# Riff 104 - Remake the worst movies, pay for premium dirt, walk on movie star names [The Comedian Next Door] Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/fight-laugh-feast-usa-5063827/riff-104-remake-the-worst-movies-pay-for-premium-dirt-walk-on-movie-star-names-the-comedian-next-door Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/fight-laugh-feast-usa-5063827/riff-104-remake-the-worst-movies-pay-for-premium-dirt-walk-on-movie-star-names-the-comedian-next-door.md Podcast: [Fight Laugh Feast USA](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fight-laugh-feast-usa-5063827) Published: 2026-09-03T13:30:00+00:00 Episode link: https://app.dropwave.io/episode/959d38df-5347-45a3-a664-2bba97aefe03/riff-104-remake-the-worst-movies-pay-for-premium-dirt-walk-on-movie-star-names.mp3 Audio file: https://app.dropwave.io/episode/959d38df-5347-45a3-a664-2bba97aefe03/riff-104-remake-the-worst-movies-pay-for-premium-dirt-walk-on-movie-star-names.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/fight-laugh-feast-usa-5063827/episodes/riff-104-remake-the-worst-movies-pay-for-premium-dirt-walk-on-movie-star-names-the-comedian-next-door Duration seconds: 3818 ## Resource Why hasn’t The Sound of Music been remade? That question makes us ponder the rules that determine which Hollywood properties can be recycled indefinitely and which apparently must remain untouched. Movie scenes and celebrity anecdotes keep complicating the distinction between cultural treasure and something people simply like for no good reason. Someone made proposal that Dolly Parton needs to be a saint, a proposal that's problematic on it's own terms but doubly probIematic when the proposition comes from an atheist. If canonization worked by popular vote, celebrities would arrive with ready-made constituencies, because fame has a way of turning reputation into evidence of virtue. Popular celebrities are assigned virtues by their fans. The focus widens to another cultural achievement: convincing people to buy things that are readily available for free. Water, dirt, coffee, and other everyday products become examples of what happens when marketing convinces us to pay a premium price for bargain level items.  By the time the Hollywood Walk of Fame enters the discussion, movies, sainthood, products, and celebrity status are all running on surprisingly similar rules. A classic film can become too revered to remake, Dolly Parton can accumulate saintly credentials through public affection, and water or dirt can acquire value through presentation—while Hollywood puts famous names into the sidewalk and lets everybody walk on them. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/fight-laugh-feast-usa-5063827/episodes/riff-104-remake-the-worst-movies-pay-for-premium-dirt-walk-on-movie-star-names-the-comedian-next-door/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/fight-laugh-feast-usa-5063827/riff-104-remake-the-worst-movies-pay-for-premium-dirt-walk-on-movie-star-names-the-comedian-next-door.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.