Something Strange In The Neighbourhood

I'm changing things up for the most part I'm not going to do a song by song roundup rather then just a general overview of the whole album and what I thought, these will probably be a lot shorter from here on out because of that... #493 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot I have made fun of myself constantly that I get a bit shaky when it comes to music made this Millennium, 60's/70s with a touch of the 80s is where my music tastes really stand, I've clearly favoured the past much, much more so far with me been more glowing over Boz Scaggs rather than the White Stripes. It's not that I'm a music snob (I've proved so far with how little I know) it's just I naturally go to watch I enjoy then try and discover music from this era. Wilco was a band I had heard of, and it's fair to say I really liked this album, actually surprisingly so, I liked every song on the album and I think it goes with the BB King and Boz Scaggs songs as my favourite albums...

British TV comedy writer (and legend) Johnny Speight was known for his comedies that didn't shy away from tackling social and political issues, he gave us the Alf Garnett character where he was often the butt of the joke due to his extreme bigoted nature, however Curry and Chips is ultimately a misfire as it's best remember for the fact Spike Milligan wore blackface as a Pakistani immigrant. Like most of Speight's work the White British characters here are made to look bigoted but again it as white Spike Milligan in BLACKFACE. This sitcom in a way is not the mess a lot of people like to pretend it be has there are some funny stuff in here. One exchange that stuck in my mind was I'm from Pakistan Pakistan's not in Ireland, Pakistan's in bloody India mate  oh no Pakistan is not in India. Pakistan is in bloody Pakistan mate you wouldn't believe how many times I've heard something similar to this spoken in the real world and most of the bi...

So I had already touched on Grange Hill when talking about Punky Brewster and the "Just Say No" campaign and how there was also the campaign here in the UK, and what I'll talk about in this write up is how American and British kids TV shows treated their serious subject matters. I just want go back and talk about something else, there has been some recent news of the Disney Channel having it's first gay character on a TV series, whilst this brought back memories of Byker Grove, a children's drama that aired on the same channel as Grange Hill had a gay kiss all the way back in 1994! So yeah back on subject Grange Hill was a show that lasted from 1978 all the way until 2008, and wasn't afraid to tackle serious issues (same as Byker Grove actually) with the most famous being the drug use in the Just Say No campaign. The episodes didn't have titles and this is the famous episode in question, and it's night and day in how they deal with the s...

So the spectre of Hulk Hogan hovering over the Rumble will be no more, never to make an appearance in the Rumble again, say goodbye to bad losing but hello to such classics as Mr. Nanny, Hogan would have course not be finished with the company it's just he'd never compete in that match ever again., so I can celebrate and have some cake because of this. Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are your commentators and they are first team to commentate together for two years running. This would also mark the first Royal Rumble where the winner would go onto the face the WWF Champion at Wrestlemania, a stipulation that still holds true to this day (or whatever the equivalent is at the time) #1 is last year's winner RIC FLAIR, and at the time the also the record holder for the longest time in the Rumble, #2 is BOB BACKLUND to no music who was a long time WWF Champion from 77 to 83, and this was at the start of his comeback, it's crazy to think I thought he was an old guy ...

When George Gaynes passed away at the beginning of 2016 at the grand old age of 98, I was reminded of how much he was a part of my childhood - I loved (and still love) the Police Academy movies and every day after school there one be a block of 80's shows on Sky One and one of the ones I most looked forward to was Punky Brewster (along with Different Strokes). So childhood affection means I'm a bit biased when it comes to Punky Brewster. With a theme song I unironically find awesome (it's even on a couple of my playlists) and I also do think the title character's actress - Soleil Moon Frye, does genuinely give one of the best child performances in any sit-com. It's obvious by the episodes title that it's an episode with a message, something quite infamous with US sitcoms in that time period and often get called "Very Special Episodes" which see characters maybe get addiction or have to deal with peer pressure and honestly they usually come c...

iTalked about this at the beginning of the write up about Victorious episode Terror on Cupcake Street, way back at entry #3, that I enjoy the Dan Schneider trio of shows - iCarly, Victorious and Sam & Cat - despite their faults and me at this point in my life not falling anywhere near the target age group. I also have a preferred order with Victorious number 1, iCarly 2nd and Sam & Cat 3rd. I think Victorious overall as the most rewatchability and the characters a bit more likable (despite one them going to be a lead in Sam & Cat, though I think she regresses there). I also Victorious beat iCarly for other reason such as iCarly's messages sometimes get a bit dodgy for a kids how, notably the character of Sam Puckett (Jennette McCurdy who do find likable) just getting away with horrible behaviour and rarely getting commpuance - a Karma Houdini. iKiss as a dodgy message but ultimately as a rather sweet ending. Firstly, this episode seems to make a big issue of havi...

Horror never made my top ten favourite movie list (comedy didn't really make it either) and I decided since it's nearly Halloween to do a super scary horror list as I'm a big fan of the genre 10 - Theatre Of Blood (1973) - Not that I'm screaming for remakes of every film, but why hasn't this been remade yet (starring Ian McKellen to give you ideas), this movie sees Vincent Price faking his death and taking revenge on a number of critics and killing them in the style of Shakespeare. Doesn't take itself too seriously and is a lot of fun. 9 - Braindead (1992) - I have turned away recently from the zombie genre and with the expectations of iZombie haven't really seen anything zombie related since Zombieland (and that includes The Walking Dead). Braindead is a brilliant funny and gory movie from Peter Jackson with karate priests, a zombie baby and so much, much more I have no problem calling this my favourite zombie movie of all time. 8 - Scream (1996) ...

Royal Rumble 1992 wasn't just the first Rumble I saw, it was one of the first things I watched that made me a wrestling fan, and is fondly remembered Rumble among fans anyway, so any bias I think a lot of people will go with. This was the first time there was stipulation in the match and the winner would be declared WWF Heavyweight Championship - backstory Undertaker beat Hogan for the title at the previous Survivor Series, a few days later at the only This Tuesday In Texas, Hogan reclaimed the title but it was all full of shenanigans saw Jack Tunney held up the title, meanwhile WCW legend Ric Flair arrived in the company with the actual NWA Title and he was out to prove he was really the greatest champion in wrestling. Jack Tunney is making an introduction holding the title as our commentators are the legendary team of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan. This is probably Heenan's greatest moment as commentator and even has the great line when Tunney is in the ring ...

Absolutely loads of purchases today, and that's why there is multiple photos, and here are some of my choice purchases of the day Ran is Akira Kurosawa's 1985 movie. Macaulay Culkin is Getting Even With Dad. Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett star in beautiful Lesbian drama Carol. Mississippi Burning is a film I always remember seeing trailers for as a youngster. In The Mood For Love is another good buy. Chloé as a steamy scene with Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried. There's newer stuff like Bridget Jones's Baby and the Disney film that annoyed a million parents - Frozen.  Here's an whole bunch of classics including The Third Man (Special Edition) for my money the best Orson Welles film. Classic British movies Ice Cold In Alex and The Lavender Hill Mob. I also picked up Midnight Express and A Touch Of Zen (which I haven't seen yet). Lastly for this section is the classic Dog Day Afternoon. Bare with me, here's some more DVDs including Best Show, as...

Up until I watched this episode I had never seen an episode of Mike & Molly, which is quite a feat considering this episode towards it six season run. To be honest the most I knew about it was that it starred Melissa McCarthy who went onto be an unlikely leading lady during the shows run. It's not something I avoided for any particular reason, but to honest if Chuck Lorre's name is attached it I do air on the side of caution, and if I'm basing it all on this one episode I don't really think I've been missing anything at all. Bare in mind I'm of course writing this from the POV of somebody who has never seen an episode but it was about Molly getting her book published, I have no idea if this is a new plot or a long running plot and it involved her getting sick which is probably related to the book sales not going too great and she gets a pep talk from the Mother in Law and it helps her gets started on writing her next book (with said Mother In Law)...

Okay, a few more pick ups today - Breathless (a Bout de Souffle ), the Jean Luc Godard classic, and a less classic Spice World - The Movie , and Life's Too Short s tarring Warwick Davis and probably the least successful of the Gervais/Merchant shows. Also picked up Beavis and Butt-Head Volume 4 and Beavis and Butt-Head's Most Wanted as as a Sky Living show called Gates .

One of the things I knew about in the lead up to this that at one point Andre The Giant was announced for this Rumble and even did a interview video. Also it's different commentator team again with Gorilla Monsoon and Rowdy Roddy Piper on commentary. This was right in the middle of the Iraq War angle that was extremely infamous. So let's get started with the Rumble... BRET HART is number one again, with number two is DINO BRAVO Hart almost eliminates Bravo and you do think he was going to get him out for a moment, Number 3 is GREG VALENTINE with blonde hair, I am not sure when Rhythm N Blues ended but he had black hair (that didn't suit him) and he goes for Bravo showing there are no alliances here, and he ends up eliminating Dino Bravo and pushing his manager Jimmy Hart from the apron, was this the start of a Valentine face turn it seems that way, I also should point out this was Dino Bravo's last Rumble he's appearances would become less frequent over the n...

After covering the failed Cheers spin-off I thought I'd cover another episode here involving Cheers characters. This time appearing in a crossover episode. Crossover episodes can be an exciting thing for the viewer (especially if the series are not spin-offs), characters you never thought would interact with each other, and then it ends up making connections you never thought - though Friends and Frasier never crossed over, they are quite easily linked - Caroline Duffy from Caroline In The City appeared in Friends and Chandler appeared in CITC in return, and then CITC had Daphne and Niles from Frasier at the end of one episode reading a comic strip from Caroline, that's not forgetting Friends crossed over with Mad About You thanks to the Phoebe/Ursula connection and then Mad About You had it's own crossover with Seinfeld, I'm digressing a bit but then in a strange way it puts loads and loads of shows in the same universe (The X-Files and Friends are in the same TV un...

Obviously it's not always going to be the quickest things getting these up, but at the moment I am aiming to do a few a week. #494 MGMT - Oracular Spectacular MGMT, I've heard of them, heard of a few of their songs but not really enough to dig them out, maybe hearing this album will inspire me more with them, I hate that Rolling Stone used the word Hipster in their description of the album in the countdown though.  (Track #1) Try To Pretend is a song I know, I'm not sure if I ever attributed to MGMT in my mind, but I probably did, I think I might know (Track #2) Weekend Wars which I like a lot better, so in a lot of ways I think I'm actually digging MGMT a little bit based off these first tracks... yes it's possible I can enjoy something that was made after 1974, I just haven't proved it yet, and maybe (Track #3) The Youth, might tell me what I don't want to know, that this group could be in danger of being a bit samey but I do like this one t...

Another 14 or so buys today, these are my favourites of the bunch, they include the original trilogy of Star Wars that are 2 disc sets and include the original cuts. Other buys included coming of age movie Girls Can't Swim, a Spanish release of the 1969 Gregory Peck film The Chairman, as well the first series of Clocking Off, the fourth series and You Rang M'Lord? as well Simon Schama's Power Of Art (which is still sealed).

Top Tens - they existed well before the advent of the internet and everybody and their Mother has done a top ten list and I thought hey not - I'm not that original, why can't I be part of the crowd, so here to you I present a semi-regular thing I'm doing so I guess you see what my tastes I like (without asking of course). I thought the best place to start was favourite films - anybody who is reading this remember these are just my personal opinion - it could change at anytime be it next week or 20 years from now, I am not always saying these are the best just films that I made the connection with. So here goes (Freddy Got Fingered didn't chart for spoiler purposes). 10 - The Princess Bride (1987)   - charming fantasy that's also funny. The sort of film I'd question if you didn't like then maybe you have no soul. 9 -  Leon (aka The Professional (1994) - I love the clash of Gary Oldman's OTT performance as crooked cop Norman Stansfield with...

History will say that Cheers was a very successful show that had an equally successful spin off - which is of course Frasier, and there is no denying the truth in that and without hindsight who would have thought a spin-off about the shrink would be the success it was, that been said I bet even avid Cheers watchers of the time didn't know Frasier wasn't the first spin-off you have to back to 1987, right in the middle of Cheers heyday where The Tortellis had a 13 episode run. Now I went into The Tortellis with very low expectations - though I loved Cheers and Frasier, I heard this was terrible - and honestly because of those low expectations what I watched in the pilot episode wasn't terrible. I mean I can see why it might not have lasted. I mean Nick and his Wife and clan where entertaining in small doses on Cheers but spending half hour with them a week I could see becoming tiring very quickly. This episode does have a Cheers regular show up in the opening scene...

#495 Bonnie Raitt - Give It Up I've got to be honest here I've heard of Boz Scaggs Bonnie Raitt, but that's as far as my knowledge goes I know nothing else about him her, yes I've already talked about what a musical novice I am - I mean before listening to this I wasn't even sure what musical genre Boz Scaggs Bonnie Raitt was. ...there, hopefully nobody should notice I just copied and pasted what I previously wrote and changed a few bits, but it's true and shameful, that I didn't really know much about Bonnie Raitt other than the fact she wasn't Bonnie Tyler (congratulations on that dumb statement). I thought I would acknowledge that Give It Up is her 1972 album and she's the first female recording artist that I've listened to on this countdown. Give It Up Or Let Her Go, the album's first track is clearly influenced by classic jazz, and this wouldn't be out of place in a jazz club in years gone by, track 2 is Nothing Seems T...