My name is Inigo Montoya...

Well, ok it's not really. But it could be. Deed poll and all that...

The Princess Bride is on tv on Sunday. It's easily one of my favourite films of all time, for reasons that are entirely transparent to anyone who knows me. Oddly enough my first encounter with the film, a little over a decade ago now, came through a case of mistaken identity. For reasons that I now can't entirely remember I had a snippet of dialogue stuck in my head: "The potion with the poison is in the vessel the pestle, the flagon with the dragon holds the brew that is true." and someone told me that it came from The Princess Bride. I went on a hunt to find the film in question and eventually tracked it down. I should have been mildly disappointed by the fact that it was the wrong film entirely (I'll hazard a guess that most of you have already identified the correct source of the quote as Danny Kaye's rather wonderful The Court Jester), but I wasn't. Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, True Love, miracles and maybe the odd kiss or two. Not to mention some inanely quotable dialogue:

"We'll never survive!"

"Nonsense, you're only saying that because no one ever has."

Who could ask for anything more? Oh, and I haven't even mentioned that it contains perhaps the single greatest swordfight in the history of cinema. Yes, that sword fight. And yes, I am left handed.

I only bring all this up, because I won't be watching it on Sunday afternoon (although if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it - Channel 4 Sunday 3:30pm - be there). Not because I wouldn't like to, but rather because I'll likely be busy this weekend. If I wasn't then I'd happily sit down to watch it, regardless of the fact that I own it on dvd and can thusly watch it at pretty much any time of my choosing. Why? For the same reason that I choose to watch 24 on terrestrial channels rather than on digital which is a week ahead - namely because I've come to realise that watching television is strangely social phenomenon, even if you happen to be watching alone. Partly it's because it provides something to discuss with friends at work - my social skills being what they are I'll gratefully accept anything that provides a common frame of reference for a discussion (and by golly it beats having to show an interest in football), and partly it's because there's something comforting about the realisation that other people, in their tens of thousands or perhaps even millions, are experiencing near exactly the same thing you are. I'll admit that both instances only provide a poor sort of connection, but it's still a connection of sorts. And from little acorns do mighty oaks grow.

Although I'm still waiting for my acorn to sprout...