Pointless But It Does My Head In
STN
sou'wester
speaking of excuses, my best mate always arrives at an excuse ("I've been working loads" "I'm late because of my girlfriend, girls are always late" - you fucking what?) that works once, then recycles it endlessly.
The best of these was "The 67 [bus between our houses] always takes ages". Right, well, now that we've established that, why are you still always fucking late? You don't arbitrarily decide the amount of time you think a journey ought to take, refuse to modify it to match reality and then act as thought it's utterly beyond your control when the journeytime exceeds your unrealistic expectations.
The best of these was "The 67 [bus between our houses] always takes ages". Right, well, now that we've established that, why are you still always fucking late? You don't arbitrarily decide the amount of time you think a journey ought to take, refuse to modify it to match reality and then act as thought it's utterly beyond your control when the journeytime exceeds your unrealistic expectations.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Maybe...
I know, you texted me. And I saw you yesterday, you silly sausage.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
OK, that does actually make sense in the context of the thread.
Slothrop
Tight but Polite
I only know one or two who serially pull out at the last minute, but I do know a surprising number of people who are basically impossible to get out of their houses for anything interesting on weekday evenings...
I'd say that they're prematurely middle aged, but most of the middle aged people I know are significantly more energetic than that.
sloth I know something even ruder/infuriating, have one friend (well ex friend, I ignore his calls/texts now) who wen't into hibernation with his g/f and used to occasionally phone me and another to ask if we were up for meeting up. He would do this all the time, again and again. Each time we would get out of work, or whatever, then phone him, and phone him, and phone him, over and over, do you think he'd answer?
The worst was when he planned a night out with everyone there, everyone met up in the meeting point he designated and he turned his phone off and stayed indoors.
edit* the excuses that he came out with were laughable 'my car run out of petrol' (answer the phone and say that then?) or 'i fell asleep' erm, no.
The worst was when he planned a night out with everyone there, everyone met up in the meeting point he designated and he turned his phone off and stayed indoors.
edit* the excuses that he came out with were laughable 'my car run out of petrol' (answer the phone and say that then?) or 'i fell asleep' erm, no.
"Stag and Doe" parties. Maybe this is a North American thing, because my parents were unfamiliar with these kind of events, but basically they are where, instead of having separate stag and hen nights where you gather your friends of the same sex together to have a last blow-out before you get married, you combine the two parties together into one shameless fundraiser where you guilt-trip everyone who cares about you into paying for your wedding.
The offenders that have prompted me in this case are throwing one of these things and it just so happens they decided to have their actual wedding on a fucking boat. If you were worried about money, why did you throw a wedding on a boat? Oh right, because we'll all buy raffle tickets and drinks at the bar you will be running at a rec hall in the middle of nowhere. Of course.
The offenders that have prompted me in this case are throwing one of these things and it just so happens they decided to have their actual wedding on a fucking boat. If you were worried about money, why did you throw a wedding on a boat? Oh right, because we'll all buy raffle tickets and drinks at the bar you will be running at a rec hall in the middle of nowhere. Of course.
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Corpsey
bandz ahoy
this and Mr Tea's ''K punk spinning in his cyber grave'' had me ROFLing all over the floor.
I know this is a dead and buried topic and I will never convince the Seinfeld haters to change their minds but I have to say that I think the small-mindedness and nastiness of the characters in Seinfeld is often one of the main subjects of humour in the program. Ditto their self-obsession.
''Arrested Development'' is very good but its quick-cut-away wackiness reminds me uncomfortably of 'Scrubs' and 'Ally McBeal' at times.
''Frasier'' rules all.
Sectionfive
bandwagon house
One hundred tweets is the new signing in and out of msn 43 times at the start of the show.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
The thing about Seinfeld is just that it's so obviously "HAY EVERYONE THIS HERE IS A SITUATIONAL COMEDY!!!1", if you see what I mean. The uproarious studio laughter, the horrible synth-bass to underscore a punchline...it just seems to belong to the Stone Age of TV comedy when you compare it to something like Peep Show or Flight of the Conchords - and Curb, come to think of it. I watched it once and there was a joke I thought was actually quite funny, precisely because the punchline was left unspoken - and then one of the characters went ahead and gave the punchline anyway! Cue the audience going into spastic hysterics...but for me, it totally killed the joke. Like the joke was not only now longer funny, but had never been funny.
Maybe it's just an Atlantic divide thing, but that can't be it entirely because I agree with Corpsey that Frasier is wicked.
Maybe it's just an Atlantic divide thing, but that can't be it entirely because I agree with Corpsey that Frasier is wicked.
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Corpsey
bandz ahoy
Seinfeld is very gauche but I think it was self-consciously so. The things people hate about it I hated too but many I've come to regard quite fondly (e.g. Jerry Seinfeld's bad acting and smirking). Sometimes too it was perhaps guilty of smugness regarding its own clever plotting... The self-referentiality, too, sometimes feels quite self-regarding and smug. But then on the other hand there's a sense in which all this goofiness and winking at the audience can feel quite inclusive and unpretentious, as if they're letting you in on the fun of writing/performing it. And the self-referentiality can also pay off in comedic terms. Was going to explain this by describing a scene from the show but it'll take too long and I canna be bothered.
I think another thing about Seinfeld is that, despite its immense popularity, it isn't as inviting a show as Frasier, for example, because it doesn't ask you to make an emotional connection with the characters. They aren't always likable characters (George, for example, is the kind of guy who pushes children and old women out of the way to escape a house-fire), they obsess over ridiculous trivial things, they reject women for tiny imperfections... of course, most of the characters they meet are arseholes in their own way! Which is perhaps one of the things that turns luka off - the 'small mindedness' of their perspective on the world, which is to an extent glorified or enjoyed as much as ironised. This is the same thing with 'Curb' - the way you feel, on the one hand, 'Oh, what an arsehole Larry is' but on the other 'That's what I'd say if I had the balls'. It's an uneasy relationship of empathy and disgust. And with 'Frasier, the characters have flaws, they're pompous, pretentious or stupid, but these flaws are portrayed as moments of human weakness, always overcome by human virtues like compassion, understanding, empathy.
There's hugging and sentiment in Frasier, and it makes it feel altogether warmer and more approachable in some sense than Seinfeld (although I suppose Frasier alienates many with its self-consciously high-brow references), in which there is (famously) 'no hugging' and 'no learning'. This is actually what distinguishes Seinfeld above all else as a sitcom, this moral void. In a sense its like 'Peep Show' (which perhaps counters your view of it as somehow less evolved than these modern comedies) - it concentrates on human weakness to a neurotic extent. I think human weakness is a source of much humour, whatever the moral implications of this might suggest.
Sorry, didn't mean to write an essay and I'm sure I won't convert da haterz anyway.
I think another thing about Seinfeld is that, despite its immense popularity, it isn't as inviting a show as Frasier, for example, because it doesn't ask you to make an emotional connection with the characters. They aren't always likable characters (George, for example, is the kind of guy who pushes children and old women out of the way to escape a house-fire), they obsess over ridiculous trivial things, they reject women for tiny imperfections... of course, most of the characters they meet are arseholes in their own way! Which is perhaps one of the things that turns luka off - the 'small mindedness' of their perspective on the world, which is to an extent glorified or enjoyed as much as ironised. This is the same thing with 'Curb' - the way you feel, on the one hand, 'Oh, what an arsehole Larry is' but on the other 'That's what I'd say if I had the balls'. It's an uneasy relationship of empathy and disgust. And with 'Frasier, the characters have flaws, they're pompous, pretentious or stupid, but these flaws are portrayed as moments of human weakness, always overcome by human virtues like compassion, understanding, empathy.
There's hugging and sentiment in Frasier, and it makes it feel altogether warmer and more approachable in some sense than Seinfeld (although I suppose Frasier alienates many with its self-consciously high-brow references), in which there is (famously) 'no hugging' and 'no learning'. This is actually what distinguishes Seinfeld above all else as a sitcom, this moral void. In a sense its like 'Peep Show' (which perhaps counters your view of it as somehow less evolved than these modern comedies) - it concentrates on human weakness to a neurotic extent. I think human weakness is a source of much humour, whatever the moral implications of this might suggest.
Sorry, didn't mean to write an essay and I'm sure I won't convert da haterz anyway.
Leo
Well-known member
re: "seinfeld", it was also an extremely "new york city" show, the people are really like that here. the jewish family dynamics for jerry, the neurotic single woman aspect of elaine, the quintessential "queens"-ness of george and family, the general pettiness, the obsessions with their own trivial little matters, etc.
everyone can relate to many aspects of the show, and people in other cities can certainly relate to the general issues of city life (like when you get a great parking space!), but it really hit home once you've spent time here and encountered all these characters in real life.
everyone can relate to many aspects of the show, and people in other cities can certainly relate to the general issues of city life (like when you get a great parking space!), but it really hit home once you've spent time here and encountered all these characters in real life.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Sure, that makes sense. I rewatched a couple of episodes of Spaced on TV last night (UK sitcom from about 10-12 years ago) which is full of nerdy in-jokes that wouldn't make sense to someone who hadn't lived in London. And Nathan Barley was like this but much moreso, because specific to one area of London (Shoreditch/Hoxton).
Sectionfive
bandwagon house
What is the bloody deal with 4square?
Tentative Andy
I'm in the Meal Deal
I've only started watching Seinfeld properly in the last little while (yeah I know...) but I'm kind of surprised the Luka doesn't like it - to me a big part of the appeal of the show is the way it does justice to the little details in life, which I know also thinks is something important. But as I said I've not seen every single episode yet...