Tag: People

Ted Williams

LUKE: Taylor, no, no, no, no, and every day from now on ’til the end of my life, I am gonna come in here and say, “Taylor, no!” And when I die, I’m gonna have them freeze me next to Ted Williams, and when they find the cure to what I died of and they unfreeze me, my first words are gonna be, “How’s Ted?” followed closely by, “Taylor, no!”.

Theodore “Ted” Williams (1918-2002), professional baseball player and manager who played his entire career for the Boston Red Sox, from 1939-1960. Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966.

Ted Williams died in Florida of cardiac arrest at the age of 83 on July 5, 2002. Although his last will and testament asked that he be cremated and his ashes scattered in the Florida Keys, his son John-Henry and his younger daughter Claudia chose to have his remains cryonically frozen.

Ted’s elder daughter, Bobby-Jo Ferrell, brought a suit to have her father’s wishes recognised. John-Henry’s lawyers then produced a “pact” signed by Ted, John-Henry, and Claudia, agreeing that they would all be frozen, in the hopes of being together again one day. Ted’s signature was found to be genuine, and Bobby-Jo dropped the case due to lack of funds. Publicity from the case increased the number of enquiries to cryonics organisations.

Ted Williams’ biographer, Leigh Montville, claims that Williams’ signature on the pact was a practice autograph on a plain piece of paper, around which the family agreement was written. He had signed the pact Ted Williams, as he did for autographs, while legal documents were signed Theodore Williams.

John-Henry Williams unexpectedly died from acute leukaemia in 2004, and was also cryonically frozen by Alcor in fulfilment of the family agreement.

Note this is another baseball reference from Luke.

[There are picture available of Ted Williams’ frozen head, but they’re frankly a bit disturbing, so I’ve gone with one from during his career].

Kim Deal

LANE: You are not telling me that you did not know that Kim Deal was in the Pixies before the Breeders! I refuse to accept that! [hangs up] These kids have no sense of history.

Kimberley “Kim” Deal (born 1961), singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She was the bassist and co-vocalist in alternative rock band Pixies, previously discussed, joining in 1986. During the band’s hiatus, she formed the alternative rock band the Breeders in 1989. After the Pixies broke up in 1993, she returned her focus to the Breeders, who themselves went into hiatus in 1994, during which time Deal formed the short-lived rock band the Amps, performing under the name Tammy Ampersand. She reformed the Breeders in 2002, then returned to the Pixies when the band reunited in 2004. In 2013, she left the Pixies to concentrate on the Breeders, who released their fifth album, All Nerve, in 2018.

One of the reasons the person on the phone may not have known that Kim Deal was previously in the Pixies is because she performed under the stage name Mrs John Murphy while in the band.

Lane is not just looking for any band to drum for – it needs to be a band who shares her obsession with alternative rock and indie music, and knows their music history.

Kate Hudson

EMILY: I was watching TV and that insipid Kate Hudson was talking about going to a university. If she decides to go to Harvard, she’ll get right in over Rory, who we know is more qualified.

Kate Hudson (born 1979), actress, the daughter of actress Goldie Hawn and singer and actor Bill Hudson, although raised by her mother and stepfather, actor Kurt Russell. Her film debut was in Desert Blue (1998), and at this stage, her best known film was Almost Famous (2000) [pictured]. Her most recent movie in 2002 was the war film The Four Feathers, released in September, around the same time as the events of this episode, which was panned by critics. She went on to greater success during the 2000s, and has won several awards.

Kate Hudson was accepted into New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 1997, but turned it down to concentrate on her acting career. I don’t know what television program Emily could have been watching – by this stage, Kate Hudson was 23, and not exactly college aged.

The Brat Pack

EMILY: And now it’s the in thing for young Hollywood celebrities to go to universities. What do they call themselves, the Brat Pack?

LORELAI: About a hundred years ago.

The Brat Pack, a nickname given to a group of young actors who frequently appeared together in teen coming-of-age films in the 1980s. It was first mentioned in a 1985 New York magazine article, used to describe Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, and most of the cast of The Outsiders. Later on, the definition (somehow?) seems to have narrowed to refer to those actors who starred in The Breakfast Club and/or St Elmo’s Fire. But there is no set definition of who was in the Brat Pack and who wasn’t.

The label brought negative attention to the actors, who hated it, and they stopped socialising together. It certainly was not something they called themselves, but an unwanted label foisted upon them. The journalist who coined the expression later admitted he shouldn’t have done it.

The name “Brat Pack” was coined in imitation of the “Rat Pack”, an informal group of A-List show business friends in the 1940s and ’50s, centred on Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. It is important to note that the Rat Pack is what the group called themselves, the Brat Pack was a name created by the media.

“Brain-dead bint in a skirt”

PARIS: Personal anecdote – when I was twelve and I was writing the first of my trial essays in practice for the day I’d write my real essay, I chose Hillary Clinton. Then I realized every brain-dead bint in a skirt would be writing about Hillary, but it was good to clear the pipes.

Bint: British slang, derogatory term for a girl or woman. It dates to the late 19th century, and is borrowed from the Arabic بِنْت‎ (bint, “girl, daughter”). It was adopted by British soldiers to refer to their girlfriends, as the Arabic word is reminiscent of English words for women such as bit, bird, and bitch.

Paris has not only been practising college application essays since she was twelve years old, but has also been a fan of Hillary Clinton since at least the same age. Paris would have been aged twelve in 1996/1997 – at this time, Hillary Clinton had been First Lady of the US since 1993. She took an important role from the very beginning, and was the first First Lady to receive her own office in the West Wing of the White House. She was considered the most openly empowered First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt.

Hillary Clinton and C-SPAN

RORY: It’s not due for weeks, and I already have my essay topic picked out … Hillary Clinton … She’s so smart and tough and nobody thought she could win New York but she did and she’s doing amazing, and have you heard her speak?

DEAN: Only when you’ve played me the thousands of hours of C-SPAN footage you taped.

RORY: She’s a great speaker, strong and persuasive, with a wonderful presence, and even those suits of hers are getting better.

Hillary Clinton, previously discussed. We now discover Rory is a complete fangirl of hers.

C-SPAN, Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network. Cable and satellite television network created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the US federal government, as well as other public affairs programs.

Note that Dean has to watch hours of C-SPAN footage taped by Rory, but she wouldn’t watch BattleBots with him until he went to her debutante ball as her escort. Maybe she also pays him back in some way (or she considers just going out with Dean enough of a big favour?).

Jackson Browne and “Doctor, My Eyes”

LORELAI: And what’s with Jackson Browne making the list?

LANE: Ah, see, cool people know that he’s more than a mellow hippie-dippy folkie, that he actually wrote some of Nico’s best songs and was in fact her lover before he bored us with “Doctor, My Eyes.” That will separate the poseurs from the non-poseurs.

Clyde Jackson Browne (born 1948), musician, songwriter, and political activist. A precocious teenaged songwriter from Los Angeles in the 1960s, he had his first success writing songs for others. As a sixteen-year-old, he wrote “These Days” for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, which became a minor hit for German singer Nico, previously mentioned as one of Lane’s music idols, in 1967. After moving to Greenwich Village, he backed Nico, and they were romantically involved. He was a significant contributor to her debut album, Chelsea Girl, writing and playing guitar on several of the songs.

Jackson Browne’s self-titled debut album came out in 1972, and this includes the track “Doctor, My Eyes”, an upbeat-sounding track about being world-weary. It was a surprise hit, reaching #8 on the US charts, and most popular in Canada at #4. It’s become one of his concert mainstays, but Lane seems to regard his debut album as the start of Browne being “boring”!

Jackson Browne continued to have successful albums, with his signature work being 1977’s Running On Empty, peaking at #3, and with the title track reaching #11 in the US (#4 in Canada). His success continued through the 1980s, and his most recent album is Downhill from Everywhere (2021). He is regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

Note that Lane has no problems telling Lorelai that she has been lumped in with the uncool “poseurs” for not knowing about Jackson Browne and Nico – even though Lorelai has helped form many of Lane’s musical tastes (this seems very believable from a teenager). Viewers may find it amusing that Lane sees herself as having the ability to separate the poseurs from the non-poseurs, considering she’s quite the musical poseur herself.

David Bowie

LANE: Gotta have Bowie.

RORY: But do you have to list every album he ever recorded, plus your personal rating between one to ten?

David Bowie, born David Jones (1947-2016), English singer-songwriter and actor. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century, and acclaimed by critics, particularly for his innovative work in the 1970s. He is known for his constant reinvention of his image, and his music and stagecraft had a significant impact on popular music. During his lifetime, he was one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in in 1996. Rolling Stone named him “the greatest rock star ever”, and he is the best-selling vinyl artist of the twenty-first century.

David Bowie has released 27 studio albums, including one posthumously, as well as multiple live recordings and compilations. Nine of his studio albums have gone to #1 in the UK, but only one in the US – his 2016 Blackstar. His 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, is widely considered his best album, and one of the greatest of all time.

Faulkner and Sylvia Plath

LORELAI: Or one of your authors, Faulkner or . . .

RORY: Or Sylvia Plath.

LORELAI: Hm, might send the wrong message.

RORY: The sticking her head in the oven thing?

LORELAI: Yeah. Although she did make her kids a snack first, shows a certain maternal instinct.

William Faulkner (1897-1962), previously mentioned, writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County of Mississippi, based on the real Lafayette County of that state. William Faulkner spent most of his life in Oxford, Mississippi, which in his works is renamed Jefferson. The winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature, he is one of the most celebrated American authors, and widely considered the greatest writer of Southern Literature.

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) [pictured], previously mentioned several times, poet, novelist, and short-story writer, best known for her confessional poetry, as well as her 1963 novel The Bell Jar, previously discussed. Her posthumous 1982 Collected Poems won the Pulitzer Prize. Clinically depressed for most of her life, she killed herself by gassing herself in the oven. Before she did so, she made her sleeping children (two year old Frieda and one year old Nicholas) a snack of bread and butter, opened their bedroom window, and put tape and towels around the door in an effort to protect them from the fumes. Sadly, her suicide seems to have often become a punchline in television comedy, as with this example.