Now they're facilitating my habit.

[lance_sibley]

The Leafs finally won a game tonight! W00T! Take that, Philadelphia!

This being Tuesday, I made my way up to Future Shop to see if they'd finally gotten in a shipment of season one of House - and lo and behold, there was one copy on the shelf. I snagged it, whereupon I discovered to my dismay that they were charging exactly the same price as HMV, which had dozens of copies when I went in there a couple of weeks ago.

At the checkout counter, I mentioned this to the clerk, along with my surprise because FS is almost always a little cheaper than anywhere else (especially HMV, which is almost always the most expensive place for DVDs). So she took $5 off the price and gave me the set for $51 instead of $56. W00T! (Okay, it's not much. But it's more than I expected.)

I also got Chef!, a hysterical Britcom from the mid-1980s which starred Lenny Henry (if you haven't seen his standup routine, go find a copy of The Secret Policeman's Third Ball. Now. (Would it help if I mentioned that John Cleese, Ben Elton and Hugh Laurie were also in it?)

I learned something tonight while watching House. Now, I have no idea whether this is true or not, but in the episode with the teenager who has night terrors, at one point House sees his legs twitching and comments that happens when someone is falling asleep, the brain misinterprets the slowing respiration rate as a signal that the body is dying, and it sends out an electrical impulse to keep the body alive. This happens to me about once a week; in fact, it happened last night. I was drifting off in restful slumber when all of a sudden, my legs twitched. Rather violently. I hope this doesn't mean that I also have a mutated measles virus in my eyeball.

Boston Legal was hysterical tonight. Alan Shore (James Spader) and Denny Crane (William Shatner) go to Nimmo Bay Resort, a fishing lodge in British Columbia. I laughed out loud at least twice - once when Denny woke up to find that Alan had crawled into bed with him during the night, and once when they went into a Canadian court to help out a fellow lawyer who had been at the fishing lodge with them. Let's see if I can remember this correctly... the case involved fish farms threatening the local stock of wild salmon (here is a description on a legal news website - apparently this is a real case before the B.C. courts). There's a parasite of some sort which is migrating from the farmed fish to the wild ones:

Shore: It seems that these parasites attach themselves to the wild salmon. They're called "cling-ons".

Crane (looking sharply at Alan): Did you say "cling-ons"?

And then, later, in the court, after they've walked in wearing black robes, powdered wigs (having been forewarned that Canadian lawyers wear clothing similar to British ones), and hip waders:

Shore: Before we leave, we would like to leave you with these two words: (points to Denny Crane)

Crane: Denny Crane, eh?

I just wish that all my current shows weren't on Tuesday nights. Yes, this is going to be a constant complaint of mine.


Gakked from crystal_diva:

What Can Boywhocantsayno Do For You?

From chase820:

The Pool Boy Random Gentle Sex Dreamer (RGSDm) Friendly and eager. You are The Pool Boy. A teen at heart, you anxiously move about your daily tasks, hoping, praying for a good, instant lay. You're carefree, enthusiastic, and rarely discouraged. Love is cool, but it's not for you right now. You know what is? Crotches. You're a fun person in both big and small groups, and your friends trust and love you. Inside you, meanwhile, your lust is only growing. Imagine your beating heart sprouting pubic hair. Exactly. Try shaving that. Your exact opposite: The False Messiah Deliberate Brutal Love Master If you're not scoring enough--which you aren't--you should adopt new strategies. Lower your standards. Be aggressive. Pool Boys are often submissive and hope (desperately) sex will find them. Realize that passiveness will not hook the horny guys you desire. A bolder approach and sheer repetition will. When browsing OkCupid, consider both The Bachelor and The Playboy. ALWAYS AVOID: The False Messiah, The Mixed Messenger Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating. My profile name: boywhocantsayno

And from brendan_moody:

Nick Bottom You scored 0 evilness, 45 romance, 27 tragic, and 54 comic!

Nick Bottom is an Athenian weaver and acts the part of Pyramus in a play in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Bottom loves the sound of his own voice and believes that he is the best actor, even though he often confuses words. Through magic, he is given an ass's head and becomes the object of affection of Titania through a love spell.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 0% on evilness You scored higher than 64% on romance You scored higher than 16% on tragic You scored higher than 64% on comic

Link: The Shakespeare Character Test written by mandi_g on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

That last one is scary. And the_nita and thespian know exactly why I say that... ;)

Comments

[sandwichboy.livejournal.com]

...I thought we were supposed to be sitting on you if you tried to go into Future shop. Do I have to start passing around signs of "DO NOT SELL THIS MAN DVDS!!!1111eleventyone" to Future shop & Bestbuy?

Oh and are you as delighted as I am that the "Best Team On Paper" can't buy a win? ^_^

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

...I thought we were supposed to be sitting on you if you tried to go into Future shop.

Um... yeah, I said that, didn't I...

Do I have to start passing around signs of "DO NOT SELL THIS MAN DVDS!!!1111eleventyone" to Future shop & Bestbuy?

You can do that at Best Buy if you like... considering there isn't one within walking distance of my apartment? *grin*

Oh and are you as delighted as I am that the "Best Team On Paper" can't buy a win? ^_^

You mean Pittsburgh? Absolutely! Looks good on 'em. :)

(If you meant someone else, I'm not sure who... because the Penguins are the only team still winless.)

[sandwichboy.livejournal.com]

Well, I meant Philly with their offense heavy lineup...a team that all the sportscasters were forecasting to win the cup this year during the preseason, and now they're BEHIND PITTSBURG!

I laugh.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

Aha. Gotcha.

Funny, a lot of the sportscasters I was watching/reading were saying this was Ottawa's year... hence my confusion.

[sandwichboy.livejournal.com]

*chuckle* The only way this is Ottawa's year is if they find a way to completely avoid facing us in the playoffs like last time. They are the kings of winning when it doesn't actually matter.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

except that doctors are getting pretty pissed off at current medical shows, like House and Grey's Anatomy for a reason these days. The twitching you have is called hypnagogic myoclonus or hypnic jerks, and it has nothing to do with any part of that explanation; that's actually an old wives' tale. The contractions of hiccups are the same type of twitch. I had an interesting conversation with my doctor about this once, because I actually suffer them less since developing epilepsy than I did before (this came up because my neurologist has actually published several papers, including his dissertation at Harvard, on hypnic jerks; I lucked out in my doctor's referral being, randomly, to a doctor specializing in sleep neurology, which my family doctor *didn't know* when she referred me).

I digress. The fact is, despite the research that's been done, they don't know why they happen; there is no electrical impulse attached to the event (otherwise you'd think mine would have gotten worse with the sleep epilepsy). It's an involuntary muscle contraction that is of interest *because* it's unrelated to a detectable electrical impulse in our brains; despite the fact that there are often a number of matching perceptions attached to it (most commonly of falling), yet it seems invisible to the brain's processes.

Ether way, you probably aren't dying of measles.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

Interesting - I didn't realize that their science wasn't accurate, though knowing as I do about how CSI is more science fiction than science fact (I used to play bridge with a forensic pathologist, which is how we got two scientists from the Centre of Forensic Sciences as panelists at TT this year), I should have guessed. I guess they fooled me with their authoritative-sounding use of jargon.

The spasms have never been something that I was terribly worried about, as I do suffer from random tics and spasms quite frequently and have been told that it's fairly normal. (The ones that worry me are the ones that last for days. I've had a muscle twitching in my left thigh for a couple of days now.) I've never felt like I was falling, though. It's more annoyance than anything else because these show up just as I'm feeling nice and toasty-warm under the comforter.

But your description is quite intriguing. I've heard that muscle spasms (I keep typing "spams" :) ) can also be attributed to dietary deficiencies or dehydration, but those might be the type of spasms that come with cramps, and I never feel pain with these.

Ether way, you probably aren't dying of measles.

Good to know, though I wasn't really worried about that either. :)

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I've seen three or four rnts on this, but this one was still in my browser's URL cached, since I read it just a day or two ago; it's mostly about Grey's Anatomy, and the things that would get the entire cast fired, but mentions House when tossing out a few barbs about medical inaccuracy.

And then of course, there's the rant andrew posted the other day about triangulating cell phone calls ;-) And while as a casual math geek, I find Numb3rs fun, it seriously pisses off some of my mathematician friends ;-)

TV is a bunch o' crap. A recent study I was reading in the Star mentioned Nip/Tuck, of all things, as the most medically accurate medical show out there, which,considering how little time they spend operating compared to to fucking each other, might not be that hard (since there's so little time to throw out medical terms during).

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I then forgot to paste the stupid url in:

http://www.slate.com/id/2126916/?nav=tap3

that's the one about Grey's Anatomy, mentioning House as well.

[ozreison.livejournal.com]

You shouldn't be allowed to watch House if you're going to think you're ill because of the symptoms. ;)

And superhooie adores Chef! He's been watching it for ages. I had no idea it was out on DVD... maybe I'll have to get it for him for Xmas.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

You shouldn't be allowed to watch House if you're going to think you're ill because of the symptoms. ;)

I do have a tendency to hypochondria at times. You should have known me eight years ago when I was convinced that every sore throat or bout of diarrhea had me convinced that I had HIV, until I was tested.

But even if I do feel queasy during the CG sequences (that needle in the eye tonight was probably the worst), I don't think I can tear myself away from the wonder that is Hugh Laurie. I rather enjoyed the fact that in tonight's episode, he got to use his real accent, if only for five seconds.

And superhooie adores Chef! He's been watching it for ages. I had no idea it was out on DVD... maybe I'll have to get it for him for Xmas.

I was completely surprised by its presence on the shelf. They only had the one copy, but knowing that it's available is half the battle - you could always order it online if your local Future Shop, Best Buy or other entertainment retailer of choice doesn't have it in stock.

I also got Chef!,

[huntingdon.livejournal.com]

Great series!

Re: I also got Chef!,

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

Isn't it, though? My ex-husband and I rented it from this little hole-in-the-wall video store way back when, which happened to carry a lot of British stuff (that's also how we discovered AbFab). I was amazed to see it on DVD, and for less than $120. (Britcoms tend to be very expensive for some reason.)

[theengineer.livejournal.com]

I also got Chef!, a hysterical Britcom from the mid-1980s which starred Lenny Henry

Chef! rocks, except for the third season where they re-tooled the show for reasons beyond me and the show went straight downhill.

At the Neil Gaiman event last weekend, Neil was talking about Lenny. He's actually a much quieter and more studious sort than his stage persona, he'll phone Neil up with questions about English Lit. He's also doing hte audiobook of Anansi Boys.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

Chef! rocks, except for the third season where they re-tooled the show for reasons beyond me and the show went straight downhill.

Maybe some of the cast didn't want to do a third season? Who knows... but sometimes, when that happens, it's best to just pack up.

I still love Lenny Henry as Gareth, though.

At the Neil Gaiman event last weekend, Neil was talking about Lenny. He's actually a much quieter and more studious sort than his stage persona, he'll phone Neil up with questions about English Lit. He's also doing hte audiobook of Anansi Boys.

Interesting. I haven't read Anansi Boys - the only Gaiman I think I have is Good Omens, which was a collaboration with Pratchett. (I've thought about getting some of his books - in particular, American Gods looked like something I'd enjoy - but just haven't gotten to that point where I say "what the heck" and take the book to the checkout.) But now that I know that Henry is doing the audiobook, I may pick that up.

[aprilsnark.livejournal.com]

vaarwerk made me watch the scenes with Snatner entering the courtroom and saying "Denny Crane, eh?" before he went off to work this morning.

He rarely gets the reaction he's hoping for when he shows me scenes from Boston Legal.

You two should chat. :)

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

How can you not like the show? Argh!!! :P

[dlacey.livejournal.com]

I've watched a couple episodes of Chef on Vision TV, it is hysterical. I hadn't realized it was that old though. I'll have to look for the dvd's.

[elizard100.livejournal.com]

Like Lenny Henry do you? I have two videos that might interest you. I have "Three of A Kind" which was a comedy with Lenny Henry, Ruby Wax and someone else, can't recall. I also have a video called "Comedy Classics of the 80s" which features highlights from Three of A Kind, The Young Ones, Hi-De-Hi, French and Saunders, Girls on Top (great show - like The Young Ones with girls), Hale and Pace, The Goodies, Bread and Not the Nine O'Clock News.

It's all good.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

I've seen some of the shows you named there - Hi-De-Hi and F&S, in particular. Hi-De-Hi just never did anything for me, and I preferred AbFab to F&S. I've also heard of Not The Nine O'Clock News, but don't believe I've ever seen it. Of the others, I don't believe I've ever heard of or seen any of them, so I'd be willing to give them a chance.

And I must remember to return your Young Ones and Bottom DVDs at the next meeting... they're sitting next to the TV right now.

[elizard100.livejournal.com]

Not The Nine O'Clock News is great and was the show that a lot of great people came from like Gryf Rhys Jones and Mel Smith among others. I recommend it.

Again this year I'm going to propose a panel for TT on alternative British comedy of the 80s since I have so much material and it's really good.