Greatest Song Evah 4/6/24

A Day In the Life

There are occasional selections that I make for this segment which makes me ask myself if I need to even bother writing about it. I know how great the song is, you know how great the song is, it’s been written about countless times, what can I possibly add that hasn’t already been said? Why not let the song speak for itself and simply present it in all its glory?

A Day In the Life is one of those songs. As the climactic track from The Beatles’ groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, it has consistently ranked near the top of any list of greatest songs from The Beatles’ vast catalogue. All of the accolades are very well deserved; it’s not only a wonderful song but an exceptionally well-produced record.

The song pieces together fragments that John Lennon & Paul McCartney were working on separately, and the two contributions fit together seamlessly. It proves that inspiration can come from anywhere; Lennon created a classic from various newspaper articles that he had read (oh boy) whereas McCartney once again pulled out memories from his younger years into his section.

It’s the additional touches that make this so special. The orchestral flourishes that accompany the transitions, Ringo’s exceptional drumming, the soaring “ahh-ahh-ahh-aah” vocal line, and the legendary conclusion. The intensity of the strings section rises, rises, rises, until it comes to completion with the legendary final piano chord. Among the Beatles’ most notable innovations was the way in which they essentially turned the recording studio into an instrument of its own. This song serves as a perfect example of that technique.

In a sense it’s fortunate that the Beatles had quit the road by this point to focus on recording. It would have been nearly impossible to properly recreate this song in a live setting with the relatively primitive amplification systems from that era. The record is perfect as is, no need to tamper with it on stage.

I Know What You’re Really Trying To Say Here

I’m not going to single out any of the internet trolls by name - I don’t want to supply them with the oxygen - but it is so striking, and depressing, to see how desperately so many of these people want to be able to say the n-word in public and constantly seek the closest euphemisms that they can find. For a while, the go-to phrase was to simply repeat CRT over and over, but now the clear catch phrase is DEI. You see it everywhere.

It almost plays like a form of Tourette’s. Anything bad that ever happens? Blame it on DEI. A door didn’t fly off of a Boeing plane because of cutbacks in safety standards. Nope, it’s entirely due to DEI. A freighter crashing into a bridge? Yep, DEI again. At its essence, any one of these DEI complaints comes down to a racist belief that any black person in any essential job is only there due to social engineering. I am not going to listen to anyone who reflexively throws out a complaint about DEI. You’re not fooling anybody; your tell is showing.

A Minor League Team In A Minor League Park

With the Oakland A’s lease expiring after this season, there has a big question as to where they will play until their new ballpark in Las Vegas will be built. That’s assuming that the Vegas project actually happens. There’s already been some hedging over whether it will ready by the 2028 season. We’re a long way from the first shovel hitting dirt, so there’s no need to purchase season tickets yet. I’ll believe they will actually move when I see it; I still think it’s just as likely that the team winds up in Portland than in Vegas.

At least we know where the team will play for (at least) the next 3 seasons, they are Sacramento bound, baby! Sounds fabulous, the stadium has a current capacity of 14,000 (and that low number includes lawn seating) and a short right field porch that barely meets major league minimum. This is a wild guess, but I would suspect that clubhouse amenities are not exactly major league par. I imagine that the labor requires that certain standards must be met, but the club can only make so many improvements to meet that major league standard; there’s not much existing square footage they can work with. Good luck trying to recruit any free agent. “Come on and join one of the worst teams in the league! BTW, we don’t have a family room where your kids can stay during a game. Hey, where are you going?”

A’s owner John Fisher continues to demonstrate his particular skill of stepping on every rake that he sees; his press conference in which he attempted to sell the maneuver was a sight to see. He compared a game at Sutter Health Park to that of a spring training facility, and how exciting it is to be able to see major league players in such an intimate setting. That’s a defensible argument if he had stopped there. He didn’t stop there.

“We’re excited to be here for the next three years, playing in this beautiful ballpark, but also being able to watch some of the greatest players in baseball, whether it be Athletics players, or Aaron Judge and others, launch home runs out of this very intimate — most intimate park in all of baseball.”

Not even he is able to name an actual player on his team. Come See Opposing Hitters Tee Off On Our Pitchers isn’t a promotional slogan that I would go with, but what do I know? Baseball Fever… Catch It!

Enthusiasm Has Been Fully Curbed

After 12 seasons spanning over 24 years, Curb Your Enthusiasm will air its final episode this weekend. I had been planning to write a post during this final set of episodes detailing my favorite season of the show, but a few weeks ago AV Club not only did the exact same thing, but they even went with the precise season that I was intending to write about. So my additional thoughts on that matter seem unnecessary. (For the record, my choice is season 4; the one with the parallel story lines of Larry’s futile attempts to cash in on a premise that Cheryl had made when they got engaged - he was allowed one free pass on their 10th anniversary - along with Mel Brooks hiring Larry to take over the role of Max Bialystock in The Producers.)

When the season began I felt that Curb has really been showing its age; Larry’s ever increasing unpleasantness has too often crossed the line from cringe comedy into a flat out uncomfortable watch. As always, the line between Larry David the character and Larry David the real life person has been a thin one, making it hard to know where one ends and the other begins. Punching out Elmo on live TV sounds like an absurd fictional premise, but that incident actually happened in reality.

One aspect of the show that I always found fascinating was the decision as to which guest actors would play a character as opposed to a fictionalized version of themself. Back when IFC used to air the show Dinner For Five, Jeff Garlin was one of Jon Favreau’s guests early on in Curb’s run. Favreau described an encounter he had with David in which he told him that he loved the show and would also love the chance to make an appearance. David’s response was that Favreau wasn’t recognizable enough to portray himself, but he was too recognizable to plausibly appear as a random guy without the audience saying “look, it’s Jon Favreau.” Favreau didn’t realize until later on that the response he got was merely Larry David’s way of saying “I don’t want you.” There’s not really a hard fast rule, but there is a noticeable pattern, especially in the later seasons. There are always exceptions that prove the rule, but typically non-actors portray themselves, whereas actual actors are given characters to play. For example, this year among those appearing as themselves have been Bruce Springsteen, Conan O’Brien, and Willie Geist. Steve Buscemi, Matt Berry, and Sean Hayes were among those who portrayed characters.

Anyhoo, this final season had its share of funny moments, but nowhere near as funny as it was in its peak. It’s clearly a show that has run its course. Knowing the way that David rolls, there’s little reason to expect a warm & fuzzy finale, or even one in which the character gets the comeuppance that has been long in coming. If nothing else, it figures to be poignant to see Richard Lewis one final time.

The Oscar Mulligan - 1982

Winner: Gandhi

Other Nominees: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Missing, Tootsie, The Verdict

This year’s race actually serves as a good test for this feature. Years ago I had heard the term The Gandhi Syndrome, used to describe an Oscar bait movie that’s impressively made, but doesn’t really hit the heart. Or, to go with the thought process I use, a movie that checks all the boxes that make it Important, but once the movie ends I know that I’ll never need to see it again.

I do not intend to disrespect Gandhi. It pulls out all the stops; it is a visual marvel and it thoroughly tells the life story of a great man. But I have to admit, I feel like I’m reading a textbook. This was a most impressive list of nominees; in my eyes each of the the other 4 was a better movie than Gandhi. I want to give a special shoutout to The Verdict; it just may contain the single greatest performance of Paul Newman’s career, which is saying a lot. But any theoretical revote of the 1982 Best Picture race comes down to 2 candidates.

E.T. & Tootsie both fulfill the chief criteria; each are well-established classics that have stood the test of time & stand up well to multiple rewatches. E.T. is a much beloved family standard, but it is not just for kids. It appeals to all ages. And Tootsie is the type of movie that succeeds on multiple levels. It’s not just flat out funny, but it also raises some thought provoking issues as well.

E.T. was a wonderful showcase for Steven Spielberg’s skills. The movie would not have worked as well as it did had he held off on revealing the title character as long as he held off on revealing the shark from Jaws, but he did succeed in teasing the appearance before we saw him in all his glory. Also, as many have observed, he did a great job of presenting the movie from a child’s point of view. There were a lot of low camera angles, and most of the government officials were fairly faceless. The adults in the movie don’t matter, Elliott & E.T. are what matters. Plus, in retrospect, it’s admirable that no one succumbed to the pressure to make a sequel. It’s a story with a finite conclusion, why ruin it by concocting some sort of scenario that would bring the alien back to Earth?

It’s the nature of comedies that certain elements age poorly, and Tootsie was no exception. But there are relatively few moments in the movie that are cringeworthy. Maybe the gay panic when Charles Durning realizes that he had been romancing a man? There are also a handful of plot holes that stick out - Dorothy’s explanation that due to a skin condition she needs to do her own makeup at home doesn’t sound like it would fly in real life. But that’s nitpicking. The movie is hilarious; I admire the meta aspect of Dustin Hoffman portraying an actor who is such a Method pain in the ass that no one wants to work with him. Bill Murray was comic gold, Dabney Coleman and Teri Garr were both perfect as prototypical Dabney Coleman and Teri Garr characters, and Jessica Lange finally put King Kong in her rear view mirror. She nailed the ideal balance of defiance and vulnerability.

So which of the two deserves it? That’s a tough choice. My hypothetical revote from the previous year went to Raiders Of the Lost Ark. In that scenario would it have created Spielberg fatigue? Plus, which is the more visceral reaction - to laugh or to cry? It’s essentially a coin flip; I could very easily make a different decision next week & then revert back to my original choice the following week. Being that I am the one man selection committee here, I need to make a choice. The tiebreak is that rather than give it to a Spielberg movie in consecutive years, the proper winner of the 1982 Oscar should be Tootsie. Congratulations.

SNL Preview

NBC is promoting this week’s episode as Kristen Wiig’s entry into the Five Timers Club, but I question that. What do you count as an official hosting gig? I believe it entails the classic elements - the monologue, the “we’ve got a great show” promise, and the closing goodbyes. Wiig has done this 3 times, so where does #4 come from?When the show ran a few SNL At Home episodes during the early days of the pandemic, she opened one of those episodes. Should that be considered a hosting stint? I don’t think so, but Lorne obviously feels otherwise and his opinion is slightly more important than mine is.

Wiig has an interesting place in show history. She is indisputably an inner circle SNL legend, but she was also hopelessly addicted to repeat characters, almost all of them recurring long past the point where they were still funny. I will be very happy if I never have to see Gilly again. So, as funny as she is, I can’t help but have a few feelings of trepidation. Chances are good that she will bring back at least one of her older characters that no one is asking to see again. It’s also usually a safe bet that when a returning alum hosts, it also comes with more surprise cameos than normal. There figure to be a few members of the current cast who will be barely seen this week. Stay tuned.

Closing Laughs

Everyone cross your fingers and toes in hopes that the areas of eclipse totality will have optimal weather on Monday. Have a great weekend & see you all again on Monday.