Friends

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Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#1
topic is friends
It could be Friends the TV show, or Friends as in your real friends.

Since you dont know my friends (my friends are great! They are all different and have their flaws too) maybe I'll just talk about the tv show friends.

With the tv show friends, they all hung out at the same coffeshop and were always chatting and in and out of each others apartments. But thats not the case with my friends, we rarely all get the chance to hang out together and some I dont see for months or even years.

Facebook friends, is a bit different because we can chat on messenger. But I dont chat with some friends all the time. and there are different groups I belong to.

anyway with the Friends tv show, I started watching again and thinking of stuff that friends do with each other, like, when Rachel doesnt have any health insurance, she pretends to be Monica who does. (um, have I ever done that, the only thing I can think of was when I was too young to go out with some friends at uni, one of the older girls said I could borrow her drivers licence)

Or, when Joey goes out with Ursula, Pheoebes twin sister, he asks her if thats ok with her (its not, cos Ursula is mean, but she lets him) . Ursula then drops Joey without any explanation while Joey had missed Phoebes birthday party to go out with Ursula.

Or Ross kisses Chandlers mum (in a vulnerable moment) and Chandler is angry. initially with Ross but more at his mum.

these things friends do that are a pain but they make up for it in the end. On tv of course. But in real life I think friendships are a bit more complex.
 

Going_Nowhere

Well-known member
Nov 10, 2019
1,726
938
113
#3
I don't have any friends. There's an upside and downside to it.


Sometimes I think it would be nice to have them....especially in this dark period of life I'm in. And there are other times when I think having them might add to my depression.


But I guess I manage okay on my own. I personally don't view friends as being a necessity in life.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#4
when I was depressed and I didnt have many friends cos I didnt want to burden them with my sorrow. I wasnt a good friend when I was depressed But I am thankful that I had some friends that saw past that and stuck by me, even if all they could do was visit, or send me a birthday card or something.

When I know someone is depressed, I just try and do little things to cheer them up, that arent a big deal so they dont feel obliged to me.
Im not meaning I get them to tell me all their problems, cos, that would just depress me as well, but do stuff that takes their mind of whatver they are troubled with.
 

G00WZ

Senior Member
May 16, 2014
1,318
453
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#5
About a month ago an old friend from 16 years ago that i used to play Runescape with came out of nowhere and started messaging me on my old YouTube channel. It's funny because 16 years ago he couldn't hardly type let alone speak English, now hes speaking and typing perfectly. He was always the lowest level on our team of about 40 people so a lot of the members in our group would be rude to him or just flat out ignore him, but i would always talk to him even though i wasn't quite sure if he understood everything i was saying lol.
I guess if you're good to people sometimes they remember it.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#6
Just watched some more episodes of friends...this cold is going on for ages.

Rachel looks after Ross's pet monkey but he goes missing, but then she gets him back. Ive looked after several friends pets and lucky they did NOT go missing, but because of a bad experience with a workmates dog, I said I would never look after a dog again, even if it was a friends dog.

chickens, cats, fish, rabbits, fine but sorry, no dogs.

Chandler gets Phoebe a job as his secretary. I havent really given any friends a job, but Ive been a reference and written CVs for friends. Chandler finds out that cos he got promoted all his former workmates are no longer his friends. I cant say thats happened to me as in my line of work you just never get promoted. lol
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#7
About a month ago an old friend from 16 years ago that i used to play Runescape with came out of nowhere and started messaging me on my old YouTube channel. It's funny because 16 years ago he couldn't hardly type let alone speak English, now hes speaking and typing perfectly. He was always the lowest level on our team of about 40 people so a lot of the members in our group would be rude to him or just flat out ignore him, but i would always talk to him even though i wasn't quite sure if he understood everything i was saying lol.
I guess if you're good to people sometimes they remember it.
thats cool I dont think you ever forget a kindness. Even the little things can mean a lot. It doesnt mean that you are suddenly besties for life but if you want friends you be a friend...

Im sure a lot of people especially when I was younger did not talk to me at all cos they just assumed I couldnt speak english. I could but I hardly ever spoke cos I was quiet and didnt like speakng. But I reckon if someone doesnt speak your langauge it doesnt matter, you include them even if they cant. You can still be friendly. Animals cant speak english and you can still be kind to them even when they cant talk.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#8
Ive decided Rachel was the WORST friend ever.
Poor Monica, having to live with a selfish cow and bully who ruins Ross's life. I mean really.

All the other friends, I would be friends with, but Rachel..toxic.
 

G00WZ

Senior Member
May 16, 2014
1,318
453
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#9
thats cool I dont think you ever forget a kindness. Even the little things can mean a lot. It doesnt mean that you are suddenly besties for life but if you want friends you be a friend...

Im sure a lot of people especially when I was younger did not talk to me at all cos they just assumed I couldnt speak english. I could but I hardly ever spoke cos I was quiet and didnt like speakng. But I reckon if someone doesnt speak your langauge it doesnt matter, you include them even if they cant. You can still be friendly. Animals cant speak english and you can still be kind to them even when they cant talk.
Speaking of animals i chased my neighbors fat cat out of my yard before he had the chance to do his business.
He probably didn't appreciate me interrupting his poop time and making him prairie-dog it to somewhere else but oh well
lol.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#10
oh well.
cats are particular about where they go. But thats not really anything to do with friends. Or even the topic of thread.

Cats generally find their owners, you dont just somehow 'get a cat' just cos you want one. If your friend has a cat, generally you get along if you also a cat person. But not the same of you are a dog person. Dogs can be vicious and possessive. And you dont really want to be picking up your friends dogs poo. Maybe you are the kind of friend who does that. But generally I just dont like dogs going through my underwear.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#11
last friends episode, I dont think can watch any more.

Rachel sabotages Ross and Julie all because of her 'feelings' when she has nothing in common with Ross and she knews that even if they get together, it would not work out. If she were a better person she would just let Ross be happy with Julie and go find her own man.

On ross's part, having feelings for someone since 9th grade just means its a school yard crush and nobody that young can make sensible descisions about their life partners at that age. haha Its like when Scarlett keeps pining after Ashley in Gone with the wind. . Snap out of it girl. Its not going to work and will cause pain and heartache for everyone.

Of course, nobody knows this because you know, people are fools in general. Fools! says amateur tv watcher Lanolin.
 

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
Aug 13, 2014
27,347
9,367
113
#12
Friends? No WONDER you have such a narrow view of people in the USA! That show was completely unrealistic.

All the Friends live in New York City, in really big apartments that would cost a lot to rent, but they have low paying jobs. Who is paying for those apartments?

Also they all live in NYC, but everybody in the show is white. How did they keep all other races out of every shot?

Also the title should be "Lovers" instead of "Friends" because they sure do sleep around a lot.

Also they sure do make fun of fat people a lot on that show.

Yeah... if you base your opinion of us over here in the USA on that show, no wonder you're always spouting off about how bigoted, rich and foolish we are. :rolleyes:
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#13
They had a friends reunion on tv last month

I dont think Ive ever had a reunion with my friends, or classmates, although Ive had a family reunion, though, family reunions also involve family you have NEVER met before, so that is kind of different.

Has any body ever had a friends one. I think I would like a intermediate school class one, But I dont know about the other years. If youve been on a school camp together you kind of bond with each other. I guess cos you eat and sleep and spend time together rather than just chunks out of your day, so you get to see the whole person rather than just the day side.

on the reunion they all looked a bit older, except the women, thanks to the wonders of botox, hair dye and makeup. Then they reminisced 'remember the time you threw the ball in the apartment?' And they walked round the apartment, which was still there (seems the coffee shop had closed down) but the TV execs had rescued the couch which only seats three of the friends so the other three had to sit on chairs.

Then strange gaga lady massacred the smelly cat song, although it was redeemed by a choir of christians.
Otherwise. who knew that Matthew Perry had massive anxiety every time he had to do a wisecrack?
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#14
ok, looks like its just me watching friends.
I stopped watching it cos my cold went away.
But now Im doing this bookathon, and I found a book on Friends called 'Still Friends' 25 years of the show.

I started reading it, cos I dont really have time to watch all 235 episodes.

some interesting things I found...

it was orignally pitched as a tv show for twenty somethings to like because younger viewers (under 40s) where the untapped market at the time.

The writers would get in a group to write their experiences of living as twenty somethings they remebered and then place them on the characters and make it all funny

matthew perry had an addiction problem during the series off the show. Sometimes would come to work drunk or out of it.

it was going to be called 'insomnia cafe' and was orginally just going to be set just in the coffee shop, like Cheers was set in a bar, but the writers then realised what bunch of people hang out all the time in a coffee shop?! This was before Starbucks took off.

The writers basically wrote themselves into a corner with the whole rachel and joey romance that went nowhere. Now that was a dumb idea. But they had to put in an obstacle for the ross rachel romance. You know, drag it out for several seasons to get viewers to keep watching.

Of the three creators, one of them was gay. Chandler was originally going to be the gay character.

monica, ross and rachel were Jewish. None of the characters professed to be christians.

It was filmed on a soundstage in LA. No new yorkers would recognise it as their native envrionment...it was too big and clean, and all the main characters were white.

Monica and Chandler getting together eclipsed the ross and rachel romance, and the writers did not plan for it, but it evolved as the best thing in the entire show.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#15
I saw the one with the prom video

this was when Rachel decided to kiss Ross because she felt sorry for him.
what. That just breaks the rules, you dont kiss someone cos you feel sorry for them. After that, their relationship is based on pity on her part and 'yippee I get to see Rachel naked' on Ross' part.

It all goes downhill from there, cos Monica starts going out with Tom Selleck I mean Richard who is 20 years older than her, despite her 'icky' feelings when she went out with someone 10'years younger than her. (both lied about their age)

I suppose its all played for laughs, but watching it now Im going, its like they got their ideas from Jerry Springer. if they had normal relationships it wouldnt be funny.

Moral of story...being an adult is hard, being a friend is easy, and you can get matching gold bracelets even if you dont like wearing them.
 

Mak33

Well-known member
Nov 12, 2019
381
374
63
#16
I love FRIENDS I've re-watched it 15x 😂 i just finished last week... That show has been with me through my ups and downs, they're my friends... 😂 if that make sense, it's always on my TV loop when I can't find anything good to watch.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#17
the other show that I liked in the 90s was the simpsons
There was even a book called the gospel according to the simpsons (some of the writers on that show were christians) and it wasnt just about Ned Flanders lol

Though that was definitely more about family than friends. I did think it ran on for too long and most people would agree that seasons 4-8 were probably the best.

regarding Friends...never had the Rachel haircut. Did anyone?
 

Desdichado

Senior Member
Feb 9, 2014
8,768
838
113
#18
I always identified more with Third Rock from the Sun.