Nostalgia...

I recently met up with a couple of old friends from my college days. Unusually for somebody who's so confident about pretty much everything, I was a bit nervous about this.

For starters, you never know how people may have changed and, secondly, they've both made their mark, one as a recording artist and the other as a TV director, and I never feel as though the potential of my youth has been fulfilled. Not yet anyway...

But it turned out to be a fab evening and they were wonderful and entertaining company, and kind and considerate... essentially the sort of adults you want all your friends to be and you hope all teenagers turn into.

We're now back in touch and we'll hook up again. They're the sort of people any sane person would want in their life and it made me a little sad that it had taken all three of us more than two decades to regain contact.

Filthy...

I'm working long hours and arrive home to find the house 'cleaned' by the cleaners. But as I wander around trying to unwind, I constantly spot bits of dirt that they've missed. I am annoyed and consult the Missus, who is now in semi-retirement and at her most relaxed for years.
I, however, am not relaxed and need to vent. So I do:
'They're cleaners but they don't fucking well clean.'
'They do most of it,' replies the Missus, more interested in watching TV.
'But there's dirt on the mantlepiece in the kitchen. That's basic cleaning because it's visible. It's not even advanced cleaning.'
'You really are like the girl in this relationship, aren't you?' replies the Missus.
'How?'
'You just see dirt everywhere. Then you get upset about it. Like a girl...'
'I'm not a girl. I'm just not a fucking slob.'

I am annoyed. Then I realise my OCD is taking over as I start to straighten things on the coffee table in the living room. Straight lines for everything. Everything in straight lines. With no dirt. That will make the world a better place...

The Book Of Mormon...

The Missus bought me tickets to The Book Of Mormon for Xmas and we went at the weekend and it was fabulous.

It's essentially a musical about two Mormons, one smart and full of pride and the other slightly half-witted and clueless, who venture to a Ugandan village in a bid to convert a desperate populace to the Mormon religion. Once here, they encounter a failing Mormon chapter, Aids, a local warlord and all other manner of problems, while also taking a journey through the history of the Mormon religion via Star Wars and Star Trek. There's a bromance and a love story, too.

Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame, it's crude and irreverent but it's also bloody hilarious and it's a beautifully crafted show.

I'm a big fan of Parker and Stone. I think their long-running TV series South Park was laugh-out-loud funny while the movie Team America was one of the most astute works of art I'd ever seen discussing America's role in global politics. And the fact the latter was a genuinely funny piss-take made using Supermarionation puppets a la Thunderbirds made it all the better.

The Book Of Mormon takes the musical form and takes crude humour to point out the flaws in the Mormon religion without openly ridiculing it. And the flaws it points out in Mormonism obviously have wider implications about religious fanaticism elsewhere in the world.

It's brilliant and it's funny and, like team America, it's very smart in what it says and how it goes about saying it. It's populist without dumbing down and it's a genuinely funny and also inspiring piece of work.