Mollie W. O'Reilly • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

You know my name

By Mollie W. O'Reilly|2015-02-15T12:41:33-08:00September 11, 2010|Beatles tributes|

John and Paul and -- aha! the old switcheroo! You've probably seen the Experimental Jetset T-shirt design with the Beatles' first names written in Helvetica. It is "an attempt to create an archetypical shirt by stripping down the concept of a rock band to its bare essentials," according to the creators, and I own it in limited-edition tote-bag form (as seen here), thanks to my fashionable friend Betz. I carry it around the city a lot, because it's a perfect just-in-case-I-buy-something bag (holds a lot; folds up small). And because it's attention-getting, people tend to stare at me, or rather [...]

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Everybody’s trying to be my baby

By Mollie W. O'Reilly|2014-07-06T23:36:10-07:00September 9, 2009|alternate history, comedy|

Oh, I get it. He's kidding MOLLIE WILSON REILLY • Everyone and their brother is writing about the Beatles today -- and last night VH1 was showing Help!, for heaven's sake! It's weird, and oddly it's making me a little bit cranky. (Like, Hey, I liked them first.) This happened back in 1995, though, a couple of years after my own personal conversion to Beatlemania, when Anthology landed and suddenly everyone was a big-time fan. So I guess it will blow over. In the meantime, if you find yourself growing fatigued with reading box-set reviews by Johnny-Come-Latelys, I recommend Chuck [...]

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Nothing to get hung about?

By Mollie W. O'Reilly|2014-07-05T20:11:01-07:00August 13, 2009|Beatle-inspired, Strawberry Fields|

"Not cool, guys. Not cool." MOLLIE WILSON REILLY • From today's New York Times article on the CIA's secret prisons:Eventually, the agency’s network would encompass at least eight detention centers, including one in the Middle East, one each in Iraq and Afghanistan and a maximum-security long-term site at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that was dubbed Strawberry Fields, officials said. (It was named after a Beatles song after C.I.A. officials joked that the detainees would be held there, as the lyric put it, “forever.”) Isn't what you've done to American principles and international law enough? Must you even ruin the Beatles?!

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Killing Joke

By Mollie W. O'Reilly|2014-07-03T18:51:40-07:00January 30, 2009|McCartney|

MOLLIE WILSON REILLY • Did anybody else see McCartney on The Colbert Report Wednesday night? It was a pretaped interview, and it was...uncomfortable. At least, I thought so -- what do you think? The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,The Colbert Report on Facebook,Video Archive Why so prickly, Sir Paul? Where's that sense of humor? And why is the editing so choppy? At first it seemed so disjointed I thought maybe it was a spoof interview -- either they were matching answers with different questions (as they sometimes do on these humorous TV programs), or perhaps -- given the constant [...]

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The men from the press say we wish you success

By Mollie W. O'Reilly|2014-12-23T18:35:21-08:00November 26, 2008|1966, John Lennon, The White Album|

Yes, I think they made the right choice not using this one MOLLIE WILSON REILLY • Some follow-up on the news from Rome! After Ed posted here (thanks, Ed!), I brought the news to the Catholics at dotCommonweal. That has led me to some new and interesting details I thought you all might find interesting. First of all, it's fun but not accurate to say that the Vatican has "forgiven" Lennon. L'Osservatore Romano doesn't speak for the pope -- it's just the Vatican City daily. In any case, the article itself was an arts-section essay that, as far as I can [...]

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Not a second time

By Mollie W. O'Reilly|2019-08-07T03:39:15-07:00August 28, 2008|1965, concert, Paul McCartney|

Macca in Israel, 2008(If I've learned nothing else in my short life, I have at least learned never to mention Israel in polite company. But I'm throwing that lesson out today, because this story is Beatle-related, and how divisive could that be?) McCartney's playing Tel Aviv in September! So says Ethan Bronner in the New York Times, recalling that the Beatles weren't welcome there back in 1965. The official permission required to withdraw precious foreign currency to pay the band was denied because a ministerial committee feared the corrupting influence of four long-haired Englishmen singing about pleasure. As the committee [...]

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The News in Welsh

By Mollie W. O'Reilly|2015-09-18T23:36:20-07:00March 31, 2008|Television|

MOLLIE WILSON REILLY • I've been thinking about Patti LuPone over at Restricted View, and I never think of Patti without thinking of Life Goes On, the TV series she starred in when I was growing up. Though the role was not officially a musical one, Patti did lead the cast in singing the theme song: "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da." It was bouncy and fun, and it was my introduction to the song. You won't hear it on the DVDs -- high licensing costs -- but you can hear a really bad recording of it here. Recalling it got me thinking about other Beatles songs [...]

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Give us a kiss.

By Mollie W. O'Reilly|2015-02-12T11:59:34-08:00February 12, 2008|AHDN|

MOLLIE WILSON REILLY • Hi folks! Consider this a public service announcement. Showing tomorrow, throughout the day, on the Independent Film Channel, for reasons unknown to me: A Hard Day's Night, probably the best movie ever made in a rush with the express intention of cashing in on a fad. I know my fellow Dullbloggers need no introduction to this movie, and probably don't need to watch it on television, either. At this point I suspect we can all just cue it up in our heads. But I post this (and cross-post it over at Restricted View) for all those who do not [...]

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Happy ever after in the marketplace?

By Mollie W. O'Reilly|2015-01-16T18:09:41-08:00February 4, 2008|McCartney|

In 1966, after a secret car accident, bassist Paul McCartney was replaced in the group by actress Angela Lansbury MOLLIE WILSON REILLY • This week, Mimi Smartypants expresses a dislike of the Beatles. Generally I feel like this is her funeral (and it's amusingly put as always) -- but the specific circumstances have me puzzled:During these last few workdays I have been running a lot of stupid errands---post office, Walgreen's, etc---and could I maybe just go one day without hearing a goddamn Beatles song? I don't know who decided that the Beatles are the Lowest Common Denominator of crowd-pleasing shopping [...]

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