T. J. Dobbin

The "I Am The Walrus" strings/ brass take (track 174 on Anthology Collection) with John's barely audible ghostly vocals buried in the back is sorta terrifying. Never clicked with me before that this sorta does Bernard Herrmann Psycho strings. The escalating tension in this recording is discomforting

The Beatles Anthology and Blossoms Shanghai launching the same week is the best/worst thing that could happen to me. How am I supposed to find the time to do literally anything else?

I'll look into it! To give you some context into my gaming loves, tactical turn based strategy always generates my brain gears in the best way. Final Fantasy Tactics, Advance Wars, Into the Breach, Wargroove, Mario + Rabbids (the last few of these games also branch out into puzzlers as well)

I'm sad that the Jak and Dax studio doesn't make Jak and Dax anymore, having moved on to stuff that doesn't look appealing to me, but at least Ratchet & Clank are still out there. I don't think I've ever played any Hidetaka Miyazaki or Hideo Kojima game. They look great, but also like a lot of work.

Never even heard of it before. Any connection to Humanity, or something entirely different?

My only lengthy experience with Rockstar is GTA, which I liked a lot as a kid/in my teens. I find that stuff fairly juvenile today and don't see myself ever wanting to play any GTA again. That said, westerns still resonate with me, and I like the idea of an open world wild west game.

I like puzzles and platformers and games that are cheap, so this checks off many boxes! This looks rad.

I loved all the PS1 and 2 Spider-Man games where you could explore the city, so naturally, these three "Marvel's Spider-Man" games interest me a ton. I'm sure I'll get into those soon. The new Silent Hill stuff looks appealing as well.

If anyone has some fave PS5 - or PS4 for that matter, as that console is also a blindspot - games, recommend away! I do like video games, even if I can get easily intimidated by them. Also, I don't do online.

Our 4K disc player was getting increasingly buggy with disc skips and was bringing unwanted stress to movie nights with friends, so Willow and I agreed to scrap Xmas gifts to each other in exchange for one joint gift. We bought a PlayStation 5. This is a fancy bit of hardware!

I've seen the Miike film several times and like it a lot, and love Fukasaku's 70s yakuza oeuvre. I've dabbled in one of the Yakuzas when I briefly played Xbox One Game Pass, forget which one. I liked its style. Reminded me of No More Heroes.

If anyone has some fave PS5 - or PS4 for that matter, as that console is also a blindspot - games, recommend away! I do like video games, even if I can get easily intimidated by them. Also, I don't do online.

I loved all the PS1 and 2 Spider-Man games where you could explore the city, so naturally, these three "Marvel's Spider-Man" games interest me a ton. I'm sure I'll get into those soon. The new Silent Hill stuff looks appealing as well.

I was a big PlayStation kid/teen, had the PS1, 2 and PSP, but then fell out of gaming for a long time so outside of what's available on Switch, haven't really played any PS games from the last decade and a half.

Caden is going to be on TCM in about 10 minutes. Let's go Caden! He's showing DOG DAY AFTERNOON first.

Our 4K disc player was getting increasingly buggy with disc skips and was bringing unwanted stress to movie nights with friends, so Willow and I agreed to scrap Xmas gifts to each other in exchange for one joint gift. We bought a PlayStation 5. This is a fancy bit of hardware!

Also, just wanted to mention there is a distinction between the Shaun the Sheep TV minisodes and the two films. The former is very much for preschool children. The latter are great movies that have the same wit and formal chops of Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. Watch the Shaun Movies, folks.

Adding to the conversation of "when did Aardman take off in North America", when Chicken Run was coming out in 2000, as an 8 year old I knew the style and was already obsessed with Wallace & Gromit. I vividly recall seeing the three shorts on YTV around 1998-9 with my dad and us both LOVING it.

The phone call between Sonny and Leon is so disarmingly beautiful that the context of what I know to be true about this story, and the legacy of Dog Day Afternoon within my community, momentarily fades away. Pacino has two performances in the 70s that are as strong as performances can be, and this is one of them. The other is Michael Corleone in the first two Godfather films. That performance is an internal one, with evil festering in his blossoming inhumanity, flickering out in a handful of wonderfully expressive moments of what he has chosen to become (his murder of Sterling Hayden’s character in The Godfather & Fredo’s final scene in The Godfather Part Two). Dog Day Afternoon is almost a composite opposite of what he accomplished as Michael. Everything is leaking out of him, and when they put the camera on him in that phone call he can’t hide from anyone—let alone Leon. Those big soulful, searching eyes, taking on water, looking for a way out. He’s mesmerizing in the visibility of his love for Leon that’s spilling all over the place—almost embarrassingly so. Sarandon isn’t a very good trans woman, and he doesn’t feel like the gay men of the era either. His queer creature doesn’t make any sense at all until Pacino is on the phone with her, and the cuckoo qualities of their relationship and this story cohere in a strangely magical moment. It’s fair to say that when modern queer audiences gravitate to the true story of John Wojtowicz they aren’t reacting to the man that actually robbed the bank (he was a chaser who consistently misgendered Liz. They didn’t live happily ever after.), but to Pacino’s performance, and the bare minimum facts of the reasons for the robbery.

a still of Al Pacino on the phone from DOG DAY AFTERNOON

I wrote about DOG DAY AFTERNOON and its complicated legacy among trans viewers for my reader's choice series. My co-writer Caden Mark Gardner will be discussing many of these same topics tonight on TCM before this film is shown. Please tune in!

www.patreon.com/posts/144308...

Today for episode 38, we have one of the most anticipated episodes of @boxofficegross.bsky.social’s entire ‘05 season! The great Alex “@thamosdeaf” Watkins returns to go deep with us on WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...

This is tonight 🫣

Caden will be co-hosting TCM tonight for an evening of movies. His interview covers DOG DAY AFTERNOON and MA VIE EN ROSE. Later in the night there will be showings of THE CHRISTINE JORGENSEN STORY, PARIS IS BURNING and the TCM debut of DRESSED IN BLUE.

Episode 70: Willow Catelyn Maclay Bill talks to author and podcaster Erica Shultz about her endeavors in film culture, from creating shows like Unsung Horrors to writing and publishing her book THE SWEETEST TABOO and contributing spec...

I was thrilled to be invited onto the SUPPORTING CHARACTERS podcast to talk about numerous topics including Trans film images, Corpses, Fools and Monsters and our appearance on TCM. Tune in tonight for @cadenmgardner.bsky.social 's program!

www.nowplayingnetwork.net/supportingch...

Tempted to join this group just to give this Olive Oyl Hater a piece of my mind!

"If I were Popeye, I'd do a lot better than Olive and let Bluto have her!"

The important cultural debates of our time are happening over on MeTV Toons: Fan Group over on Facebook.

Of course, I disagree with this one 100%. Olive Oyl is an angel, and Popeye is an ugly rageaholic and should be grateful that she gives him any attention.

Youtube rental screen for Guy Maddin's Keyhole

Now watching Keyhole, one of the Guy Maddin films I've never seen. Rest in peace, Udo Kier! I have no idea how many scenes he has in this, but you can always count on him to leave an impression.

Oh! That would mess with me too, I know the CD versions of the HBO specials better than the filmed versions. Interesting that there are minor alterations. Like perhaps Airline Announcements took from one performance for the special and another for the CD, as specials are usually culled from 2 sets

I've listened to the cd version of that show so much when I was in high school. It's one of his best!

Speaking of 90s Capcom fighters, I've been playing through the Darkstalkers series lately (via one of those Capcom Fighting Collection digital games). It's just the Street Fighter fighting engine with horror monsters; great aesthetics. I was playing as Little Red Riding Hood and having a blast.

Hell yeah. All the Street Fighter IIIs rock, though they do get better as they go along. Did you play as Ryu? I recall all the New Generation characters in III having wild and wacky fighting styles that take additional practice. Ryu and Ken are the grounded, reliable players.