Brown Motion

Something light hearted amidst the global angst felt by most unless they live on Antarctica or perchance are as yet an undiscovered tribe on our planet. Many of the regulars to this blog know of my penchant for a show that aired in the last decade of the last millenium on American television eponymously titled 'Seinfeld'. Created by two Jewish comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David it was self titled the 'Show about Nothing'. It spanned a total of about eight years in the 1990s, consisting of nine seasons as the TV networks classify it.  NBC was the original TV network that had the broadcast rights and funded the productions. While the show followed the standard 22 minute actual taped time format it was written by a team of writers including Jerry and Larry and to me has come to represent the best of realistic comedy ever. I have had the fortune of reading and following and viewing many a show or book in my many years in America but none comes close to the ...

I got to thinking of all the ways American English has evolved.  Current use depending on the user provides ample anecdotal evidence of cliches and verbiage being used with no thought given to said cliche's origins or propriety or relevance to time.  It is a hoot. A recent planned power outage hilarity that ensued in Northern California (more on the topic itself in another blog) led to multiple communication experts chiming in with the play by play. Here we go with the idiom(t)s including yours truly. 'Play by play' is clearly a sport term from the days when people listened to an antiquated device called a Radio. It is aimed at providing the listener a perspective that they would miss not being at the scene of the play.  Local and even international TV channels, Radio (that works when American's drive in their car), Social Media apps (when Americans look at their cell phone when driving their car) and other broadcasts flooded the market. For the people at home ...

A love story worth 45 years told in 100 minutes.  On some gravelly, scenic and quiet beach in England.  It is a comedy drama set to a of bunch of Mozart, Beethoven and some other classical masters I cannot recognize.  It is a directorial debut for Dominic Cooke. Leading actor Saoirse Ronan, who I last saw in a film called Ladybird plays her part as Florence Ponting, the female interest of a student, an unknown British actor, who has just received his diploma in History and earned high honors.  He lives with his two young twin sisters and parents in a dowdy cottage in some rural part of England.  The story is something of a love at first sight event with its magic and mystery.  It is about life.  Its myriad turns some unexpectedly brilliant and some utterly devastating.  It is about innocence and honesty.  It begins when Florence first lays eyes on Edward where the latter is rushing to express his joy at earning a first class in History...

It has been one fantastic Swedish movie after another.  In this case the title is actually the opening scene of the film. It describes a 100 year old man called Allan in an old person home who decides to abscond from his own birthday party.  What happens after he manages to exit from the window of his nursing home is the subject of this weird tale. His encounters take him literally and figuratively on a voyage beyond imagination in which he meets and dines and dances with luminaries and dignitaries and blows up things along the way. One explosion leads to another and interspersed in it are a whole bunch of people screaming.  It is hilarious in its narrative and the outrageous scenes that unfold somehow keeps the viewer glued to accept it all as if it is entirely possible. Written and directed by Swedes it is the second gem of a film since I saw the one titled 'A man called Ove'. As with Ove this film too is being planned for a Hollywood version release starri...

A multi part documentary on the origins and progression of comedy as a form of engagement in America is currently playing on CNN. I have watched a few early episodes that chronologically were not as exciting to watch but did build the curve to the more contemporary genre where situational comedy is king.  The 'Leave it to beaver' and 'Fawlty towers', even 'Cheers' and other sitcoms of yesteryear for which I have no perspective nor empathy were fast forwarded (thanks to DVR tech) till George Carlin made an appearance. To be a successful comic could mean a variety of things - and the show does justice to show those various facets.  Audience measurement, financial success for all involved in the making of the production, studio support to do more than one season are all various KPI that you could use to determine how good or bad an individual performance was. But ultimately some shows and their cast just click with the zeitgeist and make it look easy.  Both ...