S8 Discussion Thread

[Mislav]

Hey Mislav. I found the juxtaposition of the childlike play and the sexual inference in sleepover to be disconcerting. Maybe it's my frame of reference. I don't think I'm alone, there are at least two who think so. Not falling about in stitches means I didn't find it funny either. Falling about in stitches refers to being breathless from laughter and getting a pain in the side, I think from localised cramping.

That is the best seat. Though in the open top buses you have watch for the drop bears. That's why here we only have single decks and they are closed in.

I know what falling in stitches means. I took it that your comment meant that you disagree with others who had written about experiencing such reaction. Since nobody had done that I was confused. One can find it off putting means that it is possible for a certain individual to find it off putting, not necessarily that only one person (or you) can find it off putting. And having somebody else agree on that too doesn't necessarily add much credibility to your argument.

I didn't find anything off about the inference since it was nothing major and they are grown ups after all, despite engaging in something that innocent. I personally find jokes about Bernadette being like Howard's mother to be much more off putting. You can find it (interfirence regarding Shamy) "disconcerting" if you want. But you didn't explain why you found it off putting. And simply writing off putting would mean that you found the whole scene off putting, not just a certain comment/moment, or that simply the fact that Amy is sexually mature and Sheldon isn't as much (if you don't mean physical maturity, that is) makes it off putting. That is something that you can expect people to question, and rightfully so.

I don't need dictionary definition of "falling in stitches", I just haven't found the previous post to be enough detailed/specific regarding that scene and your feelings about it, I also don't agree with most of your points/opinions regarding the matter, but that isn't as relevant now.

Edited April 28, 2015 by Mislav

[wowbagger]

That is the best seat. Though in the open top buses you have watch for the drop bears. That's why here we only have single decks and they are closed in. Or so I like to believe.

 

Stupid bears, ruining it for everyone. 

 

The double-decker bus thing reminds me of this moment in Spike Milligan's 'Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall' where Spike applies for the RAF (because flyboys get the girls). He's asked whether he's ever flown a 'plane and he replies 'No, but I have been on the top deck of a bus all by myself.'

[ATOB]

That is the best seat. Though in the open top buses you have watch for the drop bears. That's why here we only have single decks and they are closed in. Or so I like to believe.

Well, I'd like quote Kazzie from what she said about Ms Cuoco-Sweetings haircut and its effect on vascular tissues. So I dont think anything will be cut.

 

LOL @ drop bears!

 

I wonder if maybe Ms Cuoco-Sweeting should be forwarded this blog, perhaps if she heeds the advice within the ratings will go back up?

 

http://slingingthebull.com/fourteen-hints-for-becoming-more-feminine/

 

Where's that sign gone...oh yeah, here it is....

 

[Nogravitasatall]

Yes, a logical and mature one if you ask me (judging by meka3000's post, I mean).

Pedantry really. People use rhetorical flourishes and then others come in to make disproportionate claims about the intent and significance of that flourish. As they are quite entitled to do. That's why this site is such a value add. The fun never leaves the apartment.

[Guest]

Oh dear.

Understanding it does not mean there is nothing wrong with it. But what do you even mean by wrong in this instance?

There are reasons real adults don't do this. Sheldon has an apartment that he pays for. He does not need a fort since he has his own space.

 

It was cute but it's not real.

It's a sitcom. It's meant to be funny, not REAL. 

 

If Sheldon was in REAL life - Oh, good lord. I think you know what I'm getting at here. No one is like that in real life.

 

In REAL life, Penny and Leonard wouldn't be together. They don't match.

 

In REAL life, Sheldon and Amy wouldn't be together.

[Denise07]

And sometimes a fort is just a fort.

 

I can see why it didn't appeal to some fans. 

 

However, unless there is an interview somewhere I missed from TPTB that confirm symbolism and greater meaning to the fort, the rest are theories, IMO. 

 

For me, I am rather "meh" about it overall.  However, it did give Shamy a sleepover I think that's what TPTB were trying to create here (my theory).

 

It's also part of the reason too that I am left scratching my head re: Shamy in the S8 finale.  Well, and to be fair the Lenny initially had me scratching my head a bit too.  It still does a bit.  Have to see all  of this on-screen too because it could play in a way that makes sense and doesn't feel so out of left field. 

Edited April 28, 2015 by Denise07

[Tonstar17]

It's a sitcom. It's meant to be funny, not REAL.

If Sheldon was in REAL life - Oh, good lord. I think you know what I'm getting at here. No one is like that in real life.

In REAL life, Penny and Leonard wouldn't be together. They don't match.

In REAL life, Sheldon and Amy wouldn't be together.

And in real life. Love is blind and does not discriminate. No one gets to choose who their heart falls for.

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[djsurrey]

It's a sitcom. It's meant to be funny, not REAL. 

 

If Sheldon was in REAL life - Oh, good lord. I think you know what I'm getting at here. No one is like that in real life.

 

In REAL life, Penny and Leonard wouldn't be together. They don't match.

 

In REAL life, Sheldon and Amy wouldn't be together.

 

The first line was my point. I was responding to "there is nothing wrong with it". In a previous post I said I thought it was cute.

I asked what was meant by wrong in the context of TBBT that is not real.

 

Despite what others have said adults I know don't do this stuff unless kids are involved somehow.

And sometimes a fort is just a fort.

 

I can see why it didn't appeal to some fans. 

 

However, unless there is an interview somewhere I missed from TPTB that confirm symbolism and greater meaning to the fort, the rest are theories, IMO. 

 

For me, I am rather "meh" about it overall.  However, it did give Shamy a sleepover I think that's what TPTB were trying to create here (my theory).

 

It's also part of the reason too that I am left scratching my head re: Shamy in the S8 finale.  Well, and to be fair the Lenny initially had me scratching my head a bit too.  It still does a bit.  Have to see all  of this on-screen too because it could play in a way that makes sense and doesn't feel so out of left field. 

 

Like any work of art one can find meaning beyond the obvious regardless of the original intent.

[Mislav]

Pedantry really. People use rhetorical flourishes and then others come in to make disproportionate claims about the intent and significance of that flourish. As they are quite entitled to do. That's why this site is such a value add. The fun never leaves the apartment.

Yes, and commenting about poster "changing sides" when he/she posts something positive about a ship that isn't his/her OTP can be understood as grasping at straws or possible intolerance. But at least we have a sarcasm sign. That wasn't used in this particular case. Though I admit that I should be using it more often too.

The first line was my point. I was responding to "there is nothing wrong with it". In a previous post I said I thought it was cute.

I asked what was meant by wrong in the context of TBBT that is not real.

Despite what others have said adults I know don't do this stuff unless kids are involved somehow.

Like any work of art one can find meaning beyond the obvious regardless of the original intent.

I doubt that any adults you know are nerds living across the floor from a pretty blonde woman. Or that one of them is an engineer who managed to become an astronaut. Or that adults you know play secret agent laser obstacle chest.

It's a sitcom. It's meant to be funny, not REAL.

If Sheldon was in REAL life - Oh, good lord. I think you know what I'm getting at here. No one is like that in real life.

In REAL life, Penny and Leonard wouldn't be together. They don't match.

In REAL life, Sheldon and Amy wouldn't be together.

I've seen much worse people stay together for much longer then Lenny or Shamy in real life.

[fitzsimmons]

Oh boy, are we arguing about the maturity level of building a blanket fort and whether it's right or wrong now? New low.

 

All I'm going to say is that my friends and I built a blanket fort recently and it was awesome. So you can't say "that's not something adults do in real life." Now, you could argue that I'm not an adult, but then you'd be hurting my feelings, and that's just not something this forum does, right? 

[tallin]

And in real life. Love is blind and does not discriminate. No one gets to choose who their heart falls for.

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Careful. You're poking at the whole foundation of The Bachelor.   

[Stephen Hawking]

In REAL life, Sheldon and Amy wouldn't be together.

 

Actually, I think they would.

 

They're both brilliant scientists.

 

They're both socially anxious, to some degree.

 

They were both bullied and excluded, when they were younger.

 

Put simply, they're kindred spirits.

[Guest]

Actually, I think they would.

 

They're both brilliant scientists.

 

They're both socially anxious, to some degree.

 

They were both bullied and excluded, when they were younger.

 

Put simply, they're kindred spirits.

 

I get that. Maybe I was too brash - 

 

But I'm acknowledging Amy's patience.

[rachelshamyfan]

Shamy kiss 824

[Tonstar17]

What's going on in the Shamy thread? You would think there is a picture of Shamy kissing floating around. Beats me.

Edit. Oh.... lol

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Edited April 28, 2015 by Tonstar17

[bigbangsheldon]

the monkeys have released the pics and i think i have a nose bleed idk http://images.spoilertv.com/the-big-bang-theory/Season%208/Promotional%20Episode%20Photos/Episode%208.24%20-%20The%20Commitment%20Determination/

[Nogravitasatall]

Oh boy, are we arguing about the maturity level of building a blanket fort and whether it's right or wrong now? New low.

 

All I'm going to say is that my friends and I built a blanket fort recently and it was awesome. So you can't say "that's not something adults do in real life." Now, you could argue that I'm not an adult, but then you'd be hurting my feelings, and that's just not something this forum does, right?

Every summer for 20 years I pitched tents, tarps and strung ropes between trees. And in the early days of my relationship the two of us would go camping. Bevause it is fun. And we could get privacy. I didn't pitch the tent in the living room, because I knew a) I couldn't get the pegs into the floor and 2). I had a perfectly good bedroom. This is perhaps why I don't appreciate the metaphor. It made no sense to me, because if you want to go camping, go camping. To this day I'd rather camp than stay in a 5 star dog box when on holiday. I'm stretching here to make the analogy, but I have to contort to see the show's metaphor. And again, the cross over of the child like play and the very adult intent... let's say I didn't get that point and was distracted.

[djsurrey]

Every summer for 20 years I pitched tents, tarps and strung ropes between trees. And in the early days of my relationship the two of us would go camping. Bevause it is fun. And we could get privacy. I didn't pitch the tent in the living room, because I knew a) I couldn't get the pegs into the floor and 2). I had a perfectly good bedroom. This is perhaps why I don't appreciate the metaphor. It made no sense to me, because if you want to go camping, go camping. To this day I'd rather camp than stay in a 5 star dog box when on holiday. I'm stretching here to make the analogy, but I have to contort to see the show's metaphor. And again, the cross over of the child like play and the very adult intent... let's say I didn't get that point and was distracted.

 

Perhaps in California it is not possible to do this? When I was a kid I loved camping. Of course were I grew up the wilderness is not far. The Summer cabin was closer still.

We did not bother with blanket forts as kids. We had a tent and camping gear and headed west during summer vacation. The populations of Alberta and British Columbia are tiny compared to California.

 

West of Edmonton there is not much but the great outdoors, pine forests and Jasper National Park in the Rocky Mountains if one goes far enough.

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Edmonton,+AB/@53.578426,-115.2448415,8z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x53a0224580deff23:0x411fa00c4af6155d

 

One of the reasons I chose a moose for my profile photo is they can often be seen here or there on hwy 16 west of Edmonton.

Edited April 28, 2015 by djsurrey

[Chrismo]

Shamy kiss 824

That kiss is just so hot.

[Chrismo]

Bazinga

[Nogravitasatall]

Perhaps in California it is not possible to do this? When I was a kid I loved camping. Of course were I grew up the wilderness is not far. The Summer cabin was closer still.

We did not bother with blanket forts as kids. We had a tent and camping gear and headed west during summer vacation. The populations of Alberta and British Columbia are tiny compared to California.

West of Edmonton there is not much but the great outdoors, pine forests and Jasper National Park in the Rocky Mountains if one goes far enough.

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Edmonton,+AB/@53.578426,-115.2448415,8z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x53a0224580deff23:0x411fa00c4af6155d

One of the reasons I chose a moose for my profile photo is they can often be seen here or there on hwy 16 west of Edmonton.

Off topic. I had coffee in Red Deer once in a December. Cars were skating off the freeway. So cold. So icy. Didn't get to Edmonton.

And people camp in California. I saw a whole camp of tents on the roundabout at Venice Beach. But youse North American folk have bears, that can chase one up a tree. No camping for me under such conditions. I'd rather deal with the drop bears from above. I did enjoy WILD, with Reese Witherspoon. Amy should rent it for Sheldon. LOL

[phantagrae]

I don't think the fort was any kind of metaphor--for what?  Sometimes a fort is just a fort.

 

And, no, most 30-somethings wouldn't build blanket forts and have G-rated sleepovers, but we're talking about people with stunted social lives who didn't mature in the same way that most of us did.  Sheldon is still very much a child when it comes to certain things and play is one of them.

Most of us still play, we just play in different ways, or we play sports or whatever.

But when Sheldon plays he is all in--he pretends he has arrows in a quiver, he wears costumes and "becomes" the Flash, he puts on his engineer's hat when he plays with his toy trains.  In many ways, he never outgrew his inner child--it's still with him just under the surface.

Just because he has a job and pays rent and all that doesn't mean he's a completely mature grown-up.

 

And who says Amy is "sexually mature"?  She talks a good game and wants to go there, but she's pretty much just as inexperienced as Sheldon.  And again, if the shoe were on the other foot, where Sheldon wanted sex and Amy wasn't ready, would anyone think it was odd or immature or whatever?  Is it just that Sheldon is male that he's supposed to be eager to have an R-rated sleepover?

 

He wanted Amy to stay later than 10pm because he was enjoying himself and her company and their fort and didn't want it to end.  Amy suggested the sleepover, but she didn't suggest sex. She was saying PG, which probably meant making out or something.  But even a G-rated sleepover is a big step for Sheldon to take.  And even if Amy had been preparing for it by hiding a sleepover kit doesn't mean that it was about sex.

 

But the fort had nothing to do with privacy or sleeping together or camping or even adventure, really.  It was about having a cool fort that either of them would have enjoyed because of the ability to exclude others the way they had once been excluded.  That it was fun to be in and had lights strung up inside and a physics lending library were the extras that made it extra cool.

 

Camping with a significant other or sleeping in a bedroom had nothing to do with it.  They would have built the fort whether or not Amy stayed the night.  In fact, her sleeping over, or even staying past the date night curfew of 10pm, was never intended when they had the idea of building it.

[Nogravitasatall]

Ok, I don't get it. We all know where the creatives are trying to go, and sometimes I find that where they have started from inhibits that for me. I cannot readily find points of similarity from which to comprehend Sheldon's journey. It used to strike me as unlikely in the extreme that he would make this trip, anyway. I recently had thoughts about Bruce Jenner and was wondering if it's a similar thing, but my understanding of that is that the person has always been uncomfortable as they were. Sheldon was extremely comfortable as he was. Each time I try to frame Sheldon's story in a way that makes sense to me I am wrong it seems. It is beyond me apparently. I can intellectually see what is happening but I can't make the emotional connection to be moved by it, because I don't get it. And that's why I miss the bigger Leonard stories. I don't get caught up with Sheldon. I can't seem to comprehend him.

I'll just hope for happy resolutions in S9.

[djsurrey]

For me the appeal of Sheldon lies not in trying to rationalize him as a realistic character but as a caricature of a person who sometimes says things I feel but would never actually say. The other three guys in the gang serve the same purpose at different times. Sheldon is just the most exaggerated.

 

• Leonard representing insecurity
• Raj extreme shyness
• Howard used to be over confidence and now he is hen pecked
• Sheldon is over confidence, childish, OCD, avoidance....  ... but Leonard has introduced him to the rest of the human race and Amy is picking up where Leonard left him.

 

Bringing it back to the tent in season 8 I'm suggesting if Sheldon and Amy are caricatures of intelligent but somewhat socially inept individuals the blanket fort can be taken as a metaphor for replacing some bad childhood memory that they both had with a new positive shared experience. In the story telling a blanket fort was used. If this were a drama and not a sitcom some more realistic device/experience could be used. It moves Sheldon/Amy along much like "Super Mario brothers theme" from season 5 in the "The Launch Acceleration".

Edited April 29, 2015 by djsurrey

[Carlos]

I think we are arguing stupid things. If Sheldon wanted to make a fort in the living room because it made him feel good and not left out, and gave him a sense of inclusion or whatever that's fine. It doesn't matter if another adult does it or not. He did it and included Amy and had a good time doing so. I didn't find it particularly funny or appealing to me, and that part of the story didn't interest me that much, and that's also totally valid.

 

When people take one side or the other in the Shamy coitus issue, they say all kind of things to try to justify their positions, but the fact of the matter is that when it happens, if it happens and how it happens is something that only the writers know and whatever they decide cannot really be questioned too much, unless it screws up with the characters internal logic. I can certainly understand Amy getting tired of waiting, since that is a very valid reaction, but I can also understand Sheldon and his reluctance of moving that much forward because of how he is. The problem I see is that many times we use ourselves as points of reference, when the only thing that we should be using are the characters' past actions.