br23 blog - minsk, belarus

I’ve been feeling a bit depressed lately, so we decided to rent something funny today, ended up taking a DVD with six episodes of “Friends” from their first year (1994). And the very first episode that we see had a weird reference to Minsk as a kind of place where American physicists are dying to get to. It’s hillarious:

[Max runs in, excited]
Max: Phoebe. Hi.
Phoebe : Oh, hi Max! Hey, do you know everybody?
Max: No. Have you seen David?
Phoebe : No, no, he hasn’t been around.
Max: Well, if you see him, tell him to pack his bags. We are going to Minsk.
Phoebe : Minsk?
Max: Minsk. It’s in Russia.
Phoebe : I know where Minsk is.*
Max: We got the grant. Three years, all expenses paid.
Phoebe : So when, when do you leave?
Max: January first…

[Scene 5: Max and David’s lab. They are working. Phoebe knocks on the door]
Phoebe : Hello?
David: Hey!
Phoebe : Hi.
David: Hi! [Kisses her] What-what’re you doing here?
Phoebe : Um, well, Max told me about Minsk, so [Puts on a fake cheery voice] congratulations! This is so exciting!
Max: It’d be even more exciting if we were going.
Phoebe : Oh, you’re not going? [Fake disappointed voice] Oh, why?
Max: Tell her, David. ‘I don’t wanna go to Minsk and work with Lifson and Yamaguchi and Flench, on nonononononono. I wanna stay here and make out with my girlfriend!!’ [Storms out]
David: Thank you, Max. Thank you.
Phoebe : So-so you’re really not going?
David: I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I just- you decide.
Phoebe : Oh don’t do that.
David: Please.
Phoebe : Oh no no.
David: No, but I’m asking-
Phoebe : Oh, but I can’t do that-
David: No, but I can’t-
Phoebe : It’s your thing, and-
David: -make the decision-
Phoebe : Okay, um, stay.
David: Stay.
Phoebe : Stay.
[He thinks for a moment and sweeps the stuff off the table]
Phoebe : Getting so good at that! [She hops on]
David: It was Max’s stuff. [They kiss]

[…David is feeding Phoebe popcorn. Max walks up]
Phoebe : Hi, Max!
Max: Yoko. [To David] I’ve decided to go to Minsk without you.
David: Wow.
Max: It won’t be the same- but it’ll still be Minsk. Happy New Year.[Walks off]
Phoebe : Are you alright?
David: Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine.
[Phoebe leads David into a bedroom]
Phoebe : You’re going to Minsk.
David: No, I’m… not going to Minsk.
Phoebe : Oh, you are so going to Minsk. You belong in Minsk. You can’t stay here just ’cause of me.
David: Yes I can. Because if I go it means I have to break up with you, and I can’t break up with you.
Phoebe : Oh yes, yes, yes you can. Just say, um, ‘Phoebe, my work is my life and that’s what I have to do right now’. And I say ‘your work?! Your work?! How can you say that?!’. And then you say, um, ‘it’s tearing me apart, but I have no choice. Can’t you understand that?’. And I say [Hits him] ‘no! No! I can’t understand that!’.
David: Uh, ow.
Phoebe : Ooh, sorry. Um, and, and then you put your arms around me. And then you put your arms around me. [He does so] And, um, and then you tell me that you love me and you’ll never forget me.
David: I’ll never forget you.
Phoebe : And then you say that it’s almost midnight and you have to go because you don’t wanna start the new year with me if you can’t finish it. [They kiss] I’m gonna miss you. You scientist guy.

* - This is 1994, and probably the production took place in 1993, so it was only two-three years after Belarus gained independence. And the most funny thing is not their ignorance about Belarus, but the way they are excited about going to Minsk for three years. ;)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 4th, 2005 at 10:58 pm and is filed under America, Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.