The Point

I've mentioned before, Graham and I don't own a TV, but we do watch DVDs, and lately we are in a bit of a slump. It's not that the movies we have been watching aren't good, they are just too UTTERLY IMPORTANT. I feel like we've been on a strict diet of prime rib--delicious, rich, filled with protien, but when that's all you've had, you feel like you weigh TWENTY THOUSAND POUNDS. The weight of our usual menu of independents, classics, dramas, foreign, documentaries is getting a little TOO HEAVY. We both agreed, we need some comedy, people! We need a little ZAPPITY-DO humor. While I was gone, to keep Graham company, I rented him Something About Mary (which he had never seen)and a Marx Brother's Movie. When I told him they were coming from Netflix, he took my hands in his, and thanked me with all the love and relief in the world.

When I got back, you'd think that Graham discovered four new best friends, the way he has been touched by the Marx Brothers. We'll be walking or doing something and suddenly Graham will get this whistful look on his face and say to me, "I just LOVE Harpo Marx." I'll say, "I KNOW you love, Harpo. You told me that about three million times." So I've ordered the rest of the Marx Brothers menu, but in the meantime we had Cinema Paradiso and the Last Waltz to watch. Fine movies, but it was there to remind us that we are just SICK OF POWERFUL HEAVY FILMS. Get us some HUMOR ALREADY!

So last night I went running home, happy as a little clam, because in my sack I held a series of DVDs that I was convinced were going to SHAKE THINGS UP in the Pierre/Parsons Household. My friend Mindy had left me a gift parcel containing a number of seasons of Sex and the City. I almost wept upon viewing their candy like packaging! At last, MEANINGLESS and DELICIOUS HUMOR!

Let's just say, when I got home with the exciting parcel, Graham didn't exactly take my hands in gratitude. Somehow hours upon hours of pretty, saucy, sexy, shoe-shopping, guy-hopping, cosmopolitan guzzling women didn't appeal to him. I know, go figure, right? I had been afraid of this, but Mindy had said that she had converted her own boyfriend to enjoying Sex and the City, so I had hope.

I had only seen a couple of seasons, so we skipped ahead the ones I hadn't seen. We sat on the bed, and while I was laughing, Graham got quieter and quieter. Upon noticing that his arms were crossed against his chest, like a BARRICADE, I took it for not exactly the BEST sign. I don't know about any of you, but it is REALLY HARD to adequately enjoy MEANINGLESS HUMOR, when you are sure that the person next to you is staring upon the object of humor with such skepticism, that it nearly drains all the electricity from the room, leaving it a DIM WORLD INDEED.

Afterwards, he asked, "Tell me what you like about the show." Again, not a good sign. It was like I had suddenly become an alien to him and he found my ways strange and wanted a way to understand my world. I rattled off my reasons, describing a particular episode, and its particular shenanigans, and I was laughing, and then I realized he was dead silent again, so I finished the story by telling him, "and then I found twenty bucks." That's how I finish every story that starts off like a good idea, but then I realize at midpoint, that there is ABSOLUTELY NO POINT. By adding that I found twenty bucks, suddenly, IT IS A GREAT STORY. He appreciated the effort, but was not convinced.

So, while Graham pines for his beloved Groucho, Gummo, Zeppo, Chico, and Harpo, I'll settle in and laugh outloud at my own characters. Sometimes it's just easier and more fun to indulge in treats, while no one is there to say, make me understand this. I'm laughing hysterically, what's to understand?

And then I found twenty bucks.