Pophistory: music, movies, history, and life.
In this web exclusive from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, host John Oliver explains why New Year’s Eve is “the worst.” And he provides some excuses you can use for getting out of participating in the holiday. Check it out.
Have a happy New Year.
Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves has so many great lines in his song set on New Year’s Day called “One Good Year,” which is from his excellent 2000 album Broke Down
The song is both sad and hopeful at the same time. In the bridge, he notes “It’s a bitter wind / In your face every day;/ It’s the little sins / That wear your soul away.” But even with some sad stories in the news lately, all we can really hope for is that the next year is one good year.
What are your hopes for the new year? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Is there a better New Year’s Eve movie scene than this one in When Harry Met Sally? The movie makes perfect use of the holiday, including Harry Burns’s (Billy Crystal’s) questions about “Auld Lang Syne.”
Below is the climactic scene from the movie. {Spoiler alert: This clip is the film’s ending.}
After When Harry Met Sally shows Harry’s loneliness magnified by the special night, Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) wonders about the role the holiday played in Harry’s surprise appearance. She wonders if he is just lonely because he is by himself on New Year’s Eve. Harry directly confronts that possible explanation for why he ran to Sally: “And it’s not because it is New Year’s Eve. . . When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” Where are my tissues?
For romance, one might compare Meg Ryan’s New Year’s Eve meeting with Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle. That movie does a good job of not overplaying when the two finally meet.
But the movie New Year’s Eve kiss that one might compare to When Harry Met Sally for dramatic impact is when Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) kisses Fredo (John Cazale) with the kiss of death at a New Year’s Eve party in The Godfather: Part II. Michael tells Fredo, “You broke my heart. You broke my heart.”
More tissues, please.
Happy New Year. In the new year, may your kisses be of the When Harry Met Sally type instead of of the Godfather: Part II type.
What is your favorite portrayal of New Year’s Eve? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)