h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Elektra didn't want me to post this.

She said, "I thought Canadians were NICE, but this is beyond belief...'

Hulu.com actually made me sign in to prove I was old enough to watch this series. (I'm not.Nobody under 500 is old enough.)

And it's *Canadian*. What's wrong with them up there? Has the cold gotten to them?

Hulu said, 'For mature audiences only.' For 'mature', read 'immature, and possibly deranged'.

I couldn't show you the first one we watched. Not even if you could get hulu. It was truly beyond the pale.

But just to give you a sense of what 'Puppets Who Kill' looks like, here's one I culled from Youtube. I've vetted it, and apart from a swear or two, it's relatively innocuous. At least, safer than the one where Cuddles gets thrown in the supermax slammer with Bubba...

So enjoy - or not - Cuddles as a safety mascot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGdYF0SLohM

And then go ask jwf if he has relatives in the CBC programming department.

This reminds me of South Park, which my children were obsessed with many years ago, banning it did no good, they watched it at their friends' houses

I've never liked ventriloquist dummies, they're way too creepy!

Having said that, there were a couple of lines in that 7 minutes of Puppets Who Kill which made me laugh. The joke about the governor general and the one about the Post Office right at the end.

GB

Oh my - and I just let my daughter travel through Canada

Well, thank Bob she is now safe down somewhere in South America

Good job you didn't post a link to any of the scenes in The Counsellor, Dmitri!

See, I'm a public service.

I don't know that one, GB. Is it also from the evil Canadians?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2193215/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I don't know but I do know it's the worst film I've seen this year (and I've seen a few stinkers) - it made me all the more glad I live in the UK and not South America

Oh, that's Ridley Scott. Isn't he originally from Down Under? I don't know who to blame him on. But thanks for the warning!

We saw a film last night you might like, though. 'My Week with Marilyn'.

Okay, Elektra fell asleep,and I thought the best part was watching Kenneth branagh imitate Laurence Olivier, down to the prissy lisp.

But if you happen to be a Marilyn Monroe fan, you'd probably enjoy it.

Besides, watching the actress being mobbed by Eton schoolboys was fun. Also, she got to peek into queen Mary's dollhouse at Windsor Castle.

Saw that at the Senior Screen, and yes, I did enjoy it,

Interesting was her comment "Shall I be her?" as if she were two people, which I guess she was.

As I understand it, Ms Baker invented the MM character. I deeply wish she hadn't. I think she would have been happier, and the world better off.

I also wish I hadn't read some of the reviews. When an otherwise respectable cinema critic asserts that MM's appeal 'had nothing to do with sex', I begin to despair.

Now, they should do one about Mae West. She knew what she was doing, that lady.

I can't say I disagree.

Mae West, wasn't she the lady who *invented* sex?

Yep. She was racy before the Hayes Office, and after.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L0eJp7V2Zs

SorryL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L0eJp7V2Zs

Puppets Who Kill.
That used to be one of my must-see weekly TV adventures.
Yes, I found it shocking and often distasteful at first.

But once you got into it and learnt to deal with the absurdist
idea of homicidal puppets it becomes just another vehicle
for social commentary and existential homour. Eventually,
like all ludicrous premises it ran out of steam...

In Truth I had completely forgotten about it. It lasted only
two seasons - maybe a total of 20 individual episodes - which
is slightly better than Fawlty Towers. And it didn't have to fall
back on war jokes or Hitler impressions to get a laugh.


~jwf~

But... but... the war jokes and Hitler impressions was the funniest part of those twelve episodes

Not at first, I have to admit. I was somewhat shaken (and stirred for that matter) but once I got the hang of it I understood why it was funny

(In case you don't know I am half German)

>> the funniest part <<

It was just shock humour - like Puppets Who Kill,
unexpected, out of place, bordering on bad taste.

The funniest part of Fawlty Towers was always Manuel.
Yup can't beat stereotypes and racism for a good larf.

The rat episode still gives me the creeps.

No wait, the funniest bit was Basil giving his Mini a beating.
That was hilarious - and like the best humour, funny cuz it's true.

~jwf~

>> In case you don't know I am half German <<

I wasn't gonna touch that one...
but now I gotta ask, what's the other half?


~jwf~

jwf, I knew you'd be able to explain this phenomenon.

And seriously, I get it. It IS existential humour, and it's well done, if a bit OTT. And Cuddles kind of grows on you...

re 16:

I'm glad you asked

I'm half German, half Danish and half Polish (the last half accounts for my overweight)



PS: When politicians say "Im glad you asked" every journalist is suddenly painfully aware of the fact that he/she has asked an entirely wrong question

The fact that Basil was "performing" in front of not only Germans, but Germans who had (more or less) been victims of the nazi regime, put the fun over the top - but in that truly pythonesque way that made it acceptable anyway

Another example of that: When the pythons went to Germany they were given a tour of the Dachau concentration camp but on arriving there the gates were closing for the day. This made Graham Chapman shout "tell them we're Jewish" from the back of the bus - which made their German hosts open the gates after hours and give them the tour anyway

And if this isn't enough there's this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox9bcx_LZMs



PS: Go check the whole Aspen interview, it's totally worth it - even if you've seen it before

That reminds me of a story my father tells. Back in about 1940 the band he played in had a concert in Toronto, Canada was in the war, the US had not yet joined. When they crossed the border the Mountie border guard stepped into the bus and asked if everyone was a US citizen?

From the back of the bus some clever musician shouted 'Ja Vol!'

They spent several hours clearing customs instead of the normal five minutes or so

F S