Musical Mondays Week 39 Josie and the Pussycats

[taylor anne photo 11311]

OMG, guys! I'm not suggesting that they should "die penniless" or that you don't have to pay your dues to get ahead.

 

Let's put it this way. Taylor, what if someone tomorrow said that they want you to shoot the cover for Vogue, but they had never seen your portfolio? All they ever saw was you walking across the street with a camera. And when you are like "you should probably see my work," they're like, "No, that isn't necessary" Even if they are on the level, if it's not based on your own talent as a photographer, what's even the point of achieving your dream? Sure, you can tell yourself that "you deserve it," but if you accept that offer under those terms, you're implicitly stating that being famous is more important than being a serious photographer, or in the case of J&TP, musicians.

No I completely understand what you're saying but I was reading that and still my first thought was that I would probably say yes because not only is that my dream, but also because I know I could do it and deliver a quality product. So this is why I don't actually fault J&TP for saying yes and why I don't think that's indicative of them just wanting fame.

[SlidePocket 707]

How about the fake TRL scene. When that came out, this was back when Tara Reid and Carson Daly were still dating at the time!

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

How about the fake TRL scene. When that came out, this was back when Tara Reid and Carson Daly were still dating at the time!

Did they break up because he tried to kill her with a baseball bat?

 

Also, who was on the cardboard stand-in Tara was holding? I thought it was Matt Damon but later they made a comment about Heath Ledger being a young Matt Damon.

 

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Oh here's the biggest question I have about the movie: What was the point of ostracizing Val from the get go? She was totally on board with the whole thing until Wyatt started making her feel like she wasn't welcome. It was only then that she started asking questions and then they made the decision to get rid of the two of them. But if they had just made it about all three of them then I bet none of them would have questioned anything and they would have never found out about Fiona's plan.

 

I just took this as almost a gag or a running joke, in the same sphere as Spinal Tap treating their drummers like faceless, replaceable nobodies. Wyatt was treating Val like she was worthless with the capriciousness of a record executive who views all artists as replaceable pawns. So for him to treat Val with more cruelty than any other musician is totally nonsensical, and a joke to communicate his infinite disregard and lack of concern for the Pussycats. He COULD hate any musician (and he does), therefore his specific hate for any one musician is inherently ridiculous.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Also, who was on the cardboard stand-in Tara was holding? I thought it was Matt Damon but later they made a comment about Heath Ledger being a young Matt Damon.

 

That's definitely Matt Damon. To be fair they said that Heath Ledger was the new Matt Damon not that he was the young Matt Damon. They were just doing the same thing they were doing with colors and shoes. It didn't matter that Matt Damon was still young and a hot commodity, but it had already been Matt Damon's "week" so now it was time to push someone new lol.

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

To me, punk is going to a show in Atlantic City to see a band you've only heard of because someone let you borrow their ep one time play on a five-band bill with four bands you've never heard of, blacking out before that band even plays, then waking up in an alley in Hoboken three days later between a dumpster and a raccoon eating a week-old sack of expired hamburger meat.

Is this you or G.G. Allin?

[PollyDarton 1807]

But if they had just made it about all three of them then I bet none of them would have questioned anything and they would have never found out about Fiona's plan.

Yeah great point. If everyone had just been cool about it then the girls wouldn't have been suspicious... Make it about all 3 of them, not just Josie. Val and Melody are frekking hot rocker chicks who are pretty talented on their own, why Single out Josie??

 

 

One thing I wonder about... After the girls get their makeover, they are in their new apartment and one of them says something like "Isn't it weird that this all happened in one week?" As they say this Wyatt opens up his phone to make a call and as soon as they laugh it off he shuts the phone. What was he going to do? Kill them off?! Already? At the first sign of questioning? That's bananas.

 

I found the TRL scene to be really messed up. Carson and Aries Spears' plan was to beat them to death with baseball bats was kind of shocking to me... to be in this movie that is.

 

All I could think of was this:

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

One thing I wonder about... After the girls get their makeover, they are in their new apartment and one of them says something like "Isn't it weird that this all happened in one week?" As they say this Wyatt opens up his phone to make a call and as soon as they laugh it off he shuts the phone. What was he going to do? Kill them off?! Already? At the first sign of questioning? That's bananas.

 

I found the TRL scene to be really messed up. Carson and Aries Spears' plan was to beat them to death with baseball bats was kind of shocking to me... to be in this movie that is.

 

It's pretty clear that Parker Posey and Alan Cumming do not value human life. Remember the girl from the store that they kidnap and perform experiments on?

 

 

Man, Huntington High School fucked the two of them right up, didn't it?

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

This is my idea of punk rock.

 

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I found the TRL scene to be really messed up. Carson and Aries Spears' plan was to beat them to death with baseball bats was kind of shocking to me... to be in this movie that is.

Also totally forgot about the Cosby impression and cringed reaaallllyyyy hard.

 

It's crazy to see jokes that don't hold up anymore.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

I know this has been mentioned already, but I was constantly distracted by the Allan M. subplot. Alan Cummings even makes several jokes along the lines of 'what kind of name is Allan M' (a good point if you ask me). I never read that deeply into Archie comics when I was a kid (I know the main cast but have no relationship with the Pussycatverse (?) beyond the main three) but it seems that Alan M. is a deep cut from Josie's story. In the comics, Alan M. is Josie's guitar tech, and looks like this:

 

Apparently his whole thing is that he's a bodybuilder, and is Josie's love interest later on. I guess having such a specific reference to the comics (along with Alex/Alex) is a way to appease the purists, but to the vast majority of viewers (us, I guess), these characters seem arbitrary and weird. And if the entire point of taking Alan M to the city is to keep him out of the snares of Alexandra, isn't that immediately redundant since Alexandra comes along too? And Alan M. shows no interest in Alexandra, so does Josie really need to force him to come to the city because she's that insecure?

 

With all that, why is Alan M. such a meh nobody of a character? He's all soulful and sad but there's absolutely no reason for us to ship him and Josie. He's just a bland, forgettable nothing.

 

Oh, and here's another Alan M. gem from the internet.

[grudlian. 4725]

I know this has been mentioned already, but I was constantly distracted by the Allan M. subplot. Alan Cummings even makes several jokes along the lines of 'what kind of name is Allan M' (a good point if you ask me). I never read that deeply into Archie comics when I was a kid (I know the main cast but have no relationship with the Pussycatverse (?) beyond the main three) but it seems that Alan M. is a deep cut from Josie's story. In the comics, Alan M. is Josie's guitar tech, and looks like this:

 

Apparently his whole thing is that he's a bodybuilder, and is Josie's love interest later on. I guess having such a specific reference to the comics (along with Alex/Alex) is a way to appease the purists, but to the vast majority of viewers (us, I guess), these characters seem arbitrary and weird. And if the entire point of taking Alan M to the city is to keep him out of the snares of Alexandra, isn't that immediately redundant since Alexandra comes along too? And Alan M. shows no interest in Alexandra, so does Josie really need to force him to come to the city because she's that insecure?

 

With all that, why is Alan M. such a meh nobody of a character? He's all soulful and sad but there's absolutely no reason for us to ship him and Josie. He's just a bland, forgettable nothing.

 

Oh, and here's another Alan M. gem from the internet.

Isn't Alan M in the cartoon pretty regularly? I assume that's why he was included. I don't know about how often he was in the comic.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

Isn't Alan M in the cartoon pretty regularly? I assume that's why he was included. I don't know about how often he was in the comic.

He probably is, but how many of the target demographic for this movie would know about the cartoon? I watched every cartoon I could get my hands on in the 80's and I had no memory of him. It's not like Jughead or Archie (although yes, I know they aren't really central to Josie et al). I just found his presence distracting, and the love plot was shoehorned in for no real payoff.

[SaraK 1980]

In regards to Alan M, I also didn't really feel like he was into Josie until he saw her in her party dress. Up til then, he seemed like a good friend of hers that she had a crush on. I didn't get the feeling he was harboring some secret crush when he asked her to fix his car.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

In regards to Alan M, I also didn't really feel like he was into Josie until he saw her in her party dress. Up til then, he seemed like a good friend of hers that she had a crush on. I didn't get the feeling he was harboring some secret crush when he asked her to fix his car.

That seems like that typical teen movie trope that probably was just in this movie because of that scene where RLC goes down the stairs in that red dress in She's All That. I betcha they were really trying to capitalize on us all thinking she was some gross monster person until she dresses up and then suddenly she's the most gorgeous.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Oh, and here's another Alan M. gem from the internet.

Oof not a good look for Alan M.

[SaraK 1980]

That seems like that typical teen movie trope that probably was just in this movie because of that scene where RLC goes down the stairs in that red dress in She's All That. I betcha they were really trying to capitalize on us all thinking she was some gross monster person until she dresses up and then suddenly she's the most gorgeous.

 

I did enjoy that makeover scene involved a lot of foils and heat on her hair, but looked exactly the same when it was over. But they all acted as if it was a huge improvement.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I did enjoy that makeover scene involved a lot of foils and heat on her hair, but looked exactly the same when it was over. But they all acted as if it was a huge improvement.

I think my favorite part was that one woman, who looked like she probably owned the salon, came in after everything was done to brush one piece of hair and everyone applauded her lol.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

That seems like that typical teen movie trope that probably was just in this movie because of that scene where RLC goes down the stairs in that red dress in She's All That. I betcha they were really trying to capitalize on us all thinking she was some gross monster person until she dresses up and then suddenly she's the most gorgeous.

Vampire Academy

ETA: Scratch that. I misread the quote.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Did Fiona have her bedroom decked out with a bunch of "guy" things at DuJour's party? Did she take them in and try to bond like she did with J&TP?

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

 

I did enjoy that makeover scene involved a lot of foils and heat on her hair, but looked exactly the same when it was over. But they all acted as if it was a huge improvement.

Also, the first time the Pussycats play for Allan C. in the studio, they play their track, then he pushes a few buttons on that producer machine, and it plays back sounding exactly the same. They say "whoa, is that us?", and while they then immediately start spouting advertising slogans, I couldn't really spot the difference.

 

I wanted a moment like at the 4.00 mark of this video:

 

 

YVAN EHT NOIJ

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Vampire Academy

ETA: Scratch that. I misread the quote.

Now I'm curious as to what you had originally read lol.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Also, the first time the Pussycats play for Allan C. in the studio, they play their track, then he pushes a few buttons on that producer machine, and it plays back sounding exactly the same. They say "whoa, is that us?", and while they then immediately start spouting advertising slogans, I couldn't really spot the difference.

It's very hard to tell but her lead vocals suddenly have harmonies to them when Val wasn't even singing, and there sounds like there is an extra guitar in there.

 

But you're right, they take an already produced sound and then just produce it more I guess?

[SaraK 1980]

Also, the first time the Pussycats play for Allan C. in the studio, they play their track, then he pushes a few buttons on that producer machine, and it plays back sounding exactly the same. They say "whoa, is that us?", and while they then immediately start spouting advertising slogans, I couldn't really spot the difference.

 

 

Not to be mean, but I don't think they're the brightest girls. I mean, Mel and Val went to a studio that was clearly not the TRL studio and didn't realize something was wrong until Carson Daly physically threatened them.

 

Edit - also in retrospect, wasn't it clearly night? Wasn't TRL live in the middle of the day? What the hell were they thinking?

[kateacola 2440]

I haven't rewatched yet for this week

But I did rewatch it sometime last year after not seeing it for years. I still really liked it but I also felt like some things did not quite hold up. The songs are still solid though.

 

Even though it still held up pretty well for me and I have nostalgic ties with this movie, I can understand why it doesn't work for everyone.

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFsPtff6muk

 

YVAN EHT NOIJ

Def one of my favorite Simpsons eps....That's right, Lieutenant LT Smash