What's Your Hurdle?

Tom Bombadil had a cool theme song in the book ... but yeah, if something had to go for the film, that was it.

"Clean, clean, clean for Jean,
Hash, boo, valvoline.
First, Second, Neutral, Park,
High thee hence, you leafy Narc!"


There was some (The Fabulous Freak Bros.-ish) parody of LOTR back in the hippie days. For some reason Tom's reworked song has stuck with me!

Jakob wrote:I never cared for Bombadil. Good riddance, I say. Good riddance.

Indeed. I hate Tom Bombadil with a passion.

Jumpsuit wrote:"Clean, clean, clean for Jean,
Hash, boo, valvoline.
First, Second, Neutral, Park,
High thee hence, you leafy Narc!"


There was some (The Fabulous Freak Bros.-ish) parody of LOTR back in the hippie days. For some reason Tom's reworked song has stuck with me!

Might that be National Lampoon's Bored of the Rings, featuring Tim Benzedrine?

He was an essential rescuer from the Barrow Whites though, and I liked that bit!

Admiral, I think you are correct, sir!

I just realized that zombies are a huge hurdle for me. The other day I was listening to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe, and their guest mentioned the 'zombie apocalypse'. That's when I realized how absolutely sick of the fucking zombie apocalypse I am. The whole zombie thing was fun for a while, but it has crossed the line from fun to annoying.

But Admiral, without our fascination with zombies, there never would have been PLANET TERROR staring Rose McGowan, and that would make me sad.

Echoing a few, since I'm not thinking of ones unique to me just yet.

Anime - love animation, even animated shorts, but I've never gotten into the entire realm of Japanimation, as we used to call it.

Tech - I'm an intentionally slow adopter of new technology. On the WeatherStation, Marius recently referred to himself as a "closet Luddite" and I believe I'm there too. MP3 technology was designed with me in mind, but it took me forever to start and as a result I found podcasts quite by accident. I don't use Skype (directly) or a microphone. I haven't had the audacity to download free recording software, at least not yet.
If it weren't for family and friends, I'd probably still use a typewriter and white-out.

Audio-dramatizations - I like books on tape and I don't mind classic old radio shows, but I can't stand books redone to be dramas on CD rather than proper audiobooks. Give me a good reader. Preserve the writer's style and text. Then just read it. Sheesch!
If I turn over an audiobook title and see anything other than a single reader, it goes right back on the shelf.

Hair Metal - all the reasons Tony mentioned earlier. Not just the bands, but also the fans. With more serious hard rock options, I never saw why anyone was anything other than bored out of their minds by Motley Crue, Mr. Big, Poison and the rest. For all the legitimate complaints about the utter pretension of prog-rock, at least those bands were delving into something. I grew up a Black Sabbath fan, and I need more than "girls girls girls" in my lyrics (and in the stage personas).
There were isolated exceptions in the '80s and early '90s. I liked Extreme's III Sides To Every Story and a couple of Queensryche's ... but the quality drop of new so-called metal during that era (Damn Yankees, Steelheart, Bad English) made it so easy for me to give rap and country a proper try.

Hair metal is an interesting one because one of its selling points to its auidence was that it was not pop music. When, in fact, it totally was pop music and nothing else. But they borrowed the cache of bands like Sabbath and Maiden and some of the actual "metal" bands to add a sense of depth to their glam-boogie party rock than wasn't actually there. For whatever reason none of those bands (or the record labels) wanted to call the music "glam rock" which is what it actually was—more in line with New York Dolls and Gary Glitter. I guess the term sounded too 70s to the early 80s marketing ear.

There are a few really early hair metal albums I'm fond of. Too Fast For Love by Crue is a tasty slice of gutter rock. It's raw and juvenile and lacking the slick, watered down production of their later work. Also, W.A.S.P.'s first album is pretty great.

I totally concur with the above post.

I would also cite that Metallica's KILL 'EM ALL fits into that slot nicely too. Kirk Hammet is wearing spandex in the Cliff 'Em All vid in case you have doubts.

Interesting... I would never have thought to include 'Tallica in with that scene... in any way, shape or form. But I take your point. But does spandex make the hair metal?

Perhaps I am still mid-hurdle in regards to the definition of "hair metal."

All metal at that time had "length of hair." Except maybe Judas Priest and Accept. Those were on the "Don't stare too hard or you will find out we are gay" metal which is a hurdle that I have accepted but not completely digested yet.

Big hair and spandex were synonomous with "hair metal" I thought.

But perhaps hair metal actually has to do with the teased hair, makeup and spandex.

Whatever the case may be, Guns and Roses also trucked on down the lines of hair metal in some ways.

As a former 80s metalhead who still thinks Nuclear Assault crunches like none other, I would have to say that there was the "admitted metal" at that time and the "hidden pleasure" metal as well. There were hidden pleasures that could be admitted to, but they had to do things like attach a sawblade to their crotch and have several dirty mixes released on import from Japan only.

Hair metal seems to be a more recent coinage to dismiss all of the Motley Crue lookalikes that surfaced during theTHEATER OF PAIN era of that band. Motley Crue caught a pass for TOO FAST FOR LOVE and SHOUT AT THE DEVIL, but then all of those guys became strange looking women.

But hey, I am in mid-hurdle here.

Gotta agree with Jakob and all about Motley Crue's "Too Fast for Love"; it's about the only album of theirs I can still listen to. "Starry Eyes" in particular was always a fave of mine. "Shout at the Devil" seemed like progress at the time (what was I, 14?), but I don't think it's aged as well as their debut album.

Yeah, boogie bands in any guise are a hurdle....ooo, shiver....well, I do like "Lido" by Boz Scaggs.

Where do I start with Illustrated books/ Comics?

I was looking at something by Harvey Pekar . Ever since watching this wonderful movie starring the exceptional Paul Giamatti , I've been curious what Pekar's stories are like. A more obvious choice would be Watchmen of course. At this point however, superheroes don't really appeal to me as a thing to read about. That's my hurdle, anything with superheroes except when they're in the movies. I did enjoy the movie and if the book really contains a little more intricacy in terms of philosophy or politics that might just pull me off the fence. If it's very much like the movie, I don't think it's for me.

Adrian Tomine would be who I'd suggest for you. As he's who I'd suggest to eveyone. His latest Shortcomings is top notch. I gave some to Kennedy recently, maybe he can back me up. Or maybe not. Pekar, I find a little too self involved. Also the three I've read were exactly the same. Good writing though.

I'd recommend diving into the Drawn and Quarterly catalog, particularly the works of Guy Delisle, Chester Brown, Tomine, Seth, Joe Matt, and Tatsumi. When I was first getting into comics, the local library had a huge selection of D&Q comics. Most everything they've published has been really high quality.

Thanks for the input. I'll go for something by Tomine then.

The Eurovision Song Contest. It's slightly disturbing how many people that I'd previously considered sane are not only watching it but tweeting throughout.

YES! YES ! I'm not alone ... A cry of lonely despair emanates from the interwebs.

I would have thought all the Idol and X Country Has Talent shows would have made Eurovision obsolete.

Mekka wrote:The Eurovision Song Contest. It's slightly disturbing how many people that I'd previously considered sane are not only watching it but tweeting throughout.

I used to watch just for a drunken Wogan. I didn't watch the songs, but you have to tune into the voting......Don't you?

Which of Tomine's work should I get ? Sleepwalking and other stories or Shortcomings. They're similarly priced and seem to get positive reviews on Amazon.

Sleepwalk is about a dozen short stories, Summer Blonde is 4 longer short stories and Shortcomings is a single longer piece. They're all equally good. Sleepwalk is earlier work, a bit rougher around the edges, but those were the stories that hooked me. Summer Blonde is probably his best work.

Cheers Jakob, I ordered Summer Blonde.