Eric Namikas

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Gave up after the first few minutes. Can't comprehend why everyone in Venice would speak English. Life is short. I understand suspension of disbelief, and maybe it is a good movie, but "The Creator" seems far superior and there is not much English in it. Enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as well, and learned "jub jub". Unless there is a Babelfish in my ear, I can read subtitles. Who is the audience for this?

A Haunting in Venice

I've grown up on The Who. When I was a toddler, my older brothers were playing "Tommy," so the songs from that rock opera resonate deeply with me, as did earlier tracks like "Magic Bus" and "My Generation" which also got play around the house. I remember "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Bargain" and other tracks from "Who's Next" rocking the airwaves back in the 70's. I remember when "Who Are You" subversively slipped the "f" word onto FM radio and thinking, "These guys ARE rock 'n' roll!" When Keith Moon died, it seemed like it must be the end for The Who, but then, videos for "Don't Let Go the Coat" and "You Better You Bet" were on MTV. Without Keith, the energy wasn't quite the same, but I still loved the music. "It's Hard" similarly had some solid tracks like "Athena" and "Eminence Front" that truly added to the catalog. I started going back to listen to other music I'd missed, like "The Who By Numbers" and "Odds & Sods." But how, oh how had I overlooked "Quadrophenia"? To this day, I've yet to find a song that kicks off with such amazing rhythm section interplay as that on "The Real Me." I got to see them play at Oakland Coliseum for the 30th anniversary of "Tommy" from the nose-bleed seats. (There was about a one second delay between seeing Pete Townshend windmill a power chord and actually heariing it.) Then John Entwistle died and I assumed that was truly the end for The Who. And yet, "Endless Wire" appeared in CD shops and, while I didn't think it was their best work, tracks like "Mike Post Theme" and "Black Widow Eyes" continue to stand up well. Fast forward 13 years later and Spotify drops "I Don't Wanna Get Wise" into my New Release Radar. What? A new single? A new ALBUM? I have to confess, I listened at first with some trepidation. As Pete Townshend himself said, "We're old men now, by any measure." (I may be paraphrasing.) But wow! The songwriting is solid, the musicianship is amazing, and the vocals remain powerful, and may I say, virile. The songs have several sly nods to their past catalogue, e.g. "Detour" not only echoing the band's original name, but also harkening back to their mid-60's style. "Ball & Chain" is a politically powerful song delivered with force. "Break the News" is a suitable mature love song that stands with the best of their ballads. And the newly revived "Got Nothing to Prove" stands with the best of their 60's rock and really swings. It's kind of wierd to hear such a young Pete singing on such a well-put-together track. All in all, quite a coda. Thanks for a lifetime of great music. Roger Daltrey may have gotten up in years, but he's yet to get old.

Who

7 likes

Love the Daily Show. Both Jon Stewart and Trevor Noah had a knack for making the unpalatable hilarious and at the same time could be very insightful. They brought together humor and humanity in a wonderful way. The correspondents have also been amazing and fearless. I won't name them all, but we've had Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Steve Carrell, Jason Jones, Samantha Bee, Wyatt Cenac, Hasan Minhaj, Aasif Mandvi, and Larry Wilmore for god's sake. And the current correspondents, including Jordan Klepper, Ronny Cheng, Desi Lydic, Dulce Sloan and Roy Wood, Jr are all fantastic as well. (Sorry, Michael Kosta, just not a fan of your schtick.) Now, with the departure of Trevor Noah, like after the passing of Alex Trebec from Jeoplardy!, the Daily Show is in a guest host phase to road test potential permanent hosts. So far, most of them have been fantastic. The only exception has been the only male guest host so far, D.L. Hughey. It's just not the right platform for him. But everyone else, Leslie Jones, Wanda Sykes, Chelsea Handler and Sarah Silverman have all brought something special to the show. Any of them could imprint the Daily Show with their own unique style and make it sing. The upcoming guest hosts are all men. We'll get to see Hasan Minhaj return in the driver's seat, Marlon Wayans, Kal Penn, Al Franken and John Leguizamo. It will be great to see what kind of spin they bring to the show, but I'm rooting for the ladies.

The Daily Show

16 likes

Not perfect, but one of the best shows out there. Absolutely brilliant takes on things happening in (mostly American) society that we may all be blissfully unaware of. John Oliver is smart, funny and empathetic, all of which works really well. My only compliant is his overuse of the "f" word. I am not a prude by any means, but it seems like he's dropping "f" bombs, and using the word in the most graphic sense, simply because he can do so on HBO. You are absolutely hilarious and informative at the same time, John, and that is an amazing combination. You don't have to cheapen that for the sake of titillation.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

3 likes