A year ago I binge-watched the first five seasons of SNL. A lot of it doesn't hold up, but thankfully a lot of it does. And Dan Aykroyd was pretty fantastic. It's worth remembering that, for close to four years, Aykroyd was possibly the funniest and most versatile guy on American television. Certainly, Aykroyd and…

I believe it was Mott's founding manager, Guy Stevens, who encouraged (if not ordered) the band to bump up their middle names to make them more rock 'n' roll-sounding. Overend Watts' full name was Peter Overend Watts, Verden Allen's full name is Terrence Verden Allen, and Ian Hunter's full name is Ian Hunter Patterson…

I'm cool as long as we all agree that Cut the Crap is shit. ;-) I admit to being weirdly obsessed with Sandinista! - it's the Clash album I listen to the most, along with the 1977 debut. I think there are some songs on Combat Rock that are as good as anything on London Calling, although London Calling is the better…

Well, now I feel like starting a Ranking the Clash Albums conversation:

Obligatory (because I say so) "Rank the Mott the Hoople Albums" Thread:

Bowie offered Mott "Suffragette City" and "All the Young Dudes." They rejected the former and accepted the latter. After the success of "Dudes," Bowie wrote "Drive-in Saturday" for Mott but it didn't work out. There are conflicting reasons why, but it seems likely that Bowie's then-manager, Tony DeFries, wanted to…

http://grantland.com/featur…

In retrospect it was kinda cool that Rodimus was brooding and insecure (and flippant). It was a pretty ballsy direction to take the show after the almost absurdly heroic and noble Optimus Prime.

Bevo giving Bob Murphy his medal was one of the few tearjerking-in-a-GOOD-way moments of 2016.

To hell with Susan Olsen. She's no Susan Dey.

Maybe there was a glitch in the system. Data thought he was uploading a simulation of the world's greatest comedian, but he actually accessed one of Earth's 21st century Presidents (Piscopo 2024?)

No disputing Baldwin's genius. Years ago I acquired and devoured Library of America's first two collections of Baldwin's work (Early Novels & Stories and Collected Essays). I just found out LoA released a third volume, a compilation of Baldwin's later novels. I gotta get my hands on that.

In hindsight I can't help but think that John Hughes got teens on his side by pandering to them. Most of the time he basically told kids, through his movies, "You're OK; it's your parents who are wrong!" Parents in John Hughes movies tend to range from well-meaning if ineffectual to negligient/emotionally-abusive…

And I suppose Career Opportunities could be considered a corrective of Ferris Bueller, in that Frank Whaley's character is what Ferris would be if everybody saw through his bullshit. But Whaley *did* end up with Jennifer Connelly in her insanely gorgeous/voluptuous prime, so I think he ended up better than Ferris did.

The story I read is that Hughes wrote Wonderful to "correct" the compromised ending of Pink. I think Wonderful is generally better, even if it lacks James Spader as the the 80s high school equivalent of a decadent Roman emperor.

I hated Ethan Embry's character too much to enjoy the film. To its credit the film is on Ed O'Neill's side, but I think Embry is too much of a smarmy entitled dick for the feelgood ending to be earned.

Honeycutt's book is pretty good. And it wasn't the puff piece I was expecting - in fact, Honeycutt writes a fair bit about John Hughes' dickishness, and tendency to freeze out friends and colleagues he felt slighted by. I mean, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall turn down movies offered to them by John Hughes…

If we're talking fun facts about Empire…Treat Williams visited the Rebel hangar set and got to be a Rebel soldier (there are photos of him in costume but I don't think anyone can conclusively spot him in the actual film). And while filming Empire in England, Carrie Fisher stayed in Eric Idle's place while he was in…

Stellan Skarsgård has already played Father Merrin - he needs to be Ernst Stavro Blofeld in an upcoming Bond film, and Leland Gaunt in a Needful Things remake.

So when Howard Hesseman popped up in Clue, you thought you were seeing a second Colonel Mustard…?