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Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?


Yes 1 votes

No 15 votes

Who? 0 votes

What? 1 votes

metirish
Apr 26 2011 09:44 AM

Why the fuck is every news room in America going to England to cover the stupid fucking wedding?.....I think I am correct in saying that all the Evening News anchors are going or have huge team going to cover it.....


So back to my question , it's said ad nauseam how Americans are obsessed with the Royal family but I think that is largely bullshit and it's the media who are obsessed.


Interestingly the wedding is getting positive reactions in polling at home......the Queen will visit the Republic next month , the fist such visit since Independence , it's rightly so being seen as a watershed moment in relations between The Republic of Ireland the Britain.

Edgy DC
Apr 26 2011 10:01 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

It's totally out of control.











LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr
Apr 26 2011 10:04 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Think about how big an industry celebrity gossip is. Now you're adding actual princesses?

OF COURSE Americans care about the royal wedding.

Do I? Of course... that's why I'm here reading/writing about the June draft and foul lines and iPod contents.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Apr 26 2011 10:05 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Don't give a badger's git, or whatever you people say.

In an unrelated note, they showed "The King's Speech" on the plane and I really liked it, especially the beginning. I mean, it wasn't like he was gonna screw up the speech at the end.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr
Apr 26 2011 10:22 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

That's the KC pep squad?

Yeep. Between that and spray-tanned Long Island girls, I will choose death.

Chad Ochoseis
Apr 26 2011 10:27 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

I dunno. I'd happily take back row, third from left.

Why the fuck is every news room in America going to England to cover the stupid fucking wedding?.....


There's a wedding going on in England?


Seriously, my memory is that Charles and Di ate up a much greater proportion of the media coverage in 198whatever. But there was much less media then.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Apr 26 2011 10:28 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Corn-fed.

themetfairy
Apr 26 2011 10:52 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

I enjoy these things. Going as far as saying I care about it is probably overstating it. But the pomp and ceremony can be entertaining.

It doesn't have to be a royal wedding - I love a good wedding in general.

BTW, as far as pomp and ceremony, I don't think that anything will ever top the Michael Jackson funeral - that thing was made for ratings!

On a mostly unrelated note, I have decided that when I die, I would like G-Fafif to be in charge of my obituary.

Willets Point
Apr 26 2011 10:54 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

metirish wrote:
it's said ad nauseam how Americans are obsessed with the Royal family but I think that is largely bullshit and it's the media who are obsessed.


I think you nailed it here.

On the other hand there are a lot of people in the US who desire "small government" and monarchy is as small of a government as you can get. It's not surprising that the so-called liberal media (actually owned, operated, and controlled by right-wing corporate interests) wants to play up monarchy as a good thing in preparation for the ultimate suppression of "big government" (aka-representative democracy) in the United States.

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 26 2011 10:56 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

I voted no, but I do have a very slight interest. The royal family is interesting to me only in the genealogical/historical sense; they're continuing a tradition that goes back to William the Conqueror, and earlier. I don't care what Kate is wearing, or who Harry brings as a date, or any of that. But whether Prince Charles outlives his mother to become King Charles III, or if the crown passes directly to William... I confess I'm interested. Only very mildly, but I do find it interesting.

themetfairy
Apr 26 2011 10:57 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Chad Ochoseis wrote:


Seriously, my memory is that Charles and Di ate up a much greater proportion of the media coverage in 198whatever. But there was much less media then.


Diana had a magnetism that few will ever equal. There was something incredibly engaging about this teenager who was in the midst of what appeared to be a fairy tale story.

Largely as a result of Charles and Di's messy relationship and subsequent divorce, I don't think we look at these things as happily-ever-after tales anymore.

Willets Point
Apr 26 2011 11:05 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Benjamin Grimm wrote:
But whether Prince Charles outlives his mother to become King Charles III, or if the crown passes directly to William...


A guide for a tour I took in London mentioned that Prince Charles had promised his grandmother that he would take the name George VII in honor of his grandfather.

metirish
Apr 26 2011 11:40 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

themetfairy wrote:
[

Diana had a magnetism that few will ever equal. .



She was a whore.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Apr 26 2011 11:44 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

metirish wrote:
themetfairy wrote:
[

Diana had a magnetism that few will ever equal. .



She was a whore.


She lived like a fool and died like a fool.

metirish
Apr 26 2011 11:47 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote:
metirish wrote:
themetfairy wrote:
[

Diana had a magnetism that few will ever equal. .



She was a whore.


She lived like a fool and died like a fool.


this is easily fit in the "live by the sword" thread....

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 26 2011 11:50 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

metirish wrote:
themetfairy wrote:
Diana had a magnetism that few will ever equal. .


She was a whore.


I think my own opinion falls somewhere in the wide gap between the two stated above.

Willets Point
Apr 26 2011 12:13 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

metirish wrote:
themetfairy wrote:
[Diana had a magnetism that few will ever equal. .



She was a whore.


She was a human being with some good qualities and some bad qualities like anyone else, who due to an archaic institution was able to gain inordinate wealth, influence, and adulation merely by the circumstances of her birth and marriage. She also had to put up with a lot of shit and suffer an early death, which I don't think anyone deserves.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr
Apr 26 2011 12:37 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Magnetism, shmagmetism. Charles-and-Di was superbig for the same reason that Super Bowls and M*A*S*H* finales were, and why live sports and network TV aren't any more.

seawolf17
Apr 26 2011 12:41 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Willets Point wrote:
She was a human being with some good qualities and some bad qualities like anyone else, who due to an archaic institution was able to gain inordinate wealth, influence, and adulation merely by the circumstances of her birth and marriage. She also had to put up with a lot of shit and suffer an early death, which I don't think anyone deserves.

That'd be it.

Fman99
Apr 26 2011 12:57 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Fuck. No.

I hope that during the wedding Kate Whatshernuts shakes a turd out of her pants on TV like that chick did on Flavor Flav's reality show that time.

metirish
Apr 26 2011 01:09 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

You know the Brits get the day off from work?

seawolf17
Apr 26 2011 01:13 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

That said, though... Kate Middletown... Boy-oy-oing.

Edgy DC
Apr 26 2011 01:33 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

metirish wrote:
You know the Brits get the day off from work?

Why should that day be any different?

Oooh, snap!

HahnSolo
Apr 26 2011 02:00 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

metirish wrote:
You know the Brits get the day off from work?


Speaking of which, who the hell gets married on a weekday afternoon? Or, check that, who plans an elaborate wedding celebration for a weekday afternoon ? Was the church booked on Saturday?

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 26 2011 02:14 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

I thought of that too, but then realized that most of the guests probably don't have to worry about taking one of their limited vacation days to attend a Friday wedding.

Frayed Knot
Apr 26 2011 02:14 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Plus they discovered it was cheaper this way. Didn't have to pay anyone overtime.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr
Apr 26 2011 02:17 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Instead of $100M, it's a much-more reasonable $60M.

APROPOS-OF-VERY-LITTLE POP QUIZ: The one weekday non-"destination" wedding I ever attended:

A) Was held on a summer Friday in Staten Island, at the far-crappier of Staten Island's two large, public reception-hallish places.
B) Was delayed for approximately 2 hours while the wedding party's stretch Hummer limo-- the only wedding feature for which the bride and groom didn't "watch the costs" (groom's own words)-- was repaired roadside on the SIE, where it had broken down.
C) Featured a ceremony that took place outdoors, on the reception hall's unshaded parking lot... a reception hall that would not let wedding guests wait out the delay indoors, and only allowed certain guests to use the bathroom... and then only after the first 90 minutes of the wait.
D) Included a salad that sounded like crackling tinsel when you stuck a fork in it, and "grilled" chicken that broke said fork. Also, "high-grade" plastic cutlery.
E) Was absolutely, one-hundred-percent dry, with the only beverages being room-temperature decorative soda. It also featured shot glasses as the guest gifts.
F) All of the f*cking above.

Don't trust a weekday wedding, folks.

themetfairy
Apr 26 2011 02:22 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

The only weekday wedding I attended kind of doesn't count. It was a Friday, but it was the day after Thanksgiving. Late afternoon service followed by an evening reception, in 1987. IIRC, it was very nice.

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 26 2011 02:25 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

I got married on a Monday. No big deal, because there were no invited guests! (We eloped in Scotland.)

themetfairy
Apr 26 2011 02:36 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Which reminds me - I was indeed at a wedding on a Wednesday a year ago. But it was an elopement, and D-Dad and I stood up for our friends.

That was fun also, but in a different way.

Edgy DC
Apr 26 2011 02:38 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

I love that the Hummer was the non-negotiable. Is there any doubt the recession was coming for us? Do they even make civilian-grade Hummers anymore?

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr
Apr 26 2011 02:41 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

The shot glass got me laughing a little to myself, like someone having a quiet manic episode.

BetterHalfer said her goodbyes at that point*, and we beat feet to someplace with functioning air-conditioning. (Oh, yeah, the A/C in the hall was in-and-out. Forgot that part.)

*Her friends, natch. Even my Mormon friends wouldn't subject us to a dry wedding.

TransMonk
Apr 26 2011 03:02 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

HahnSolo wrote:
Speaking of which, who the hell gets married on a weekday afternoon? Or, check that, who plans an elaborate wedding celebration for a weekday afternoon ? Was the church booked on Saturday?

My ol' lady's friend from high school is getting married on Friday, May 20th. It is beacuse it is cheaper. My lady's standing up in the wedding, but I'm not asking off work for such crap.

themetfairy
Apr 26 2011 03:08 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

TransMonk wrote:
HahnSolo wrote:
Speaking of which, who the hell gets married on a weekday afternoon? Or, check that, who plans an elaborate wedding celebration for a weekday afternoon ? Was the church booked on Saturday?

My ol' lady's friend from high school is getting married on Friday, May 20th. It is beacuse it is cheaper. My lady's standing up in the wedding, but I'm not asking off work for such crap.


Trying to get those nuptials in before the world ends, no doubt!

seawolf17
Apr 26 2011 07:05 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

We got married on a Friday night to save money too. Ms. Wolf's parents gave us a budget and we stuck to it. We went cash bar, because (a) her family is small and really doesn't drink, (b) my mom's family is/was a bunch of raging alcoholics and I wasn't going to feed that on our dime, and (c) our friends didn't care. My dad was the only one who had a problem with the cash bar, so I told him to run a tab for his side; he did.

Ashie62
Apr 26 2011 07:06 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

metirish wrote:
You know the Brits get the day off from work?


Don't like the English much lol?

Willets Point
Apr 28 2011 08:58 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 28 2011 09:03 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

I like that cartoon that Willets posted.

If I were British, I'd be totally opposed to them living a life of luxury on the taxpayer's dime. (Or pence, I suppose.)

But since I'm not, I don't mind that the tradition has carried on.



Craig Ferguson recently raised an interesting point about all this. He said at William's bachelor party, when he's shoving money into a stripper's garter, is he going to be bothered by the fact that the money has his grandmother's face on it?

themetfairy
Apr 28 2011 09:05 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

I think that it's less about Americans being obsessed with the Royals than it is the fact that Americans love big spectacles.

There will never be a wedding on American soil that comes anywhere near this kind of scale, which makes it an appealing curiosity.

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 28 2011 09:23 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

What about Luke and Laura?

themetfairy
Apr 28 2011 09:28 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Benjamin Grimm wrote:
What about Luke and Laura?


If they held that outside, crowds would have swarmed the streets.

But they didn't so people couldn't. It's just not done like that here. We occasionally have funerals on that kind of a massive scale, but not weddings.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr
Apr 28 2011 09:30 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

That's because they're OBLIGATED to make it a public spectacle. It's not like the Windsors are known for being fantastic patrons of great art, or sponsoring revolutionary breakthroughs in other fields; this is what they do-- stiff upper lips during crises, and big-ass royal weddings.

There have been weddings kindasorta as lavish on American soil before; they just haven't been taxpayer-funded, or open-to-the-public (think most big-ass celeb weddings, or JFK Jr.-Carolyn Bessette).

themetfairy
Apr 28 2011 09:32 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote:
That's because they're OBLIGATED to make it a public spectacle. It's not like the Windsors are known for being fantastic patrons of great art, or sponsoring revolutionary breakthroughs in other fields; this is what they do-- stiff upper lips during crises, and big-ass royal weddings.

There have been weddings kindasorta as lavish on American soil before; they just haven't been taxpayer-funded, or open-to-the-public (think most big-ass celeb weddings, or JFK Jr.-Carolyn Bessette).


Agreed.

We just don't see that kind of thing here. Which is why it's something that piques curiosity.

Willets Point
Apr 28 2011 09:36 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

My wedding was frickin' awesome! Such spectacle.

metirish
Apr 28 2011 09:40 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Willets Point wrote:




luv it mate......

themetfairy
Apr 28 2011 11:04 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Willets Point wrote:
My wedding was frickin' awesome! Such spectacle.


And just like Kate and William, you left me off the guest list....

Willets Point
Apr 28 2011 11:55 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

themetfairy wrote:
Willets Point wrote:
My wedding was frickin' awesome! Such spectacle.


And just like Kate and William, you left me off the guest list....


I thought we invited you and you had prior obligations.

metirish
Apr 28 2011 12:01 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

I wonder if Wills will get a bit of annus horribilis action tomorrow night.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr
Apr 28 2011 12:35 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Well, yeah, it hasn't been the best year, what with austerity measures and all that jazz, but I'm not sure I'd say it's been that ba-- oh.

Ashie62
Apr 28 2011 01:01 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

It will be a helluva parade.

16 hours William, live dammit, live!

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 28 2011 01:05 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

I didn't realize there was gonna be a parade.

I just hope that the Cat in the Hat balloon doesn't attack anyone.

themetfairy
Apr 28 2011 01:20 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Willets Point wrote:
Willets Point wrote:
My wedding was frickin' awesome! Such spectacle.


And just like Kate and William, you left me off the guest list....


I thought we invited you and you had prior obligations.


If that's the case then I apologize.

Damn memory and old age....

smg58
Apr 28 2011 01:52 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

So naturally, when I saw the thread title I was wondering why anybody thought people were obsessing over the Kansas City Royals.

Frayed Knot
Apr 28 2011 01:55 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Benjamin Grimm wrote:
I didn't realize there was gonna be a parade.

I just hope that the Cat in the Hat balloon doesn't attack anyone.



Y'know Kate's family - being commoners and having to actually work for a living at one point - made their money in amusement supplies and the like, including such things as the 'moon bounce' that kids jump around on. What do you suppose the odds are that one of those things makes an appearance during the reception? That'd be cool. Right after you toast a bunch of stuffy dignitaries it's everyone into the backyard for the moon bounce!!

If they had that I'd watch.

Willets Point
Apr 28 2011 01:59 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Frayed Knot wrote:
Right after you toast a bunch of stuffy dignitaries it's everyone into the backyard for the moon bounce!!

If they had that I'd watch.


The backyard? Do you mean Green Park?

Vic Sage
Apr 28 2011 02:02 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

metirish wrote:
Willets Point wrote:




luv it mate......


this

themetfairy
Apr 28 2011 02:10 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

[youtube:3jggm3vc]bnJ3dMAZDuU&feature=fvst[/youtube:3jggm3vc]

duan
Apr 28 2011 04:08 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

while I don't give a flying fuck about the royal wedding it isn't just the yankee doodle dandies going all coo coo about it. In Ireland there's borderline hysteria among a huge portion of the population. It's all about the 'style' allegedly :)
anyway good luck to the pair of them, while as Morrissey so accurately stated the Royal family are effectively a bunch of benefit scroungers I've no particular ill will against them. It ain't their fault the 'British' public wants to pay them for being themselves.

metirish
Apr 28 2011 05:15 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

They won't be making the cover of HotPress then?

duan
Apr 28 2011 07:21 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

actually there's a chance that we'll have the one of the two visiting heads of state on the cover over next couple of weeks, but i'll tell ya more when i can :)

cooby
Apr 28 2011 08:34 PM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

I just hope they are happier than Charles and Di and Whoever It Was and Fergie were.

metirish
Apr 29 2011 06:33 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Who else was married on this day you ask?

Hitler married Eva Braun on april 29. 1945 , just saying.....

Frayed Knot
Apr 29 2011 07:12 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

metirish wrote:
Who else was married on this day you ask?

Hitler married Eva Braun on april 29. 1945 , just saying.....


And there's a good chance that William's great-great-uncle along with Mrs. Simpson were at the ceremony.
OK, maybe not because the logistics would have been a bit tough to work out, but they probably sent a gift.

Willets Point
Apr 29 2011 07:23 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

metirish wrote:
Who else was married on this day you ask?

Hitler married Eva Braun on april 29. 1945 , just saying.....


Talk about rotten honeymoons.

Edgy DC
Apr 29 2011 07:54 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

We actually got two threads of three pages each out of this.

TransMonk
Apr 29 2011 08:03 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Is the Crane Pool obsessed with the Royals?

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 29 2011 08:06 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

Google's logo for today:

Willets Point
Apr 29 2011 08:08 AM
Re: Are Americans Obsessed With the Royals?

http://www.whyamericansshouldcareaboutt ... dding.com/