Where are they now?
Posted by:: "iDRMRSR"
Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 12:22:31 -0500
--------
I was watching this flick, David Holtzman's Diary (1967):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062864/
in which there is a two minute portion consisting of single-shot vidcaps
from live 1967 prime time TV. Among other things, they captured like, an
actual Star Trek episode, plus a lot of late night viewing.
Having actually watched TV that night myself (July something 1967), I single
stepped through the sequence. It was like going into a time machine. So
many things passed by that I haven't thought of in 30 years.
Particulary telling were the late night talk show hosts.
WTF ever happened to Dick Cavett and David Suskind, anyhow? If by
mentioning their long forgotten names, I've brought them back to this world
again, I apologize.
1967 looks, for all intents and purposes, a lot like 2005. Skinnier ties,
shorter hair, no bell bottoms, that kind of thing.
But what's missing is so telling. Dial phones! No microwaves or PC's in
peoples' apartments. No cell phones (pay phones with DIALS!). No cable
boxes, VCRs, CDs.
I also watched The Laughing Policeman (1974). It got me to thinking about
what a FREE COUNTRY this was! You could walk anywhere in an airport. Cops
could smoke in theaters, their own offices, and hospitals. They slapped
around women. Nobody was there with a video camera to record the violence.
They shot the perp and that was that. No mussy post-nab angst, no
departmental policies. Entire crimes solved with no cell phones, radios, or
email.
People did what they needed to do and that was it.
To be truthful, what they wanted to do, though, by 1974, was to grow
pr0nstar mustaches and afros.
P'raps it's best that the past stays where it is.
[*]
-----
Posted by:: "krustymadfaker"
Date: 5 Mar 2005 17:19:54 -0800
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>>>P'raps it's best that the past stays where it is. >>>
Well I don't know we could use all those Pr0nstar mustaches and afros
for research in the Dobbstown labs in the future for "type 1"
civilization contact with the "Corporate Sin Galaxy".
"The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little
longer."
-Henry Kissinger
Posted by:: HellPope Huey
Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2005 05:55:32 GMT
--------
In article ,
"iDRMRSR" wrote:
> I also watched The Laughing Policeman (1974).
Just a quick nod and a strong suggestion that people catch this one.
Its basically the insane crap running through the feverish head of a man
in the hospital suffering from intense shingles, lathered up in
anesthesia and some nasty ointment. Weird songs and dance numbers, too.
EXCELLENT, left-field work.
--
HellPope Huey
Floating On A Raft Of Bizarre Circumstance
In A Sea Of Grotesque Choices
The longer I live,
the larger allowances
I make for human infirmities.
- John Wesley
"If a fully grown adult
in reasonable control of his faculties
wants to plunge a syringe full of lighter fluid
into his urethra and piss fire,
as long as he does it in the privacy
of his own asbestos bathroom,
I will flick the Bic."
- Dennis Miller, "I Rant, Therefore I Am"
Posted by:: "frater S.O.D.D.I."
Date: 6 Mar 2005 23:00:10 -0800
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HellPope Huey wrote:
> In article ,
> "iDRMRSR" wrote:
>
> > I also watched The Laughing Policeman (1974).
>
> Just a quick nod and a strong suggestion that people catch this one.
> Its basically the insane crap running through the feverish head of a
man
> in the hospital suffering from intense shingles, lathered up in
> anesthesia and some nasty ointment. Weird songs and dance numbers,
too.
> EXCELLENT, left-field work.
You're thinking of "The Singing Detective" by Dennis Potter The BBC
series of TSD is far superior to the American remake... as was his
original "Pennies from Heaven"... not the insipid Steve Martin
version.
"The Laughing Policeman" is based on some novel by Maj Sjowal and Per
Wahloo and had Walter Matthau in it.
Dennis Potter WAS a man who suffered from an incurable skin condition,
like the character in TSD. He died in 1994 from pancreatic cancer, a
tumor which he affectionately referred to as "Rupert", in honour of
Rupert Murdoch.
Dennis Potter was WAY nuts.
http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/potter/
His last BBC TV movie was called "Cold Lazarus". Novelist Albert
Finney's cryogenically preserved head is revived 400 years in the
future and he is forced to relive his life for a global entertainment
conglomerate's programming. GET IT.
Posted by:: HellPope Huey
Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2005 18:25:07 GMT
--------
In article <1110178810.853269.223380@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
"frater S.O.D.D.I." wrote:
> HellPope Huey wrote:
> > In article ,
> > "iDRMRSR" wrote:
> >
> > > I also watched The Laughing Policeman (1974).
> >
> > Just a quick nod and a strong suggestion that people catch this one.
> > Its basically the insane crap running through the feverish head of a
> man
> > in the hospital suffering from intense shingles, lathered up in
> > anesthesia and some nasty ointment. Weird songs and dance numbers,
> too. EXCELLENT, left-field work.
> >
>>>>>>You're thinking of "The Singing Detective" by Dennis Potter The BBC
> series of TSD is far superior to the American remake... as was his
> original "Pennies from Heaven"... not the insipid Steve Martin
> version.
> > "The Laughing Policeman" is based on some novel by Maj Sjowal and Per
> Wahloo and had Walter Matthau in it.
Well shit. I blame the pills, Society and Ben Affleck movies.
--
HellPope Huey
Editor of "'Bob's' Big Book of Alien Hickies" and
"Stop That Until The Cop Car
Rounds the Corner, You Fool!"
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton,
you may as well make it dance.
~ George Bernard Shaw
"Your explanations are pure weapons-grade Balonium!"
- "Futurama"
Posted by:: nenslo
Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 00:04:07 -0800
--------
"frater S.O.D.D.I." wrote:
>
>
> You're thinking of "The Singing Detective" by Dennis Potter The BBC
> series of TSD is far superior to the American remake...
HATED HATED HATED EVERY SECOND OF IT. Sorry. I wanted to like it. I
got the whole set from the library and only made it through the first
episode. HATED IT. Odd, isn't it?
Posted by:: "frater S.O.D.D.I."
Date: 8 Mar 2005 08:43:20 -0800
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nenslo wrote:
> "frater S.O.D.D.I." wrote:
> >
> >
> > You're thinking of "The Singing Detective" by Dennis Potter The BBC
> > series of TSD is far superior to the American remake...
>
> HATED HATED HATED EVERY SECOND OF IT. Sorry. I wanted to like it.
I
> got the whole set from the library and only made it through the first
> episode. HATED IT. Odd, isn't it?
Not really. Most folks I know are split about 75/25 in favor of HATING
Potter's work... and I consider some of that 25%'s aesthetic judgement
to be questionable.
Posted by:: HellPope Huey
Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 18:13:57 GMT
--------
In article <1110300200.531857.259990@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
"frater S.O.D.D.I." wrote:
> nenslo wrote:
> > "frater S.O.D.D.I." wrote:
> > >
> > > You're thinking of "The Singing Detective" by Dennis Potter The BBC
> > > series of TSD is far superior to the American remake...
> >
> > HATED HATED HATED EVERY SECOND OF IT. Sorry. I wanted to like it.
> I got the whole set from the library and only made it through the first
> > episode. HATED IT. Odd, isn't it?
>
> Not really. Most folks I know are split about 75/25 in favor of HATING
> Potter's work... and I consider some of that 25%'s aesthetic judgement
> to be questionable.
I can understand that. As with Faulkner, the interpretive work load can
be tedious, but that sideways British view can be fun to decode and even
the dry wit of basically awful Britcoms like 'Waiting For God" can be
surprisingly cool. Still, aside from wishing it had been edited for
tidyness, with fewer long shots of dark halls and other useless BS, I
felt at the end that the time had not been wasted. Its simply an
interesting combination of Funny and Creepy.
--
HellPope Huey
Underhanded Gutbucket Rockabilly
Washtub Bassballs Overlord
I lost some time once.
Its always in the last place you look for it.
- Delirium
"Do you ever feel like wherever you are,
you should be somewhere else?"
"Only when I'm awake."
- "The Education of Max Bickford"
Posted by:: nenslo
Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 21:56:24 -0800
--------
HellPope Huey wrote:
> that sideways British view
The Singing Detective is about a guy who is so wretched that his agony
and misery drive him insane. If I want to see that I look in the
mirror. I don't call that "sideways."
Posted by:: wcb
Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2005 04:19:44 -0600
--------
HellPope Huey wrote:
> In article ,
> "iDRMRSR" wrote:
>
>> I also watched The Laughing Policeman (1974).
>
> Just a quick nod and a strong suggestion that people catch this one.
> Its basically the insane crap running through the feverish head of a man
> in the hospital suffering from intense shingles, lathered up in
> anesthesia and some nasty ointment. Weird songs and dance numbers, too.
> EXCELLENT, left-field work.
Grotesque with wit and intelligence.
>
> --
>
> HellPope Huey
> Floating On A Raft Of Bizarre Circumstance
> In A Sea Of Grotesque Choices
>
> The longer I live,
> the larger allowances
> I make for human infirmities.
> - John Wesley
>
> "If a fully grown adult
> in reasonable control of his faculties
> wants to plunge a syringe full of lighter fluid
> into his urethra and piss fire,
> as long as he does it in the privacy
> of his own asbestos bathroom,
> I will flick the Bic."
> - Dennis Miller, "I Rant, Therefore I Am"
--
Cheerful Charlie
Posted by:: Baldin Pramer
Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2005 07:02:06 -0700
--------
HellPope Huey wrote:
> In article ,
> "iDRMRSR" wrote:
>
>
>>I also watched The Laughing Policeman (1974).
>
>
> Just a quick nod and a strong suggestion that people catch this one.
> Its basically the insane crap running through the feverish head of a man
> in the hospital suffering from intense shingles, lathered up in
> anesthesia and some nasty ointment. Weird songs and dance numbers, too.
> EXCELLENT, left-field work.
I remember the excellent TV series from about that period. Is this that?
--
Sir Baldin Pramer, R.P.A.
Posted by:: "just john"
Date: 7 Mar 2005 07:15:09 -0800
--------
Baldin Pramer wrote:
> HellPope Huey wrote:
> > In article ,
> > "iDRMRSR" wrote:
> >
> >
> >>I also watched The Laughing Policeman (1974).
> >
> >
> > Just a quick nod and a strong suggestion that people catch this
one.
> > Its basically the insane crap running through the feverish head of
a man
> > in the hospital suffering from intense shingles, lathered up in
> > anesthesia and some nasty ointment. Weird songs and dance numbers,
too.
> > EXCELLENT, left-field work.
>
> I remember the excellent TV series from about that period. Is this
that?
>
>
I think you've mistaken it for "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-ing
Policeman," which featured law enforcement sketch comedy, including
uniformed officers beating up raincoated tricyclers, and dirty old men
being led off in handcuffs and thrashed to within an inch of their
lives.
"Touch my little body and I'll pistol-whip you! And that's the truth!"