Cameron H.

I think this was on Prime, but it got removed. If you all want to save a couple bucks, it is available on the add-on channels “Monsters and Nightmares” and “Magnolia.” I just signed up for the free trial and cancelled right away

Max, are you good to go now or do you still need some more time?

“Great Day” is a great song. IIRC, it even has a nice story behind it (which you probably already know). Apparently, Paul, Linda, and the kids were stuck inside due to a hurricane and he remembered the song as something he used to play for his children to make them happy. I guess you’re right that the arrangements are a bit too polished to be the result of jam sessions. I guess they just seem so half-assed. Like you know “Brazil” came about because the chords sounded “Brazil-y” and he just improvised some bullshit over it. I think I kind of like “Despite Repeated Warnings,” (or at least what it’s trying to do) but it still doesn’t sound quite right. I don’t know. Something’s just not right. Something feels a bit off. Maybe he needs a different producer? Everything sounds simultaneously over and under produced. This album is a goddamn cipher!

I agree 100% I think my issue is - if you look at an album like Flaming Pie - there are really only two songs I don’t care for, “Really Love You” and “Used to Be Bad.” I think my problem is that both of those songs came about on the spur of the moment during jam sessions. Don’t get me wrong, for jam session songs they’re just fine, but they’re not the type of songs you put on the album. (Kind of like that atrocity he recorded with Dave Grohl, Kirst Noveselic, and Pat Smear..) They’re songs you put in a fault that you release as unreleased tracks on an overproduced box set. Anyway, for me, Egypt Station feels like a whole album of jam session songs that they just over produced. I don’t know. For me, this round goes to Mr. Brian Wilson.

Yas! A tambourine! And maybe Jessica St Clair on the clam piano...and a giant shark.

I would totally listen to a Paul Scheer album What would it sound like though? I feel like it would be like a hybrid of They Might Be Giants, Death Cab for Cutie, and The Decemberists.

I just finished. It's real middle-of-the-road. Nothing stands out for being good, but the bad is pretty in your face. It's a weird album for McCartney. It's like he's trying to be edgy and self-reflective, but that's not really a look he's ever worn particularly well. Do you know who I feel bad for? The session musicians. You just know there's someone who showed up to the studio and was like, "Oh my God! I'm hear to play oboe on a Paul McCartney record. The man is a legend. 'Let it Be,' 'Hey Jude,' 'Maybe I'm Amazed.' Wow." And then Paul walks in and is like, "Hi! Pleased to meet you. Here's me song about fucking. It's called 'Fuh You.' A-one, a-two, a-one, two three, four..."

I’m on “Caesar Rock” and I would give anything for a group of conspirators to stab me to death right now - preferably ears first. He really needs to cancel this tour and start working on a new album...this one’s not great.

Egypt Station Update: Agh! “Back to Brazil!” What even the fuck? Why is this happening? Please! Paul needs an intervention. Someone needs to step up an say, “Don’t do this thing.”

Listening now (*sigh* another day Topaz) Jesus, “Who Cares” sounds like a Huey Lewis and the News cover... So far, I’m not super impressed. “I Don’t Care” was not only a weird lead single, but it’s the album opener?!? Wtf? Honestly, I’ve only heard two songs that weren’t already released, and at the risk of sounding like a kinkshaming ageist, I’m not sure I want hear about horny, 76-year-old Paul... Oops! Here’s a new song. “Confidante.” Oof! Okay. Here’s what I’m going to say: the music is okay. I think he’s got interesting ideas, but these lyrics are more “Scrambled Eggs” than “Yesterday.” (That’s a reference for the *real* fans )

Oh my God, I just sat down to listen to it and my phone ran out of batteries! (To quote Charlie Brown: "Aaargh!") I'll listen tonight and report back in the morning. Anyway, I think I'm going to muddle my way through Hitchcock' s Topaz. So far, I totally agree with your Letterboxd review. I also believe your Egypt Station review applies: "perfectly fine but nothing groundbreaking." God! I'm surrounded by genius, but I'm being fed mediocrity! What's the deal?

Alive or dead, here's something about the ending that gives me the heebie-jeebies. Iris' father's voice over is done in this really halting and folksy way. Of course, there's no way Travis would know what Iris' father actually sounds like, so we have to assume that the voice we are hearing is the voice Travis is hearing when he reads it (does that make sense?). Anyway, there's one line in that letter where the father writes: "But we have taken steps to see she has never cause to run away again." In the tone that it's read, it sounds innocent enough, but in another inflection, that line is awfully sinister. I mean, we don't really know why Iris ran away from home in the first place. Has Travis just sent her to a place where she's just going to suffer further abuse?

I watched Raging Bull for the first time earlier this year. I...was not a fan. As I said in my review, it's not even the best boxing movie on the AFI list.

I was going to say something similar. It's why I think this movie specifically speaks to adolescents - a period in which most people feel an acute sense of "otherness." It's a time when people feel like the world is out to get them or think they're a freak or whatever. And while I'd like to say we grow out of this phase, I think that feeling always remains - if only to a lesser degree. I mean, think about how many times you're in traffic and you think about how dumb all the other drivers are. How often do we quietly judge people for the things they do or don't do ("You didn't hold the door open for me, you jerk!" "You stole my parking spot, asshole." "Ugh! I can't believe you drink RC Cola! Troglodyte...") Even the divisiveness in America can be attributed to "I'm right and everyone who doesn't think like me is wrong (i.e. evil)." I think that's why this movie resonates a little more than Raging Bull. I can't really relate to an idiot boxer, but I can relate to Bickle's misanthropy and feelings of being an outsider. This isn't an endorsement of him at all, but I think it's the crack in the window that lets us peer into his world. Also, my Letterboxd review was "Incel: The Movie!" Now I think the Facebook group is stalking me and stealing my bits. (Look at me not so quietly judging them )

The poster of Rita Hayworth in Shawshank. Are we going to do Crystal Clear Pepsi?

Eve. Harrington.

My old job used to take me down to Columbus, GA from time to time and I’ve been by the RC Cola plant. It’s a sad little building. Royal Crown is the Travis Bickle of colas. Incidentally, with the same job, I actually got to go *in* to the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Atlanta. That place is impressive. Super clean. Coca-Cola is the Don Lockwood of sodas. Now ask me who Dr. Pepper is...

Why am I not surprised that RC Cola is the drink of choice of skeevy, 1970's porn theaters?

I Tweeted this out to them, but do you think it's a coincidence that Travis Bickle's initials are "TB?" I feel like the film is definitely making a case that Bickle is the actual disease plaguing the city.

I loved the episode but their were a couple points that I would disagree with. In terms of Bickle possibly suffering from PTSD, I think it's very likely that he was in the military in some capacity. The war would have just been ending as this movie was filmed and Bickle, at 26, would have been the right age for service. Now, here's the tricky part - did he actually see action? I don't think so, but I do have a theory. In the scene where Bickle is doing push-ups, we see a nasty scar on his left shoulder blade. This is, as far as I remember, the only time we see his bare back and it is never commented upon. While this could just be a manifestation of self-flagellation, I think, like Charlie Sheen's character in Platoon, there's an argument to be made that maybe Bickle was a soldier that got injured right out of the gate and was sent home. It would definitely be a traumatic experience and might account for his insomnia. I can't understand why you would show that scar if it doesn't tell us something about Bickle. I also strongly disagree with Amy and Paul in regard to why Bickle chooses the guns he does. Yes, they were guns used by fictional characters, but there is absolutely no indication that Bickle would even know or register this. Amy and Paul actually called Dirty Harry and James Bond Bickle's "heroes," but if the movie makes anything abundantly clear, it is that Bickle is completely pop culture blind. He doesn't know popular music or movies, he doesn't seem to read, and when he tries to watch television, he kicks it over. His lack of pop culture awareness is part of what fuels Bickle's disconnect. However, I absolutely do believe that those are the guns being sold because of their pop culture relevance. I just think that connection would be completely lost on Bickle.

What sucks is Taxi Driver was on Hulu. I thought I checked to see if it was expiring, but I guess not. So annoying to have to rent something that was available just a few days ago

Um, you don't own a patronus, Taylor...

I would also like to say that I am Team Shark. I had a Marine Biology teacher back in school who always told us how funny it is that people love dolphins so much when they are essentially sea-wolves. She attributed a lot of it to their upturned mouths that give the illusion of smiling and all the New Age artwork that always portray them as these ethereal, space-faring creatures. I guess the scariest part of dolphins is the fact that they are intelligent. I can't get mad at a shark when it's all instinct, but when you're talking about an animal that is capable of premeditation, that's something else entirely. Dolphins are the worst. Fuck those guys.

(ETA: For real though, I’d totally go see Zack Attack live)