Another stray thought on a Tuesday afternoon

Demand Euphoria!

Tappen —

the plug by which the rectum of a bear is closed during hibernation (and that's all I'm going to say on the subject.)



Demand Euphoria!

Not a chance in hell

Demand Euphoria!

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (488)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1939 Porky's Hotelstarring Porky Pig , directed by Bob Clampett.



Porky is escorting a pelican to a room. Porky is carrying his bags, one of which has stickers bearing the names of previous destinations. The stickers read: MILTON PA and KATZ HOTEL. The assistant producer on this cartoon was Ray Katz, producer Leon Schlesinger's brother-in-law.


As we said last week, the staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour, likes to have a cocktail now and then, which helps get through the days. We love a good brandy now and then, but even we didn't know the difference between cognac and brandy (although we could have guessed.) -



So once again, the French split hairs in naming alcoholic beverages


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1989 teen comedy-drama Say Anything directed by Cameron Crowe (in his feature directorial debut,) and starring John Cusack Ione Skye, Lili Taylor, Jeremy Piven, and John Mahoney.

A personal aside - I saw the movie when it first came out and I like it but was surprised when I saw it on the list. But thinking about if further, the film does feature one of the most enduring scenes in romance films, in which John Cusack holds a boombox above his head outside Ione Skye's bedroom window to let her know that he has not given up on her. Ah yes - young love

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this charming film: Say Anything.



An unusual number of the actors in this movie are themselves the children of well-known entertainment industry professionals. Ione Skye (Diane Court) is the daughter of the Scottish pop singer Donovan; Pamela Adlon (Rebecca) is the daughter of TV writer Don Segall; Jason Gould (Mike Cameron) is the son of singer Barbra Streisand and actor Elliott Gould; Chynna Phillips (Mimi) is the daughter of John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of the 1960s group The Mamas and the Papas; Amy Brooks (D.C. ) is a daughter of director, writer, and Say Anything producer James L. Brooks.


Demand Euphoria!

So that will keep them quiet

Demand Euphoria!

Everyone's a sucker for a love story

Demand Euphoria!

Shhh, he doesn't realize that he's not a zebra

Demand Euphoria!

Overheard during a phone conversation

Demand Euphoria!

Switcheroo —

an unexpected or sudden change or reversal in attitude, character, position, action, etc.



Demand Euphoria!

No thank you

Demand Euphoria!

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (487)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1939 Wise Quacks, starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck and directed by Bob Clampett.



An alternate design for Daffy, designed by Charles Thorson, is introduced here, where he is drawn with more slanted eyes and a big grey face surrounding his eyes. It was scrapped a year later.


You would be forgiven if you wanted to take a break from the news. The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour, not surprisingly, likes to have a cocktail now and then, which helps get through the days (we are not recommending day drinking, although it's always 5 pm somewhere.) We thought you'd like to watch, with us, Alton Brown get quite drunk, tasting 20 different drinks -



Two things: first, given my love of martinis, I’ve been an adult for a very long time; second, there should be a law against getting a tattoo while drinking. Plenty of tattoos are acquired after a few drinks - but getting one during? That should never happen.


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1989 Taiwanese drama A City of Sadness (AKA Beiqing Chengshi) directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. and starring Tony Leung, Sung Young Chen, and Wou Yi Fang. A City of Sadness focuses on the complex history of 20th-century Taiwan during the turbulent period in Taiwanese history between the fall of the Japanese Empire in 1945 and the establishment of martial law in 1949.

It is the first Taiwanese film to broach the subject of the most traumatic experience in the nation’s history, the February 28 Incident. This was a 1947 massacre by the Nationalist Party that resulted in 18,000 to 28,000 deaths. Using a family as a matrix through which to filter the historical events at the moment of the founding of the nation, Hou re-presents Taiwanese history in both micro and macro perspectives.

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this tragic drama: A City of Sadness.



The original premise of this film is the reunion of an ex-gangster (which Hou Hsiao-Hsien intended to cast Chow Yun-fat for the role) and his former lover (supposedly played by Yang Li-Hua, the top Taiwanese Opera actress in real-life) in 1970s. Hou and Chu then extended the story to involve substantial flashbacks of the calamity of the woman's family in late 1940s (where the woman was the teenage daughter of Chen Song-Yong's character). They then abandoned the former premise and instead focused on the 1940s' story.


Demand Euphoria!

Ah, they have the good stuff

Demand Euphoria!

This is how we'll close NYC's budget gap

Demand Euphoria!

Another evolutionary trait explained -

Demand Euphoria!

Another stray thought on a Tuesday afternoon -

Demand Euphoria!

Superfluous —

- being more than is sufficient or required



Demand Euphoria!

Have this handy!

It may save your life during the upcoming cyborg-wars

Demand Euphoria!

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (486)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes short, the 1939 Porky's Picnic starring Porky Pig and Petunia Pig directed by Bob Clampett.



This short is the first appearance of Petunia Pig not directed by Frank Tashlin; however, she had been originally scheduled to appear in Porky's Party and had a visual cameo debuting her new design prior in Scalp Trouble.


We hope you've had a good week during the current dumpster fires going on. The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour, not surprisingly, likes to eat, (trust me, I've had to feed them.) We thought you'd like to watch Anthony Bourdain, (another kitchen god of mine,) eat a tasting meal at The French Laundry, (if you know, you know.) -



While I'd love to eat there, it isn't my life's desire, (seeing the original cut of The Magnificent Ambersons is my life's motivating source. I may have my wish when the AI very of the film is released.)


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1989 drama Sex, Lies, and Videotape, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, and Laura San Giacomo. The film was written by Steven Soderbergh in eight days on a yellow legal pad during a cross country trip (although, as Soderbergh points out in his DVD commentary track, he had been thinking about the film for a year).

The film was inspired by Steven Soderbergh's own failed relationship. "I drove the most important woman in my life to leave because I didn't want to be in the relationship but couldn't just say, 'I don't want to be in this,'" Soderbergh told Film Comment. "So I was very deceptive about how I got out of it. And then once I was out of it, I couldn't even allow it the dignity to die properly. I kept stringing it out and not letting it go and then I got involved with some other people." After, Soderbergh was able to reconnect with that person; "We were able to be friends," he noted.

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this drama: Sex, Lies, and Videotape.



Each of the four main characters reflects a part of Steven Soderbergh's personality. "At times, I've acted very much like the husband (who is having a torrid affair with his wife's sister)," he told the Chicago Tribune. "Other times, I've been in the Graham mode (the husband's impotent friend, who relates to women sexually only by videotaping them talking about their sex lives). I've also been like Cynthia (sleeping with her sister's husband) when there was a political content to my relationships with women. And there are times when I've been like Ann (the frigid wife), feeling very prudish and put off from sexual things."


Demand Euphoria!

And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

Demand Euphoria!

Snitches get stitches -

Demand Euphoria!

And they work for just a few clams -

Demand Euphoria!

Another missive from the desk of C Brown

Demand Euphoria!

Supercilious —

- haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.



Demand Euphoria!

Buried with a donkey

Demand Euphoria!

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (485)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Merrie Melodies short, the 1939 Old Glorystarring Porky Pig directed by Chuch Jones.



The flag of the United States has only 48 stars, as this short was made before Hawaii and Alaska were admitted to the Union (both in 1959). Also, this Pledge of Allegiance as recited by Porky does not yet include the phrase "under God" as that phrase was not added until 1954.


The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour staff thought we'd give a leg up to this old time troubadour. We found a clip of him playing recently and we thought we'd like to watch it with you -



We hope he makes it soon


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1989 documentary Roger & Me, directed by and starring Michael Moore (in his directorial debut).

Shot in 16mm with a minuscule crew, the film was partially funded by proceeds from church bingo games and by Moore selling his own home. Edward Asner was sent a letter requesting support and responded by sending a check; his name appears in the credits. The unnamed left-wing magazine in San Francisco that Moore goes to work for at the beginning of the film is Mother Jones. Moore worked for the magazine for three months in 1985 before being fired for putting his friend on the cover. He later sued the magazine for breach of contract and used part of the settlement money to help fund the film.

Roger & Me is classic degree-zero filmmaking. As Moore has stated elsewhere, “I didn’t want to make another ‘dying steeltown’ documentary with all the clichés about how horrible it is to be unemployed. I wanted images you don’t see on the six o’clock news.” When Moore decided to start a documentary about Flint, Michigan, and General Motors in the mid-1980s, he knew very little about the technical side of filmmaking (camera work, lighting, etc.). He met a fellow low-budget documentary filmmaker, Kevin Rafferty, who helped him learn this side of the director’s job on the project and served as one of the cinematographers.

This documentary exposes the reality of corporate downsizing and outsourcing. General Motors’ opening of facilities in Mexico and shuttering of its plants in Flint, Michigan, became emblematic of a trend during the mid-1980s, as employment across the Rust Belt declined. The increased use of automation - particularly Detroit’s Big Three implementing industrial robots - also contributed to the decline of the blue-collar factory worker. When GM initiated these changes, it was also consolidating its vehicle lines by sharing bodyshells, a practice that became known in the automobile industry as platform sharing.

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this still-pertinent documentary: Roger & Me.



According to the documentary Manufacturing Dissent, Michael Moore falsely implied that he could not get General Motors CEO Roger B. Smith to respond in front of a camera. The filmmakers claim that Moore actually had two interviews with Smith but chose to leave them out of the documentary to create the illusion that Smith refused to answer for his actions. Moore has denied these claims, saying that if he had consciously withheld such footage, General Motors would undoubtedly have used that fact to discredit him.


Demand Euphoria!

Not sure where this fits in RFK Jr food pyramid?

Demand Euphoria!

What did you steal - costume jewelry?

Demand Euphoria!

Much like someone in Washington DC

Demand Euphoria!

Another utterance from a feckless six year old -

Demand Euphoria!

Stylite —

- one of a class of solitary ascetics who lived on the top of high pillars or columns



Not to be confused with The Stylistics - a 70s R&B group that sang mainly in Philadelphia and not on the top of high pillars or columns.



Demand Euphoria!

Then for Pete's sake - stop listen to the album

Demand Euphoria!

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (484)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Looney Tunes cartoon, the 1939 Scalp Troublestarring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck directed by Bob Clampett . This short seldom airs any more on television due to heavy Native American stereotyping.



Friz Freleng remade this short five years later as the color Merrie Melodie Slightly Daffy and reused some of the animation and gags.
 

This past week was a very tense week for everyone in the world. The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour staff desperately needed a laugh. We found a clip from Nick Offerman's 2014 comedy special, American Ham. And we thought we'd like to watch it with you -



It's amazing how pertinent his comedy still is


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1989 comedy-drama The Unbelievable Truth, directed by Hal Hartley (in his directorial debut) and starring Adrienne Shelly, Robert Burke, Christopher Cooke, Julia McNeal, Gary Sauer, Mark Bailey, David Healy, Katherine Mayfield, Edie Falco, and Matt Malloy.

The Unbelievable Truth is a comedy of errors surrounding a beautiful, college-bound girl disturbingly preoccupied with the threat of nuclear destruction. Nevertheless, she falls in love with a handsome ex-con who is rumored to have murdered, many years before, the father of his high school sweetheart. The film was made on a shoestring budget and shot in just 11 days. It was a modest financial success and was critically well received. It won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and also screened at Cannes.

Hal Hartley’s early films were important in creating a cinematic identity for Long Island during a time when indie film on the East Coast was largely centered around New York City, thanks to figures like Spike Lee and Jim Jarmusch (to whom Hartley was frequently compared early in his career). Long Island has long been considered the unofficial sixth borough of New York City, and Hartley plays on that connection. The number of independent films produced and given theatrical distribution from 1990 to the end of the century was extraordinary; Hartley stands as one of the few meaningfully independent filmmakers of his era.

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this thought-provoking comedy: The Unbelievable Truth.



This film marked the feature debut of Adrienne Shelly, who played the teenager Audry, though she was 22 at the time.


Demand Euphoria!

The front door of the school for gifted children

Demand Euphoria!

Very important if you have the racecar token

Demand Euphoria!

The More You Know: Animal Kingdom Edition

Demand Euphoria!

Another phone conversation overheard

Demand Euphoria!

Struthious —

- resembling or related to the ostriches or other ratite birds



Demand Euphoria!

Get back, Loretta, your momma's waiting for you

Demand Euphoria!

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (483)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Porky Pig Looney Tunes cartoon, the 1939 Looney Tunes Polar Pals directed by Bob Clampett



When Porky Pig takes a shower, he uses a towel marked Grand Hotel, the title of a 1932 MGM movie


We are in the middle of Passover and Easter is almost upon us. The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour is either still digesting Aunt Sadie's leaden Matza Balls or taking meticulous notes about where they are going to hide the Easter eggs, (they don't want a repeat of the 2008 missing eggs disaster - don't ask.) We figured why not get a bit of religious instruction from our old pal Robin Williams -



It's hard to believe that he's been gone for these 12 years. (We can only imagine what he'd have to say about our fearless leader.)
 

We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1989 comedy-drama Do the Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee and starring Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Spike Lee, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, John Savage, Martin Lawrence, and Rosie Perez. The film was a major critical and commercial success, grossing $37.3 million worldwide against a production budget of $6.2 million. Spike Lee became the first person of color to be nominated for both Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards.

During the 1990 Oscar ceremony, while announcing the Best Picture nominees, Kim Basinger caused controversy when she departed from her scripted remarks and said, “We’ve got five great films here, and they’re great for one reason: because they tell the truth. But there is one film missing from this list that deserves to be on it because, ironically, it might tell the biggest truth of all—and that’s Do the Right Thing.” Spike Lee later thanked her in a 2019 episode of the podcast Unspooled.

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this thought provoking movie: Do the Right Thing.



According to Spike Lee, the casting of Rosie Perez came about during a birthday party he was hosting at a club in Los Angeles. When the R&B song Da Butt by Experience Unlimited from Lee’s previous film School Daze started playing, a spontaneous “butt contest” broke out. Lee noticed Perez dancing on top of a speaker and told her to come down, fearing she might fall and injure herself - and that he might be sued. Security eventually had to step in to get her down, after which she unleashed a stream of profanity at Lee. He was struck by her voice and soon discovered that they were both from the same part of Brooklyn. On the spot, he offered her the role of Mookie’s girlfriend, deciding the character would be Puerto Rican.

Perez, however, has told the story differently in interviews. She claims that Lee himself started the contest to see which Black woman had the biggest butt. She also said she initially thought Lee was hitting on her and ignored him, not realizing until later that he was offering her a role in one of his films.



Demand Euphoria!

But can it be used as a substitute?

Demand Euphoria!

Yeah, like that will ever happen -

Demand Euphoria!

Secrets of the Outback

Demand Euphoria!

Sometimes, the sad truths come out

Demand Euphoria!

Splendiferous —

splendid; magnificent; fine



Demand Euphoria!

I knew that you would

Demand Euphoria!

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (482)

(Please note - this is a pre-recorded post I'm currently working at VersoFest 26. Hope you're there. Remember ask for me - I owe you a beer)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Porky Pig Looney Tunes cartoon, the 1939 Looney Tunes Kristopher Kolumbus Jr. directed by Bob Clampett



This short has seldom aired on American television due to prominent Native American stereotypes.


For whatever reason the staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour has been thinking about David Bowie a great deal this week. For Poetry Day, we used the Tracy K. Smith poem, Don't You Just Wonder Sometimes? Traveling further down the intraweb, we found this wonderful cover by Bowie of the Simon and Garfunkel classic, America .



Something we never realized before - there are no rhymes in this song, which is quite a feat of songwriting.


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1989 drama Drugstore Cowboy, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, James LeGros, Heather Graham and a special appearance by William S. Burroughs. Based on the unpublished novel of prison inmate James Fogle, who was convicted of pharmaceutical robberies, Drugstore Cowboy is a deep dive into the myths and cultural patterns of addiction subculture seen from the inside, neither glamorizing nor imposing outside values on it.

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this cult classic: Drugstore Cowboy.



One thing that can be said for the script is that the drug lingo is accurate. Bobby's conversation with Father Murphy (William Burroughs, who really was a notorious junkie in his day) gives us: being "sick", which is the immediate craving the drug, "holding" means you have some, "stepping" on a drug means diluting it, "scoring" is obtaining dope, a "croaker" is a doctor, and "writing" refers to doctors who are willing to give out prescriptions to addicts.



Demand Euphoria!

And I finally got used to buying them by the gallon

Demand Euphoria!

You're too sexy for your shirt

Demand Euphoria!

The Truth Must Be Told

Demand Euphoria!

Remember to send me 10%

Demand Euphoria!

Spellbind —

- to hold or bind by or as if by a spell; enchant; entrance; fascinate



Demand Euphoria!

Practice, practice, practice

Demand Euphoria!

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (481)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Porky Pig Looney Tunes cartoon, the 1939 Looney Tunes Porky and Teabiscuit directed by Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton.



The horse's name, Teabiscuit, is a play on that of Seabiscuit, a real-life thoroughbred racehorse, ungainly and mistreated in his early life, who was rehabilitated by an empathetic trainer and, by the time of this cartoon, had gone on to become a racing champion and a sentimental favorite of the American public. The cartoon's story is an affectionate screwball parody and celebration of Seabiscuit's rise to fame.


The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour, as well as many of you, have often wondered why the Professor could manufacture many modern conveniences and yet could not help the castaways get off the island. And wow, the folks at Amazing Fun Facts have seemed to answered the question. Please join us in watching their video.



I'm guessing that if you were stuck on an island with Ginger and Mary Ann, why would you want to leave?.


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1989 drama Glory, directed by Edward Zwick and starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, and Morgan Freeman. Glory was well accepted by both critics and most audiences. Denzel Washington won both a Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the movie.

The film covers the history and impact of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry regiment, the first African American regiment in the Civil War. It highlights the relationship between the white officer Robert Gould Shaw and his men, the regiment’s formation, the soldiers’ trials with unequal pay to their white counterparts, and their fight to establish respect for the United States Colored Troops. Though the regiment is best known for attacking Fort Wagner, the 54th Massachusetts continued to serve through the remainder of the war. At the Battle of Olustee, Florida, members of the regiment pushed a broken down train loaded with wounded Union soldiers for 13 miles with the assistance of horses.

Please find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this rousing drama: Glory.



Edward Zwick claimed that, for the flogging scene, Denzel Washington was lashed at full contact with a special whip that would not cut his back, but still stung. For the final take of the scene, Zwick hesitated to call "Cut!" to signal the flogging to stop, and the result was Washington's spontaneous tear down his cheek.



Demand Euphoria!

Never bored at my supermarket

Demand Euphoria!

Never though about it that way

Demand Euphoria!

Our Secret Weapon

Demand Euphoria!