by the Night Writer

Earlier this week a group of ruffians high-jacked a comment thread at another blog with Monty Python and the Holy Grail references completely unrelated to the topic (perhaps the group thought it was time for something completely different). While I think any time is always a good time for a Monty Python digression, this particular frolic presages IFC culminating it’s week-long Python-fest with a broadcast tonight of the lads’ crowning glory, MP&THG at 9:00 p.m. CST.

I’ll probably watch at least part of it, even though I own the special edition anniversary DVD of the film (it’s a real hoot to watch the Lego version of the movie, or the version in Japanese with English subtitles that are hilariously inaccurate). I first saw this movie when I was in high school and then over and over again while in college, back before there were such things as VHS and seeing a favorite movie meant taking advantage of a midnight screening or some such. I did go a number of years without seeing the film, however, and when I did see it again I was amazed to see how many pieces of my daily (or almost-daily) vocabulary came from this movie; phrases such as “Nii!”, “Run away!”, “It’s just a flesh wound”, and “Let’s not bicker and argue over who killed who.”

I’m also pleased to report that, while my tastes in many thing diverge greatly from those of my wife and daughters, this movie has been a family favorite from the first time the girls watched it and were turned into giggling newts on the sofa (they got better). They quickly absorbed the dialogue and made it their own which makes me quite the proud father — though the Mall Diva’s mad skills did result in us getting thrown out of the Tower of London back in 2006.

So, fair warning, watch tonight at your own risk. If, however, you think you may ever need to know the air-speed velocity of European vs. African swallows, or what may be found in the Book of Armaments, or the ways of identifiying a witch, you’ll want to tune in.

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