An Homage to the Brady Bunch - Raving Retro

While the rest of the country was protesting the Vietnam war or watching the Watergate hearings there were many of us who viewed the world through the windows of our suburban tri-level homes and watched the Brady Bunch every weekend afternoon - there at least all was right with the world. The Bradys had the perfect family, they were happy, well-adjusted and seemed to have a lot of fun hanging out with each other (perhaps more fun than we realized based upon stories of Brady scandals that began emerging during the 1980's).

For the cast of the Brady Bunch, it was all downhill after the show was cancelled.

During the 1970's though, the Bradys seemed normal. While the Bradys' had their issues, those problems were always resolved by the end of each episode. The Bradys presented a somewhat narrow view of the world though, for example:

• There were no major characters from any minority, in fact you'd think minorities didn't exist if you watched it.
• Mrs. Brady was a stay at home mom who never once thought of having a career.
• The excuse for the family merger is murky, although Mr. Brady is a widower, no mention is made of Mrs. Brady's mysterious divorce. It's assumed she got all the kids in the settlement but apparently she doesn't get alimony.
• Nobody drinks on the Brady Bunch, despite their last name being Brady - except for Sam, the sometimes boy-toy for Alice the housekeeper.
• The Bradys' never faced any real trauma or setbacks, besides their vacations anyway.
• The Bradys' didn't seem to have any opinions about anything outside their own personal lives. 

Many people think that Seinfeld invented the comedy about nothing, but the reality is that the Bradys beat them to it - it is a show that said absolutely nothing on any subject for 6 seasons. Yet, the show had an appeal which was hard to ignore. We've assembled several top ten lists as an homage to the time wasted during our childhood watching these folks and thinking they had it better than us...

Top 10 Episode Titles:

• Marcia Gets Creamed - We didn't make these up
• The Great Earring Caper - Kleptos on the cast? We'll have to refer to Marcia's or Jan's books
• Getting Davy Jones - Odds are Marcia really got him, but we haven't read the tell-all book yet.
• Coming Out Party - way before it became popular...
• The Babysitters - Did this inspire the John Leguizamo film?
• The Big Sprain - Before Sports medicine was cool...
• Every Boy Does It Once - We don't want to know
• The Teeter Totter Caper - we forgot about this one
• Katchoo - One of several episodes dedicated to healthcare issues
• Eenie, Meenie, Mommy, Daddy - A show, about nothing

Top (real-life) Brady Scandals:

• Mike Brady is gay (dies of AIDS)
• Mrs. Brady hooks up with Greg
• Greg hooks up with Marcia
• Marcia apparently hooks up with everyone, including Michael Jackson and Steve Martin.
• Jan and Marsha hook up (maybe)
• Greg and Jan hook up
• Peter is gay (maybe)
• Multiple substance abuse issues
• Several failed spin offs 
• Mrs. Brady has an affair with the Mayor of New York

Top 10 Brady Quotes:

• Greg: Remember Dad, we're talking man-to-man, not kid-to-man man-to-man, but man-to-man, man-to-man.
• Jan: Well, all I hear all day long at school is how great Marcia is at this how wonderful Marcia did that. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!
• Carol: [to Cindy] You shouldn't put down a loser, Cindy, because you might be one yourself someday. Just remember that.
• Greg: It's sure great how some people can sing while other people are dying!
• Alice: [to the deliveryman] You keep calling me sweetie, gorgeous & beautiful, and I'll follow you anywhere!
• Greg: [Greg then sits at his desk imitating Marcia writing in her diary] "Dear diary, at last I met him, my dream man. It was at the delicatessen and our fingers tingled as we reached for the same potato salad."
• Cindy: A star can't go on television, all fat and broken out.
• Marcia: Something suddenly came up.
• Carol: Cindy thought there are real butterflies in my stomach. What an idiot!

Top 3 Brady Hits:
Of course, someone had the bright idea to try to have the Bradys compete with the Partridge family. The following Brady hits were the fascinating result:

• Sunshine Day - no comment

• Keep on Moving - no comment

• Brady Bunch Variety Hour: Disco Medley  - to be honest we never even knew that the Bradys' had their own variety hour. That's probably a good thing...
  

Disco and the Bradys - the perfect match

There is one thing we're certain of, there will never be another show quite like the Brady Bunch - movie remakes not withstanding (satire doesn't count).

 Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

Harmonic Insanity - A Raving Playlist

As you might have noticed, all of our playlists have a little story associated with them. This playlist was inspired by trips to the local Ikea this Summer. The only way to describe our first experience was stunned, disoriented and overwhelmed by meatballs and lingaberries. At one point we feared for our lives, thinking we might be stuck inside forever as there didn't seem to be any exists, only winding paths of consumer decadence at affordable prices. Anyway, after we escaped with some lighting fixtures and Swedish chocolate we found out that Jonathan Coulton had actually written a song that perfectly captured our first impressions of Ikea. We then were inspired to find songs on crazy topics or just crazy songs period. As usual, you can find this playlist on Spotify.

Enter the Scandinavian Dimension...

What constitutes a crazy song? Here are some guidelines; it's crazy if...

• If William Shatner or Leonard Nimoy are in it (BTW - we heard that Nimoy's Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins is going to be used on the new Hobbit movie soundtrack) .
• It has any connection to Baywatch
• If it is wickedly funny
• If it was on SNL as a skit not a musical guest (like King Tut)
• Anything having to do with Billy Ray Cyrus
• If it includes Ricky Martin talking about women

 

Harmonic Insanity
Jonathan Coulton – Ikea
"Weird Al" Yankovic – Another One Rides The Bus
Flight Of The Conchords – Robots
Paul Storm – More Rejected Commercial Jingles: Olive Garden
William Shatner – I Can't Get Behind That
The Steep Canyon Rangers – Atheists Don't Have No Songs
The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist
David Hasselhoff – Looking For Freedom 01 - Remix 2006
"Weird Al" Yankovic – Ebay (Parody of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys)
Jonathan Coulton – Tom Cruise Crazy
Leonard Nimoy – A Visit To A Sad Planet
Warren Zevon – I Need A Truck - Previously Unissued Outtake
Tenacious D – Señorita - Explicit Version
Jonathan Coulton – The Future Soon
Flight Of The Conchords – Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros
"Weird Al" Yankovic – Polka Face
Barenaked Ladies – Pinch Me - Radio Version
Steve Martin – King Tut
Barenaked Ladies – If I Had $1,000,000
"Weird Al" Yankovic – The Saga Begins (Lyrical Adaption of "American Pie")
Barenaked Ladies – The Ninjas
Paul Storm – Cruel, Cruel Moon
Tenacious D – The Metal
Jonathan Coulton – Code Monkey
Warren Zevon – Accidentally Like A Martyr - 2007 Remastered LP Version
Flight Of The Conchords – The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)
Warren Zevon – Carmelita
"Weird Al" Yankovic – Yoda
Paul Storm – The Captain's Wife's Lament
Leonard Nimoy – Spock Thoughts
Flight Of The Conchords – You Don't Have To Be A Prostitute
William Shatner – Common People
C.W. McCall – Convoy
Leonard Nimoy – Music To Watch Space Girls By
Paul Storm – If James Taylor Were On Fire
Billy Ray Cyrus – Achy Breaky Heart
Warren Zevon – Excitable Boy
DJ Ostkurve – Limbo Dance (Party Dance Radio)
Las Kala – The Ketchup Song (Hey Hah)
"Weird Al" Yankovic – White & Nerdy (Parody of "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone)
Jonathan Coulton – Creepy Doll
Paul & Storm – My Fantastic Plastic Girl
John Wetton – Bohemian Rhapsody
Neil Norman & His Cosmic Orchestra – Mystery Science Theater 3000
Tenacious D – Deth Starr - Explicit Version
Barenaked Ladies – Crazy ABC's
Flight Of The Conchords – Hurt Feelings
Barenaked Ladies – Bank Job
Divinyls – I Touch Myself
Fast Food Rockers – The Fast Food Song - Deep Pan Radio Mix
Hampster Dance Masters – The Hamster Dance Song
Crazy Town – Butterfly
Warren Zevon – Mohammed's Radio
69 Boyz – Tootsee Roll
Various Artists – Supermodel (You Better Work)
Was (Not Was) – Walk The Dinosaur
Disco's Revenge – Disco Duck
Eiffel 65 – Blue (Da Ba Dee) - Radio Edit
David Hasselhoff – Keep The Jungle Alive
Pete Droge – If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself)
The Offspring – Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)
"Weird Al" Yankovic – Pretty Fly For A Rabbi (Parody of "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" by Offspring)
William Shatner – How Insensitive

Right Said Fred – I'm Too Sexy
Ricky Martin – She Bangs - English Version
Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby
King Missile – Detachable Penis
The Timelords (The Jams) – Doctorin' The Tardis
Paul Storm – If Bob Dylan Were Hiding At the Bottom of a Well
Soundtrack/Cast Album – Dentist!
"Weird Al" Yankovic – Gump (Parody of "Lump" by The Presidents Of The United States)
Adam Sandler – Lunchlady Land
Barnes Barnes – Fish Heads (1976)
Monty Python – Lumberjack Song (Monty Python Sings)
Cracker Jack – Candy-Coated Popcorn, Peanuts and a Prize
Leonard Nimoy – Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins

Bilbo and Spock, together again...

 Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

2001, A Space Odyssey - Raving Classics

There are some movies we never forget; because they single-highhandedly redefine the movie-going experience. There are some movies that do even more than that - they redefine the limits of our imagination. 2001, A Space Odyssey is one of those movies and it is our Raving Classic being reviewed today.  

2001, A Space Odyssey was released in 1968, a unique time in our history as we were rushing ever-closer to reaching the moon in the Apollo program. We arrived on the moon just one year later - anything seemed possible - we had taken the giant leap from an earthbound race to space-farers. Or so it seemed. While this movie is pure Science Fiction from a genre perspective; it is a movie completely grounded in science fact and that's one of the qualities that made it so fascinating when it was released and which still intrigues us today. Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote the screenplay for the movie, had a impressive track record of inventing technology breakthroughs in the context of his science fiction stories. For example, Clarke came up with the modern concept of Geo-synchronous satellites, future space colonies (which shows like Babylon 5 tried to depict) and space elevators.

We wish our gym looked like this.

Stanley Kubrick directed the movie and this film along with Dr. Strangelove and The Shining stand as some of the most profound cinema ever attempted. Kubrick had planned to follow up on the topic of Artificial Intelligence with another film, but ultimately never got a chance to finish it and the project was handed off to Stephen Spielberg who did produce it as "AI."  Kubrick approached each of those movies very differently - in 2001 he deliberately created an epic canvas. The storyline in 2001 is not so much character-driven as it is history-driven. The main character in 2001 is humanity itself and the story arc is our rendezvous with destiny. Along the way though, Kubrik treats us to some of the most spectacular imagery the world had ever seen up to that point. Even now more than 40 years after its release, the visual landscape he creates is simply awesome. The soundtrack was a groundbreaking effort as well. And it's all the more powerful because the story and presentation seems absolutely plausible.

Are you - talking to me ? 

We had no way of knowing in 1968 that President Nixon would cut the Apollo program (of course we found out the real reason why in the movie Apollo 18) and all of NASA's plans to colonize the Moon and Mars. Back then those next steps seemed only a few years away and yes NASA did actually have plans to do all of that at one point. We have at least managed to build a mini-space station, but it is nowhere nearly as cool as the one depicted in the 2001 film. So much of the imagery from this movie is iconic; it's hard to pick any one portion as being more impressive than another.

This is the original trailer for 2001, A Space Odyssey (cover your ears)

We'll try to pick out some of our favorite parts anyway. Here are the top 10 coolest or most iconic scenes from the movie:

1. The Dawn of Time monkey boys giving up on their vegan lifesyles.
2. The Bone to Shuttle transition - one of the most memorable in the history of history.
3. The Shuttle ride to the Moon Base - too bad Pan AM went out of business.
4. Landing inside the moon base - wow.
5. The Televideo call from the Space Station - at least we've still got AT&T.
6. The Blue Danube Waltz between the shuttle and space station.
7. Jogging on the Jupiter - the coolest artificial gravity ever.
8. Open the pod bay doors, Hal - while HAL was busy turning off everyone's life support.
9. Turning off HAL's brain - it just never gets old. "Daisy, Daisy..."
10. Dave's bedroom in alientown - Time flies when you're living in multiple dimensions simultaneously, right?

Welcome to the Hotel Monolith - you can check in but never check out... Didn't we see this in Tron Legacy?

2001, A Space Odyssey was crammed full of big ideas and big questions - more than 40 years later those ideas are still current and the questions haven't really been answered. Questions like:

• What's our place in the universe, are we alone? 
• What is intelligence and what makes intelligence sentient?
• What set us on our trajectory and where will that trajectory take us?

And along with being great entertainment, 2001 has had a significant impact on our popular culture as well as inspiring countless parodies and popular references. We've including one of the better examples below. 

We don't have Space Stewardess' yet - but Elon Musk is working on it.

We promised we'd take a deeper dive and explore a possible confrontation between HAL and Watson - we will publish that in a follow up post. In the meantime, we will leave you with the super-creepy chorus - "Jupiter and Beyond." For those who don't remember, not too many years ago people used to test out their new home theater systems by playing 2001 and cranking up the speakers, it was almost a cult experience.

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More