EvRobert

I liked the Just A Girl needle drop but back in 1995, working as a college radio DJ and stupid into Ska, I loved me some No doubt (but ya'll Spiderwebs is No Doubt's best song), so it was just like "yeah" total nostalgic moment. Like I knew WHY they were using that song but I also didn't care.

I had a similar experience with the Dick Tracy movie in 1990

oh god I had the novelzation of this movie AND Navy SEALS. I read them till they fell apart. Thank you Scholastic Book Club

The closest is Troilus and Cressida which is considered one of Shakespeare's "problem plays" (plays that swing wildly from dark tragedy and dark comedy)

Yeah it's one of those turns of phrases I had to look up and double check on

Also, I looked this up, a specific age isn't given for Juliet but The Nurse mentions that Juliet hasn't reached 14 years of age

They were in the "gentry" class, which is the bottom of the three tier of the "upper class"

And Juliet being engaged at a young age means that she was being married into a class above the Capulets own to move them up. Here is a good, brief article explaining it

Yes, they aren't royalty but they aren't poor either. They are in the upper middle class.

This isn't a knock on the podcast, because it is very well done and edited (and probably better than I could do) but as someone with a background in radio and audio editing, I can "hear" where the edits come from and how it is probably done. Like I said, this isn't a knock on the podcast and exactly how I would do it too. Some of the edits are obvious (the interviews in particular) and some aren't as obvious (the intros can sometimes be seamless and sometimes not quite) but they are well edited but edited nevertheless

I don't. Honestly, I would classify it as one of the "problem plays" if it wasn't universally taught as a tragedy. The characters of R&J (not from the upper class) are presented as the young lovers, Merctiuo is the "fool" but comes from the upper class, the Nurse and the Friar are complicate in helping (traditionally in a Shakespearean comedy the young lovers come from the upper class and the fools from the lower and the lower class usually have a lower view of "true love"). so in a lot of ways Shakespeare is taking his own troupes and inverting them.

Well, if you look at the lens of Shakespeare's comedies, I think he found "love" as a notion a bit ridiculous. The "young lover" troupe in his comedies is usually played up for a laugh and are presented as kind of stupid

I think you are onto a point here Taylor that the story may not translate as well to a modern setting or sensibilities, but not for the reason you stated. In Victorian England the average age of marriage was 28 for men and 26 for women (https://www.history.com/news/5-things-victorian-women-didnt-do-much) but courtship was a big deal. So what R&J were doing was "rebellious" skirting the societal norms. The whole ballroom/dance sequence is basically R&J rebelling against the traditional courtship rituals (which were often done at a ball). I'm going to do a C/O on myself here, I was linking to info on Victorian Era not Elizabethan so basically ignore what I was saying here or apply it to a later time. Although I did find that boys did not marry until they were usally 21 (the "age of consent") but earlier marriage could be done with parental blessing. According to this the average age was late teens to early 20s although it could be a little older

I listen to two "bad film" podcasts (sometimes I get confused which ones covered what LOL) but the one I've always wanted to see covered is 1989's Sonny Boy. I saw it ONCE on TCM when they used to do Friday Night "Midnight Movies" and it's basically a grindhouse film but it's cast puts it in a weird space. It's also bonkers. This is the summary from Wikipedia The cast though? David Carradine as Pearl, Paul L Smith (Bluto in Altman's Popeye) as Slue, Brad Dourif as Weasel, Conrad Janis (Mindy's dad on Mork and Mindy) as the doctor, Sydney Lassick (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), and Alexandra Powers (Mask, Dead Poets Society). This movie is insane and looks like it came out of like 1979 not 1989. I've always thought it was ripe for a remake from Rob Zombie

Man Old Bamboo is probably one of my favorite numbers from this. And the Baron and Baroness song isn't a bop the way Old Bamboo or toot Sweet is, but it's bonkers level of comedy

Yeah that was a whole part of their romance I didn't like since it came like almost out of no where

I really did enjoy this movie but DvD is right, there are SO many plot holes, it's lacking something that Mary Poppins had, and I can totally see Cubby Brocolli throwing a fit. But DvD is so damn good. I love that it's a romance (even if it's a whirlwind romance that makes Romeo and Juliet [since we've been talking about that on Unspooled] look like they took their time and is based on DvD's fortunes rather than anything else), it's not so much about the kids as it is about Potts and Truly falling in love. The kids are just their to kind of help move the mcguffin along. The car in incidental and until the Grease esque ending is just a car when it's not being used as a prop in DvD's story. I think if you look at the song Hushabye Mountain and then the story in the car, it is essentially a bedtime story, which means I can forgive a lot of the plot holes I think that is the main difference between this and Mary Poppins (and even Bedknobs and Broomsticks). MP and B&B are bordering on magical realism where is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a straight up bedtime story. As for DvD's dancing, I think he underplays his skills as a dancer because he was never formally trained but I think a physical comedian such as himself is closer to a dancer then he probably realizes.

Yeah Mercutio is the real tragedy of R&J

I think that a lot of the misconceptions about R&J come from a very basic, surface level reading of the play. Most people have only ever read the play when they were in Grade 9/Freshman year of High School. It is usually a week or two long and is taught not by someone trained in theater but in English (this isn't to dog on English teachers--I HAVE a degree in English Education in addition to a degree in theater). It is taught as basic lit i.e. "you need to have a basic understanding of Shakespeare" and the language is a big barrier for a lot of people. If they have seen a production, it is Baz's Romeo + Juliet, which is good but you believe that they are in love. I don't think I've seen a production that plays up the absurdity of the situation. If we removed the names "Romeo" and "Juliet", if we removed the classical setting, if we cast appropriately, people would say that this is a joke. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet isn't that two young lovers died (although it is tragic) but that EVERYONE was so stupid. The Prince's speech at the end is the crux of that.

This movie has so much violence and sex we were marveling Friday night that it is considered a children's movie

This movie is so good, so weird, so bonkers insane while somehow being less bonkers insane then the book (which I haven't read but skimmed on Wiki). Which means I loved it. It's so damn utterly charming. DvD learned not to do a bad accent and just let himself shine through amidst all these great British actors. is it to long? Probably. The car doesn't show up for like an hour into the film (after the opening race and the kids playing in it). And talk about some free range parenting. But man this film is just so damn good.

I should be around at that time

What time is tonight's showing? I am working late since OT was approved but don't want to miss it if i don't have to

I also got a bit tired of Paul (and lots of people) kind of slagging off on Oklahoma! as a musical. The movie is NOT very good but I love the music, the dance, how it was a revolutionary musical, and a lot of the deeper themes that are involved. I think it is a shame that it is so popular in high schools because it garners a reputation of not being very good or deep when it has a lot of great, pertinent themes. Paul, check out the 1999 Live on Broadway version directed by acclaimed British director Trevor Nunn and starring Hugh Jackman