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Margaret Bennett's avatar

Oh yes. My eyebrow is in a perma arch and I am the person who never watched Game of Thrones.

I am with you all the way here ( except the beach) and I know sand is annoying but I let it win.

I did enjoy watching Bob Mortimer and Richard Ayoade though. They are both brilliant and I was in desperate need of comic genius.

A fantastically cynical Gen X read Sharon. Brilliant.

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Thanks Margaret. I’m so glad you enjoyed. Yes, both Bob and Richard really are on another level to the rest of them…

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Me Write stuff's avatar

With you 100% on cruises, buffets, fireworks and beaches. I won a trip on a cruise once and it was awful - felt like I was trapped in some kind of Black Mirror episode. Fireworks = screensaver in real life + tremendous waste of money. Beaches + sunscreen = unasked for exfoliation. Buffets never equal decent food.

Pizza though, Sharon. Stay after class, we need to have a little chat.

I hate fizzy wine generally - including Champagne. Most of it - if it was flat - would be bad wine.

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Thanks fella. But you need to get to the back of the queue, if you're going to fight me over pizza.

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Sara's avatar

Haha loved this Sharon! Thank you for the mention. My love/hate relationship with massages continues, but I can’t stand by and watch you slag off pizza and Prosecco! Enjoy both in Italy and then report back pls 🇮🇹🍕🥂

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Let’s do it! And maybe sell tickets, pay per view. May as well make a few bucks out of it!

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Sara's avatar

Always be monetising 💰😎

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Ha! I’ve touched a nerve with the old pizza, granted. And I’ve no doubt it tastes way better in Italy….But I will have to fight you at dawn over Prosecco 🥂🥊

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Sara's avatar

🤣 At 5am, I’ll get drunk on Prosecco, you get drunk on champagne and we’ll biff it out in livestream to see who wins. I’m ready!

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Ragged Clown's avatar

I haven't seen your posts in a while. I dunno how that happened…

I dislike most of the things you dislike. I hate cruises, fireworks, beaches etc and Richard Ayoade is my favourite younger-than-me comedian. I dunno why the others bother me so much. There is practically nothing on the telly that I might enjoy, so I don't risk it. I did like Adolescence though and Colin from Accounts made me laugh (only the first season).

I’m not allowed to drink any more but it was Prosecco that finished me off.

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Chris Stanton's avatar

My God, I don’t get cruises at all. I agree with all of your points, and then there’ this: how many stories have we seen about a cruise ship stranded somewhere with no electricity or running water, and/or a rampant norovirus outbreak?

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Faith Liversedge's avatar

100% on beaches Sharon! Also picnics. There are so many things that other people like that I don't that I've often felt like this! Mainly TV programmes of the Blind Date, X Factor, Gladiator type, which makes me feel like such a killjoy, but I can at least genuinely stomach Strictly these days.

PS What did you think of the White Lotus finale?!

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

I hear you Faith. I've never been able to stand shows like The X Factor and only really like Strictly, when they're actually dancing. All the "fluff" either side of it drives me mad.

Ahh the finale! Well apparently we are all wanting resolutions in life, but rarely get them (as the wise buddhist says) but I'd still like to see them in a TV drama! I expected more of an outcome for the 3 friends - Laurie's speech felt a bit blah, and as for Belinda 😔 The coconut milk scene did have me on the edge of my seat though! How about you?

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Faith Liversedge's avatar

Yes the fluff! I have to fast forward that stuff.

Ha ha you're right! It was a mix of reality in that there was a lack of satisfying tying up of some of the storylines, and fantasy with the shoot out at the end. Not quite the calibre of previous series but it really made me want to rewatch season 2 - I think I loved the characters more in that. I was very worried about Lachlan though and heartbroken about Chelsea! The 3 friends thing did make me think there's scope to see more dynamic friendship stories in TV dramas.

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Agreed Faith - re. more scope for friendship stories. I also enjoyed season 2 the most.

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Lowri Williams's avatar

Remind me how we are friends again? 😂. Love a beach and a swim, yes please to pizza and Prosecco (how many times have we been to Pizza Express??). With you on cruises and LOL though. Was hoping LOL would be hilarious. Meh.

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Look I’m not saying pizza is terrible, it’s just not the heavenly experience that everyone wangs on about!!

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Francis F's avatar

I’m with you on most things here, and fireworks in London never ends , I hear them and know, oh the drug dealers have replenished their supplies 😏😏 but Prosecco!!! It’s heaven ! I find champagne has a terrible aftertaste 😆 great post

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Ahhh, thanks Francis.

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Lewis Holmes's avatar

Buffets, yep... Cruises, yep... Fireworks. I mean, I used to love them but then I got a dog who got PTSD off 'em so, yep. The beach, big yep. Can't stand the beach. Get in the sea, beach! (Actually *really* proud of that image.)

Pizza.

Oh man. Sharon, I'm not sure we can be friends any more. That doughy shite from Dominos, sure. Fire it into the sun. A crisp margherita on the other hand, lightly kissed with a bit of basil, washed down with an ice cold beer as the sun goes down? Bury me in it.

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Pistols at dawn fella - get in line. Feeling like I might be lynched by pizza lovers everywhere...

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Lewis Holmes's avatar

Water pistols. I don't care that much!

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Daisy's avatar

I agree with all except some pizzas (you’re crazy shaz) and the beach - thanks to Raeph training me. It is an Aussie thing that’s for sure!

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Pizza is proving to be a contentious choice…I’ll admit to having an excellent one in the US and a couple of very good ones here in Oz, but nothing since that comes close to the hype!!

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Hilary Hattenbach's avatar

Such a fun and funny read! Fellow Gen Xer here and I’m 99% with you on all of this, but I do enjoy White Lotus.

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Petra Khashoggi's avatar

Lots I agree with you on here! I didn't enjoy the new Bridget Jones film either, and I have never seen a full episode of Breaking Bad. At this point, the hype about that show was so long ago that I don't even have the same level of interest. There just aren't enough hours in the day to watch everything, no matter how "brilliant" everyone else thought something was.

I'm with you on buffets (don't like having to stand and too much to look at - would rather sit and order from the menu), the beach (prefer the shade and a sand-free pool), and pizza (too much bread).

Great post - and that GIF of the little girl and her hairbrush made me giggle!

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Thanks Petra :)

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Tony Lazarus's avatar

Fantastic read Shazbot. I whole-heartedly agree with you 10%.

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Jules's avatar

This is absolutely uncanny. I am with you on 99% of this post, and the remaining 1% is merely this: I quite like prosecco, although it gives me a bit of a head, and although I am not a swimmer or a sunbather, I like a beach. Having said that I don't have to be standing on it to enjoy it. 😆

Spas, fireworks, cruises - even Richard Ayoade and Bob Mortimer - I'm with you.

I am always put off by hype, and I never tied it in to being a Gen-Xer but it looks as if that might be it. I binge-watched Line of Duty YEARS after everyone had been raving about it, and very often only watch or listen to something a long time after everyone else has moved on. I guess I like to make my own mind up 😊 Brilliant post. Thank you.

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Ahhh thanks Jules. The beach is nice enough, but I find it a constant struggle! We are similar, and who doesn’t love Bob?!

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Wendy Varley's avatar

"Even when we embraced trends, we did so with irony, with one eyebrow permanently raised, as if to say, Sure, I might be into this, but don’t mistake it for blind enthusiasm." Oh yes! Tis me! (Though I'm a Boomer.)

I did laugh at Last One Laughing, though not as much as some – when the humour gets really base, I stop!

I felt like I was the only one in the cinema not laughing (or crying) along with the latest Bridget Jones.

Zig when others zag is a great way of putting it!

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Wendy, I’ve a real problem with the current run of women comedians who rely on crude. I think people tend to laugh more out of shock, but it’s so depressing they resort to that. Re. Your response to the latest Bridget Jones film, well you obviously zig too!

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Wendy Varley's avatar

I don’t much like men who rely on crude, either!

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

No, but in this instance a couple of the female comics relied heavily on base humour, and (puts Mary Whitehouse hat on) I just felt really disappointed, cos it should be a show that’s multi-generational viewing - but isn’t. Yes male comics were terribly sexist, some still are, but I see more and more female comedians relying on their bodies or crude talk *adjusts bosom* - now, more than ever. Not sure if they think it’s empowering, I dunno. The funniest comedians, regardless of sex, have never had to rely on that. It’s lazy really.

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Jason Killick's avatar

'Raised on Irony, Allergic to Hype' - spot on Sharon, and agree with many of the things you've written about so eloquently, but pizza.. come on!

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Sharon Joslyn's avatar

Thanks Jase, look, I’m not saying pizza isn’t good(ish), just not amazing! 😀

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