And: The Big Bang Theory

While your blogger loves egg salad, equivalency, and the Egg Salad Equivalency, they also can’t review the same episode twice.
As a result, upon scanning social media for the hottest BBT topics, I experimented with a Google search of  “The Big Bang Theory and…”

The first auto fill read: philosophy.

So, what do all of you have to say about the Big Bang Theory and philosophy?

First, that there’s a book on the subject, titled nothing less than The Big Bang Theory and Philosophy. Sounds like the sort of college textbook I wished I used.

The description reads:

“Ever wonder what Aristotle might say about the life Sheldon Cooper leads? Why Thomas Hobbes would applaud the roommate agreement? Who Immanuel Kant would treat with "haughty derision" for weaving "un-unravelable webs?" And—most importantly—whether Wil Wheaton is truly evil? Of course you have. Bazinga!”

Whether or not you’ve ever been as curious as the hopeful author denotes, the book philosophically charges characters like Sheldon Cooper’s more elevated ideas, like the roommate agreement, the zombie pact, cloning, and other broad (nerdy) topics.

“andphilosophy.com” (hey!) asks:

“Why would Thomas Hobbes applaud the roommate agreement? Why would Immanuel Kant heap haughty derision upon weaving un-unravelable webs? Is Sheldon’s “scientistic” approach to everyday life healthy or doomed to failure? Is Wil Wheaton truly evil?”

Silly website, of course Wheaton is evil!

While the idea behind a scientist approach versus a “scientist-ic” approach might be fascinating for some, I don’t know across which broad audiences the book actually reaches. Will some fans think the scrutiny too much? Do the rest of you put the Big Bang Theory underneath the sitcom label and leave it there to cycle and repeat?

Whatever you think of philosophy, I call the book worth an exerpt at best; especially since the only “philosophy” I found pertaining to BBT had to do with it’s real-life solar molecular cousin.

Get Psyched

Barney probably turns his nose up with disdain at the flavor of current Top 40, but we know he has an ear for eardrum-bursting, bass-booming classic rock and other psychedelic tunes. How? He’s crafted before, on the show How I Met Your Mother, a self-proclaimed Get Psyched mix aimed to please (and to shake the ordinarily bored and apathetic Ted Mosby out of his rut).

But where does the “psych” really end? Does the show lack in a network-confirmed or otherwise fan-made Volume 2? And what songs are missing that scream Barney Stinson’s name through the hills? If they’re not alive with the sound of music, they’re alive with something.

The setlist for the episode itself runs as follows:

I Wanna Rock - Twisted Sister

You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi

Lick It Up - Kiss

Paradise City - Guns N' Roses

Dancing with Myself - Billy Idol

Rock You Like a Hurricane - The Scorpions

Panama - Van Halen

Talk Dirty to Me - Poison

Thunderstruck - AC/DC

Dr. Feelgood - Mötley Crüe

Round and Round – Ratt

Can we take a second and track the progression of the night this CD predicts, a second? It starts off pumped, but what does anyone gain from dancing with themselves when they get to Paradise City? I don’t think they’d want anyone to “take me home” then, either (though I do love that song).
Then, a few crash and burn pick-up lines later, they need some kind of doctor for their spins—not sure if Mötley Crüe can give that sort of practical medical advice.

Missing tracks, add-ins in other versions (the Barney’s Blog Bro Code editions) include:

You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi

The Humpty Dance - Digital Underground

Don't Stop Believin' - Journey

You're the Best Around - Joe Esposito

Tom Sawyer - Rush

The Transformers Theme - Vince DiCola with Optimus Prime

Come Sail Away - Styx

Free Bird (second half only) - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield

High Enough - Damn Yankees

Hip Hop Hooray - Naughty by Nature

“Second half only.” Sounds like a good summary for the half of the CD they’ll forget after a night like this.

Don't Bogart all the Funions

“I hate when people misuse that word.”

“Me too, but you literally just got here.”

The plot lies at the heart of this episode’s central nervous system: Lily, systematically nervous over her potentially-angsty Italian job opportunity. Can she uproot Marshall and Marvin when she herself is too scared to move more than ten subway stops from her Brooklyn birthplace?

When the Captain calls, inviting her to move to Rome with him and be his art consultant there, she goes back and forth twice over the prospect. Not across the pond, either. She denies his offer twice for fluctuating reasons.
Never mind Marshall now spends his days getting reamed; though knowing so certainly helps her final decision.

In the meantime, Ted, Robin and Barney remain mystified by the couple’s new (for some) wedding planner…and what’s under that jacket! After Ted insists the planner actually has a “redonkulus” (his carefully-selected words) Yoga physique, the three plot to have her remove the garment during their meeting at MacLaren’s. The endeavor seemed worth Barney’s one hundred dollars’ effort to turn up the pub’s heat—literally.

While Lily and Marshall chase Captains and carry-on’s, Ted notices from afar Barney doesn’t seem to be acting like an ex-bachelor anytime soon. While Robin definitely proves herself “the cool fiancé,” and while Ted’s been toning down his average Ted-ness…did anyone else find Barney’s blunt assurance a little too sharp? Ted did the mature thing, backing down, but his broseph edge put this blogger on guard. Methinks thou doth protest too much?

Or maybe I have an eternal soft spot for our lonely series hero.

Marshall can distract with his “Italian” all he likes, but he won’t be able to pheromone us away from the true questions at hand. I’m still curious if Lily managed to contact the Captain a third time. And if Barney is, in fact, hiding some pre-wedding woes. And what on earth’s under Robin’s coat?
Wait.

The One With "The Knot"

With every good sitcom comes a good nuptial; then again, not sure I need to tell this crowd that, the same one studiously waiting for Robin and Barney’s wedding along with Ted and the ubiquitous Mother’s.

But your blogger found a list of the top 19 sitcom weddings and—out of curiosity—combed through to see where our favorites ranked, and why. The results fall as follows:

#5 Ross and Emily, F.R.I.E.N.D.S

I feel badly that every wedding hitherto led to successful relationships. And then there’s Ross.

“I, Ross, take thee…Rachel…”

In all fairness, Rachel realized in the same episode she loved Ross in return and flew to London to tell him. Still, this isn’t the first time Ross’ insensitivity got him into trouble; he nearly put their whole wedding on blast when he told Emily it’s “now or never” when they discovered their location was soon to be demolished.

#11 Monica and Chandler, F.R.I.E.N.D.S

(Number 11?! I hope these don’t fall in favorites order!)

In this dual-episode Season 7 finale, Monica follows through with her rose-petal-and-candle proposal by marrying the “can I be anymore lucky?” Chandler Bing. Joey sealed the deal in what I consider to be the sweetest ceremony this side of ten seasons.

#13 Lily and Marshall, How I Met Your Mother

Finally, one from the HIMYM cast and crew. Ted and Robin may have stolen a lot of the show (or maybe just Barney’s show), but Lily and Marshall got to enjoy every bit of their much anticipated—though not such a long time coming—wedding. Everything, at least, but the food. Now we’ll never know if the spread or cake were legen…wait for it…

#14 Bernadette and Howard, The Big Bang Theory

I dub thee, wedding, the most creative wedding on the list! The satellite-struck astronaut and his breadwinning new bride had their entire ceremony, given away by not one, but five of their closest friends: Penny, Leonard, Amy, Sheldon, and Google Earth.

Read more about what sitcoms earned their spots here!

To Life

Ten guesses to point to the blogger most amused that there exists a Drugs and Alcohol section of Sheldon Cooper’s Wikipedia page.

On an unrelated note, let’s spend the sub-sequential Rerun Thursday by poking fun at our beloved double-Ph.D. scientist. Or perhaps just his drugs and alcohol mishaps.

I use the term “drugs” loosely, in that he considers coffee (and large amounts of caffeine, I presume) a drug. Promising his mother he would abstain from “all drugs,” he sticks to the less caffeinated fizzy drinks and absolutely no coffee, wine, hard liquor, Long Island ice tea, and valium.
Needless to say, he’s fallen off the map a time or five.

Valium

In one of the first aired (and hilarious) episodes, Howard tries to drug Sheldon to sleep while he hops from apartment to apartment, kicked out by a frustrated Leonard. The Valium could probably have keeled a horse, but did little more than cause Sheldon to ramble incessantly and bump into furniture. Though as per the plot’s request, Leonard discovered Penny’s big secret, and Sheldon discovered he was the Dark Knight.

Wine

Most notably in The Pants Alternative, Sheldon finds a pants…alternative…as the title might suggest. Before a key awards speech, Penny gives Sheldon alcohol to settle his nerves. The alcohol worked so well it settled Sheldon’s comedy career option (there won’t be one) and sliding britches (onto the ground, when he mooned the audience). Then promptly posted to YouTube under “Physicist Melts Down.”

Long Island Ice Tea

Once again, we can blame Penny’s wiles for Sheldon’s lack of perception, when she gives him Long Island “ice tea” while he rants about his nemesis, Wil Wheaton. He doesn’t understand the alcoholic nature of the tea, nor does Penny make a very genuine effort to inform him. Instead, the tea advised Sheldon to buy bus fare and defend his lady’s honor on Wheaton’s front porch.

What’s your favorite Sheldon moment—a sane (“sane”) scene, or drugged debacle?