The B & T Effect !

Some months back,  when I  began reading The Hobbit  ( See Nov. 1st entry ),  I had an incident of cultural teleportation.  After Gandalf and the dwarves have pretty well par-tayed things out at Bilbo's,  Thorin comes clean on just why they pulled this home invasion on the befuddled Hobbit. He hushes the room and then, like any seasoned orator, begins  by buttering up the host:

“ Gandalf, dwarves, and Mr. Baggins! We are met together in this house of our friend and fellow conspirator, this most excellent and audacious hobbit … "

Whoosh !   I was instantaneously  sent elsewhere - into another story.

This wasn't a one-time thing either. Oh no....

  

 The first time I saw  “ The Matrix “ it happened as Morpheus was initiating the  virtual combat training  Neo needed to fully become “ the One “.  As Neo looks on,  Morpheus vaults effortlessly between two skyscrapers. Quick cut to Neo as Morpheus lands on the adjoining building - an incredulous look and a single utterance .....  “ Whoa “ 







Whoosh, I was back in that other story!!

 Since 1988 I"ve experienced instances of this  phenomenon when  I've see folks playing Battleship, or heard Iron Maiden, or George Carlin or simply heard the names  Billy The Kid, Beethoven, Joan of Arc, Socrates  (a.k.a. so-crates) or  Abe Lincoln  (it’s gonna spoil Speilberg’s movie for me, I just know it !) .  I clearly felt it whilst titling my Boxing Day  blog entry!

Yep, it’s the  B & T Effect  alright.   There's no known antidote. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey ( For me just segments of the same entity) exert  a strong effect over the weak-minded. 

 It's out  now , in movie-making land and on the web, that a third installment is being considered.  Bill and Ted 3!   Hmmm....   A lot of the stuff I've run into has been of the “why? " or "WTF “ variety. The gist is that it’s just a cash grab. Well , I'm here to proclaim that  B & T 3 would be fine by me. 

It's about perspective. These were not deep, provocative and game changing Sci-Fi flicks, like The Matrix  ( although a recent item I read included a short blurb from a CalTech theoretical physicist noting that B&T handled the  time travel trope in a manner that least insulted the potential plausibility of it all. ) 


Indeed, the B&T celluloid saga makes me smile more than a similar helping of most anything else out there in mindlessly therapeutic  diversion land. Note: Ferris is a microscopically close second!

 They're  send the cranium out for some R&R, comfort food movies,  pure and simple -                  ( although if you listen carefully you'll catch  an Ingmar Bergman reference, a nudge-nudge, wink-wink mention of Oedipal complexes  and the like, along with the sophomoric stuff - Mel Brooks would be proud !)



 I can watch them anytime. Case in point, a few years ago I was on a road trip with good friends in Serbia, on our way to Romania.  We stayed at an interesting and well past its mid-1950's glory hotel in Belgrade. It was a simple stopover. We were especially concerned about passing through Serbia as quickly as possible since it appeared that simply having Bosnian license plates on our vehicle brought hardened glares from many a passer by and even a gas station attendant while filling us up. Not much after sunup I awoke and idly switched on the old Tv in my cold war decor room while I dressed to leave. Whoa...  Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey with Serbian subtitles  - I was totally flabbergasted, dudes, and almost missed the departure. Maybe Wyld Stallyns  will bring about global glasnost! They have as much of a chance as anyone.

 They've contributed the odd verbal and visual catch-phrase, too. I pursue the spherical arts weekly in a mildly dingy pool hall with a cast of "shady" characters including our former Crown Attorney and a city councilor.  There aren't any " sticky tables and mangled door jambs with draughty doors" though, and very few bar fights.  Social  pretense plays poorly here - you're as good as your last game whether you came here in an Escalade or on the bus. The  B&T air guitar  move is my standard gleeful  response when a tough 8-ball shot nails it!

But I digress!

Don

BTW  Hola! -  from the Yucatan Peninsula. Got lots to relate about that state of affairs soon. What I don't appear to have at the moment is the technological wherewithal to get at my stash of riddles. So there will be two next time.

My guess for yours Carolyn, is, of all things, a recliner chair, Lay-z-Boy or as I've heard it called on occasion, a Barca-Lounger.  Haven't had time to mentally masticate on this one though, so I could be way out there again.

And lest I forget, my last riddle was scissors - those things you're not supposed to run with. Anyhow, will be back atcha.