Girls

I don’t really know why, and I can’t remember what context this was within the show. And maybe it’s just flat-out nostalgia for my old neighborhood. But I’ve always thought this was one of the most iconic tv scenes of the last decade. 

OFAH du Jour

The story here is the first time David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst met onscreen, 4 years before Only Fools and Horses. But the real message is that John Sullivan's writing wasn't the only magical thing about the show - Jason & Lyndhurst were perfect together.

Dylan?

Someone said to me today “can you imagine when Bob Dylan dies?” At first I was like damn, that’ll be terrible. But then...Dylan hasn’t put out a great album since Blood on the Tracks, which was in 1975. Ever since then he’s been pretty clear that he doesn’t give a fuck. Everyone I know who’s been to a Dylan concert has said the same thing, that he just shits out his songs however he likes, to the point of being unrecognizable. Hell, I saw him join Bruce on the last show of The Rising Tour and it took 60,000 rabid fans to figure out he was singing “Highway 61”. 

Meanwhile Bruce, who is 7 years younger than Dylan, didn’t even have his biggest album until 1984. And since then he’s constantly been fighting to stay relevant - between The Rising and Magic and his Broadway Show, in 2020 Bruce Springsteen still matters. Does Dylan? Like The Beatles, is he frozen in the 60s? 🤔

What's Next?

After listening faithfully for four years it's a bittersweet moment that is the final podcast of The West Wing Weekly podcast, but wow look at this cast of guest stars!

OFAH du Jour

Kobe

I haven’t said anything about Kobe, because wtf am I gonna say? The first thing I thought about was Len Bias:

And his death is somehow my own JFK moment - I can still feel myself lolling on my bed that summer day, facing the wall on my left and reading "Ball Four" when the announcement came on the radio. No, he was no JFK, but JFK was no Frosty either.

Kobe dying was gut-wrenching enough. But when you hear about the kids that died too ... 

That’s how short life is. Hug everybody. Right now. 

Okay, This One Got Me.

Jason Polan

About 10 years I mentioned Jason Polan, who set out to draw every person in New York City:

I am trying to draw every person in New York. I will be drawing people everyday and posting as frequently as I can. It is possible that I will draw you without you knowing it. I draw in Subway stations and museums and restaurants and on street corners. I try not to be in the way when I am drawing or be too noticeable.

Apparently he just died. Very sad. But also truly remarkable that he set out to do something so wildly ambitious that all these years later, even a jagoff like me remembered him.

Dear Garbage Pickup Team:

It wasn’t me. 

Wow!

Terry Jones takes down the Roman Empire in about 4 minutes. Yowza. 

Oh, Domino’s

Hahaha does Domino’s really expect us to believe they take longer doing a  “quality check” than anything else? Oh Domino’s, you sweet, sweet bullshitter! 

You’re Welcome du Jour

The next you’re full of despair remember some guy did this and you’ll smile immediately.

Medieval Lives Update

Holy crap this one about peasants is mind-blowing! :)

Knight BS

Besides being a comedy pioneer, Terry Jones was a well-respected medieval historian, having written several books and presented television documentaries about the period - probably why Monty Python and the Holy Grail looked so authentic. Here's an episode from his series Medieval Lives in which he calls bullshit on how we think of "chivalrous" knights from back in the day.

Good Aftahnoon Evwybodee!!!!

Hearing Doggie lose his mind all week over people not answering the Marquis' questions has been, in a word, delightful.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣@MadDogUnleashed pic.twitter.com/ypBE7BC2po

— Ƒunhouse (@BackAftaThis) January 24, 2020

OFAH du Jour

An all-time great scene form the classic episode Modern Men. 🤣

OTD 2013

I seemed to have a few thoughts on The Fonz. 🤔

Hot for Teacher

A million years ago in college I wrote a modest proposal on why all school teachers should be hot women, the theory that boys would then pay super-attention to whatever she was teaching. I won't bore you with how amazing and funny the paper was (is!), but just now on Facebook I've found this. Ha! Sweet, sweet vengeance for your ol' friend Xmastime!!

More Jeter

One surprising thing about Derek Jeter is that while he didn't say too much, he was actually pretty funny sometimes. Like when they dedicated Steinbrenner's monument:

Derek Jeter’s take on Steinbrenner’s monument:

“It was big,” Jeter said. “Probably just how The Boss wanted it. The biggest one out there.”

Would Steinbrenner have liked that idea?

“It probably was his idea.”

Flippity Flip!

About 8 years ago I posted about Jeter's famous Flip Play, while seemingly a spontaneous burst of free jazz, having been practiced many times before:

But if you were standing by the back field at the Yankees complex earlier this morning, you could have seen the Yankees practicing that exact play. Third-base coach Rob Thomson stood on the infield grass and rapped liners into the right-field corner as a line of outfielders took turns digging the ball out and throwing it to the cutoff man while the infielders went to their respective positions … including the shortstop running the Jeter route to the first-base line each time.

Like most folks, I was – and still am – amazed by that play, but the more I watched the drill today the more Jeter’s assertions make sense. “Where else would the shortstop be?” he has always said.

And today Jeter goes into deep, deep detail about the play for the first time:

“My job is to watch the runner. The runner at first was Jeremy Giambi. I saw the ball down the line, and my job is to see if there’s going to be a play at third base, right? But once you see that Giambi is going to go home, my job is to turn into the third cutoff man to redirect the throw to third base,” Jeter continued. “Now, we don’t practice actually shuffle-passing the ball to home plate but my job, if you look at the replay, if I actually wanted to throw to third base, we could’ve got Terrence [Long, the batter] at third.”

The decision to flip the ball home instead of turning and trying to get Long at third, Jeter explained, was made because Giambi was not a fast runner. 

“I said this before, and I say this very respectfully, the Giambi family is not very fast, so I knew we had an opportunity to get him at the plate,” Jeter cracked.

I for one had never heard he was originally gonna go to third.

OFAH du Jour

You'd be hard-pressed to find a better line than this!!! :)

All time fave line 😜 https://t.co/FNTt4TpsKs

— XMASTIME (@XMASTIMEblog) January 21, 2020

Bonnet de Douché!

David Jason was briefly reunited with his forever iconic three-wheeled van!

Sir David Jason, who played Del Boy Trotter in Only Fools and Horses, visited the iconic vehicle while filming a sequence for his new TV series, Great British Inventions. 

The bright yellow van is still emblazoned with the words "Trotters Independent Trading Co, New York, Paris, Peckham".

Sir David, 79, describes it as a "symbol of great British eccentricity".

The car is one of several film and TV vehicles on show at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, New Forest. 

Jetes!

Mike Lupica on the fact that Derek Jeter WAS the Yankees:

Here is all that really matters, all this time later: One more time Jeter was exactly where the Yankees needed him to be, the way they needed him to be at shortstop in 1996 when he was a rookie, and all the winning began again for the New York Yankees, and they really became the Yankees again.

Here, though, is what Derek Jeter really was: He mattered in his time as much any Yankee had since Ruth. He was the face of the team and the star of the team when the Yankees became the Yankees again, with him at short and Joe Torre, the guy he called “Mr. Torre,” in the dugout. He was the player kids rooting for the Yankees wanted to be, the way Mantle had been that player in the 50s and 60s.

He was the star of that team, at Yankee Stadium, the old one and the new one. So he was on the biggest possible baseball stage for two decades. He played longer than any great Yankee. In the modern world of social media, with more scrutiny than the old Yankees could ever possibly imagined, as the biggest sports star in New York City, he never embarrassed himself, or his team, or his sport.

No. 2 ran out to shortstop, for good, that day in 1996. Then stayed 20 years. The Yankees won five World Series with him and could have won more and Jeter thought they should have won more, because that’s the way he was built, and wired. His DNA was old-Yankee DNA. After this there will never be another baseball career in New York like this, for anyone. One hundred percent.

Xmastime on Jeter as he was finishing up his career:

Players came and went, but the lineup was always electric. And the one constant? Derek Jeter. Of course.

Today, it’s hard to imagine myself as a Yankees fan next year. I don’t mean I still won’t identify as one, and I’ll still keep up. But I probably won’t rush to get home at 7:05 every day. I probably won’t put off weekend days until the game’s over.

And it’s not just because we’ll probably wander in the wilderness of mediocrity/losing for a long while. I can live with that. It’s the nameless, faceless players on the team now. Or just old. Players come, players go. But Jeter was always there, that one last connection to the Joe Torre years, to Paul O’Neil and Bernie and the Core Four and Tino and on and on. The connection to those magic moments, some of them his own. New York has infinitely changed since he first took over short. The world has. I have, we all have. But we always knew #2 would be there every day. And now he won’t be. “The end of an era” is so clichéd, but it’s true. He was this thread that drew us back, back, back together over the years, years so unfathomably long ago now that always seemed like just yesterday; cold opening day games, seemingly meaningless Sunday games in June, and of course thrilling nighttime moments in October. Even the way he had that final hit at The Stadium was one so familiar to us: a single punched into right field. Just like we'd seen all those times before - heck, a home run wouldn't have felt as perfect as that. Those days were so long ago now, but he was there, and so were we. And now he’s gone. And a part of us is too.

I'll always watch the Yankees. But it will never be the same. As sad as I am, I also feel lucky I had a front-row (well, tv) seat to it all, over all those years.  

Congrats to Jeter on his induction into the Hall of Fame (I now he's reading this, he's a big fan).

And thanks for magical memories like this.

RIP Terry Jones

He'd been suffering for a coupla years but it's still sad to hear Terry Jones has died.

Generally considered to be the fire that fueled Monty Python, his greatest achievement may have been directing Life of Brian. He also co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail with fellow Python Terry Gilliam.

As John Cleese said earlier today: 2 down, 4 to go.
 

Good Aftahnoon Evwybodeeeee!

Great short video on Mad Dog!

I can't remember not having Mike and the Mad Dog in my life, and 12 years after they split up I still check in with Dog every day at 3pm. I still get choked up whenever I hear him calling Mike that last time.

"But Xmastime", you say in the voice of Craig “Ironhead” Heyward from those soap commercials (RIP), “wasn't he a part of the single greatest blog post of all time?"

Sigh. Yes, dear readers. Yes, he was.

This. Is. Awesome. A profile of Mad Dog by @ArmenKeteyian. https://t.co/XBfIAsu1Qm

— Ƒunhouse (@BackAftaThis) January 22, 2020

Lovely Jubbly!

In the previous post I mentioned that this month five years ago I discovered Only Fools and Horses. And now fans: this is the first mention of Only Fools and Horses on Xmastime!!

The scene featured in my first-ever post is from the episode Watching the Girls Go By, an okay episode with a coupla highlights and a GREAT turn at the end. (Got a 6 in the Official Xmastime OFAH by the Numbers List.) To honor this, I will be watching this episode tonight!

Only Fools and Horses Scene du Jour

Del: Don't worry. (Indicating the back of the pub) 'Ere look at that - oi, down there - those two there.
Rodney: Do I look like St George? Oh come on Del, look at that one, she's older than the Mary Rose!
Del: She's alright. I thought you said that this girlfriend of yours was a bit of a film star. Well, Bette Davis is a film star.
Rodney: Yeah, well so was Rin Tin Tin!
Del: Don't know, it hasn't bothered you other years, as it?
Rodney: God, look at the state of her, eh.
Del: Eh, what?
Rodney: You can see her wrinkles from here!
Del: Alright, alright.
Rodney: Got a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp, ain't she?
Del: Alright, go on, you can have the better one.
Rodney: That is the better one!!

This Time Next Year we'll Be Millionaires!

According to this post, it was five years ago this month that I discovered my all-time favorite show, Only Fools and Horses. I won't go on too much about the show itself, I've blathered away enough about it over the years enough that a simple search on this site will keep you busy (mesmerized?) for hours.

The first time I ever saw mention of the show was on this list of the 15 Best British sitcoms; hours later, I was blowing it up on Hulu and I haven't stopped since - first on Hulu, then I sprang for the DVDs after it left Hulu, and now streaming on Britbox forever (hopefully!)

The first episode I watched was obviously the first episode of the series - why on Earth would anyone start anywhere else? I was immediately hooked, and five years later its inconceivable of a life without the show.

Five years later, I still don't have anyone else to watch the show with here in America. My friends make fun of me for talking about it so much. But I don't mind. Instead, I feel lucky as hell for having found it when I did.

Mind Blown du Jour

If you include the original hour-long special that started the whole thing, Curb Your Enthusiasm now officially spans 4 decades. 🤔

MLK Weekend in the NYC!

Thanks to Brothatime!! I got to spend the weekend in New York City. It quite possibly was one of the all-time great culinary weekends of my life - everything we tried was knockout great. I didn't even take any pictures of our dinner Saturday night at Bowery Meat Company, which included a 100-day dry aged double ribeye that's the only piece of meat I've ever considered to touch Luger's porterhouse. Everything we noshed on at Chelsea Market was fantastic. Paddy Mac absolutely crushed it with his pizza select, Ribalta. And Brothatime!! found us the perfect pastrami sammy at Sarge's Deli - which we then went head-to-head with against Katz!!!!!!! Even the sausages at the free breakfast in the hotel were great!

Speaking of great food in NYC, you know you’re staying at a classy hotel when you open up the fridge and this is waiting for you. Thanks Marriott! 🤗

You know you're in an old-school Jewish Deli when the waitress who's obviously been there for 50 years matter-of-factly says to a customer, "alright take it easy, lady" without breaking stride. Thanks Sarge!

Brothatime!! teaching Paddy Mac that just showing up doesn't mean a victory is guaranteed...

   

...although beer showing up in a boot does!

  

 

This is pure genius.

There is noting better than snow falling in NYC, here's a coupla fellas scampering through the flakes to get into PJ Clarke's. BTW that's my green arm on the left, not the Incredible Hulk's.

Just a coupla fellas hoisting a few at PJ Clarke's, along with Paddy Mac thinking he's posing to try out for a Korean boy pop band. Good luck, Paddy Mac! 🍻🤗

Table 53 at PJ Clarke's, where Buddy Holly proposed to his future wife Maria Elena. Thanks to the young couple who pretended to not notice my earnest excited sweat dripping onto their table as I hovered over them.

 

True Love Ways was written by Holly as a wedding gift to Maria Elena, here's the final scene from The Buddy Holly Story of him playing it several hours before his death.

I'm usually fairly ambivalent about buildings, so of course I took this one because I thought it looked like it had cat's ears.

Holden Caulfied’s view if he’d wandered into a Burlington Coat Factory because his goddam nephew didn’t think to pack steakhouse-appropriate pants the night before:

A great weekend!  :)   

Now This is a Question That’s Impossible to Answer.

Headlines. I Change Them.

Okay I Admit It

This guy is a better guitar player than me. 

The Office Gripe (with love!) du Jour

Did nobody on the show really not remember Kramer had done the ol’ “karate class vs. kids” thing years before? 🤔‬

Which Tony You Be?

Apparently Drew Pearson is disappointed he didn’t make the cut for the Hall of Fame. I grew up loving Pearson and the Cowboys, so I was initially sympathetic. Then on a whim I wondered well, how do his stats compare to his running mate, Tony Hill? 

Here’s Drew Pearson’s career stats:

And here’s Tony Hill’s:

So...Hill has more yards and touchdowns, with only 10 fewer catches. So...why isn’t anyone wondering why Tony Hill isn’t in the Hall, as opposed to Drew Pearson? 🤔

RIP RLP

Today is the 6 year anniversary of Roger Lloyd-Pack, who not only played the wonderful Trigger in Only Fools and Horses but also starred in the also-awesome The Vicar of Dibley.

More OFAH Christmas Specials Foughts

The Telegraph last month did a ranking of the Only Fools and Horses Christmas specials. I'm pretty sure I'll disagree with a lot of what they have to say so here are my thoughts, since nobody asked.

18. If They Could See Us Now - What? THE Worst special? It's actually one of my favorites! I know OFAH fans like to dump on the three that came after what was believed to be the perfect ending, the 1996 trilogy, but this was still a very funny episode. They're right about the classic Del moment of tricking Rodney. Just the very idea that OF COURSE Del would lose their millions is funny, as is their going to the wrong funeral for Uncle Albert.  This should be top 10. Bad job here, Telegraph!

17. Strangers on the Shore - not great, but still not the worst of the bunch. And has a classic scene, with "Gary". They're correct in how terrible young Damien is depicted, though. And I'm starting to wonder if there's a pattern here...

16. Sleepless in Peckham - bingo. As I said, looks like whoever put this together just wants to shit on the final three episodes. It's not a good episode, but still not the worst, saved if only by the incredible ending scene, after Rodney had finally discovered the criminal Freddie the Frog was his real father.

Del: (when Rodney asks if he's anything like his father, Freddie the Frog) Freddie the Frog was a professional burglar. He was disloyal to his friends. He was a womaniser, a home-breaker, a con-man, a thief, a liar, and a cheat... So no Rodney, you're nothing like him.

15. A Royal Flush - now this was a gruesome episode to watch. John Sullivan's least favorite, as it pushes Del TOO far as an asshole. Not sure i it's my least favorite yet, but definitely worse that the three below it. Though watching Del Boy skeet shoot with a pump-action shotgun is great.


14. Miami Twice - a two-parter, I never really cared for this one. It's better than A Royal Flush, but not as good as the 2001-2003 final run. A Single joke stretched out for two hours, without even one iconic scene that stands out. It's even less funny than A Royal Flush, but just not as badly made.

13. Christmas Crackers - one of the few (or only?) Christmas specials to actually have anything to do with Christmas. LOVE this one! It's the first Christmas special, and most of it is just the three Trotters in their flat. Very warm and funny, great turn re: of the three of them it's Grandad who actually has plans outside, then ends with a scene I totally love that's the boys failing to pick up women. Again.


12. Diamonds are for Heather - probably my 3rd or 4th least favorite. Nice in that it showed a side of Del Boy that wanted a family of his own, but just not funny.

11. Rodney Comes Home - curious this was even made, as its just Rodney moping around about his marriage that for some reason was troubled. This should be in the bottom 5 of this list. Worth watching solely for the scene below, which is an all-time Top 5 OFAH scene.


10. Modern Men - one of my all-time episodes that seems to get lost in the shuffle by being in the middle of the brilliant 1996 trilogy that started with Heroes and Villains and ended with Time On Our Hands. They have this ranked way too low. It features a top 3 Only Fools scene - Del gives Rodney a man-to-man chat about how he has to be strong and not cry in front of Cassandra but bursts into tears himself - and the one that best showcases John Sullivan's talent for balancing the funny and the serious. Also fantastic is Rodney unwittingly applying for his own job and being stitched up by Del. Top 5 episode!

9. To Hull and Back - always on people’s Best-of lists, and I’ve never understood why. Sure it’s interesting because it’s a feature-length episode, but the first scene goes on forever, there’s no laugh track, and the whole thing is confusing. There’s no real lightness to it. Maybe my least favorite.

8. Time On Our Hands -  way too low on this list. Should be top 3-ish, as the one that should've been the finale, combines the thrilling high of the Trotters finally becoming the millionaires Del said they'd be, and the gut-wrenching moment of leaving their flat for the (supposed) last time and Del Boy having to say that Trotters Independent Traders is no longer in business. Was the perfect ending to the series, still holds the record for most-watched sitcom episode in the UK.


Also amazing is when they nervously arrive at the Nag's Head after the auction, wondering if their friends will still accept them, and even Boycie can only be happy for them.

A wonderful moment when Del and Rodney walk in the pub after officially becoming millionaires pic.twitter.com/MlznnyvBIZ

— Derek Trotter (@DelBoy_ofah) March 20, 2018

  

7. The Frog's Legacy -way too high on this list! Remarkable for only two things: setting up the idea that Freddie the Frog might be Rodney's real father (setting up the payoff line 16 years later in the above Sleepless in Peckham), and Boycie's all-time line here:

"Your mini cab's arrived Albert" 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/bSIrc7Ovup

— Only Fools & Horses (@OFAHCentral) February 9, 2019

 


6. Fatal Extraction - okay now they're just fucking with me. There's no way this should be this high. It's perfectly forgettable, nothing happens and at the end you wonder why they bothered making it.

5. Heroes and Villains - this is classic that belongs pretty much anywhere in the top 5, mostly due to the famous Batman and Robin scene. Personally I've always thought the second part, when they burst into what they think is a costume party but is actually a wake, is even funnier but I can't find any video clips of that.


4. Thicker Than Water - I love this one, though #4 might be a bit too high for me. The final scene when Del Boy slips his father some money before kicking him out again is gut-wrenching. The only one with Del & Rodney’s father, who shows up for the first time after walking out on them decades earlier. Del’s cynicism about him being a changed man and Rodney’s optimism makes perfect sense. Ironically, Reg’s scam was to convince Del Boy he wasn’t his son….when we’d later find out the truth is that Rodney wasn’t.


3. Mother Nature's Son - a pretty good episode with a great premise, but doesn't belong anywhere near the top 3.

2. The Jolly Boys Outing -  this is one of my favorites even tho it’s not even close to being the funniest. But there’s something really warm about it, probably due to the beano to Margate giving us an excuse to see so many of the characters together, which is always great.


1. Dates -  nice for a funny scene with Del Boy joining the computer dating world, and renowned as the episode in which he meets Raquel, but #1? Really? Wouldn’t be in my top 30.

We Are Not Two, We are One

Great to read about one of my all time favorite songs:

Well, the original idea behind the song was that we have to dispense with the normal ideas about society, and we have to tune into some higher collection between our souls, as family members or just as partners in humanity. We have to train our minds to look at the terrain from a higher point of view. That’s really what the song is hopefully trying to trigger. When I first wrote it, it was about rising up towards a higher plane of perception.

This is Just Too Depressing

The Office Thought du Jour

Are we supposed to find it endearing when Jim calls Pam “Beesly”? Because it makes me wanna punch out everyone I’ve ever known.

Oh FFS du Jour

I know it's not the exact same thing but how do you write this article without mentioning The Office?

The Office Thought du Jour

We all grew to love all the characters of The Office, but almost every one of them had seriously hate-able things about them: Jim almost ruined several lives by being a dick, Oscar’s a know it all, Pam’s duller than dirt, and on and on. 

But there are two exceptions. Two characters who never did anything that would make you not like them. And they are Darryl Philbin and David Wallace. 

You’re welcome!

State du Moi

‪Was told today by a co-worker that they’re still laughing about a joke I made on Monday so that’s my week made for me. 🤗‬

The Older I Get

The more Iove Hey Jude. 

Happy 79th Brithday

To the late, great Graham Chapman from Monty Python, who was in what may be the single funniest scene in movie history IMHO.

Only Fools du Jour

New England Patriots

Some people are chewing their fists that the Brady-led reign of terror may be over:

And now that the run is over, what we’re experiencing feels something like grief. Or maybe, less nobly, like withdrawal: We’d become addicted to winning, and as happens with addiction, no amount of winning would ever satisfy. Six Super Bowls should have been enough—fans in many cities would be happy with just one—but we craved more, needed more.

I'm not a Brady hater. Actually, I felt lucky to witness such historic dominance. But I can't get behind any feeling of despair. The Patriots were a league joke for decades, then suddenly became the mid-century Yankees. Any fan whose team was so dominant for two decades should simply take a breath and be grateful for the long run of success while acknowledging how rare such runs are. I mean, I get it - the end of the Jeter-era Yankees was shocking even while we braced ourselves for it. But I recognized how lucky I'd been all those years, and haven't expected such a run again anytime soon.

State du Moi

Not sure what I was doing crouched in the woods that made me so happy but boy does 11 year-old me seem to have life figured out pretty good. 

Lowery's and Ramsay Oh My!

I don't think anyone under 65 years old has been there in decades but Gordon Ramsay visited my hometown's iconic restaurant Lowery's, and the episode of 24 Hours to Hell and Back about it airs tonight:

At 9 p.m. Tuesday on Fox, viewers can see how celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and his show’s crew spent “a whirlwind” few days at Lowery’s revamping the menu, updating the restaurant’s décor, retraining the staff and delivering some tough love to the managing brothers about how things should operate.

“Overall, it was a real shot of adrenaline for us, a positive thing,” said Lowery, who believes that paring the restaurant’s menu down from 65 to 20 entrees “will give us the time we need to give more attention to every meal we serve.”

He said he enjoyed interacting with Ramsay, who’s seen tossing an apple at him in a commercial promoting Tuesday night’s episode, which starts the third season of the show.

“I knew something was coming,” said Lowery, referring to the apple, “but originally thought it was going to be a tomato."

My Lowery's fried chicken review from years ago HERE.

My meeting with Gordon Ramsay HERE.

Aaaaaaaaaand my version of every single American episode of Kitchen Nightmares HERE.

Post Gavin and Stacey Special Thoughts

Last May I had some questions about the Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special, and after having watched it, I have some answers:

1. One of the more curious bits about Gavin & Stacey is that while Smithy is portrayed as an immature, irresponsible child-oaf, he actually owns his own business. It’s rarely mentioned, other than seeing his work car with his company name on it. Were the writers just wondering if anyone would even think to notice & question the discrepancy between Smithy’s character and his seemingly successful business? And after 10 years is his business still thriving? His business is indeed still going, as we actually see him doing a small job for Mick.
2. 10 years on, are Gavin & Smithy’s kids friends with each other? Do they have the same relationship as their dads? Do they each resemble their dad’s personalities? Reflecting back on Gavin saying to Smithy, “if we met now, we wouldn’t be friends”, would it be funny if their kids hate each other? Hard to say, as the kids were barely seen or heard. Thankfully.
3. Is it even remotely possible that Dawn and Pete are still married? They still are married, and still seem miserable about it.
4. Has Uncle Bryn finally discovered his own homosexuality and met someone, and is now mind-bendingly happy? Nope! Bryn seems as happy as ever (especially after pulling off Christmas dinner all by himself!) but there's no big reveal about his sexuality.
5. Is Dave Coaches in Baby Neil’s life, as a quasi-uncle (ish)? Sadly, no. I say sadly because Dave turned out to be a great guy, particularly to Neil the Baby.
6. I fully expect the “what happened on the fishing trip?” riff will continue without us knowing, which I’m fine with. They tease a reveal, but thankfully it didn't happen. The riff will surely continue as another season is produced, which we've been teased with via the ending of the special.
7. Is Gwen sick of constantly making omelettes, or has she finally decided to open a goddam diner already? Touched on HERE. 

8. CAN WE PLEASE HAVE A CHINESE ALAN ENTRANCE??!?!?! Nope. :(

Well...

...can't say I would've ever guessed this existed back in the day.

State du Moi

Over the course of the the past year I've had exactly 2 meatball subs and in both of them the meatballs had been flattened. Dafuck?

G & S News

The Gavin and Stacey Christmas reunion special was both a great episode by itself as well as a real treat for us super-fans, and it turns out it's the most-watched tv show over the last 17 years:

In total, 17.1 million viewers tuned in to the comeback episode live or on catch-up during the subsequent week, according to the consolidated ratings.

Only sporting events and the 2010 X Factor final were watched by more people during the past decade.

And it was the most-watched comedy since Only Fools and Horses in 2002.
Del Boy and Rodney's penultimate Christmas Day special was watched by 17.4 million people, according to ratings body Barb.

Of course neither episode is a patch on the 1996 Only Fools and Horses finale, which was watched by over 24 million people in Britain.

Here's some behind the sccenes fun YOU'RE WELCOME!!

Says du Moi

If I was President I’d make it a law that any nachos from an order that didn’t have any toppings on them could be returned for a discount. 

Great Moments In Postmates History, Chapter XVI.

Interesting du Jour

All the main characters in Absolutely Fabulous were played by people whose name starts with the letter J.

RIP Don Larsen

Don Larsen, still the only pitcher to hurl a perfect game in the World Series, has died.

Sad. Watching him (on tv of course) throw out the first pitch to Yogi Berra, who had been invited back to the Stadium for the first time in 50 years, for David Cone’s own perfect game was one of the all-time goosebumps moments I ever saw.

BONUS: turns out he had no idea he’d thrown a perfect game until the clubhouse after the game. 

until the clubhouse after the game.

A Year Ago

Officecow in the UK, baby!

Two Years Later. Still No Answers.

Happy 2020!

From me and my goddaughter! 🤗