bearer was the entertaining, unmistakable looking manager to The Undertaker and Kane and Vader and various incarnations of Mick Foley over the years.  His character and the storyline with the two brothers - Undertaker and Kane was always one my favorite stories when I watched the shows weekly . . . 

QUICK LIST (a random, uninformed list off the top of Shawn's head)

BEST ROOT BEERS OF ALL-TIME

10.  DOG 'N' SUDS ROOT BEER.  I don't know if the restaurants or if the cans of this are still around.  But just like the name suggests - there was something great about going to get a hot dog and root beer - served right at your car.

9.  GENUINE HANK'S ROOT BEER.  Very vanilla and cream soda tasting.  It's one that I just don't find in enough places to rank it higher than this.  Very unique flavor to all the Hank sodas.

8.  HIRES ROOT BEER.  Probably my first root beer from a can.  It was the one root beer that  was available almost everywhere.  I go years without a Hires.  I don't think it's the same formula as when I was a kid.  But the general memory of that sweet flavor is still there when I taste it.

7.  VIRGIL'S ROOT BEER.  So many people rave about this root beer.  It's good but not great.  It's not a root beer that tastes refreshing enough to down quickly.  And it's definitely not one that you would mix with anything.

6.  IBC ROOT BEER.  It's becoming easier and easier to find this root beer - at least around here.  I think that Dr Pepper is doing the bottling.  Great taste - just enough bite.  Full flavor.  I might need to revisit this and move it up the list.

5.  BOYLAN'S ROOT BEER.   Boylan's makes some great sodas.  If you like Grape, this is a brand you need to track down.  Their root beer has some unique and very fruity flavors to it.  

4.  AMERICANA ROOT BEER.  I picked up this brand at World Market last year and fell in love with all of their sodas.  This is the most interesting tasting root beer on the list - it's a cream style but has a very licorice aftertaste.  If it was more widely available, I believe this would top lots of people's lists.  Not a coincidence that this is made with cane sugar too.

3.  STEWART'S ROOT BEER.  Another brand with some excellent flavors.  But their root beer isn't the best drinking root beer on the list.  But it is probably the best on the list for making root beer floats.  If the root beer doesn't do it for you - try the Orange Cream version.  Like something you'd get from the Ice Cream Man.

2.  DAD'S ROOT BEER.  Also on here because of nostalgia.  I loved this root beer through all of my youth.  It's the one I would search out for years at stores.  It's great one can at a time.  Don't try to make too much of the ingredients - not impressive but it tastes like what I think root beer should taste like.  

1.  A&W ROOT BEER.  Not the can.  Not even the bottle.  But back to the days of going to their drive-in, especially the one on Westnedge in Kalamazoo and getting the fresh mug out of the keg.  Old fashioned and tastes the best when it's in that frosty glass mug that's brought directly to your car.  I miss it but remember the taste exactly.

The most delightful of all the sodas.  It was my first carbonated love and I go too long without trying new ones in my life.  I love all the varieties and the different tastes that can come out of essentially the same ingredients.  I want to try making my own some day - who wants to help experiment?  Already realizing that there are so many root beers out there that I need to try.  So many small brew pubs making root beer - in bottles and in burger joints all over. Best foods with root beer - pizza, burgers and hot dogs.  I don't know if I have a "worst" root beer but there are some that just don't make my faves - Barqs, Faygo, Shasta and Henry Weinhard's.  The worst of the bunch is Mug (the worst of the commonly available canned root beers) and most grocery store brands - Meijer's Root Beer is plain terrible.  

NETFLIX PLAY NOW OF THE WEEK . . .  a few oddball titles out there now . . . NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET (1981) is a cool and weird title with Robert Carradine and Billy Dee Williams . . . GREY LADY DOWN (1978) is a cool disaster film that just doesn't get talked about enough anymore.  Charlton Heston and Stacy Keach and Ned Beatty tell a slightly different version of a POSEIDON ADVENTURE type of disaster . . . LONE WOLF MCQUADE (1983) is David Carradine and our hero, Chuck Norris.

Shawn's fave movies according to FLICKCHART

#176 - Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
#711 - Scrooged
#1091 - The Last Unicorn

RANDOM PROJECT UPDATE -  The DEXTER project.  I should have started this show about four years ago.  I knew I would like it.  I love Michael C. Hall and I love these type of crime dramas and dark comedies.  There always seemed to be another show to get started on.  Or something else to finish.  But this week I broke down and got started.  I'm four episodes in and it's just what I had hoped for.  At 84 episodes to date - doubt I will catch up before the new season starts this Summer.  And I already know some of the major plot points in seasons to come.  For now - 1st season - I'm loving the ride.

SHAWN'S TOP ALBUMS OF ALL-TIME (a tribute to the art of the album)

#44  Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970)

I had a very random definition of Heavy Metal in my youth.  It consisted of KISS and AC/DC mainly.  Later with some Def Leppard.  But it was in the mid-1980s that I discovered Black Sabbath in reverse through Ozzy.  This album was the one that I clung to.  From 1970, this still has icy fingers that reach out to influence Heavy Metal today.  At merely 8 songs - they are given just the room they need to have long guitar licks.  Four of the songs clock in at over 6 minutes each.  When someone is coming into musical awareness - this is the album you put on for their introduction to Heavy Metal.  Sounds as heavy as anything today.

Previous Rankings

#45 - The B-52's - The B-52's (1979)

#46 - Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)
#47 - Billy Joel - The Stranger (1977)
#48 - Dr. Dre - The Chronic (1992)
#49 - Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill (1986)

THIS WEEK IN TELEVISION

MONDAY

TOP OF THE LAKE (SUNDANCE)  Co-written and co-directed by Jane Campion.  It stars Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) and it looks like a New Zealand version of "Twin Peaks" mixed with "The Killing".  I'm quite excited about this 6 hour mini-series.

THE BIGGEST LOSER (NBC)  I'm pretty sure that Danni is going to win - she looks amazing.  But I hope you people vote Jackson into the Finals.  He's my favorite this season.  It comes to an end and I worry that my BL love may be at an end after four years.

TUESDAY

HOW WE INVENTED THE WORLD (DISC)  Okay - there are lots of series that tell you how things get made.  But this one goes even deeper into the creation of a product.  This initial episode shows how Frankenstein's monster, the Titanic and Hedy Lamar influenced the creation of the smartphone.

NEW GIRL (FOX)  Jess gets hopped up on pain pills and tells Nick that she loves him too.  I'm just about had my fill of this story.  Sorry.

WEDNESDAY
DUCK DYNASTY (A&E)  Even if the show has jumped the shark - it hasn't slowed down in the ratings or in the hearts and minds of my children.  How could you not love the overly scripted Si lines?  Tonight Willie throws a Casino Part for the Duck Commander employees and Si gets a massage chair.

HAUNTED COLLECTOR (SYFY)  No idea.  But I love that Syfy has combined the titles of two of my favorite reality genre shows.  Haunted brothel tonight.  What are they collecting???

THURSDAY
NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT (CBS et al)  Tonight, there are games on at least four channels.  It's the first full day and if it isn't a Big Ten team, then I have no idea how to pick them.  By the end of tonight, my brackets will be half finished.

ARCHER (FX)  Lana and Sterling are off to Morocco.  Once again - I watch two or three episodes at once and I'm not sure that I can tell the difference of one to another.  It's like I'm watching the same one over and over and I'm never sure if the jokes are even new.  It's too bad because the show in spurts is one of the funniest on TV.  But it may have run its course.

FRIDAY
LAST MAN STANDING (ABC)  I didn't even know that the Tim Allen show was still on the air.  But then, imagine my surprise to see that Jonathan Taylor Thomas is all grown up and guesting on the show.

NCAA BASKETBALL (CBS et al)  This is the other half of the first round of brackets.  Finally, something truly worthwhile to watch on a Friday night - not just "Duck Dynasty" marathons and Disney comedy reruns.

SATURDAY
CHUPACABRA VS THE ALAMO (SYFY)  It has to take three times as long to come up with the titles of these Saturday night films than it does to actually film them.  Erik Estrada is back on a motorcycle and on his way to San Antonio to fight the beasts.

GUN CRAZY (TCM)  This 1949 crime drama is a true cult classic.  You've got some early noir elements with intense love, guns and murder.

SUNDAY
PHIL SPECTOR (HBO)  What an interesting combo of actor - writer - subject matter.  David Mamet is back with his GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS actor partner Al Pacino as the hilariously coifed Phil Spector.  The trailers look amazing.  So anxious to see this.

THE WALKING DEAD (AMC)  It's not really a show that you could pick up right now.  But if you've been paying attention the past few seasons, it's really paying off.  There are levels within levels but it's also just simply a show about zombies.  Possible truce with the Governor tonight.  Don't count on it.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR . . .  let's start with the tears - this story of a Subaru being loyal like a dog gets me in the stomach every time . . .  Followed by super furry and funny kitty from New Zealand who just wants a ride in the Toyota.

Love Kit Kats?  So do these dancing babies . . . 

"I need someone to show me the things in life that I can't find
I can't see the things that make true happiness, I must be blind"  - Black Sabbath

Can you help my occupy my brain?  Stay hard.

sb