One of my failings is that I can pre judge something, and make my mind up about it, whether I dislike it or not, without taking the time to understand it. That all probably sounds a bit vague, but a good example is the tv comedy series Friends. When it first came to prominence, I dismissed it out of hand as something that wouldn’t interest me.
Last year the gym I go to had a set of televisions installed that you could watch and listen to whilst exercising (which is an excellent way of taking your mind off of the aching limbs). I tuned in one morning to an episode of Friends because there was nothing else of interest, and found myself laughing at times. And so, I have become something of a very late Friends fan, and recently purchased the first series on DVD.
The comedic timing and acting in the various situations is brilliant.
In the background of one of the sets on an episode of Friends I was watching last night was a poster of Laurel & Hardy. I don’t know if this was coincidence – but to me L&H really were the frontrunners of this type of comedy. They may have had more slapstick as part of their routines, but the basic premise of situation comedy was there, and I thought L&H were brilliant. As a kid I loved them, and still enjoy them now. I have some pictures of them up in my study. Unfortunately because some of what they did appears dated now, I feel they don’t get the credit they deserve. The Music Box (the one with the piano they were trying to deliver) was a gem, and in fact won an Oscar for short film. Stan Laurel was a complex and driven character, who spent hours working on routines. A comedic genius.
There, that’s my reflection for the day.
Home news. The cats arrive Thursday evening. We are having internal feuding over their names at the moment. It’s worse than naming a new born child. At least then its only two of you arguing. We have five people arguing over cat names at the moment.
Paul's life... too boring to be of interest to anyone 
Here in NYC, “Friends” is pretty much on at least one channel all the time from 6pm till midnight every single night. I was a fan from day one, and still continue to check every night to see which episode is on… I agree, some of them are brilliant… some just so-so, but really quite entertaining overall. And perfect when absolutely nothing else is on!
Good luck with the cat-naming… guess Eric and Doris didn’t fly, huh?
Well ‘Eric’ is still in the frame. But it would appear the view held by the Ladies in the house, after viwing a picture that was sent through, is that Doris just doesn’t look like a Doris (whatever a Doris is supposed to look like). I am now backing out of the debate, as I am starting to believe my opinion is not really going to count. I suspect Tricia will have the final say, and after all, she will do all the vets visits etc, and spend most of the day with them.
Did you hear/see the play about L&H? It was on radio 4 originally and then came to BBC4 a little later. It was one of the most poignant, emotional things I’ve ever heard (the radio version was far better imo). It chronicled the final time that the pair met before Oliver Hardy’s death and may have been called Babe or something along those lines. If I do remember the name I’ll let you know.
I seem to recall that much debate preceded Mac being named. Wallace (as in William) was a hot favourite but as we were living in England at the time everyone thought it was Wallace and Gromit. Then we realised that his kennel name was Beth Gelert and Macbeth just seemed the obvious choice – when he’s naughty we say “Out, damned spot!” . It could be that names will seem obvious when the kittens arrive and you see their characters. It’s either that or putting all possibilities into a hat.