Friends Project

During the 1990s, I distinctly remember that the 80s were a constant source of derision.  While I have a certain fondness for that decade, since it was the decade of my childhood, I understand that the 80s are ripe for the pickin’ when it comes to that sort of thing.  At the time, I had figured that this is the sort of thing that happens.  It didn’t matter what decade it was, everyone would make fun of the decades that preceded it.  I was looking forward to making fun of the 90s.  While wearing the same flannel day in and day out seemed like a good idea, the Gin Blossoms never made sense to me.  I was looking forward to a time when I was able to make fun of Alison Road.

Here it is, 2008.  By my calculations, in less than five years, we should be making fun of the 00s, however we’ve still yet to rip into the 90s as much as we could have.  I mean think about Vanilla Ice, the Backstreet Boys, and everything in between.  No one wants to get in on this?  Fine, suit yourself.

In a story that doesn’t seem to fit into what I was just talking about, I recently got involved in the F/X show Dirt, starring Courtney Cox.  I have to admit, I got taken into this show.

Not only that, it gave me a hankerin’ to see Friends again.  Now, Friends is one of those shows that:
1) If I wanted to
2) Had the appropriate cable channels (which I don’t)
3) Was available at the correct times…
I’d be able to see the whole series…eventually.

However, I have Netflix, which means that I could see eventually have every episode commercial-free delivered to my house.

In a moment of impulse, I decide that I should, actually, do just that.  I should have every episode of Friends delivered to my house.

This would be my secret, though.  The only people that would know would be the Netflix people and me.

Except that day I made the addition, I told my friends.  “Okay, so I added something to my queue.  It’s a total guilty pleasure.  It’s a shit-com, but you know what?  It’s a good shit-com!”

As Netflix queues go, it took a couple of weeks for Season one, disc one to get to the top of the disc to get to the top of my list.

Finally, I got the first disc.  That’s when it hit me that I should probably get this down.  I should keep some sort of journal of this.  I’m embarking on a journey of six friends that apparently did something and something or other.

Look, I’ll be honest, I enjoy the show.  I’m hardly a fanatic.  I know that in the last episode, “she gets off the plane.”  I’m aware of most of the things that happen in between.

I know that Friends was heavily influenced by popular culture of the time and vice versa—unlike, say, Seinfeld, which I’d say that was more of a one-way road.

So, this is my pet project for now.

P.S.  Does anyone know how to take screen shots from a DVD on a Mac?  It had been suggested that I use the “Grab” feature, but it doesn’t allow me to do that while I’m using a the DVD player?