jazz

by

Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 507 – “That Was Then: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three”

Walter Matthau in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), directed by Joseph Sargent

Gobbledygeek episode 507, “That Was Then: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three,” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

We’re speeding away at breakneck speed with another installment of our That Was Then series. This time Paul and Arlo are witnesses to The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, a 1974 subway heist thriller that is exactly what it says on the tin. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! But our boys do struggle to find much to say, choosing to highlight David Shire’s jazz-funk score and Owen Roizman’s gritty cinematography while mostly being puzzled by the script’s wasted potential. It’s a fun Noo Yawk movie, and that’s okay, folks! 

NEXT: NO FUCKING MERLOT! That’s right, it’s another That Was Then, this time focusing on Alexander Payne’s 2004 buddy dramedy Sideways.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:30  –  Intro / The Year That Was 1974
  • 00:21:38  –  The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
  • 01:20:30  –  Outro / Next

MUSIC

  • “Sure Shot” by Beastie Boys, Ill Communication (1994)
  • “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne, Blizzard of Ozz (1980)

GOBBLEDYCARES

by

Listen to ‘Gobbledygeek’ Episode 358, “The Brunette Wore Mauve”

Gobbledygeek episode 358, “The Brunette Wore Mauve,” is available for listening or download right here and on iTunes here.

Jazz hands, everyone! It’s time for a new episode of the new era of Gobbledygeek, which is either painfully self-indulgent or–well, there is no other option, BUT. Paul and Arlo freestyle about why they’re freestyling, discuss how perspectives on art change, extoll the complicated virtues of Miles Davis and Queen, and become flummoxed at the hyper-realistic minutiae of Red Dead Redemption 2.

Next: back to your regularly scheduled podcast with a Four-Color Flashback discussion of Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters.

(Show notes for “The Brunette Wore Mauve.”)

by

Listen to ‘Gobbledygeek’ Episode 317, “Baby Driver: Who Doesn’t Like Hats?”

Gobbledygeek episode 317, “Baby Driver: Who Doesn’t Like Hats?”, is available for listening or download right here and on iTunes here.

This week, Paul and Arlo put the pedal to the metal and drop the needle on Baby Driver, the latest nerd fantasia from writer-director Edgar Wright. Filled with rock and soul classics, Wright’s first American film is a high-concept car chase musical that nevertheless plays things a little straighter than his British/Canadian ventures. The boys discuss their favorite music cues, whether or not the internet is right to hate Ansel Elgort, what the film says about music as the soundtrack to our lives, and of course the goddamn Hamm. Plus, Paul and Arlo puzzle over the latest season of Orange Is the New Black and take a bite out of Bong Joon-ho’s Okja.

Next: first-time guest Heather Wiley swings by to talk Spider-Man: Homecoming.

(Show notes for “Baby Driver: Who Doesn’t Like Hats?”)

by

So You Think You Can Gobble: 8.06, “Week One: Top 20 Performance”

And with that, Season 8 of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE is out of the gate! There’s a lot of ground to cover in Week One, so let’s get to it.

First thing’s first, we have our first guest judge: Megan Mullally. I’m not going to lie to you, I was extremely skeptical of what I thought was “stunt casting” here, and I expected it to devolve into some kind of comedy schtick. But as it turns out she was fantastic. For one thing, she actually has a background in dance, so she knows what she’s talking about, more or less. But beyond that she was just really focused on giving sincere critiques. She paid attention to the dancers, took notes, commented on the routines in an intelligible way. I’ve gone from being skeptical to actually willing to see her back on the judges panel again at some point.

Next, Cat Deeley (with some spectacularly hot “sex hair”) breaks the bad news to us that we already have an injury. Contemporary dancer Mitchell Kelly strained his elbow during rehearsals and on doctor’s orders must sit out this round of the competition. He’s in the audience, visibly upset. I’m having uncomfortable flashbacks to last season and the tragic loss of Alex. Here’s hoping Mitchell makes a speedy recovery and gets a chance to prove himself next week.

And finally it’s time to introduce the couples. The Top 20 are now paired up into ten couples who will perform together for the first few weeks of the competition. Each week viewers will vote for their favorite couples, and the three that get the fewest votes will then give solo performances, from which the judges will decide one guy and one girl to send home. If the guy and girl eliminated are from different couples, the remaining halves of those couples will be paired together and the show will go on.

Make sense? Good.

Ladies and gentlemen, he first couple for Season 8 is…

Continue reading →

by

So You Think You Can Gobble: 8.02-03, “NY/SLC/LA Auditions”

Three hours of So You Think You Can Dance audition goodness this week. Wednesday night we got to see what Salt Lake City and New York had to offer, each giving us some good and some not-so-good. And Thursday night brought us the final auditions show, from the mythological Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. And the ol’ Orphic Mysteries were in full effect, because LA was a panoply of dance magic this season.

And…cue music!

Continue reading →

by

So You Think You Can Gobble

Less than a week away from the premier of So You Think You Can Dance Season 8, I cannot keep my feet still…metaphorically speaking. My intention this season will be to post reviews here each week (we’ll see how that works out for me), but to kick things off I wanted to list my Top 10 favorite performances from seasons past. There’s just one problem…well, two actually. First of all, I only started watching the series with Season 4. And second, I’m horrible at making lists. So what would have been a Top 10 of the series will now be my Top 15 from Seasons 4-7.

The criteria I used to pick these performances include: originality and creativity of the choreography; musical inspiration; likability of the dancers; and something I’m just going to call the wow factor, which mostly has to do with how emotionally moved I was by the piece, either to cheer or cry or whatever.

It’s practically impossible to find good quality videos of past seasons for this show, so everything I’m including below carries with it the disclaimer inherent in all YouTube content: some is crystal clear and HD quality; most is average, low-res video; a few are truly crappy, pixelated abortions. Enter at your own risk.

So without further ado…

Paul’s Top 15 So You Think You Can Dance Performances!

Continue reading →