I Keep Dancing on My Own
TGIF Includes: Swan Song Film Review & Dedication, Instant Serotonin Boost with Ethan Hawke, The Audio Files, and More
Youthquake is a nostalgic biweekly newsletter of the pop culture elite (past & present).
Udo Kier is a compelling actor that shines with supporting roles throughout his career. He’s starred in films from directors like Dario Argento, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Lars von Trier, and Gus Van Sant, to namedrop a few— Kier’s now in the much-deserved limelight as Sandusky superstar, Pat Pitsenbarger.
Swan Song is a dazzling and beautifully profound love letter to the original Mr. Pat from director Todd Stephens, as he chronicles Pat’s call to action as a former socialite fixture with a Midas touch of hair manes.
Living almost nihilistically after health and career setbacks, Pat resides in an assisted facility and lives day-to-day miserably bored. When the news of a former confidante and client’s passing, Pat embarks on an odyssey of self-exploration as he’s called to style his former muse Rita Parker Sloan (Linda Evans). Their strained relationship broke them apart, Rita a fabulously affluent and Republican socialite of Sandusky, whereas Pat radiated more than his shimmering jewels. His mission across Sandusky to find only the best for Rita leaves less to be desired, quickly learning that the modern world is dauntingly different.
Through this journey, Pat faces his inner demons and hard truths, encountering his frenemy and scorned former assistant Dee Dee Dale (Jennifer Coolidge). Rounding out the fantastic supporting cast is Michael Urie as Rita’s grandson, a notable nuanced performance that mirrors his impactful story arc in Ugly Betty (which I dearly miss).
Coming to terms that to look forward, we overlook the need to look backward retrospectively. Whether to gain a new perspective or learn some clarity, we tend to run into similar problems until lessons are inevitably learned as we finally face ourselves. Through this wonderfully camp yet wistful immortalization to the real trailblazing Pat Pitsenbarger— Swan Song came into my life as I’m a fellow work-in-progress. Hence, the message of embracing the importance of self-expression and self-introspection is ageless. Don’t miss this gem of a film in theaters on August 6th and On-Demand on August 13th.
✨ Instant Serotonin Boost
✨ Bonus Serotonin Booster
I couldn’t resist adding this anthem; we dedicate this to Mr. Pat.
Briefly scrolling through Twitter led me to take a trip down memory lane to my high school years— where I was introduced to a band whose debut album completely changed my life through an old friend. Now fortunate enough to see them six times, I can say with certainty that each time I listen to them is like the first, similar to Arctic Monkeys. Sorry Lorde, I’m still listening to music I loved at sixteen (I was fourteen, but I digress).
Bring your knees in tight and pelvic thrust because it’s the Time Warp.
📢 = director’s commentary
Here’s what happened on this day, July 30th:
Walt Disney’s Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short using Technicolor (and the first Academy Award-winning cartoon short), premiered in 1932.
HBD to timeless icons:
Anita Hill, American lawyer and academic
📢 Biden and Clarence Thomas, we haven’t forgotten what y’all did.Richard Linklater, American film director.
Kate Bush, English singer-songwriter.
Lisa Kudrow, American actress.
US President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.
📢 Which are government programs, yet Republicans like this Harvard-educated lady would like to safeguard from “socialism,” nonsensical but show the crucial regime of culture war rubbish to occupy American’s minds online as no progress is made any clearer the insurrection of January 6th.The # 1 Hit in 1966: The Troggs Wild Thing
Jimmy Hoffa disappeared from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in 1975. He was declared dead on July 30, 1982.
📢 I stand by my affinity for Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa in my Letterboxd review.
Flight of the Navigator was released in theaters in 1986.
📢 A childhood cult classic and staple in our home growing up.The # 1 Hit in 1977: Andy Gibb I Just Want to Be Your Everything
Runaway Bride and Deep Blue Sea were released in theaters in 1999.
The Village, Harold, and Kumar Go to White Castle, and The Manchurian Candidate premiered in 2004.
We still have reviews coming in, which we’re excited to discuss, like always. For now, we’re slowing down a bit.
Sam’s been MIA for personal reasons that I wholly support; we’re both taking some much-needed off-the-grid self-care. After all, my Abuelo is still recovering from Covid-19, so as a caretaker, it’s halted things a bit.
As most human beings do, we tend to feel out of sorts and a little burnt out— this is why we extend our support to the Black community who continue to deal with medical racism, and too often, negligence which is traumatizing enough. We stand with survivor and GOAT Simone Biles; anyone who discounts or shouts at greatness while achieving nothing is comical. We stand in solidarity with her and especially Black women with similar horror stories of not being believed.