On Romance and Comedy

All of my friends are quick to point out that my taste in films, music, and television is questionable at best. I'm not really sure why we differ so much in this regard actually. But as a general rule of thumb, both Spence and Andy can both accurately state within 10 minutes of watching a new show whether it will be a Burrage Show or not. To the best of my knowledge, they've never been wrong.

Sometimes I try to get them both to watch the latest programme that I think is great, but I think they've become so skeptical of my taste that they simply smile and nod and don't give things a chance, which in my opinion is a shame, but for their sakes is probably a way of retaining sanity. Obviously I'm biased so I couldn't say.

I'm a very romantic person. Words used to describe me by female friends include "sweet", "cute", "silly", and "romantic". Yes, that last one is a bit of a giveaway. One of my friends said I came very close to sounding like "the perfect man". Obviously she's on drugs or belongs in a mental institute. ;)

But it's true, to a certain extent. I was brought up on old-world values, immersed in a world of chivalric nights from the tales of King Arthur, and the off-kilter chivalry of Robin Hood, as well as classic stories from around the globe. I've always had this sense of propriety in me. I open doors for people, I stand on the outside of the pavement so that ladies and older folk don't have to risk getting soaked by passing cars. If the pavement isn't wide enough for two-way traffic, I stop and let people through first or, if they beckon me on, I always say thank you. Simple, basic manners I guess, but you'd be amazed at how many people don't take the time anymore for such simple courtesies.

Naturally I have a psychological weakness for films and television shows dealing with the interaction of men and women. I've not exactly had a lot of relationships, and I often feel a bit awkward until I get to know someone much better than perhaps they need to know me. I'm a man of various tastes, and some of them are - perhaps - a little surprising. And I love watching well-rounded characters on the big or small screens who are involved in some kind of romantic daliances.

This is why I love Chuck, my current favourite TV show which I may or may not already have written a blog on... (did I mention I have a bloody awful memory, and I'm too lazy to check >_>) It's especially true to my life in a way as I think of myself as very much the Chuck Bartowski type guy. I'm good with computers, I'm nerdy, I'm sarcastic, I have fairly high ideals but often find myself stuck in a rut for one reason or another. And obviously I hope that at some point a super-hot Agent Walker-type is going to sweep into my life for whatever reason, and that - in the words of Mr Bartowski - I am going to have to win her over again and again (and again!)

That's just my idea of romance, I guess. Not just sitting back and letting yourself go no you've found someone, but constantly trying to keep things fun and alive and exciting. It could be something to do with low self-esteem I dunno, but part of me really digs the idea that yeah, I should have to work for a decent relationship, and make sure I do everything right.

Of course, Chuck is a romantic comedy action espionage adventure show. With an emphasis on the comedy a huge amount of the time. I truly believe that I have a decent sense of humour. Sure it may be a little sarcastic and prone to innuendo at times, but I at least think it can be sophisticated most of the time. I find a lot of things funny, and if I don't, I won't force a laugh just to appease someone (sorry, I'm a bastard like that ><) People who make me laugh include Alan Davies, Billy Connelly, and Jack Dee. Peter Kay sometimes (but not often) gets a chuckle from me. Every now and again, Russel Brand gets likewise, but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch anything either of them do. I've got a dry, straight man kind of humour about me. I like dry wit, deadpan stuff. Clever jokes. Things you have to think about. Arguably I'm a thinking man. (Yeah I know, lol!)

I think Shakespeare is funny. "What the fuck?!" I hear many of you cry! And yes, based on how it's taught in schools and stuff, I can fully understand why people don't like the Bard's plays (and I still can't stand most of the History plays, sorry Bill!) But there's a lot of funny stuff in Shakespeare if you can understand it.

Some of my favourite films of the last few years have been adapted from Shakespeare. The scenes with the Nurse in Luhrman's Romen + Juliet are funny in both the original and modern versions. Likewise 10 Things I Hate About You is a rather excellent and witty retelling of the classic Taming of the Shrew. And yes, both of them are romances, bringing me 'cleverly' full circle.

My inspiration for this post was the film No Reservations starring Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart. It's not a brilliant film. The plot is formulaic, with no real surprises, twists or turns apart from the one death near the start which I must admit I hadn't expected. From there on everything unfolds exactly as I knew it would from that moment on. And yet I'd still speak highly of the film for a couple of reasons.

Firstly the casting is excellent. I get really really sick of films where they've cast big names stars simply because they're big name stars. If you're gonna have romance in a film, it has to be believable. It has to have chemistry. Say what you like about Mr and Mrs Smith, but when you look at Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in that film you know exactly why they're together in real life. Eckhart and Zeta Jones have chemistry in spades, and the whole film really revolves around the aloof, proud female chef and the dorky, opera-loving male chef.

Secondly, there were some very touching moments in the film. Obviously I'm a big sap prone to crying at emotional things as I'm sure I've mentioned before, but I do like it when a film billed as a romantic comedy has the guts to throw some tragedy in there too. It worked for R+J after all.

I'd give it 4/5 stars just for having the casting, the tragedy, and some pretty damned funny scenes.

Romance and comedy. Two of my favourite, essential elements of life!

Health Update: My Mate Gym

I'm getting a tad tired of sleepless nights and sleepy days. I'm not sure what's up with me at the moment. My sleeping pattern isn't technically out of whack, but I've been spending too many nights tossing and turning and feeling sick rather than getting any proper sleep. I don't know if it is a side effect of the medical cocktail I'm taking, but it's fracking annoying.

This last week I started going to the gym on my physio's recommendations. The purpose of these visits is twofold really:

1) to exercise the core muscle in my back to improve its strength and thus my overall balance and stability. With a stonger core muscle, I should be back to my normal "on-my-feet-all-day" self in no time.

2) to improve my overall fitness level. It's no secret I'm not a huge fan of how I look. I've always had a bit of a weight problem, but that has been steadily declining since I started uni (apart from a blip during the six months I was off having a breakdown). I'm still slightly overweight, but I'm not hugely bothered about that. I'm worried about my actual fitness level. There was a time when I used to play badminton every week - that stopped when I buggered my ankle up in a night club. (Don't ask!) While I still played after that, it took a very long time for my ankle to heal up - yes I should probably have gone to see someone about it: benefits of hindsight I know. Obviously with a knackered back, running around, twisting and swinging a racket on a badminton court is unlikely to do me a great deal of good currently, but I desperately miss playing badminton (it being the only sport I was ever really good at) and would love to get back to it as part of a healthier lifestyle to balance out all the crap that my sweet tooth demands I eat.

The gym at the local leisure centre is a temprary one: they're in the process of refurbishing the real gym. But it's good enough for my needs. I had a 30 minute induction session with a personal trainer, who worked up a pretty simple regime for me based on the kind of machines I was going to be able to use. Obviously anything involving lifting was going to be right out. It ended up with a simple rotation of treadmill > reclining exercise bike > normal exercise bike. 10 mins on each, and build up in pace as I progress. Easy stuff. I was fine for all 3 machines, memorised how to use them, and was ready to start properly this last Monday.

Monday I got to the gym at around 1:30pm as recommended (it's quiet in the afternoons) and started off with the treadmill. 4.8km/hr speed on a slight incline. Not gruelling by any means, especially as I'd already spent 10 minutes or so walking at a fairly brisk pace to get to the centre through the pretty damned chilly weather. Unfortunately, cold weather + bad back muscle = not good. But I was fine for the treadmill anyways.

Next was the reclining bike. I'd been fine at this on the induction. The seat was relatively comfortable and supported my back well. But my back hadn't been hurting already on that induction day, and sitting down on that reclining bike was agony for the five minutes I gruelled out on it. Not sure I got any benefit at all out of that, and in fact I probably did myself more harm than good. "No pain, no gain" only goes so far in my book.

Finally the upright bike. By the time I got to this I was in a fair amount of pain. My knees were hurting, as were the back of and inner thighs, where the nerves connect from the back down the legs. This has been a problem throughout the last few months. If my back is really bad, my legs start to go weird with it. Not a fun thing at all! I managed about 4 minutes on that bike before I called it and left the gym. No point pushing myself any further than that. Not a hugely successful or beneficial workout, but as I walked round town to cooldown,

I didn't feel too bad. Popping a couple of tramadol obviously helped too.

But the next two days were absolute hell. I haven't felt that bad in months. I couldn't bend at all. Every single twist or slightest movement sent needles stabbing into my nerves. It took me 15 minutes to get my fecking socks on because every time I tried to bend to reach the end of my annoyingly long legs, my back said "Nah, fuck you!"

My regime of Monday/Wednesday/Friday fell apart in the very first week. Tuesday was hell.

Wednesday was less so, but I could still barely walk. No pain, no gain, I kept repeating to myself. I knew something like this would happen, after all. Just didn't expect it to be so severe.

Thursday I was finally feeling better. I got up late though. Crawled out of bed after a crappy night's sleep at about 1:30pm. Couldn't even be arsed showering. Just pulled on my gym stuff, stuck on a hat, and made my way into town. This time I changed some stuff.

Firstly I took a couple of tramadol BEFORE I started the exercises. I don't actually know if this was a particularly good idea, but in retrospect it seems to have at least helped.

Secondly I swapped the two bikes round. The one with the back support, which I had assumed would be easier for me to handle (and was dead wrong about ><) I left till last, while the upright got stuck in the middle of the workout.

I stuck with the treadmill at the start, this time working at it for a full 15mins at the slightly faster 5km/hr. Still not gonna win any medals, and its certainly not an impressive statistic, but for me, it's a start.

The tramadol helped. I didn't manage the two bikes any better than before - they were still pretty painful - but I made it out of the gym feeling relatively good. I expected Friday to be a nightmare though.

Surprisingly, the last three days haven't been too bad. Yeah I've been feeling really sick, my appetite is a bit botched, and I'm still suffering some of the nastier side effects of the tramadol, but I at least feel like I'm DOING something.

Hopefully I'll be able to swing the Mon/Weds/Fri thing properly this coming week. Fingers crossed.

~J