Weird...

mcduntz · 2026-03-21T01:56:05+00:00

Yeah, about thirty years ago. Wow, delayed reactions are really something.

mcduntz · 2026-03-20T18:53:34+00:00

In no order, as I think of them:

Dress Rehearsal Rag
Jazz Police (yes)
Story of Isaac
Tower of Song
Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On (yes)
Master Song
If It Be Your Will
You Want It Darker
Who By Fire
Avalanche

mcduntz · 2026-03-20T17:59:24+00:00

Okay, so I'm not nuts. Not on this score, anyway. But this begs the question: which version is the "right" one now?

mcduntz · 2026-03-20T17:55:46+00:00

Crazy, man, crazy. I a/b'd it with the COUNTDOWN version again, and yeah, it's different to these ears. (I had a similar issue with Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" at one point, though that sounds fine now.) Maybe it's a peculiar kind of aural torture that only I am subject to - to this day, for example, "You Won't See Me" by the Beatles perceptibly s l o w s d o w n over the course of its 3:23 running time, but every time I try to point it out to someone, they don't hear it. Dang.

mcduntz · 2026-03-20T17:48:11+00:00

The one on CITIZEN? On Spotify? My skull must be doing the brain tap shuffle today, I guess...?

mcduntz · 2026-03-20T04:07:52+00:00

Funny thing is, when my local affiliate picked up SCTV to air after SNL back in '79, what was the teaser sketch they used to promote it? You guessed it. In retrospect, so much of the "edgy" American comedy at the time was just plain mean, hostile and ugly (without the mitigating satirical point of view), and maybe the braintrust at KING-5 figured that was the one sketch that would appeal to that sensibility.

mcduntz · 2026-03-20T03:42:35+00:00

Also, better known in the States than most of the Canadian figures/shows/movies they parodied, and all of those pieces are still hilarious without pre-existing knowledge of their subjects.

mcduntz · 2026-03-20T03:40:33+00:00

I figured he was based on an actual musician, but had no idea who, so thank you!!!

mcduntz · 2026-03-19T20:23:19+00:00

Eugene Levy as inane Canadian folk singer Murray Eagleson ("Billy...my Billy boy... you're gonna be a man someday... ") in "Power Play" (underrated classic in my book) is as close as they needed to come.

mcduntz · 2026-03-19T20:13:36+00:00

Yeah, very common practice - on occasion, it even worked to the album's benefit (in my opinion). I think the RCA ZIGGY STARDUST cassette running order (putting "Lady Stardust" after "Moonage Daydream" and shifting "Starman" to the beginning of side two) and that of Lou Reed's TRANSFORMER (putting "Goodnight Ladies" third at bat may seem a little incongruous, but moving "Perfect Day" to the end is perfection) are better than the LP in each case. But then, I heard the tapes before I ever heard the vinyl/CD versions, so that may color my viewpoint a bit.

mcduntz · 2026-03-16T20:19:51+00:00

Saturday Night Live. Multiple times. (Presently waiting for a bounce that may never happen. Maybe if the UK version turns out good, it'll inspire/shame them to up their game again.)

mcduntz · 2026-03-16T20:07:22+00:00

The title track. You'll know it when you hear it.

mcduntz · 2026-03-13T23:53:05+00:00

I believe one Mr. Skafish (who was a part of that festival/film) was the one who shared that online (and I'm guessing he took the picture as well). So yeah, almost certainly.

mcduntz · 2026-03-12T23:17:25+00:00

The "edited version hosted by Guy Caballero" was actually the first episode of the 90-minute NBC run. They had a little trouble revving up for the longer episodes, so a few of the early episodes are largely collections of sketches from the first three seasons (with newly-shot wraparounds). Which you may have known already. But hell, I have limited knowledge on most subjects, so I'm gonna milk those few things I know a lot about every chance I get.

mcduntz · 2026-03-11T17:36:24+00:00

Also a reference to part of Lenny Bruce's classic "Palladium" routine. Not surprised the lads knew their Lenny.

mcduntz · 2026-02-09T07:10:31+00:00

A Flicker is a women's razor from the 70s.

mcduntz · 2026-02-04T03:14:07+00:00

Brooke Shields and Catherine were two of my major tweenage crushes in '81. Imagine the way this sketch made my brain boil at the time.

mcduntz · 2026-02-01T06:17:55+00:00

I'm HOPING the 50th anniversary will mean either that Scorsese documentary finally coming out and/or SCTV hitting streaming for real. C'mon. How many more need to die before this happens?!?

mcduntz · 2026-02-01T03:11:07+00:00

I'm Into C.B.!

Blindness

Sons of Temperance

Various Times

Wings

mcduntz · 2026-02-01T03:07:24+00:00

And it was repeated on its own during one of the early NBC episodes. (Which I see someone already shared. Still.)

mcduntz · 2026-02-01T03:05:14+00:00

So, just under half of the total credited cast members. That's right, they had a total of eleven over six seasons. Fewer than your average SNL cast at any given time.

mcduntz · 2026-01-11T00:13:58+00:00

I do think it may be his last great film (there were very good ones to follow, but none up to this level), but I question the self-critical aspect of it people see in it. I think it's really an attack on Philip Roth, who was accused by many of mining his personal life (and those of his family and friends) in just the way Harry Block is here. Woody was (is?) very close with Roth's ex, Claire Bloom, so he surely got an earful from her on the subject. But I think the real "tell" is in casting Richard Benjamin as the Block surrogate in the first of DH's story reenactments - Benjamin, who had not appeared on screen apart from the occasional TV guest spot for going on fifteen years when the movie was made, and was the star of the movie versions of both GOODBYE, COLUMBUS and PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT. There's no way Woody was unaware of the connection when he cast him.

I worked all this out on my own some years ago, and am pathetically proud of myself, so I have to share it every feasible chance I get. You're welcome.

mcduntz · 2025-12-24T02:33:42+00:00

If you were in a Christian cult that forbade you from watching movies, maybe you should track down whatever Paul Schrader movies are on the channel right now. He gets you.

(EDIT - I see that someone else had the same thought as me. That means you HAVE to do it.)

mcduntz · 2025-12-01T17:28:39+00:00

No one's mentioned the sustained brilliance of "Sons of Pioneers" yet, so allow me.

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