MoFuzz

Corrections and omissions to the corrections and omissions, even though it'll never get read on the air... The toilet worm wasn't in the water supply, it was in a toilet that leads to a septic tank, which doesn't go anywhere. Isolated cabin... (of course in rural Maine there are plenty of streams and rivers that run out to the sea eventually, but the toilet worms might not know that...) The cabin belonged to Beaver's Dad, so yes they went there as kids a lot... not every vacation place is an AirBNB. The book begins with a series of news reports about Roswell and UFOs and such, and Jonesy specifically refers to them as "grays" and talks about the X-Files... no mention of evil clowns... Jonesy was looking for friction tape because they knew they had it. If he'd found duct tape, he certainly would have grabbed that instead... in the book, he even considers using twine that he finds, or the Scotch tape he's pretty sure is in the kitchen, but he knows they wouldn't work... but the point is "friction tape" IS a real thing... As the 4 guys grew up, graduated high school, went on to college or jobs or marriage, yes they lost touch with Duddits... they had no idea they were being "groomed to save the world" until shit starts happening, and only when Jonesy flashes back to "seeing" Duddits in the ambulance does he understand what he's saying. Initially Duddits may not have intended for these guys to be used against Mr Gray, but since he was sick with cancer (there it is again) he was enlisting their help. Of course, the giant alien inside Duddits could have found a new healthier host somewhere, and left the Douglas "shell" to die of leukemia... Oy...

Not a good day for SquareSpace...

FRIED CLAMS dammit... and he looks like Chris Hanson in this... "Why don't you have a seat... have a fried clam..."

Doing the audiobook of "Dreamcatcher" as a result of this episode... it does fill in a lot of the blanks and answer questions from the movie. For instance, in the childhood reminiscing pre-Dudditz, it mentions wrapping their hockey sticks in friction tape. Yes, I'm back on friction tape!! Also clears up a lot of the character questions, their inside jokes and terms, etc. Also a lot of things are sort of presented backwards... for instance, in the movie, we see Jonesy's "Dream Warehouse" before we realize it's based on the office at the moving company with the "prom queen" photo and desk, etc. Also, at the top of the warehouse's tower, you see the skylight with the dreamcatcher as the window. I think the level of discussion on this movie shows that, while it is flawed in many ways, there is a lot of stuff going on to explore.

Just reviewed King's wikipedia page... I wasn't sure of his timeline, but I'd heard about his accident... I presumed that accident is what inspired 1987's "Misery", but it's a case of life imitating art that he was hit by the minivan over 10 years after "Misery" was published. As has been discussed, the 1999 accident led to him writing "Dreamcatcher" longhand as he recovered from his injuries.

"Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic." -- Crash Davis, "Bull Durham" The same goes for home runs, invincibility, and every character being a perfectly trained wizard instead of a human fuck-up being.

Cameron H... please just call me Richard Bachman. Also just briefly addressing the question people keep raising about the "powers" each guy has, and how they don't seem to provide much protection, and two of the guys get killed off, etc. It's a battle, it's a mission. There are casualties. Soldiers/Fuckaroos die. People who've grown up on recent blockbuster/franchise movies are too used to NOBODY ever dying along the way, because it would prevent a sequel, or it's in the actor's contract to not die, or in some cases even to lose a fight (Rock vs Vin Diesel f'rinstance). Also, each character in today's movies has an exact special thing they can do to "win the day." But also, folks are used to Iron Man or Superman being able to do anything they want, at will, to trump any adversary. Boring... Something like Game of Thrones isn't afraid of characters failing and dying along the way as they're outmatched or have bad luck. There's some actual "skin in the game" and stakes to be won or lost. In Dreamcatcher, these guys are thrown into something, some win, some lose, but they're there to do what they can in the situation. That's where drama comes from. Gandalf could probably have just destroyed the ring himself, but where's the fun in that?

...or why these hyper-advanced spaceships keep crashing on earth? Doh!

An isolated cabin like this probably only has well water and a septic tank, basically a closed system, not connected to a public water or sewage infrastructure. The well might be part of a public aquifer, but that may not be enough to accomplish the mission. Also this is a movie based on a work of fiction...

I think they chose Duddits (aka Douglas) rather than the other way around... they are fundamentally good kids who fight back against bullies, even against the odds, and are resourceful and strategic bullshit artists -- was that kid super fast? Doesn't matter. The boys were "puffing up" to discourage the bullies from starting a meaningless fight, even though they'd probably crush the littler kids. Again, presuming these are basically the same boys from "Stand By Me", they showed guts in that story standing up to Ace, then did the right thing by anonymously tipping off the police rather than exploiting the situation to be big shots, even though that was ostensibly their reason for making the trip in the first place. "Stand by Me" and"Dreamcatcher" both address that everyone in a circle of friends has their strengths and weaknesses, but friendship unites them despite the flaws, and combines their strengths as a team to overcome bullies, military badguys, and even tremendously powerful alien invaders. You see the same thing in Marvel Avengers, X-Men, Justice League, PowerRangers, the Seven Samurai, the Three Musketeers, and almost any story where two or more characters work together for a common goal. Literature 101... It's the point of the dreamcatcher scene -- they aren't 5 separate dreamcatchers (plural) but united as one single dreamcatcher -- all for one, one for all -- and probably why the title is "Dreamcatcher" (singular).

Watched the 11.22.63 miniseries, and as the hero arrives at the book depository and heads up the stairs, you can just barely see that someone has painted "REDRUM" in red on the wall... Tony must have been there, too, Mrs. Torrance...

One other little logic glitch... when Pete the car salesman pulls the woman's car keys out of the deep puddle, she uses the keyless entry to open the door. Pretty sure soaking in water for that long would render that broken, and she'd have to unlock it manually... woot!

I think the "host" whether human or animal, is basically just a food supply until the worm reaches maturity, sort of like in "Alien" -- hence the Ripley reference. It's also referencing cancer, how it starts growing inside you and you have no clue, but when symptoms present, it's often too late to do much about it.

Or he dove out of the way into the snow bank and it got on him then, or he even pulled snow onto himself to hide better?

Because it's a different thing... a rough cloth tape (sticky on both sides!) frequently used to improve the grip on hockey sticks and other sporting equipment, tools, etc, but would be good for securing toilet seat lids in a pinch. (Get it? Pinch?) Hockey is pretty popular in Maine, especially near frozen lakes...

"Greys" is a common term for Roswell style aliens, like the ones in "Communion" (starring Christopher Walken)... King might have been using that as a shorthand...

It's what he thought they had in the shed... it's strong and sticky as hell (sticky on both sides!), so would probably work as well as duct tape. Duck brand even sells it (among others). The point is the HDTGMers acted as if it was something the movie just made up, simply because none of them had heard of it. They do it all the time. Like they did with "criminetlies!" as an exclamation... it's a perfectly cromulent word: ...I consulted some fellow experts. One said that "Criminentlies!" was from the Disney 1973 animated version of "Robin Hood," where it was the favorite interjection of the Sheriff of Nottingham, voiced by Pat Buttram (Mr. Haney in "Green Acres"). But another pointed out that George Gobel used the word frequently in his 1950s comedy routines....

"Friction tape" is what you put on the blade of hockey sticks so you can better control the puck and helps keep the handle from being slippery. It's a rough cloth tape, similar to gaffer's tape, except sticky on both sides --more about creating a grippy surface than holding something together. Totally belongs at a Maine lake house. Duct/Duck tape is too shiny and smooth. People also put friction tape on skateboards so their shoes don't slip on the deck -- Jason Lee would be familiar with this. Also, Duddits didn't know what these guys would be like when they were older -- he just knew they were better than the shitfeeders (totally Ace and Eyeball's gang from Stand By Me). All in all, they are decent guys for the most part. At least they try to help defeat the worms. The "vagina worms" look really similar to lamprey eels, a delightful sea creature, and various parasitic worms. Their mouths can do some major damage... google it, or don't. Ick. Finally, the original/alternate ending is on the DVD and really sucks. Duddits basically stumbles into the water station, does his twirly finger thing, and Mr Grey is just sent into a "worm"hole, no sweat. Then a really hokey gravesite scene where the last two d-bags sing Blue Bayou. Groan...

Watching "Grease" for the first time since forever, and wow, is it awful... despite being beloved and a huge hit, it's really a mess. The world's oldest teenagers, horrible animated opening credits, not a single decent joke, and even the dance numbers are pathetic. Basically one of the worst Elvis movies ever made, without the benefit of Elvis -- just Travolta's impersonation mashed together with Tony Manero from SNF. Not to mention, how is it simultaneously football, baseball, basketball, track, and wrestling season? Granted, a couple decent songs, but otherwise dullsville, baby. I think the HDTGM crew could have a lot of fun with this over-rated train wreck.

So, after hearing the episode, I watched "Glitter" and while it was tedious and not entertaining, it wasn't the "crazy bonkers insanity" of disjointed anarchy I'd been led to believe by the podcast. Glitter, like every movie, uses plot devices to advance the story, create tension and situation, and get from beginning to end. HDTGM seems predicated on not understanding this, and over-reacting when a device isn't particularly subtle or strong. Like the music awards thing... they invite her and say there's a rehearsal happening that day, not the live show. Unlikely, but it is NOT the same as calling her 20 minutes before the show airs live. It's a plot device to get her to meet Eric Benet's character without Dice around. (BTW Billie keeps asking people to call Dice for her as a plot device to show that she's loyal to him while crazy shit keeps happening.) Or the DX7 gift... as someone pointed out upthread, in '83 the DX7 was a $2000 pro keyboard, and a pretty substantial gift. There also seems to be some overstatement of Dice's level of fame early on in the film. When the movie starts, he's a club DJ, but he's not some huge industry powerhouse as team HDTGM seems to think he is. I thought Max Beasley did a passable job, sort of a low budget Ewan McGregor... And there are also "jokes" in the movie, like the video shoot scene with the euroweenie director and the male dancers. HDTGM seems to not catch a lot of "jokes" in the movies you discuss. The movie is basically "A Star is Born" or any of the genre where (generally) boy helps girl get discovered, he tries to hitch his wagon to her star but starts to get insecure and threatened when people pay attention to her exclusively, so he gets bitter and forces her to choose between him and stardom. If he'd just been chill, she would have taken him along for the ride, but he has to be a dick about it, so he loses her. Also, the SOUNDTRACK dropped on 9/11, which they were counting on to help build interest in the film, and most of the promotional media appearances prior to the film's opening were canceled due to 9/11 coverage. So yes, I believe that was certainly an unfavorable time to release the movie, and probably hurt opening weekend ticket sales. Again, this is not a very good movie, not much fun, and Mariah's not a great actress. But sometimes I wonder if you guys are actually paying attention when you watch the films, or are deliberately being dense to try to be funny...