the "who wants to be a millionaire?" saga

there are two things that michael and i do that i can see irritates my children (probably a whole lot more but these are the most apparent).  the first one is cape talk on a sunday (this also gives daughter caroline the "no feeling").  they don't care for it on any day but a whole afternoon of it on sundays is just too much.  sunday is golden oldie day (some good, some very bad) but to me it is fine to have playing in the background, in the kitchen while you garden or cook.  as much as i like putting on my own music (usually when michael is not around or in the car) sunday's golden oldies are quite comforting to me.   if i look back on my teens, i can also remember my mother having patricia carr on the radio on a sunday. she had the most depressing voice ever and it was at a time that dalene and i would rather be listening to john berks on radio 5 but my mother insisted on "the english service" (whatever it was called, i forget) or springbok radio.

second on the irritation list is "who wants to be a millionaire?" on dstv (channel 120) nearly every night at 7.30.  we both enjoy the show and chris tarrant is a great quiz master.  but what makes it more enjoyable for me is just to watch how engrossed michael gets in the show (nevermind the fact that when you spy the cheque he waves in front of the contestant it is dated 2005 - sometimes even 2002).  it is also not so much about the questions asked but about the choices the contestants make.  michael sometimes gets himself into quite a state and often when i look over at him he is pretty teary about the sum of money the contestant has won (or lost).   but then again michael gets teary in front of the television quite often.  during big golf competitions he is often wiping his eyes (rory mcilroy made him extremely emotional for days afterwards). he has watched "sleepless in seattle" more than 15 times and each time he cries.  "nottinghill" is another one that he starts crying every time he hears "after all... i'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her" and by the time we get to the pink shirt part:-

P.R. Chief: Next question? Yes. You in the pink shirt.
William: Uh, right. Miss Scott, are there any circumstances that you and he might be more than just friends.
Anna Scott: I hoped that there would be but I've been assured that there's not.
William: Yes, but what if...
P.R. Chief: I'm sorry. Just the one question.
Anna Scott: No. It's alright. You were saying?
William: I was just wondering what if this person...
Journalist: Thacker. His name is Thacker.
William: Right. Thanks. What if, uh, Mr. Thacker realized that he had been a daft prick and got down on his knees and begged you to reconsider if you would... indeed... reconsider.
Anna Scott: [pause] Yes. I believe I would.
William: That's wonderful news. The readers of Horse and Hound will be relieved. 

we are both toast.  nothing better than having a little cry together even if while watching "who wants to be a millionaire?"

back to "who wants to be.........?".  in all the time that we have been watching we have only seen 2 contestants win the million (apparently only 5 have ever won it in the uk and one won fraudulently).  i have tried to explain to the boys that we are not watching re-runs and that we have never seen these "old" shows before.  however, on sundays it does happen to be a re-run of the previous week's episodes and michael sometimes tunes in for his mum to watch (one show because of the sub-titles she can participate in - she is pretty damn good on anything about shakespeare, english history and to do with the bible (my phone a friend for sure)).  she is then amazed at michael's intellect and how he "has such a great general knowledge".  not as clever however as the "clever dick" below - have you seen this usa winner? (worth a watch if you have not seen it).  it takes arrogance to a whole new level:-

matthew is home at the moment for a couple of days and was checking out what we have stored on our pvr (we are still trying to master the pvr remote).  for some reason i have been recording all the "who wants to be a millionaire?" episodes for the last 4 months (ever since we got the pvr) and the hard drive is full.   "so", says he, "you watch it most evenings, at the same time recording it, to re-watch  the re-runs of 2002 sometime in the future? -  makes sense."   cheeky child!!