TV, hospitals, and more tv
Wednesday's strip makes no sense to me. The basic problem is that if a movie is being aired on television, then it's already out on tape. (And, by the way, Al, most of us buy DVDs nowadays.) If it's on tv and not already released for purchase, then you're probably watching it on pay-per-view or On Demand...and in both cases, you'd be seeing the original uncut version. And if the movie is that bad, then it's probably rated R, which the parents should've noticed. So, no sympathy from me. I do like the replacement use of "You're just a meany--you ol' fuddy duddy." We just don't use the phrase "fuddy-duddy" enough these days.
Yesterday's strip once again takes us to a hospital (although submitted by someone from DC, not Florida, so that's nice). Do hospitals actually provide menus to their patients like this? That would be obnoxious if you were given a choice and didn't get it...but really, is this an actual situation? We don't know why this guy is in the hospital (no IV or bandages), but roast beef, mashed potatoes, pie, coffee, and biscuits (mmm, biscuits) does not sound like something that a hospital would offer to most of its patients. At least there aren't any totally bizarro foods mentioned.
Is it wrong that in today's strip, I'm more interested in the food on the table than in the actual substance of the strip? I didn't think so. I'm just trying to figure out whether that's a fast food bag next to the hamburger and the bottle of ketchup. Or is that soda? Probably soda. Maybe those are fries? I'm not sure. I appreciate the newspaper proclaiming that the ballgam that Arfo wanted to watch was a "big game"--subtle. Nice. Why he's so intent on listening to the news, though, is beyond me. Unless he's making a point about not being able to hear the tv. Situations like this always get me. I assume that Arfo and Migraina have been married for a while. He's sitting about 1 foot from the television. I refuse to believe that he can't just tune out his wife. But I do feel for Arfo. It reminds me of growing up, my dad would insist on having the tv on a certain channel...and then would read a newspaper. But we weren't allowed to change the channel. Typical.
Labels: annoying talkers, Arfo, food, medical, Migraina, television
posted by Barb @ 8:38 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Actually, I work at a hospital (specifically a rehabilitation clinic), and patients there do get menus, as do those in most "real" hospitals I've seen. Generally they get what they order (and the meal outlined here isn't too extravagant), though, unless the diet crew nixes it due to special nutritional requirements the patient has, such as diabetes or something.... in so far as what the kitchen produces matches expectations. This isn't always perfect (sometimes they substitute different sauces, etc.) and I'm glad I don't have to put up with it myself, although it doesn't get quite as far off as this unless there's a mixup somewhere. In which case P. Masta could just complain.
(I should note that I'm talking about Germany here, so my view shouldn't count for too much. I really have little idea of how different it might be in the US...)
While there are indeed problems with Wednesday's strip--chief among them that in the US, no new major motion pictures are being released "on tape" any more--I bet this kind of scenario does happen sometimes. Folks that are extremely sensitive to naughty language are far less likely to be savvy to the state of the entertainment industry. They may well not know whether something they're catching on tv is 5 months or 5 years old, and know even less about how the industry schedules its releases to the home video market. Actually, it's not just the delicate fogies that don't understand the basics of home video release: I'd be willing to bet that every (remaining) video rental store in the US has had at least one call asking if they had Spider-Man 3 available for rent.
The Wednesday strip would work if the family had simply said "We ought to buy the tape." (It's too much to hope for anyone in TDIET-land to say "DVD.") This could mean that the movie is ALREADY available on DVD, but that the family is just now discovering it.
My "Broadcast vs. Unrated" story: I still remember seeing "Young Frankenstein" on network TV as a kid, and when Gene Wilder performs a demonstration by kicking his volunteer in the crotch, the TV version changed Wilder's line "You filthy, rotten, yellow son-of-a-bitch" to "You filthy, rotten, crude, yellow cuckoo." I think it was funnier in the broadcast version.
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