Ambushed by unexpected emotion

as far as the simpsons go, in the episode where homer meets his mother, the end leaves me misty-eyed, when the credits are run and instead of the normal black background, it's an image of the sky filled with stars and of a relatively small homer sitting on the hood of his car just looking up at them.

That's why I feel slightly befuddled when I hear people talking about the new Missy video, etc. -- when does MTV show videos??? Every time I turn it on it is some "making of such and such video" or one of those ridiculous "real world/road rules challenges", so I have pretty much given up on mtv. Maybe if I had m2 it would be a different story.

It isn't lame either, obviously.

there's this part at the end of a mystery science theater tape i have where joel and the robots sing some intentially- sentimental 20s vaudeville-type song about taking off the greasepaint and then the no- lyrics credits version of the theme plays and the part where it says 'keep circulating the tapes' and they thank the teachers of america just gets me every time. there's really a melancholy mood around that whole episode actually (it's 'pod people', for those familiar with the show. probably the best thing they ever did).

is transcending your own irony the ultimate goal of humanity today? re: that episode and this thread.

Good taste in shows you have there. ;-)

Stop me before I quote everything. Love that show. And the thing is, that instrumental end music is beautifully emotional as you say, the more so because if it was presented as a straightforward piece on a serious show, it wouldn't work as well. Context is important.

There was a very clever, heartstrings-yanking use of "Angels" on the recent end-of-series epsiode of "Casualty" about two weeks ago (more trash Robin). I won't bore you with the details but anyone who saw it will know what I mean.

('a-ok' handsign)

'it STINKS!'

I find it impossible to imagine *any* use of "Angels" being clever or yanking the heartstrings. God how I hate that song.

And that's what this thread is about: except your story, Robin, was about being pushed from anger to more anger — I couldn't work out where the SURPRISE came in.

So I suppose I've got to think of something more appropriate. In that case, quite recently: after a moment of acute, profound public humiliation, hearing Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me" entering at number one. Suddenly its defiant plea of innocence became wholly personal and, essentially, what I wanted to believe was true, but I knew wasn't.

Scritti Politti's "Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry For Loverboy)" has done that to me after a couple of recent minor depressions, as well.

2. Stevie T's story is so sad!

3. October 1991, looking out a window at night on the grass running down to the lake, and the Yanks romping outside (always seemed funnt when 'Nightswimming' came out a year later). Eurythmics' 'Shame' plays, and its tinkling seems like the sound of the passing of our years; as, come to think of it, did the lonesome keening fade-out of the Psychedelic Furs' 'Love My Way' on the east coast of Ireland 2 months earlier.

The spooky climax to Benny Hill's "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)" - "Ernie was only 52*/He didn't wanna die" [...] "was that the trees-a-rustlin'? Or the hinges of the gate?/Or Ernie's ghostly gold-tops a-rattlin' in their crate?" - always jerked chilly tears from me as a toddler (it's the angel's chorus, the strings and the way Benny phrases 'of the gate'). Utterly astounded and not a little embarrassed to find myself choked seeing the video again on TOTP2 recently.

(Nick - do we have 52 yet?)

Also, driving with a friend recently and both of us singing along to "I Promise" and me feeling sad that we weren't dating.

A few months ago I was in the pub with Emma, and we were in a dodgy patch. I had a cold, and the jukebox was too loud, and I had a couple of brown ales inside me, and Emma was in a complete black mood when everything is a negative. I couldn't hear her properly because my ears were blocked up 'cos of my cold and because of the music, so I just sat there and enjoyed the sofa and the beer, while Emma got more and more wound up because I wasn't saying anything...

Anyway, without going too deeply into why she was down or why we were in a bad patch, she had a go at me because we "had nothing to talk about" and how our whole relationship was pointless etcetera, etcetera, and this tune was int eh background, too loud, and I couldn't filter her voice from the tune from the chit-chat of the pub 'cos of my sinuses, and the singer was talking about how hard he'd tried to keep this girl, or something, and how it was hard, and how she should look at him and he was spent 'cos he'd done the best he could and it wasn't good enough and so on and so on...

And I had to get up and make us leave the pub 'cos I was starting to cry and it was really WAY too much to be doing with right there in front of people and we had an argument on the lawn and we were both in floods of tears and people were walking past and the fucking song that set me off crying was 'Against All Odds' by Phil Collins and I still quite resent Emma for making that tune make me cry and I am SHAMED FOREVER.

Not musical, but Amelie, when I saw it, didn't make me cry so much as finally let loose in sheer rage -- not at the movie, just at my situation some months ago when I was dumped. That was long overdue, though I wish I didn't have to have taken it out on my friends. :-/

Meanwhile, last night I was watching my newly acquired Snow White and the Seven Dwarves DVD -- been years since I saw the movie -- and was surprised to find myself tearing up during the whole sequence when Snow White was seen to be dead. Effective creators of mood, the late thirties Disney bunch.

These comments above about Bon Jovi are however alien to me. There won't be enough time in the world for me to think anything other than JBJ is a prick who deserves a guitar to the face.

Is there an I Love Films forum?

I get emotional.

2. I was riding in a vehicle as a passenger on New Year's Eve some years back when my parents and I decided to go through the neighborhood we lived in, looking at the Christmas lights that were still on the houses. I decided to listen to something while I was looking out, so I took out my Walkman and played what was in it -- which happened to be cued up to The Cure's "A Forest". Seeing the utter and complete darkness of the night sky illuminated by all these little glittery holiday lights to the soundtrack of this song was a truly magical moment and I will remember that moment for the rest of my life. The song even somehow managed to make those lights seem a little bit spooky and atmospheric-looking.

I got weepy the first time I heard that QUITE embarassing cuz they suck

That is because they are stinky, horrid and mean. And JBJ himself just looks like he deserves beatings. SMUGFUCKERY BASTARD!

However, I give credit for Tico Torres because he used to play briefly in this slightly mimsy and fun enough New Jersey psych-pop band back in the late sixties or something -- forget the name of the band, got the reissue on ArfArf Records. I like to imagine him as the one guy who ended up caught up in the band years later and thought, "Ah, fuck it, it's a living," and he just stays at home most nights and shakes his head with a laugh.

I knew there was eventually going to be a song that would tip me over the edge. Honestly, never in a million years did I think that song would be 'November Rain'.

The third guitar solo represents the winter epidemic long after the peak.

In 2001 my girlfriend and I took a road trip from our home near Houston to San Jose to scout out places to live in anticipation of an impending move for grad school. This was going to be the first time that I had left my family and our close circle of friends and there had been endless going away parties and shit. I was excited and handling things pretty well, although in the back of my mind things were sort of jittery. Towards the end of the time in San Jose we went to see AI, the Spielberg/Kubrick movie. Liked it well enough but I felt sort of odd afterwards. When we walked out of the theater and got into our vehicle I broke down hard and couldn't talk well enough to explain what was happening. Gasping sobbing ugly crying. I was a total wreck for about an hour. I guess the little boy/robot being separated from his family is what triggered the episode, but it wasn't that I found the movie terribly sad or even compelling. It just happened to be the key that unlocked all the junk in my head.

We had somewhere we had to be in San Francisco and my lady had to drive because I was incapable. I remember laying on the bench seat in the truck with my head on her lap just like I did with my mom when I was little.

I can't really remember if I liked the movie that much and I periodically think about revisiting it but I turn chicken every time.

Bowie at the end of Jojo Rabbit broke me.

I’ve knowingly only cried 3 times to a piece of music. But the three culprits make me somewhat ashamed so I’ll never tell.

it can't be that bad. one of my most memorable time of crying was at the end of terminator 2 (arnold with the thumbs up in the lava), and my dad calling me out on it.

I am so starved for human companionship atm.

had to postpone my trip to visit my best friend in Virginia. she's on the spectrum, also struggles with depression, and is very misunderstood by people, because she's really fighting herself in her own head all the time and beats herself up for it.

some of my fav memories (and least fav memories) were with her in the last year. she worries (like I do) about unexplained medical symptoms and had herself freaked out that she needed to go to the ER for neurological issues, and her boyfriend, god bless him, rushed home from what he was doing and tucked her in and gave her her stuffed animal and I just started crying because I was relieved she has someone as wonderful as him in her life (I've met him, he's good people) and I dote on her like a big brother.

I miss her so much :(. I keep worrying that I missed my last chance to see her, as paranoid as that sounds. but when she talks about wanting to die or having suicidal thoughts, I can't help but think those things. we talk on the phone almost every day and have for about 2+ years.

i'm doing ok through this quarantine but every week I feel more starved for human connection. going to Asia alone for work last year was tough, but I was able to make connections with co-workers, who took me out to show me a good time.

I live with a roommate who I barely know and is never home, and although I thought of the idea of proposing shacking with my other best friend (who I've known 16 years), idk if it's a good idea. i may hint at it anyway, but I don't like inviting myself to things, even though this guy would give me the shirt off his back.

i've been drinking so I'm a little emo. but got kinda hit by an unexpected wave tonight that's for sure.

Thanks for sharing that. A lot of us are going to need to unburden over the coming weeks.

agree.

One time I was singing Muskrat Love at the karaoke, and I totally got this lump in my throat, choking back a single, tiny sob, just as I hit the lines about where Sam asking if Suzie will be his Mrs, and Suzie saying yes with her kisses. Some girl, all but snuggling with her boyfriend a few bar stools down, audibly says "Aww he kinda choked up there on that part, did you hear it honey?" thus ensuring everyone shared in my humiliation at my karaoke bar that day.

aw

i have had this happen to me today

I was just listening to Tempest again because of the new Dylan song. I always liked the title track fine but never found it particularly meaningful or moving, but today I was hit hard by "The watchman he lay dreaming/ the damage had been done/ he dreamed the Titanic was sinking/ and he tried to tell someone."

listening to late period Pizzicato Five and maybe it’s just the whole “haven’t heard these great great tunes in 10+ years” thing working its magic but... I get such strong feelings from this stuff. Maki Nomiya is such a fabulous vocalist, especially when she really belts it out. This P5 thing.. Something about the mixture of the Bacharach-y (?) chords with her assured delivery, on top of the sometimes cartoonishly bright PARTY DOWN vibes, it’s a really powerful righteous message of fabulousness, like just kicking down the door of self-flagellation and letting yourself be glamorous and awesome in your own personal way in everyday life. It’s all about her singing, though for me, it totally seals the deal. Why the hell I’ve never bothered to check out her solo career is a tragic mystery. I know, “get a blog”.

!!!

Now Playing Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag wheatus

— BBC Radio 3 🎵 #NowPlaying Bot (@BBCR3MusicBot) December 24, 2021

AMBUSHED!

oh yeah!!!

How could I have forgotten about this stone cold classic thread!?!
Reminds me I want to read this recent book---intro'd here on Fresh Air:
In his new book, 'Music is History,' Roots co-founder Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson moves year-by-year through his life, writing about memories and turning points, and the songs he was listening to at the time.Terri Gross plays the hits, incl. "Freddie's Dead"'s vamp: when it first goes up on the last note is just when he burned his leg on the radiator---says he had scars into his teens, and you can hear his intake of breath when it makes that little change---talks about the good associations too---stream or download: pr.org/2021/10/12/1045272890/questlove-on-the-soundtrack-of-his-life
(The interview where he talks about Summer of Soul is also cool, duh)

This one I posted about on the Bootleg Series thread got to me:
This latest issue of xpost enewsletter Flaggin' Down The Double Ees, which always includes downloads of Dylan shows, old and new (free: a couple times a month, paid: more), also tells the story, via various sources, of Dylan half-assing "Dark Eyes," then getting it together w Patti Smith, and then---well, it's a lovely story indeed, I think, even though haven't yet checked the linked musical results https://dylanlive.substack.com/p/dark-eyes

Especially what she says about it---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFXsJ49CIt8 my mother hasn't died yet but this hit me hard because my mother is in the process of dying and this came up coincidentally

Don't do this to me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Moz6XOAKK5U

XP I'm sorry to hear this Jonathan. Best wishes to you

My sympathies, Jonathan.

Not quite tears, but certainly chills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC3y9llDXuM

https://steidl.de/Books/Gas-Stop-0317385059.html

Gas Stop by David Freund

This is a four-volume set of books featuring photos of gas stations made in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and I am moved to tears just about every time I look through it.

A couple of years ago my (now 8-year-old) child heard Maroon 5's "Memories" somewhere, and liked it, and asked to play it a lot. I don't like Maroon 5 or this song (though I do like Pachelbel's canon). My child added it to one of his playlists. Some time passed, and when it popped up on his playlist again he said he couldn't listen to it because it reminded him of one of our cats who had died in the interim. So now when I hear this song that I really don't like in the grocery store or wherever, it makes me well up a little.

I found out in my facebook feed that a guy who went to the same law school as me (ten years after me, didn't know him) died of cancer. He was given his diploma early. His girlfriend, a magazine writer, made a wedding for them a few weeks before he died (I'm p sure when she knew he was dying). This story is turning me into a weepy mess. I don't think I've cried at anything for at least months.

https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/ashley-reese-and-rob-stengel-wedding

sorry, she did know he was dying, it says that

delighted to say that the effect documented nearly twenty-three years at start of thread still operates: i remain (mildly) dirtbag-pilled wheatus-ambush-wise 😭😭😭

enough time elapsed to make it unexpected again