cappie, I'm hoping that you might be up for an occasional contribution of your excellent world- of-film observations, over at the new place that I spoke of last Friday.
"The last song that made me stop in my tracks like that was..."
I got one, Dan P. Not the last, but one that I well remember is ■■■■■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ [redacted as it's an upcoming Number One]
I was driving on the highway at a legit 65 mph, and as I heard a DJ talk-up during the intro, of this brand new song, just knew instantly that it was destined to be a smash.
At the end of the record, the speedometer was well over 80. Thank goodness that I must have caught a lucky highway patrol shift change in progress.
Yes, Link, Dick Van Dyke, for sure. In this day of 10+ years for many sitcoms, it's amazing that the DVDS made the impact that it did.
A bona-fide classic that holds up amazingly well - and with only 5 seasons (158 episodes) in the can.
Well observed! Time for a list of folks that had the style and confidence to leave while they were at the pinnacle. Chime in, all:
We'll start with your excellent first two:
- J. D. Salinger (CITR, Franny and Zooey)
- Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes)
And, we've got:
- Mary Tyler Moore (eponymous TV series)
- The KLF, sort of.
There's got be more examples, but I have to go and do some honest work. Back later, friends.
That's an interesting question, Mark. Not so much speaking in particular to Billy Joel's mindset, but in general...
I'd imagine that most folks get to a point in their career when they are ready to pack it in. The timing might depend a lot on the particular vocation.
For example, for pro athletes, there's a short window of opportunity for success before the physical limitations of aging take over. You quickly get to where just can't do it any more.
For music and art, I've always thought that creativity can continue, and perhaps flourish in different ways as a performer gets older. Take a listen to any track on "Greetings From Asbury Park, and then follow it up with a tune from "Western Skies." Same guy, but from a vastly different POV.- And somehow, that's encouraging.
Sorry - I went off a bit, there. Apologies for the over analysis.
Maybe Billy just feels ready for a rest, and that he's said all that he needs to say.
It's always hard to convey inflections when you are typing an email, text, comment, or the like.
We all likely know that THIS IS CONDIDERED RAISING YOUR VOICE, and that a mix of caps and lower case in each word is supposed to indicate sarcasm. I'd bet that there are more examples.
Whenever I wanted to infer dry sarcasm, I start each word with a cap. As in:
Oh. How Silly Of Me. I Somehow Must Have Forgotten. We Don't Have An Edit Button.
You can talk about anything you'd like, SrC.
Re: political aspirations: I ran for student body in junior high, and somehow came in seventh in a field of six.
I think the universe was telling me, "Mmmm, we're good. Yeah. Thanks. Really."
You're very welcome. Thank you for giving me something interesting to listen to.
... I didn’t do it for the money
... it means the world to me when someone spends their hard earned money on my music
... and even more so that they take the time to listen being that time is our most valuable resource.
^
IMO, you're doing everything right. You get it. Good on you.
I said, "...but, you know, your mileage may vary on this..." to my new boss this afternoon. I received the blankest of stares.
Please, someone, going forward: give me a kick under the table to remind me to just stick to the business script.
I'm sorry about that, Legeis. It's a WordPress configuration. I promise that the site certificate is valid.
I appreciate the report and will look into this.
It's all good, b_c. It was an auto-generated test.
Now, for a little fun: we do have our first honest-to-goodness posted comment. It's from a long-time regular; see if you can guess who.
https://i.ibb.co/N9j4CyJ/TNOCS-OOEP.png
A Friday Public Service Sidebar
This is a message from the TNOCS Office of Emergency Preparedness. Rest assured that we have your best interests at heart. We’re exactly like your neighborhood HOA: you can totally trust us, sort of.
Some of you have already started talking about “the future.” Indeed, we may be facing a calamitic, extinction level event. Considering the impact of this theoretically-possible, impending catastrophe, it’s important that we all react early and often. Of course, I’m referring to: the possible end of the Number Ones Comment Section.
Please do not panic. We have had our best and brightest working on the calculations (Lovethisconcept, we’ve been trying to reach you for some expert-level cross-checking; could you run the numbers for us?) If the arithmetic is correct, we have a little over two years before we reach the intersection of virtual vs. present day real time. Since we don’t know what our esteemed scribe has planned for this ersatz D-day, we thought that we’d try to be at least a little bit prepared.
Should it be necessary that we all need a place to go, where everybody knows your name, where everyone is kind, respectful, enjoys spirited discussions about music and pop culture, likes reading great ancillary featurettes, appreciates funny jokes, running gags and replies… and just wants to feel seen and valued for their generous companionship: it might be prudent to have something in the can.
There’s a lot to be done, and we’re going to need a lot of grassroots-effort volunteers. But for now, I thought that I’d maybe get the ball rolling: Cue the big ICANN reveal:
https://www.tnocs.com
is at the ready. Just an official placeholder for now, to be deployed only if needed. Sort of our version of, “in case of fire, break glass.” More to come. Or not to come, as necessary.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled zaniness. Thank you, citizens, for your attention. Carry on and have fun. Please have a great weekend, be careful, take care of yourselves and each other,
… and good on you all.
And, Brigita is summarily downvoted. While supporting a long-time friend of ours for being true to themselves.
Defiantly covered.
Is anyone else distressed about the subtle direction that this place seems to be taking?
Well done b_c. I owed you all one from Wednesday: "NFT."
For when you seriously disagree with our esteemed host on a song's rating:
"No Fairsies, Tom."
... and so I’m back with another look at the year’s Canadian #1s!
I say it every time, MTA: Love this end-of-the-virtual-year snapshot. Thanks for the excellent research and the fun read.
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