Have any of you seen a show on MTV called "Two-a-days"? It's a show about Hoover High School Football team in Hoover, AL. Shock and Awe! MTV's in Alabama (poor MTV). Anyway, I thought it was funny, and since I've had some down time over the past few days, I've caught some of it. It's what you'd expect, mostly boring high school relationship drama intersperced with fooball coaches saying repetitive and appaling things. Oh, and some impressive smacking noises that happen when they show scenes from practice. As expected now that MTV's a reality network, there are plenty of people who are way too hot for their age, but the funniest thing that happened was a seemingly mundane activity--going to a restaurant.
Having recently seen The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (as I prefer to call it, instead of the trivialized title: Talledega Nights), I fully understood the complexity, truth and humor that surrounded these Hoover High youngsters during their trip to the local Applebee's. Surely, it is one of the only close, cheap restaurants that could tolerate groups of high school students with cam corders in addition to the MTV camera crews, but that doesn't make it any less funny. Chain restaurants are an epidemic in the South, and it's really time to deal with it.
In addition to that (Confession: Applebee's was my favorite restaurant in middle/high school. Don't laugh, it was a big deal when we got an Applebee's in Dothan.) there was a trip to the bowling alley and a loveable, teddy-bear guy named Goose; these things are also close to my heart because I too would go to the bowling alley to hang out--didn't even like to bowl and sometimes just sat there--and had a crush on an aforementioned type of guy names Moose. There's a kind of romance to never knowing a guy's last name, or real name for that matter. But that sounds like a more sordid story.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Carrie told me about Two-a-days and I watched the first two episodes before growing too bored with it to continue. I've been out of Alabama for two years now, so those accents were jarring at first, and then, curiously, I felt really nostalgic about it all.
I suppose there is an appealing innocence about going to the local chain restaurant to hang out with your friends--not knowing you should expect more. I was talking with someone recently about Southern culture and the phenomenon of the more socially educated people moving out of the area (or at least the rural parts) and I can see now how these communities like the ones we grew up in aren't changing or evolving. That, at the same time, represents a naivete to me (especially about my past and my youth)that's touching in its simplicity.
But of course it's not simple, and I'm just an assbag now spouting off generalizations, but it's still hard not to feel something for the South (for me) and I guess I'd rather feel affection than anything else. It's complicated
Hey, this is a long comment.
All I have to say about Goose and Moose is - Hambone and Skillet! Hambone and Skillet!
Post a Comment