The Wisdom of Patrick Koluuunahmeheheh Tajnaahme

 According to at least one source, Patrick Koluuunahmeheheh Tajnaahme is the fictional novelist referenced by Captain Kirk in the Star Trek episode "The City On The Edge of Forever". The reason for the ruins you see littering the City here is another interesting – and dumb – piece of trivia...

 

    Apparently, Harlan Ellison's original script stipulated it should be covered in runes...

 

 And the set designer didn't know what runes were.

 Still, it's a hell of an episode, and well worth the quoting... Gemma Brockis has hinted she might, at some point, invite visiting lecturers to her online university to teach something other than the History of the Kiss. In case this happens, I've been considering a Cultural History of Kindness: Bill and Ted's two precepts will go in there, obviously, and maybe Michael Scott's mutant variant, and almost certainly the recommendation of Patrick Koluuunahmeheheh Tajnaahme.

 

 

"Let me help – A hundred years or so from now, I believe, a famous novelist will write a classic using that theme. He'll recommend those three words even over I love you."

"Stath Lets Flats" is the British American Office.

I'd forgotten they'd made this!

 

 It was love at first sight between me and Stath Lets Flats, but it's only after my latest accidental binge of both series (having sat down to watch one episode) that I realise just how highly I rate it, and also possibly why: Quite early on in the American version of The Office, the show reaches a point where it understands its characters well enough to trust them with absurdity; the cast's performative muscle memory is strong enough to ground anything written for them. And Stath Lets Flats operates on that level of confidence from Episode One, possibly because – as he explains in this great interview with Rachael Healy – Jamie Demetriou has known so many of its cast for so long. His show is the opposite of "actor-proof"; it's a clown show composed of details, and every detail makes me laugh out loud.

 

 See above.

 

 The similarities extend beyond tone, however. To quote the interview: "Emotional behaviour juxtaposed with masculine bravado, done well, is a treat." Like The Office's Michael Scott (and unlike David Brent), Stath Charalambos is an idealist possessed by a mutant variant of kindness – an incapacitating, all-or-nothing desire not just to be loved, but to be allowed to love, which manifests itself most commonly in acts of unchecked selfishness. Also like The Office's Pam, Sophie Charalambos is a healthier, self-checking, but similarly yearning heart, the show's secret focus, and the real reason we care as much about these people as we do. Originally, I had thought that the last episode broadcast – not counting this bonus lockdown cracker posted above – was the perfect ending, but having rewatched it all, I now want two hundred more, and I'm very glad there's going to be a Series 3. 

 Here's Natasha Demetriou providing excellent company on Adam Buxton's podcast...

 Here's a brilliant interview with Kiell Smith-Bynoe... "I'd like to work in America, not crazy about living there. Tricky, because it seems like a great shout for black actors, not so much for black people. Tricky, mainly because I am both..."

 And here's more Katy Wix...

 

That Which Binds Us Through Time: The Chemic...

 

 I keep meaning to ask John Finnemore how intentionally his 2 Things To Do Before, Or After, You're 30 (above) echo the precepts of Bill S. Preston, Esquire and Theodore Ted Logan. "Be kind" and "have fun" are more actionable, but "be excellent to each other" and "party on, dudes" are the ones I've taken to heart, because I like a challenge. Actually I don't know if I do like a challenge, but I like the implication that being good might at times be challenging. How well does Ted's law equip him for growing old, for example? Two of the many joys of Bill & Ted Face The Music are seeing the duo's existence as a single unit both confirmed and dissolved. Many contrary ideas are entertained simultaneously in this film. Comedies, beautifully, can do this.

 

 

The familiar sound of trying to do everything.

 

 A few years ago, I tried to write my own story about a kind but procastinating slacker charged with saving the world, but I knew if Time Spanner ever got a series it would end with him not yet succeeding, so I never bothered to specify, or indeed work out, what the thing that might save the world would be. This is one of the reasons I was so excited to hear Bill and Ted were returning after thirty years: Maybe their writers had cracked it. Maybe they'd even come up with a third thing to do before, or after, you're thirty. I was not disappointed, and, given my hopes, that felt as miraculous as a thing could feel without becoming uncomfortable. What Bill & Ted Face The Music ends up proposing is simple and convincing, and while its final three words aren't exactly a precept, I'll probably still hold them as dear, and recommend them over even "and they lived happily ever after" as a thing to wish for.

Finally saw this.
And it worked. https://t.co/KDTD6WKo0e

— Simon Kane (@slepkane) February 7, 2021

 Oh, guys. You're welcome. That was a great journey. One of the best. Thirty years. "And it worked." Happy Love Day.