So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Harp]

I think few people really caught on to the true nature of R&J until Baz Luhrman perfectly skewered it as teenage infatuation, and nothing more. A more common crime, though, is people thinking Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra were in love with anyone other than themselves.

It's that Liz & Dick thing.

 

[Zombie_61]

You know how on those “reality” home-improvement TV shows they blur out the logos of certain products and contractors and the like? You know, like on house wrap and truck doors and concrete mixers? And not on others?

Product placement, eh?

That, and the producers of those shows having contracts with the companies whose names are not obscured, and not having contracts with those that are. "Hey, we need a cement mixer for this episode, and if you provide one free of charge we'll make sure your company logo and contact information are prominently displayed in order to advertise your services. If not..."

 

[tonyb]

That, and the producers of those shows having contracts with the companies whose names are not obscured, and not having contracts with those that are. "Hey, we need a cement mixer for this episode, and if you provide one free of charge we'll make sure your company logo and contact information are prominently displayed in order to advertise your services. If not..."

That’s certainly the well-founded suspicion.

I can just hear the guy at Joe’s Roofing and Gutter saying eff-you to the guy from the production company.

 

[tonyb]

I think few people really caught on to the true nature of R&J until Baz Luhrman perfectly skewered it as teenage infatuation, and nothing more. A more common crime, though, is people thinking Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra were in love with anyone other than themselves.

Just what the hell is “love” anyway?

I suggest it’s a biological imperative. Do we really need to be told why younger, more reproductively viable people fall in love so much more readily than us shriveled-up old cusses do?

It’s jealousy, often, that has older people saying that youngsters are just infatuated and what they’re experiencing isn’t “love.” Hell, I WISH I could be so infatuated again! Young love is some delicious stuff.

It’s from such young and horny stuff that other forms of appreciation for another person might spring. We’re well past the courting stage, my dewy-eyed bride and I, yet I want her to have the last piece of that fancy chocolate. And she truly does want me to have what I want, too. We’ve grown dependent on each other — materially, emotionally. At this point, the two can’t be neatly separated.

I ain’t complaining.

 

[Touchofevil]

Zero-gravity technology bean bags and other nonsensical supposed scientific technology in television commercials. Enhancing a product through blatant bull gets me talking to the television. It must work on someone or they would not do it.

 

[Edward]

That, and the producers of those shows having contracts with the companies whose names are not obscured, and not having contracts with those that are. "Hey, we need a cement mixer for this episode, and if you provide one free of charge we'll make sure your company logo and contact information are prominently displayed in order to advertise your services. If not..."

Product placement was illegal in UK broadcasting until 2011 (still not permitted on the BBC). It can certainly be invasive when you see it in Hollywood films; fortunately, so far anything I've seen it on on TV here it's not been too in yer face. That said, I recognise exactly the phenomenon you describe. The Big Brother show in the UK used to have an intern tape white paper over all the labels on groceries they used on the show. Now they still do that - unless the company / brand concerned has paid for product placement. For the most part, it doesn't damage shows of any quality. Those where it is blatant and in yer face tend to be shows I wouldn't care to watch anyhow.

It’s jealousy, often, that has older people saying that youngsters are just infatuated and what they’re experiencing isn’t “love.” Hell, I WISH I could be so infatuated again! Young love is some delicious stuff!

Heh. My memories thereof are...... far from as positive.

 

[GHT]

Just what the hell is “love” anyway?

You've obviously not been watching Wimbledon. Love is the tennis terminology for nil.

 

[Zombie_61]

Product placement...It can certainly be invasive when you see it in Hollywood films...

One of the worst cases I've seen was this scene from the American version of Godzilla 1985:

To this day I have no idea what these actors said, because in a darkened movie theater that Dr. Pepper logo was so bright and overpowering that nearly everyone in the theater laughed all the way through this scene.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Zero-gravity technology bean bags and other nonsensical supposed scientific technology in television commercials. Enhancing a product through blatant bull gets me talking to the television. It must work on someone or they would not do it.

How about the current infatuation of copper (yes, the element) in compression socks and support bandages that are prevalent on cable TV commercials recently.

While it may keep the socks and bandages from retaining odors, there's no evidence that it has any healing properties.

“There’s a sucker born every minute.”

 

[LizzieMaine]

If you live long enough every dumb fad you remember from your youth will come back, only dumber and more profitable. I can remember when people went around wearing copper bracelets that were supposed to cure every possible affliction. But they never thought of weaving them into socks.

 

[Haversack]

For more on that word in English, a book entitled The F-Word was written by Jesse Scheidlower and published by Oxford University Press in 2009. Pre-1450 examples of the word's use in English are pretty much on the order of meaning 'to strike'. For instance there is the surname of Fuckebegger, (recorded as a groom for Edward I in 1286), which similar to the Norman surname, Butevilein. Both mean to strike a person of very low caste.

The meaning of the word began to change to that which we know late in the 15th C. So much so that by the end of the 16th C. you have Shakespeare making puns of it in French, (eg. 'foot' and 'gown') in Henry V.

And of course, the word has its cousins in some other Indo-European languages: ficken, foutre, futo, follar, fokka. (German, French, Romani, Spanish, Icelandic.)

The word used to have much more power as a taboo word. I'm reminded of the scene in John Boorman's semi-autobiographical movie Hope and Glory where the film's young protagonist is admitted to the gang of boys playing in bombed out houses because he says the word.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And let's not forget "The Naked and the Dead," where Mr. Mailer wanted to show readers what the heroic clean-cut All-American GIs of WWII really sounded like, but his publishers demurred, requiring him to coin a new word: "fug." As in "Fug you," "Fug it," "this fugging war," mother-fugger," etc.

 

[Tiki Tom]

I like a good curse word. Well used, they are high impact and efficient. Unfortunately, they are so over used these days that they are severely watered-down on both counts. My daughter (and probably other young people) has taken to saying “snap” instead of a swear word. She is a master of self control and using the word “snap” instead of an obscenity underlines the fact.

 

[Trenchfriend]

"TOFFIFAY"?
Are you kidding me?

 

[Harp]

And let's not forget "The Naked and the Dead," where Mr. Mailer wanted to show readers what the heroic clean-cut All-American GIs of WWII really sounded like, but his publishers demurred, requiring him to coin a new word: "fug." As in "Fug you," "Fug it," "this fugging war," mother-fugger," etc.

Our detachment mascot was a tomcat named Mother.....r.
The appellation fit, excellent rat killer, solid bar rep; and, when the mail chopper dropped off Mary Poppins
(and I later told everyone we had a real hot bombshell flick), Motherf….r was with me, but didn't tell anyone...
Afterwards, after I had my ass kicked for Mary Poppins, Motherf….r came by my bunk and laughed his ass off.

 

[tonyb]

…

Heh. My memories thereof are...... far from as positive.

I’ve known heartache, for sure. I’ve dished out a few servings of it, too. It’s not pleasant.

Regrets? Of course. If I had it all to do over again I’d do it differently. But I don’t, so I can’t.

Still, I am glad to have had the education, even the lessons that stung.

A meme going around goes something like, “If, when looking back at your younger self, you don’t realize you were an idiot, you are probably still an idiot.”

 

[Touchofevil]

If you live long enough every dumb fad you remember from your youth will come back, only dumber and more profitable. I can remember when people went around wearing copper bracelets that were supposed to cure every possible affliction. But they never thought of weaving them into socks.

I know a fellow who still wears one.

 

[Edward]

One of the worst cases I've seen was this scene from the American version of Godzilla 1985:

To this day I have no idea what these actors said, because in a darkened movie theater that Dr. Pepper logo was so bright and overpowering that nearly everyone in the theater laughed all the way through this scene.

I had a similar experience in Beijing a few years ago. It was one of those days that was so punishingly hot I was struggling, but didn't want to go back to the hotel so I went to the air-conditioned cinema. One of the Transformers films. A chunk of it had been shot in China. One scene involved a physical comedy routing in the reaction of a young Chinese man to seeing a giant warrior robot outside his window. He was drinking from a carton of milk - there was a huge reaction of laughter as the milk carton came into shot. I later discovered it was part of a whole tie-in marketing campaign, and presumably part of that sequence was also used in a local TV ad. Funny to think that it was probably completely bypassed by Western audiences - and a clear indication of how important the Chinese market now is to Hollywood!

If you live long enough every dumb fad you remember from your youth will come back, only dumber and more profitable. I can remember when people went around wearing copper bracelets that were supposed to cure every possible affliction. But they never thought of weaving them into socks.

My wife's condition sometimes mimics arthritis. She actually found the copper bracelets really helped at one point, though of course we're well aware that could have been a placebo effect. Interesting how mind over matter can make a big difference sometimes, though.

And let's not forget "The Naked and the Dead," where Mr. Mailer wanted to show readers what the heroic clean-cut All-American GIs of WWII really sounded like, but his publishers demurred, requiring him to coin a new word: "fug." As in "Fug you," "Fug it," "this fugging war," mother-fugger," etc.

As memory serves, this is where the 60s band The Fugs (of whom Dylan was a fan) took their name.

 

[Harp]

I had a similar experience in Beijing a few years ago. It was one of those days that was so punishingly hot I was struggling, but didn't want to go back to the hotel so I went to the air-conditioned cinema. Funny to think that it was probably completely bypassed by Western audiences - and a clear indication of how important the Chinese market now is to Hollywood!.

A Hong Kong screening of Gone With The Wind.
I can understand the Chinese subtitles but that infamous scene when Rhett grabs Scarlett
and carries her up the stairs got whacked by the axe.

 

[Zombie_61]

A Hong Kong screening of Gone With The Wind.
I can understand the Chinese subtitles but that infamous scene when Rhett grabs Scarlett
and carries her up the stairs got whacked by the axe.

China is the most overpopulated country on Earth. They probably didn't want to give anyone any ideas.