Blast from the past

I recently found myself needing to watch a comedy over the weekend, and having exhausted all other potentialities to tickle my funny bone, I found myself at the footsteps of a famous show called “M*A*S*H*.” Very nearly akin to the comedy “Friends” from my high school time, “M*A*S*H*” was the evening comedy of my father’s generation about the Korean Conflict and a small mobile hospital on the front lines of the war. Apply a dash of wit, a cross-dressing corporal and a set of surgeons that can’t keep themselves out of the nurses’ tent, watch the shenanigans and meatball surgery ensue.

As much as I have enjoyed washing (or drowning) myself in this comedy from my dad’s generation over the weekend, it got me thinking about other great stories that people may have lost out on. To put things in perspective, consider the incoming freshmen class. Born roughly around the arena of 1993 to ’94, they may miss out on “The Lion King,” “Forrest Gump,” “True Lies, The Mask,” “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Dumb and Dumber” and “The Shawshank Redemption.”

A quick Google search going back shows “The Sandlot and Jurassic Park” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” from 1993, “Aladdin,” “Ferngully” and “Under Siege” from 1992, and movies like the original “Home Alone” and the original “Total Recall” from as far back as 1990. Before I was born (August ‘86 for anyone counting), there was “ET” in ‘82 and “Airplane!” in 1980. The list goes on and on, though, if by this time you haven’t seen “Star Wars” (1977), you are officially no longer allowed to start a conversation with me. Sorry, but that’s the rule that I’m now instituting, deal with it.

The next time you’re hankering for something to do over the weekend while you’re dodging homework assignments, spin the wheel of movies from a decade before you were born and see what comes up. You may be surprised by the quality (and sometimes the atrocious lack thereof) of what you end up watching. You may find something to laugh at even if it’s not supposed to be hilarious.

Stanley is a senior majoring in computer science.