NVC the 0424 Edition: Classic Thread, Queen, Prince, Winter & Necessities...

What you’ll find here is classic, classic and more classic. Truly! We kid you not. Take a gander below and see for yourself.

Winter Classic? To start, we noticed that baseball season was off to a rather chilly start with many games being “postponed” due to cold weather. Seeing the ball players all bundled up was definitely a 180 from the “Boys of Summer” that we’re familiar with.

Note: The Boys of Summer is a 1972 non-fiction baseball book by Roger Kahn. After recounting his childhood in Brooklyn and his life as a young reporter on the New York Herald Tribune, the author relates some history of the Brooklyn Dodgers up to their victory in the 1955 World Series.

Notable:Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully’s greatest memory remains in Brooklyn where he became the voice of the “Boys of Summer.” He called the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers World Championship, their first in franchise

We saw a story in The Wall Street Journal with an amusing headline (Are They Playing Baseball or Climbing Mt. Everest?) and a picture of baseball players all bundled up.

And in this story (Bring The Heat: Major League Baseball Off To Chilly Start) out of Detroit which quoted Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale saying:

Pitching in cold weather is like getting punched in the face.”

He added, “You never really get used to it, you just handle it better. It’s never fun.” Definitely looked like the players AND the fans weren’t having too much fun.

Which got us wondering… Could this be “The Curse of the NHL Winter Classic”?

The National Hockey League has been expanding its “outdoor” program (which started in 2008) where teams are selected to face-off in non-traditional venues — like ballparks. Maybe the ballparks are striking back. Something to ponder.

A Classic Bows Out

When we heard the news during a Jim Rome broadcast, we were actually hoping it was a hoax. But it wasn’t. The musician Prince (formerly knows as a symbol) had passed away. A classic in his own right for being truly unique. The Hollywood Reporter has the details.

The New York Times had this to say:

Prince was a man bursting with music — a wildly prolific songwriter, a virtuoso on guitars, keyboards and drums and a master architect of funk, rock, R&B and pop, even as his music defied genres. In a career that lasted from the late 1970s until his solo “Piano & a Microphone” tour this year, he was acclaimed as a sex symbol, a musical prodigy and an artist who shaped his career his way, often battling with accepted music-business practices.

We just wanted to play Prince music — especially “Let’s Go Crazy.” Not as easy as one would have thought (see details here).

There were lots of online tributes to Prince, including this from Justin Timberlake.

And this one that we posted (shared from The Little Prince fan art page).

Timeless Classic – The Queen Turns 90
Tough segue, but here goes… The day Prince died was Queen Elizabeth’s 90-birthday. Speaking of tributes, check out what these guys did: Queen of Parts.

Scratching your head? Okay, what you need to know is that the Queen trained and served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II which involved motor vehicle maintenance.

A very creative tribute for sure!

Remake of a Classic – The Jungle Book

Lastly, we want to point out that Jon Favreau (our favorite movie chef) has been on a press tour to promote the 2016 remake of the Disney classic Jungle Book.

Check out Variety’s review here where Andrew Barker remarked:

Of all of the impressive details to appear on screen in Disney’s live-action adaptation of “The Jungle Book,” none is more startling than a title card at the close of the end credits reading: “Filmed in Downtown Los Angeles.” So immersively does the film’s visual-effects team craft every tree, waterfall and flower of Rudyard Kipling’s fantastical subcontinental setting, and so carefully are the talking CGI animals rendered, it almost beggars belief that the whole thing was shot in a 12-story building overlooking the 110 freeway.

We especially liked this quote from a story appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle:

“I always liked telling stories. Whenever I’d play, I would play games that were more geared in imagination than with playing,” he says. “That was always part of my recreation. … I loved watching movies. When you love watching something, it’s not that big of a leap to want to actually do that.”

Also notable is that Favreau’s Jungle Book got a “Jumping out of the Chair” rating by the Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub .

The last word goes to Favreau, whose best work (“Iron Man” and “Elf”) has arguably been associated with those films’ lead actors more than the director. “The Jungle Book” proves he’s a superb director with a Robert Zemeckis level of mainstream movie versatility, able to connect with his audience through different genres and with diverse technical challenges.

This may be Favreau’s best achievement — taking a beloved film guided by Walt Disney himself and crafting something distinct and memorable.

That’s a wrap for this double-NVC. Thanks for reading and, as always #SCMF.

—The Gang

Wait for it.. Can’t end a NVC without a song. Here’s Bill Murray’s rendition of a classic — “The Bare Necessities”