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Persistent Songs
May. 31st, 2025 10:28 amI was showing Tom Waits' "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You" to students a few days ago because it contained relevant grammar and then, last night, I watched an Ally McBeal episode that included the song. That's the second time that's happened with my viewing of Ally McBeal this year. The previous time was when I'd just watched Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart and then an Ally McBeal episode included "Take Me Home You Silly Boy", a Tom Waits song written for Crystal Gayle to sing for that movie.
The Ally McBeal episode I watched last night was "Out in the Cold" from January, 2000, a time when people still generally believed homeless people in the U.S. were mostly mentally ill. In this case, Ally is intrigued by a homeless man who shouts some surprisingly insightful things at her. The two end up bonding over the fact that they both have hallucinations. It sounds more comedic than it was, the show actually takes it very seriously. It certainly plays very differently to-day when many Disneyland castmembers are reportedly living out of their cars.
I like how writer David E. Kelley seems to make writing pivots based on (presumably his own) critical appraisals of the show. Ally's visions were just a comedic effect in season one, then they became vaguely spiritual before finally settling on being an actual, serious mental health issue that she's avoiding taking medication for. And Billy coming off as slimier than originally intended seems to have led to him being an outright creep. I'm still digging that.
Ally McBeal is available on Disney+.
X Sonnet 1941
No reading horses fled the burning barn.
So many bookends burned to keep the books.
No equine readers stayed to read a yarn.
The common hay was held with simple hooks.
McAfee scams disgraced the common box.
No virus worth its bytes was fooled for long.
The vaunted 'lectric ghost was just a fox.
No A nor I exceeds its scary song.
A paper door could never shut at night.
No warming breeze could staunch the dream.
A question ends before the answer's right.
No cookies marred the taste of sweetened cream.
Please send a coffee up for me to drink.
No mighty brew or blend would make me blink.
The Ally McBeal episode I watched last night was "Out in the Cold" from January, 2000, a time when people still generally believed homeless people in the U.S. were mostly mentally ill. In this case, Ally is intrigued by a homeless man who shouts some surprisingly insightful things at her. The two end up bonding over the fact that they both have hallucinations. It sounds more comedic than it was, the show actually takes it very seriously. It certainly plays very differently to-day when many Disneyland castmembers are reportedly living out of their cars.
I like how writer David E. Kelley seems to make writing pivots based on (presumably his own) critical appraisals of the show. Ally's visions were just a comedic effect in season one, then they became vaguely spiritual before finally settling on being an actual, serious mental health issue that she's avoiding taking medication for. And Billy coming off as slimier than originally intended seems to have led to him being an outright creep. I'm still digging that.
Ally McBeal is available on Disney+.
X Sonnet 1941
No reading horses fled the burning barn.
So many bookends burned to keep the books.
No equine readers stayed to read a yarn.
The common hay was held with simple hooks.
McAfee scams disgraced the common box.
No virus worth its bytes was fooled for long.
The vaunted 'lectric ghost was just a fox.
No A nor I exceeds its scary song.
A paper door could never shut at night.
No warming breeze could staunch the dream.
A question ends before the answer's right.
No cookies marred the taste of sweetened cream.
Please send a coffee up for me to drink.
No mighty brew or blend would make me blink.
