Short Television Review: Tater, Tomater

Back in the Olden Times, if you wanted to see a television programme sometime after it aired you had to record it on VHS tape. PBS often had programmes scheduled to finish at the top of the hour but the actual documentary/foreign drama/what-have-you ended 15-20 minutes before then.

We recorded a show once that put a short film to fill the space afterward and, because there was a lot of tape remaining, we continued to use that cassette for other shows. As a result, for about two years every time we rewound to see the recent recording we would catch only the last 20-30 seconds of Tater, Tomater . I don’t think we ever watched the American Playhouse episode we taped it along with it (my link is to a copy from after it got picked up by a cable channel).

Our friend who visited in May lived a couple miles away from us just outside of Athens GA at this time and had also seen this a couple of times and finally insisted we watch it. It is a masterpiece of modern cinema and I implore each and every one of you to set aside 15 minutes for this.

The busboy in this is one of the guys from Jump Little Children. Phrases that have entered the lexicon of Tater Tomater-heads include:

“Oh I cut myself. I’m alright!”
“Can I help you with some bread tonight butter margerine?”
“Ladies what got har gots to wear a har net.”
“This sticky stuff won’t stay stuck.”

Then, there’s Doris’ moment of glory. This will make sense to you, once you’ve witnessed ‘the incident’:

Monthly Recap June 2023

The totals for the month: 90 miles running, 10 pubs, 3 kebabs, 3 fish and chips, 2 short reviews. The mileage is low but I’ve started using TrigPointing as a way to add new interest to the runs (for me, at least … posts will start appearing in due course and a new map to cover this is here).

Started using a topical medicine that induces an immune response so my body attacks some BCC lesions on my arm; this results in aches and fever, a bit more sensitivity to the sun, and foggy headedness so that I’m not sure if I’m actually sick or just experiencing the chemo side effects. Pharmacokinetics and past experience suggest it will become worse until about 2 weeks after the last doses (progress report to follow) then taper back to normal over the subsequent 4 weeks. The last time (8 years ago) I was in the midst of training for the Ridgeway Challenge and doing a little more than 50 miles per week in the hills, so I just need to ignore it (and test regularly for COVID).

Here’s the cartoon of the month (not necessarily a monthly feature):

Names important to me in my youth and adolescence are now cut into tombstones. Farewell Astrud Gilberto, Daniel Elsburg, Robert Gottlieb, and Ted Kaczinski (who I know is a controversial choice especially in my line of work, but he was right even if his methods were ill advised). Additionally, Yossarian (the movie one) died the last day of the month. Rot in hell Pat Robertson.

Spotted in the Aldi…disgusting:

Some of the grafitti in this Monthly Update is from Chapel Ash Island near the WNW corner of central Wolverhampton.

A pretty good gallery relatively unmarred by the brainless tagging that will inevitably overlayer the bits that require some minimal amount of talent.

This one came from beneath a canal bridge, but at least it is clever and simple:

Had another litre of Keptinis, a Lithuanian beer I pick up at the Polish supermarket down the street. First time I noticed the royal eels sharing flagons of ale using a barrel as a table. Marvelous.

Fairly allergic to bee venom, this little fucker nailed me twice after flying up my shirt then one more time on my hand as I tried to rip the shirt off. Not sure if the neighbours spotted me naked from the waist up jumping up and down on a t-shirt but the spectacle was there for them:

Finally, a tip of the cap to Led By Donkeys for dumping this billboard over in a financially distressed, working class neighbourhood in Tipton that typically votes against its own best interest and which went strong ‘for ‘YES’ in the Brexit Referendum (spotted 14 June across from the Tilted Barrel pub, link live 29 July):