Grab Bag 2: Electric Boogaloo

If we were being crude, we would call it a quickie

Hi friends,

This isn’t a “real” post this week, sorry. Last week’s piece took most of my writing energy out of me (plus the start of the month involves lots of work stuff.) Regular programming is expected to resume next week.

Instead, here’s three quick things for you, CRUISE DRIECTOR style (If you know, you know. If you don’t, you can always try tweeting at Pat and/or Dana.)

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I’m glad they got the Big Boat moving again. I can really, really empathize with the driver/pilot/captain/whatever.

Chris Whitehead @chris_whitehead

I've been trying to find a picture for days and came up short, but suffice to say I can sympathize with the boat driver (pilot?) that blocked the Panama Canal because I did that once with a canal barge somewhere in Cheshire. @TheStevieNicks can provide independent verification.

Craig Haworth @CraigH1982

@TheStevieNicks @chris_whitehead Nice one Whitehead......

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(I think there’s likely more to come on this, but for now here’s the short version…)The Royle Family is stream-able on Amazon Prime in the US (having previously been on Netflix). I love this show. The characters are perfectly observed and are what make it. It’s Caroline Aherne’s magnum opus. It’s folk music in sitcom form.

Chris Whitehead @chris_whitehead

I’m nervous to mention this, but one of my absolute favorite shows of all time, the BBC’s Royle Family, is available on Netflix US. It’s a note perfect observation of the banality of working class North West England, circa-2000. (The nerves relate to if people dont like it.)

It’s on the short-list of culture that has come the closest to explaining my understanding of the Northern English experience. But its also so specific that people from the South of England that I went to university with didn’t understand it/didn’t like it. So for those of y’all in the US, expect to be confused? Maybe I should do a trivia track for it, like the “Notes About Nothing” subtitles that are on the Seinfeld DVDs. (Which are incredible, btw.)

The rest of that short-list? Off the top of my head: Phoenix Nights, Bread, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

Chris Whitehead @chris_whitehead

If you say you like UK comedies but have never seen Phoenix Nights or The Royle Family then I say you're a poser. Don't @ me.

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While we are in Manchester (visiting with the Royle’s) I’ll leave you with this classic Ian Brown track, back in a simpler time when he was just a man with the face of an ape and not a covid-truther. Stone Roses forever; all of these dudes never.