On the Road: Pro Wrestling GRIND

Andy "Thiccc Daddy" Brown

Ha!  Didn't see this coming, did you?  I will admit that until fairly recently, I wouldn't have had it on my bingo card either.

A couple of Novembers ago, we went to see Judge John Hodgman perform live in Turners Falls, Massachusetts (see my post here).  One of his "cases" was between two professional wrestlers based in a gym in, of all places, Easthampton, Mass., not too far from where our child goes to college.  Before that moment, I had never even considered the possibility that "minor league" pro wrestling was a thing - though I suppose you have to work your way up, just like in any business.  Since then, a couple of developments enhanced the family curiosity in pro wrestling.  Our child discovered WWE and I discovered the comic book series Love & Rockets, which features the sport prominently in some of the Locas stories (see here).  

So we made a plan to go.  We invited my wife to join us but, not shockingly, she passed.  So I headed down on my own this past weekend so the kid and I could go to GRIND's spring season opener, entitled "Brave New World."

It was... exactly what I expected.  My own previous exposure to pro wrestling is limited.  I grew up in the '80s when WrestleMania was born and the sport was achieving its first strong footholds in mainstream culture.  I was introduced to amateur wrestling at around the same time and thought it was awesome.  "Fake" wrestling held significantly less appeal.  So even though going to GRIND was technically my idea, I still went in with considerable reservations. 

It was camp.  It was theatrical.  It was violent.  It was 100% staged and scripted.  It was also 100% impressive and entertaining.

The space was small - a local VFW, not even a high school gym - and intimate.  We were in what started as the back row (they eventually added folding chairs behind us) but never far from the action.  I got nervous every time the wrestlers fell out of the ring (even though I know it was planned).

We got five matches in all: four duals, including a women's match, and a 3-on-3 tag team event.  In as much as I like wrestling at all, I'm a sucker for tag teams.  But the final, main event was the real treat: Perry Von Vicious, the reigning in-house champion, versus Andy Brown, aka Thiccc Daddy.  Even though he was the out-of-town challenger (technically the "bad guy"), Thiccc Daddy first won over the crowd, then won the match and the championship belt with it (see top photo).  He'll also be in GRIND's next event in March.  I'm guessing there's a season-long drama planned.

Mike Graca

Grind OGs vs. The Lost Boys

The victorious OGs

Ridiculous?  Check.  Fun?  Also check.  Most importantly, the kid had a grand old time.  Would I go again?  Maybe.  I don't know if we'll have time to go see GRIND again but there is Green Mountain Wrestling in Montpelier...

The following day, the kid had to work so I had the afternoon to myself.  I perused the guidebook for something I could do that would be less appealing for the rest of my family and thus an ideal choice to explore on my own.  And there it was: the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.

I have passed the silver dome of the Hoops Hall many times on the highway though always on the way to somewhere else.  And that is already one of the biggest selling points of this Hall: it's right off the Interstate.  This stands in notable contrast with baseball's Hall in Cooperstown, New York - a lovely little hamlet but it's in the middle of nowhere.  And the baseball Hall doesn't even have a proper parking lot.  Plus basketball, unlike football, baseball, ice hockey or even rock 'n' roll, has a well-documented origin story.  That story, along with many others, is well-preserved in Springfield.

Interestingly, the kid and I had just had a chat on the walk back from brunch - before I'd even concocted my Springfield plan - about the accessibility of museums.  Accessibility for the disabled, of course, but also the literal separation between exhibit and observer.  For the most part, you can't touch stuff.  Regarding the first consideration, there are a lot of stairs at the Hoops Hall, but also a lot of elevators.  Much of what is behind glass is at a relatively low eye-level so a person in a wheelchair would be able to see them easily.

Regarding the second consideration, the first thing you see when you get off the elevator at the beginning of the tour is a wall with brass (maybe copper?) basketballs on a wall with actual players' handprints on them.  The idea is to see how your own hand measures up.  Surprise, surprise, the average star basketball player's hand is enormous.  Next, you walk around a ring to see how you measure up in height with NBA and WNBA players, beginning with Muggsy Bogues (one of my all-time favorite athletes) at 5'3" and ending with Yao Ming at 7'6".  So even before you get to the other exhibits, you've established yourself in the physical world of the players.

Then the Wall of Honor, when you finally get to it near the end of the tour, is just a wall of names, no plaques.  Instead of plaques, there are huge touch screens so you can easily find the stars you care the most about - again, a tactile experience.  I found all of the Georgetown Hoyas and Washington Wizards (then the Bullets) greats.  

The entire museum surrounds a basketball court, viewable from each level and completely open for people to shoot around with their friends, their kids, whomever.  The Hall truly is built around the love of the game itself.

Best of all, the women's game is celebrated on equal footing.  Every space of the Hall that honors men also honors women.  They are not shoved away into a corner.  For the moment, more of the "stuff" is for the men than for the women but it's obvious that's changing in a hurry.  We're living in the Age of Caitlin Clark and the face of basketball is increasingly female.  The Hall is doing its part to encourage that.

I do have one criticism: not enough books in the gift shop.  I know there are books about basketball because I've read them and reviewed quite a lot of them here on The Squid.  There were a few books.  There should have been a lot more.

Star Trek: Warlord

Episode: "Warlord"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 10

Original Air Date: November 20, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Our heroes rescue three injured beings from a ship moments before it explodes.  They seem grateful - at first.  One of them is possessed by a malevolent entity who takes mental possession of Kes just before his current host dies.  Possessed Kes and her two new friends steal a shuttle and return to their own world, intent on overthrowing its current ruler.

"Warlord" is a good Kes episode.  Jennifer Lien gets to show off some range as Tieran, the entity possessing her, is quite ruthless in pursuing his ambitions.  We nearly get an on-screen same-sex kiss between Kes and Nori, Tieran's wife, before they're rudely interrupted.  More importantly to the long term, Kes breaks up with Neelix.  At first, it seems like she's only doing it because she's possessed.  That would definitely have been disappointing as Neelix is undeniably a controlling, possessive boyfriend and Kes's desire for breathing room is completely understandable.  But, in fact, this is it.  They never will get back together after this episode.

Unfortunately, we're running out of time with Kes.  Jennifer Lien left the show near the beginning of Season 4.  I'll discuss the particulars when we get to that point.  But having the benefit of knowing what's coming, I'm inclined to appreciate the character all the more while we still have her.  With "Warlord," we see Kes finally coming into her own.  She can be more than Neelix's adoring girlfriend or The Doctor's eager assistant or everyone's empathetic pal.  Just as she's finally being given room to grow, we must prepare to say goodbye.

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Leigh J. McCloskey (Tieran) was born in Los Angeles, June 21, 1955.  "Warlord" is his first of two Trek appearances.

McCloskey is unusual for the people I have featured in this space in that he is likely more accomplished as a visual artist than as an actor.  His ongoing work The Heiroglyph of the Human Soul is a hand-painted library installation in his own home.

That said, the screen resume is nothing to sneeze at.  He found particular success in soap operas: 248 appearances on Santa Barbara, 46 on Dallas and 32 on The Young and the Restless.  Films include Inferno and Just One of the Guys.

Squid Flicks: A Master Builder

Title: A Master Builder

Director: Jonathan Demme

Original Release Date: November 11, 2013

My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Halvard Solness, an accomplished architect, is dying.  His doctor pays a visit, as do his former rival, that rival's son/Halvard's assistant and the assistant's fiancée/Halvard's bookkeeper and mistress.  Follow all that?  It's not even the most twisted part of the story.  Halvard is also visited by a young woman, Hilde, who remembers Halvard from her childhood.  Though she's not seen Halvard in 10 years, she's clearly in love with him.  The screenplay is Wallace Shawn's adaptation of Ibsen's play The Master Builder.

Halvard (Shawn) is a terrible person.  His wife Aline is fully aware of his philandering as he makes minimal effort to conceal it.  He destroyed his rival professionally and is deliberately holding his own protégé back.  The fact that he once made advances on 12-year-old Hilde would be disgusting in any context.  All that aside...

It's an absorbing story even with a thoroughly detestable protagonist and the fact there's very little action.  The entire film is shot in the one house - maybe three rooms? - which helps support the stage-play-on-screen feel.  The acting is strong.  Shawn is always good.  Julie Hagerty hits all the right buttons as Aline and Andre Gregory plays the former rival, Knut, in a My Dinner with Andre reunion.  Honestly, it feels a bit like the earlier film - more characters but nonetheless a complete narrative told in conversation.

Lisa Joyce steals the show as Hilde - a bright ray of sunshine, yet clearly on the edge of madness.  She more than holds her own in her scenes with both Shawn and Hagerty.  

Overall, it's okay.  The basic elements are strong and I certainly admire the simplicity.  But I don't see myself ever watching it again.

Star Trek: Things Past

Episode: "Things Past"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 8

Original Air Date: November 18, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Garak episode!

It's also a Terok Nor episode.  Sisko, Odo, Dax and Garak pass out on a runabout, then wake up on the station seven years before when it was still under Cardassian control.  They are not themselves.  They are Bajorans whom Odo remembers had been accused of and executed for an assassination attempt on Gul Dukat.  Our heroes quickly set about figuring out how to escape their fate.  Meanwhile, Odo is falling apart.

The technobabble explanation for how they all ended up in the situation is completely ludicrous, detracting from what is otherwise a meaningful story.  The writers didn't want to do time travel or a flashback.  Instead they concocted a convoluted "everyone is living Odo's dream" scenario.  I fail to see how that's better.

Honestly, I wouldn't normally be up for a flashback either - typically the sort of choice that indicates a show's writers are running out of ideas.  I'll forgive it in DS9's case because the Terok Nor history is particularly interesting - and pertinent to the series's present.  In this instance, Odo is working through guilt over his own role in the assassination investigation.  "Things Past" is not as strong as Season 2's "Necessary Evil," my choice as DS9's first truly great episode.  But I'll still take Terok Nor over the Mirror Universe anytime.

At story's end, there's a confrontation between Odo and Kira over the newly revealed truth, an exact swapping of roles from their confrontation at the end of "Necessary Evil."  They're even now.  For each, there is something the other did in the deep dark past that will be difficult to forgive.  The Odo-Kira relationship is only going to get more complicated moving forward.  Will they be able to trust one another?

Acting Notes

via Regular Show Wiki

Kurtwood Smith played Thrax, Odo's Cardassian predecessor as head of security on Terok Nor.  Smith was born in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, July 3, 1943.  He has a BS from San Jose State and an MFA from Stanford.

Smith's stage and screen resume is extensive, one of the most recognizable character actors of the 1980s and '90s.  I remember him most for two very different father roles: Tom Perry, Neil's father in Dead Poets Society, and Red Foreman, Eric's dad in That '70s Show.  He's a hardass in both, though it plays out differently in drama and comedy.  Other films include RoboCop, Rambo III and A Time to Kill.  On television, he had principal roles on The Ranch and That '90s Show, reprising his role as Red Foreman for the latter.  He made guest appearances on Lou Grant, The X-Files and 24.  "Things Past" was his first of two Trek appearances.

Off My Duff: Winter 2026

In my last fitness report in September, I noted that winter was a challenging time for maintaining goals and so it has been this year.  It's colder.  It's darker.  Hibernation instincts are hard to fight.  Even recess duty doesn't help as much as in fall or spring because we're more likely to be inside due to cold and ice.

So, my initial idea to increase my step goal didn't help.  If the goal is harder to reach, I'm more inclined not to try.  That's the trouble for me (and I imagine for others) with exercise.  It's too easy to come up with an excuse not to do it.  Attainable goals matter.  Without them, I just won't bother.

In early January, I think, I set my step goal back to AmazFit's factory setting: 8,000.  Since then, I've hit the goal far more often than not, including every day this past week.  The hardest days are travel days with long stretches in car or plane with virtually no steps at all.  

The step goal is enough for now.  Admittedly, it's not as good for exertion but at this point, I think those targets will need to wait for summer.  Establish the vigor habits then with an eye towards how to keep them up in the fall.

Meanwhile, my present aim: hit the step goal for 365 consecutive days.  I'm currently at 7.  It can and shall be done!  The key is doing it on the days when I really don't feel like it.

Star Trek: Future's End, Part II

Episode: "Future's End, Part II"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 9

Original Air Date: November 13, 1996

via Memory Alpha

The story begun in the last episode concludes.  Janeway and company must stop evil tech baron Henry Starling (Ed Begley, Jr.) from going to the 29th century in his timeship to steal more future tech to adapt and sell in his own time.  They must do so without corrupting the timeline and also preventing whatever future disaster Voyager was involved in to set all of this in motion in the first place.  

Confused?  Yeah well, the details are more complicated than the basic idea: cat and mouse game between the Voyager crew and Starling with Rain Robinson (Sarah Silverman) caught in between.  Who?  Rain Robinson is the scientist who first detected Voyager.  Tom Paris and Tuvok have befriended her.  Unfortunately, Starling fears she knows too much and wants to kill her.  

Long story short: all works out, good guys win.  Tom gets to kiss the girl.  Voyager gets sent back to its own timeline - and back to the Delta Quadrant.

One important long-term development: Starling created a mobile emitter for the Doctor which allows the EMH an existence outside of sickbay.  

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Thirty years later, Sarah Silverman is a big star, a genuine A-list stand-up comic with a broad and lasting screen career to boot.  In fact, I think it's fair to say that she's had a more successful career since "Future's End" than any of the other actors involved - possibly excepting Begley.  Though I bet Silverman would win a name recognition poll.  In 1996, she was just getting started.

Silverman was born in Concord, New Hampshire, December 1, 1970.  She attended NYU for one year before dropping out to pursue a stand-up career in Greenwich Village.  She got the big break in 1993 when she was hired by Saturday Night Live as a writer and performer.  Unfortunately, it didn't work out.  She was fired after one season.  It set her back emotionally for about a year.  She's been on a pretty good roll ever since.

Her own series, The Sarah Silverman Program, ran for three seasons on Comedy Central.  She's had numerous appearances on high profile shows, including Seinfeld, Monk and Frasier.  She was guest host of The Daily Show for a week in 2023.  She's had two televised stand-up specials.  Films include There's Something About Mary, School of Rock and The Muppets.  Then there's the voice acting career: The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, Wreck-It Ralph and Ralph Breaks the Internet among others.  She adapted her autobiography, The Bedwetter, into an off-Broadway musical.  She's had eight Emmy nominations, winning twice, and four Grammy nominations.

Seriously, she's everywhere - for over 30 years.

On the Road: Black Belt Eagle Scout

Our latest trip to North Adams, Massachusetts was inspired by a concert at Mass MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art).  Black Belt Eagle Scout's real name is Katherine Paul.  She's a Swinomish/Inupiaq singer-songwriter whose indie rock sound is heavily influenced by Native American folk music.  For her current tour, she has teamed up with Mato Wayuhi, an Oglala Lakota hip-hop soul performer from South Dakota, and Ailani, a singer-songwriter in her own right from New Mexico who also serves as KP's lead guitarist.  I enjoyed all three performers, especially the hip-hop elements Mayuhi brought to the ensemble.  The full band was the highlight.  The drummer was particularly strong.  

Black Belt Eagle Scout's "Indians Never Die":

Mato Wayuhi's "KETCHUP POTATO CHIPS":

Star Trek: Let He Who Is Without Sin

Episode: "Let He Who Is Without Sin"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 7

Original Air Date: November 11, 1996

via Explaining Errors in Star Trek Wiki

Dax, Worf, Leeta, Bashir and Quark are off to Risa for a vacation.  Actually, it was supposed to be a romantic getaway for the newly involved Dax and Worf but the others tagged along for their own reasons.  Worf gets distracted by a radical fundamentalist group who take exception to Risa's decadence.  It seems he'd rather spend his time with them than with Dax.  

Dax.  Terry Ferrell.  One of the most statuesque women on 1990s television.  Oh, and she's smart and witty, too.  And she's in love with you.  Seriously?  You'd rather hang with the political wackos?

So I've finally come to a DS9 episode I don't like very much.  It's too bad because the idea had potential.  The writers wanted a show about sex but then the network made them tone it down.  Even so, there was plenty of space for something meaningful here.  Worf and Dax have different expectations of each other and of their new relationship.  That's a real world problem.  Frankly, a lot of couples don't survive it or they're miserable for years or both.  Without question, it's an issue worthy of narrative attention.  

But the writers couldn't make the pivot once they couldn't have the full-on sleaze fest they wanted.  My guess is they all had plenty of experience with lusting after scantily clad women but not so much successfully working through difficult relationship issues.  Yup, I'm being judgmental and catty.  So be it.  And Worf's childhood trauma tale about a soccer game to explain it all away?  What a load of garbage!

And the Leeta-Bashir story is downright vomit-inducing.  They're that cute college couple who can't keep their hands off each other and desperately need the rest of the world to know it.  There is one good long-term benefit from that thread: Leeta proclaims her love for Rom.  The Rom story just keeps getting better.

Mind you, I'm not exactly complaining about the beautiful women.  Beyond Farrell and Chase Masterson (Leeta), the screen is graced by Zora DeHorter and Blair Volk (Quark's Risian companions) and former Miss America, Vanessa Williams.

The episode title comes from the Book of John, chapter 8, verse 7: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Williams played the role of Arandis, a former lover of Curzon Dax and the current chief facilitator of the Temtibi Lagoon on Risa.  Williams was born in The Bronx, March 18, 1963.  She went to Syracuse for college.

Vanessa Williams rose to fame when she was crowned Miss America 1984, the first African-American to win the competition.  Sadly, she had to resign when Penthouse published unauthorized nudes.  Let's be clear: other people took advantage of her fame and she suffered the consequences.  In 2016, Williams received a public apology for the scandal at that year's Miss America pageant.

Back in the '80s, Williams certainly made the best of the situation, turning to the music and acting industries, finding great success in both.  Overall, she has released nine studio albums, one live album and four compilations.  She's had four top ten singles including a #1: "Save the Best for Last."  Her Broadway acting credits include Kiss of the Spider Woman, Into the Woods and The Trip to Bountiful.  Television work includes principal roles on both Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.  Films include Soul Food, My Brother and Eraser.  Awards include seven NAACP Image Awards, four Satellite Awards, 11 Grammy nominations, 3 Emmy nominations and a Tony nomination.

As if that weren't enough, she has also published two books: You Have No Idea, a memoir co-authored with her mother, Helen Williams, and a children's book entitled Bubble Kisses.

Squid Flicks: Help!

Title: Help!

Director: Richard Lester

Original Release: July 29, 1965

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Ringo has come into possession of a mysterious ring.  The original owners, members of an Indian-ish cult, are prepared to chase him and the rest of The Beatles all over the world - London, Austria, Bahamas - in order to get it back.  Along the way, the boys sing a lot of really good songs.

Way back in my early teens, I watched Help! before A Hard Day's Night.  It appealed to me primarily because I was more familiar with the music.  The soundtrack was one of the three Beatles albums in my parents' record cabinet (see story here).  I suppose it was also a naïve bias for color over black-and-white.  I remember being particularly charmed by John's pit bed in the London apartment.  I wanted one just like it.  Someone - probably my sister - pointed out that it would only be more difficult to get out of bed in the morning.

Now, it's easy to see A Hard Day's Night as the stronger of the two.  Help!'s story is better and I still prefer the music.  But The Beatles' effortless charm in the first feels more forced and scripted in the second.  The band members have since admitted they were often stoned out of their minds during the filming of Help! which was surely part of the problem.

Make no mistake though, the music is amazing.  The title track is an under-appreciated masterpiece (see here) and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" is the first hint of a more Dylan-esque aesthetic creeping into the band's music.  The album - especially the UK version which includes several songs not in the film, including "Yesterday" - is The Beatles' cusp offering.  The last strains of '50s-style rock 'n' roll were giving way to something less frenetic and more introspective.

The movie experience brought one particularly important long-term development to The Beatles.  The filming of Help! provided George Harrison's first exposure to Indian music.  The story itself is undeniably racist and that is a well-deserved knock against it.  But George genuinely fell in love with the sitar.  He wasted little time tracking down master Ravi Shankar to teach him.  Just a few months later, Harrison played the instrument on Rubber Soul's "Norwegian Wood."  Raga rock was born.

Come to think of it, the movies worked out pretty well for George especially.  He met his first wife in the first one: Pattie Boyd, rock music's greatest muse.  In the second, he discovered a fascination with India that would shape his life for years afterward.

********

Last week's movie post inspired one of the longest and most gratifying comment threads this blog has seen in quite a long while.  Let's keep it going, folks!

NyQuilDriver proposed They Might Be Giants as a challenger to Beatle supremacy.  I welcome the choice.  I loooove TMBG (see here).  No band is more emblematic of my own college years in the early '90s.  

I can't deny they hold up surprisingly well with the parameters as I have set them.  TMBG are incredibly prolific: 740ish songs.  While that is spread out over four decades, they have maintained a consistent level of quality over the years.  NQD introduced me to some of their more recent material which is still really good.  Dare I say, some of it is stronger than some of their better-known early work.

My conclusion: They Might Be Giants is not in The Beatles' league.  And yet, they clearly deserve a lot more love than they get.  Indeed, the entire genre of geek rock is worthy of greater respect - Weird Al, especially.  Let's start the Hall of Fame campaign now, folks!

Star Trek: Future's End

Episode: "Future's End"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 8

Original Air Date: November 6, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Voyager encounters Captain Braxton, a time traveler from the 29th century.  In fact, Braxton, formerly of the Starfleet Temporal Integrity Commission, is trying to destroy the ship in order to avoid the role it is to play in a temporal explosion in his own time.  Man, it's like he's never read a Greek tragedy...

Anyway, both Voyager and Braxton's ship get pulled into the gravitational field from which Braxton came.  It throws them all the way to Earth.  Great news, right?  Except that it's Earth in 1996.  

Star Trek returning to "present day" is well-tread territory for the franchise.  Prior to "Future's End," it had been done in TOS's "Assignment: Earth" and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.  There are other stories involving Earth's past but to this point these were the only ones that pinpointed the current time of production.  There is something funny about watching our heroes navigate the, for them, inconveniences of the 20th century.  How handy that because of his hobbies, Tom Paris already knows how to drive a car.

Our villain is Henry Starling.  In 1967, Starling discovered Braxton's crashed ship and has been mining its technology to build his own corporate empire ever since.  The story asserts that this chance encounter accelerated Earth's computer advances at a much greater rate than should have been.  In their effort to set the timeline right, our heroes have to mess with Starling's plans.  He's none too happy about it.

Part 2 in two weeks...

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Ed Begley Jr. played Henry Starling.  Begley was born in Los Angeles, September 16, 1949.  His father, Ed Begley Sr., was an Oscar-winning actor himself.  He attended Los Angeles Valley College.

Ed Jr.'s resume is lengthy with literally hundreds of professional credits.  Films include An Officer and a Gentleman, The Accidental Tourist and Batman Forever.  His portrayal of Dr. Victor Ehlrich on St. Elsewhere earned him six consecutive Emmy nominations.  Recurring television credits include Better Call Saul, Young Sheldon and Arrested Development.

Ed Begley, Jr. is the most outspoken environmentalist in Hollywood.  In particular, he is closely associated with electric vehicles.  He and his wife Rachelle Carlson co-hosted a green living show called Living with Ed for three years.

Squid Flicks: A Hard Day's Night

Title: A Hard Day's Night

Director: Richard Lester

Original Release: July 6, 1964

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Especially as I get older, I try to take closer notice of the things that bring me joy.  Time with family and good friends?  Check.  Science fiction?  Check, and especially Trek these days, obviously.  Sports?  I do obsess over baseball - yes, even in the off season.  Music?  That almost goes without saying.  And I can't deny, nearly 40 years after I first fell in love with them, that it's still The Fab Four above all others.  The Beatles are and have always been the very embodiment of joy - for me and for literally millions of other people over multiple generations.

So, you don't think the Beatles are the greatest band ever?  Okay.  Let's play a game.  You pick your challenger, any popular music act in history.  (I willingly concede that classical and jazz are higher leagues.)  Not only that, but you get to decide on the best eight years of that act's run.  Ready?

What are the 10 best songs from your act's 8 best years.  I would offer The Beatles' 10 best.  For demonstration purposes, my personal favorites off the top of my head...

• Here, There and Everywhere
• In My Life
• Tomorrow Never Knows
• Help!
• Something
• While My Guitar Gently Weeps
• Yesterday
• Let It Be
• Here Comes the Sun
• I Am the Walrus

At this point, your group might look pretty good.  Numerous acts could put together a solid 10 from their peak years.  

How about the best 20?  Harder now, isn't it?    Bear in mind, for my boys, this couldn't even yet cover all of the Billboard #1s, and those aren't even necessarily The Beatles' best songs.  In fact, they're not.  Still like your list better?  Fine.

(I'll happily keep listing songs for anyone who will take me up on this challenge.)

Best 50.  You're scraping now or at least you will be soon.  For me, we haven't even gotten to proper hidden gems territory yet.

Best 100.  Wait, 100?!!!  Most other bands don't even have 100 songs over 8 years!  Fine.  Of course, you're making my argument for me.  I'll give you another 8 years if you want.  Hell, I'll give you your band's full run if that's what it takes to dredge up 100 decent songs.  I'm still winning.

But what about those covers?  "Twist and Shout" doesn't count!  Fine, but then they don't for your band either.  In fact, if anyone other than a band member even has a writing credit, that song is out.  See ya, Elton John.  Elvis has definitely left the building.

Best 200.  You see my point, I hope.  The longer the list gets, the more ridiculous comparisons become.  The second tier, third tier, fourth tier Beatles songs are more often than not genuinely masterful.  Even the best bands had to pad their albums with fluff.  The Beatles' fluff is still dazzling.  And the first tier is massive.

The final tally for The Beatles was 213 songs released between October 1962 and May 1970.  Folks, they did it all in eight years.  There is no comparison with anyone else.

For the record, if you picked Stevie Wonder, I'd be nervous.  I'd still win but I'd be nervous.

Still not convinced?  I could offer the Third Best Beatle argument.  George Harrison had a better, more interesting and more influential career than the third best member of your band, no contest.  Was he helped by the fact he was a Beatle?  Of course.  So were John and Paul, I assure you.  And your guy had advantages by association, too.  George still made more of his opportunities.

Or the Liverpool argument.  If you're neither British nor a football (soccer) fan, the most likely reason you've even heard of Liverpool, a city of half a million people, is The Beatles.  The band and its history are vital elements of Liverpool's tourist industry.  Few other musicians can stake that sort of claim to a major city.  Maybe Mozart in Salzburg or Elvis in Memphis.  End of list.

100 years from now, new generations will still be discovering The Beatles.  The joy will endure, perhaps even grow.  There will still be kids falling in love with them as I did.  Like me, once they get past the big hits, they'll experience the same delight in finding songs like "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" or "For No One" or "The Inner Light."  I didn't even properly appreciate that last one myself until, I don't know, my late 40s.  Never made it onto an album - not even in the US where practically all of them made it onto LPs.  Was only ever a B-side to "Lady Madonna."  Yet it's possibly the best of George's India songs.  And a Star Trek episode is named for it - one of the best Star Trek episodes!

Your band does not have a song like "The Inner Light."

No joke, I could go on like this for pages and pages.  Perhaps I will someday.  For now, I should get back to the movie...

I had the house to myself this past weekend - just me and the cats.  I am about as introverted as a person can be so, as much as I love my family, time to myself is vital to my well-being.  What better way to make the most of it than with Beatles movies?

In 1964, it was all just beginning.  A Hard Day's Night is technically a mockumentary but the constantly being mobbed in public was real.  And so was the personal charm.  The Beatles were definitely not professional actors.  They were just walking about being themselves.  The playfulness you see on screen was effortless.  John's comic timing in the "You look just like him" scene is impeccable.  He said himself, everyone in Liverpool's a comedian.  Seeing that in action is magical.

A Hard Day's Night is no fluff piece, either.  Sure, it was thrown together quickly to capitalize on the mania but Lester took the job seriously.  Numerous filmmakers claim it as an inspiration.

And, of course, the most enduring stars are the songs themselves...

• Two singles went to #1: "Can't Buy Me Love," one of the best-selling 45s of the 1960s, and "A Hard Day's Night," my choice as the very best of their pre-1965 catalog.  
• "I Should Have Known Better" would probably have been a #1 if it hadn't been a B-side.  Oh, the list of Beatles B-sides...  That would trounce your band's list soundly.
• The lovely "If I Fell" was one of Lennon/McCartney's "early attempts at a ballad," in John's words.  They figured out that particular trick quickly.  The following year, they'd crank out "Yesterday" and "In My Life" among other timeless masterpieces.
• Leading the charge for the previously released material is "She Loves You," so easily dismissed upon first listening as a dippy bubblegum hit and boy did it sell.  In the UK, it's the band's all-time #1.  The more you listen, the more you appreciate the musical genius behind the goofy lyrics.
• Naturally, the soundtrack album topped the charts, too.

Through it all, joy - pure, unadulterated joy.  

Thank you for reading.

Star Trek: Trials and Tribble-ations

Episode: "Trials and Tribble-ations"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 6

Original Air Date: November 4, 1996

via Wikipedia

Our heroes go back in time to Kirk's Enterprise in order to prevent an attempted assassination on old James T.  Captain Sisko, Dax, Bashir and O'Brien all don the old uniforms and wander about a set we all know and love.  Meanwhile, Odo and Worf hang out at a space station bar to learn what they can about the scheme.

For the nostalgia nerds - and I proudly count myself as one - there is no more satisfying episode than "Trials and Tribbile-ations."  Using Zemekis-style special effects, the DS9 characters were edited seamlessly into the action from TOS's classic "The Trouble with Tribbles."  Kirk's and Spock's first appearance is a genuine wow moment for audience and characters alike.  O'Brien being interrogated with Scotty and the others after a bar brawl is serious fun as are the revelations from Dax regarding a sexual past with Doctor McCoy.  Overall, the story's awfully goofy - even compared to the original.  But the bells and whistles more than make up for any narrative shortcomings.  

Without a doubt, it's one of DS9's best.

LEGO

One of the gift sets included with our Enterprise-D order was a Hot Chocolate Stand...

The completed set

Obviously, there are Star Trek possibilities here...

Alaskan Will Riker takes Deanna Troi for a ski date on the holodeck.  The Child offered an explanation for the mis-colored hands: yellow gloves.

Worf is invited and, of course, he shows up in full uniform.

Poor Wesley is upset he wasn't invited, too.

Acting Notes

DS9 appearance via Memory Alpha 

Charlie Brill played the role of Arne Darvin - a Klingon spy disguised as a human - in both the TOS and DS9 eras.  Darvin is, in fact, the catalyst for sending Sisko and friends back in time to begin with.  Brill was born in Brooklyn, January 13, 1938.  In an astonishing coincidence, he and his wife Mitzi McCall happened to be dining in the same restaurant as show runner Ira Steven Behr and a couple of writers when the latter group were discussing the casting of the episode.

Original series appearance via Memory Alpha

In addition to being married, Brill and McCall were a long-running comedy team, appearing on such programs as The Ed Sullivan Show and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.  They were on Sullivan the same night the Beatles made their world-altering debut in 1964.  The two were also on the long-running crime drama series Silk Stalkings.  In all, they were married for 64 years until her death in 2024.

Brill's films include The Beast of Budapest, Blackbeard's Ghost and The Amazing Dobermans.

Squid Flicks: Wake Up Dead Man

Title: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Director: Rian Johnson

Original Release: September 6, 2025

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Super sleuth Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is back.  A priest of a small town Upstate New York parish (Josh Brolin) has been murdered and his newly arrived assistant pastor (Josh O'Connor) is the prime suspect.  Meanwhile, the massive inheritance - preserved in a single precious gem - has gone missing.  Blanc is on the case.

I haven't written about the Knives Out series yet, of which Wake Up Dead Man is the third in the series, all written and directed by Rian Johnson and starring Daniel Craig.  The franchise is based on classic mystery and mystery-comedy films.  The original installment, released in 2019, was a massive hit: $312.9 million at the box office, nearly eight times its production budget.  Netflix bought the exclusive rights to two sequels for $400 million.

All three movies are loads of fun.  The original is probably my favorite and, for me, this third one is an improvement on the second, Glass Onion.  Craig's James Bond charm transfers easily to Blanc.  Wake Up Dead Man boasts a wonderful supporting cast, combining established A-listers like Brolin and Glenn Close with talented but less famous actors like Cailee Spaeny and Daryl McCormack.  O'Connor holds his own with the bigger names.  I particularly appreciated Mila Kunis in a notably unsexy role as the local chief of police.  

The church itself was stunning.  Exteriors were shot at the Church of the Holy Innocents in High Beach, Epping Forest, England.  I was a little disappointed to learn that the interior, the real treat, was a soundstage built for the movie.  It's easy to spot the Moby Dick homage: a pulpit built to look like a ship.  

Johnson and Craig have each said they'll keep making Knives Out movies as long as they're both still involved.  We're definitely up for more at our house.

Star Trek: Sacred Ground

Episode: "Sacred Ground"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 7

Original Air Date: October 30, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Granted shore leave on the Nechani homeworld, a few of the crew indulge in a guided tour of religious sites.  Curious Kes wanders into a cavern where she gets too close to what sure looks like a glowing sacred shrine.  It zaps her.  She is dying.  She and Neelix are beamed directly to sick bay on Voyager.  While the Doctor searches for medical solutions, Janeway and Company press the Nechani for answers.  The Nechani are plenty friendly and apologetic but unfortunately, they don't know how to help Kes either.  Perhaps the monks can help...

"Sacred Ground" starts off on the wrong foot for me.  Sadly, this sort of thing happens in the real world all the time: well-meaning but stupid travelers wander somewhere they're not supposed to, experience terrible mishap, then demand the locals fix it.  Let's not mince words, either.  It's typically white travelers treating the non-white world as their playground, shocked when they have to pay the price for ignoring very sensible warnings from the locals.  At best, it's obnoxious.  At worst, it's colonialist.  As such, I have little sympathy for the Voyager crew in their initial reaction to the predicament.  Sorry, but Kes should have known better.  Her stupidity or, more kindly, naïveté is not the Nechani's fault.

Fortunately, I felt better by the time the real point of the story became clear.  "Sacred Ground" is all about getting over yourself and accepting the fact that not all understanding comes from rational thought.  The episode gets mixed reviews, some saying it's among Voyager's worst.  Others are more charitable.  Despite my early annoyance, I'm inclined towards the latter.

At first, Janeway is all confidence and swagger: no problem, I'll knock out whatever silly tasks they have for me right after I finish my ninth cup of coffee.  But when doing that doesn't get her what she wants, she has to reconsider her own approach.  She must accept that science can't solve everything.  The answer she seeks is in the spiritual world.  She must take a leap of faith.

Yes, there's ultimately a scientific answer but that's not the deeper message here.  I'll admit to being science-first myself but we all know there are plenty of questions in the universe that have yet to be answered by empirical evidence and never will be.  Furthermore, humility often offers a path forward which the arrogant never find.

One more thing: frequent visitors may have noticed that I am always on the look out for connections between Star Trek and Star Wars.  Janeway's initial encounter with her guide was quite similar to Luke's introduction to Yoda, even involving fussing over a light fixture.  Of course, the trope of mistaking a sage - or even God - for an annoying commoner predates both franchises by thousands of years.  Grimm's fairy tales, for instance, offer numerous examples.  

Worth noting, Janeway's default attitude towards someone she did not at first consider worthy of her time did little to endear me to the story in its early stages.

LEGO

Our family Christmas present this year was LEGO's new USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D set along with the free accompanying Shuttlecraft set.  The big set is 3600 pieces and it took us several days.  In total, the two sets include ten NextGen characters - eleven if you count Data's cat, Spot.

Riker's trombone marks the first time the instrument has been included in any LEGO set.

The Enterprise-D crew

Data and Spot

The completed project

Ensign Ro and her shuttlecraft

An away mission to a planet with giant birds

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Becky Ann Baker played the role of Janeway's guide.  Baker was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky, February 17, 1953.  She graduated from Western Kentucky University.

For the more fortunate of my generation at least, Becky Ann Baker is probably best remembered as Jean Weir, mother to Lindsay and Sam, on Freaks and Geeks.  I say fortunate because despite only running for 18 episodes, F&G is considered by quite a lot of us to be one of the best shows in the history of television.  Seriously, do yourself a favor and go watch it now.  Imagine John Hughes movies, only better.  In the United States, it's available on several streaming services, including kanopy which you may be able to access for free through your local library.  Binge it all.  You'll thank me later.

Fortunately, several of the people involved, including producer Judd Apatow and actors Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Seth Rogan and Jason Segel went on to great success after the show was cancelled.  Getting back to Baker...

After F&G, Baker had a recurring role on Girls (also produced by Apatow) which earned her an Emmy nomination.  Guest appearances include L.A. Law, Frasier and Sex and the City.  Films include In & Out, Nights in Rodanthe and Hope Springs.

Squid Flicks: Citizen Kane

Title: Citizen Kane

Director: Orson Welles

Original Release: May 1, 1941

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Charles Foster Kane builds a newspaper empire, ultimately becoming one of the richest and most influential men in the world.  Then his life falls apart.  Truthfully, any plot synopsis falls short of conveying the sheer immensity of Citizen Kane.  Is it the greatest film ever made?  That's certainly a worthy debate though it comes as close to critical consensus as any.  I've only given it a 4, not because I deny its brilliance but because there are other movies I enjoy a lot more.  

Kane was Welles's first film after he'd taken the theatre world by storm.  He was given as close to total creative control as a major studio has ever given a first-time director, before or since.  He made the most of the opportunity.  He was only 25 years old.

I'd love to take a class on Kane.  It doesn't take long to recognize its uniqueness.  Other films simply don't look like this.  Cinematographer Gregg Toland literally invented camera shots, even carving new lenses.  It would be fun to go through shot by shot with someone who has studied it lovingly for years.  Kane is the Hamlet of film in that once you start looking for homages, you see them everywhere.  All the huge wooden crates in the mansion at the end of the movie... can't help thinking of the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.  

Amazingly, Kane flopped in its original release.  The story hit too close to home for William Randolph Hearst, one of several real-life inspirations for the protagonist.  Hearst forbade his newspapers from advertising or even mentioning the movie.  The impact on ticket sales was no joke.  Even so, quite a lot of critics fell in love with it and the movie was re-released in 1956 with much greater success.  It probably didn't hurt that Hearst had passed away in 1951.