I'm trying to replace the Lucas Portrait file with one that isn't twice as long as it needs to be.

That may result in this episode getting re-published, in which case, enjoy an episode that will be redone in a month again, but at least will be four minutes long instead of eight....

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Been on my mind for a bit, for two reasons: First, the movies in the sequel trilogy were released in December, so events around them are showing up as anniversaries in various social media. Second, someone I know recently was doing a school assignment on George Lucas. So here it is again.

Yes, I know, there's a cricket in there. I keep meaning to re-record it, but haven't gotten to it yet.

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This is just for fun, with no real generational connection except that both Abraham Lincoln and George Lucas are from Prophet generations. (Boom for Lucas, Transcendental for Lincoln.) And, as such, it's not surprising that a similar arrangement works for both of them.

If you like Star Wars and Aaron Copland, you may enjoy it.

Fun fact: George Lucas' birthday is May 14, 1944, which was the two-year anniversary of the premiere of Lincoln Portrait.

Here's where I found the quotations:

The first two are from different sections of a look back at The Phantom Menace:

https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-i-the-phantom-menace-oral-history)

The "barbarians" quote is from testimony before the Senate in March 1988 - here’s the text I used, from Wikisource: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1988_George_Lucas_testimony_before_United_States_Senate

It’s not clear that Lucas every actually said the thing about the sledgehammer, but it turns out the fourth section in Lincoln Portrait isn’t well sourced either. And in both cases, it's certainly something they might have said.

I originally found the last bit here:

https://www.biography.com/news/george-lucas-star-wars-facts

But it turns out it was from a New York Times interview of George Lucas while he was FILMING Star Wars in 1976.

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/09/12/archives/from-american-graffiti-to-outer-space.html

It's well worth the read.

Going deep into the archives for a not-previously-reduxed discussion with my wife on a matter important to any generation: What's funny, what's not, and why?

We are Gen X-ers who think Quick Change is brilliant and funny. My mother-in-law thought Where's Poppa was brilliant and funny. You'll have to make up your own mind on which of us was right.

As mentioned, it's one of the first recordings I did, and it's ... rough. But understandable.

Quick Change, with Bill Murray, Geena Davis, Randy Quaid, and Jason Robards, is one of my favorite comedy films.

Where's Poppa, with George Segal and Ruth Gordon, was one of my mother-in-law's favorite comedy films.

My wife and I discuss possibilities for why what we find funny and what our parents find funny is often so different.

Silent and Gen X on Lifecourse

http://www.lifecourse.com/about/method/def/silent-gen.html

http://www.lifecourse.com/about/method/def/13th-gen.html

Quick Change and Where’s Poppa? on IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100449/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066563/

Carl Reiner - born 1922 (G.I.)

Drafted in October 1942, served in the Pacific theater (despite initially learning to be a French interpreter), ending up in Special Services (i.e. entertainment).

Mel Brooks - born 1926 (Silent)

Brooks served in World War II in the European theater starting in 1944, which is very unusual for Silent generation members. (One reason he seems like he should be G.I.)

Quick Change - Floras para los muertos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGj9QkslyE0

Quick Change - Joust

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQNI7q6ABnc

Where’s Poppa - We didn’t discuss this scene, but it fits in a lot of ways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzT27N2F45Q

If you search for Campfire Scene - with or without “Blazing Saddles” - this comes up early:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPIP9KXdmO0

Which I'd noticed before, in this post about another offensive western

http://crisis.generationalize.com/2014/06/runaway.html

What my wife is doing instead of podcasts: Gift of Music Foundation

http://agiftofmusic.org

You can still find me on Twitter: @generationalize and blogging at http://crisis.generationalize.com, but also on bluesky and sometimes on Post, also as @generationalize

Prompt the First: The Crazy World of 2nd Turning Music

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_Twins - doesn't mention the shaved eyebrow thing,
• SNL: Devo, B-52s, David Bowie
• • It wasn’t uncontrollable urge; it was Satisfaction and then Jocko Homo
  • And it was between their first two albums - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty_Now_for_the_Future came out in 1979
  • And during Jocko Homo, they stripped off the radiation suits
  • https://www.reddit.com/r/LiveFromNewYork/comments/zf4vwz/devo_performing_jocko_homo_on_snl_in_1978/
  • That video excerpt from SNL does NOT include the really amazingly even wierder original lead-in, an clip from In The Beginning Was The End, with Booji Boy and his father, General Boy, discussing The Truth About De-Evolution.
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdlU8e9wBIE - Martin Sheen introduces Bowie
• Elvis Costello and Meatloaf commercials in 1977
• • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_Out_of_Hell
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Aim_Is_True
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_Sharp!_(Joe_Jackson_album)(1978) - the shoes!

Prompt the second: Bay of Pigs

• https://www.netflix.com/title/81614129 - Turning Point: The Bomb and The Cold War
  • Yes, I somehow missed that The Bomb is right there in the title, so it's not a coincidence that it's focused on the nuclear part of The Cold War.
• https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

Prompt the third: Neutrality

• Neutrality as a very malleable concept: USSR/Japan in WWII, US / Germany, US/UKR/Russia,
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_country
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugal_during_World_War_II
  • Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 - used by Churchill to confirm access to the Azores for aircraft.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrality_Acts_of_the_1930s
  • The Acts were largely repealed in 1941, in the face of the Lend-Lease Act.
• https://x.com/generationalize/status/1495959705616801795
• https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/trivia/?item=tr6049574
• https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/trivia/?item=tr368170