OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUD: where we complain about popular things in media we don't like to feel better about ourselves

[Booyakasha]

I've seen roughly ten episodes of 'Simpsons' in my life.

Mom didn't let us watch it when we were kids, and so it isn't really in my wheelhouse. People will reference the show and mug to me, and I'm forced to admit I have no idea what they're doing or talking about. I know what a Mister Plow is, but it isn't in my brain, the way, like, 'Who's on First' and 'Make Em Laugh' and Goofy Sports are.

...I hate to denigrate my mom, but she sort of denied us a cultural touchstone. Everyone else knows Simpsons stuff, and I'm on the outside looking in. She made sure to show us 'The Passion of St. Joan' and 'Patton' and 'The Longest Day' and 'The Searchers' when we were kids, she gave me copies of 'Le Morte d'Arthur' and Chaucer's 'Tristan and Isolde' for my twelfth birthday, she asked me to learn Latin in high school, but 'Simpsons' was beyond the pale? My mom is weird, man. She's a good lady, but that doesn't mean she isn't also a mental-case.

[CaptHayfever]

Yeah, my parents wouldn't let us watch Simpsons either when we were little. And by the time we were old enough, South Park, Family Guy, & Futurama were all already established & seemed a lot more interesting anyway, & I was about to get really into Adult Swim too. Most of what I know about Simpsons is through cultural osmosis.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

I was surprisingly allowed to watch The Simpsons as a kid, my parents were more strict with other stuff like Beavis & Butthead and South Park. They even toyed with the idea of not letting me watch Pokemon, so I don't know how Simpsons got through.

[Booyakasha]

Yeah. You know, Ma didn't mind us watching 'Beavis and Butthead', or 'Married With Children', or...like, old racist-ass 'All in the Family'. She was fine with me watching Archie Bunker saying slurs, calling Sammy Davis "the ace of spades" (which...it's clever, but it's wrong. I have to admire the joke but also despise the bigotry. That's a backflip), but she would not let us watch 'Simpsons'. That's a little odd.

Maybe she just took the church bulletin a little too seriously. I don't know. I'll never know.

[Deku Tree]

I didn't really have those sorts of restrictions. I was watching Heavy Metal and the Howard Stern movie before I was even old enough to get the sex references. My mom had a real 60s hippy attitude about all that.

[CaptHayfever]

I couldn't watch Beavis & Butthead, but I could watch Daria.
Though, to be fair, Daria was a much better show.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Booyakasha]

'Daria' is better than 'Beavis and Butthead', but I don't know that there's anything on Earth better than 'Beavis and Butthead Do America'. That's like unto the exemplar of making the silk purse from the sow's ear.

You hear the expression "better than it has any right to be", and that sums up 'Beavis and Butthead Do America' perfectly.

[Deku Tree]

The one-off revival season of Beavis and Butthead was hilarious too. The second movie was alright, but it's no 'Beavis and Butthead Do America'.

[Booyakasha]

...that just sort of seems to be the way. We were just talking about TTG!, and the movie was way better than the show. I liked the 'South Park' flick way more than the show (although that isn't strictly fair, I like Trey Parker and Matt Stone's stuff as a matter of course), and I think I'd like the MLPFiM movie even if I hadn't been a hideous brony beforehand.

I think the possibility of a cinematic release makes people try harder. There's a certain prestige to it---------------the thought of a gala event, showing up in a stretch limousine and walking a red carpet. Everyone in their snazziest suits and prettiest dresses. And so they punch up. Good for them. Even if it's not really for the right reasons, good for them. I understand.

[Booyakasha]

...boy oh boy, do I hate it when people nitpick stupid garbage.

I mean, I'm a million percent guilty of it myself (hastou seen the first twenty pages of this topic, perchance?), but why do people go after the life-raft plane jump in 'Temple of Doom'? In all honesty, you should just disregard logic. Don't pretend the plane jump is dumb and detracts from the super-realistic story about Indy and the magic rocks.

Don't overthink it. It's supposed to be fun.

[CaptHayfever]

The only thing that I complain about in Temple of Doom is Billie.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

"Supposed to be fun", yeah, but the movies are a bit too silly for my liking (loved Temple of Doom as a kid though). The new one is looking pretty bad but some of the criticisms of it I've heard aren't really fair, saying the action scenes look bad. That's kind of an Indiana Jones staple, they were always ridiculous and dumb.

[Booyakasha]

^^Oh, for Cliff's sake. 'Billie', huh? Compatriot of Cincinatti Bones and his Korean friend Small Circle, I presume?

[Booyakasha]

So here's a fun little one.

All throughout the history of the English language, the word 'despicable' was evidently pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable. And that's weird, and unnatural-sounding.

Evidently it took Daffy Duck 'mis'pronouncing it in the cartoons for it to eventually work itself around to not sounding stupid. I love that Daffy Duck, with his attitude problem and lisp and frequently kasploded head, inadvertantly made the world a better, less despicable place.

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

I can't really think of how that would even sound.

[Booyakasha]

It sounds stupid. You gots to front-end-load all the syllables into the 'des', and then the rest just tumble out the back-ass. Compare the new pronunciation to 'applicable' or 'original'. Sounds nice. Rolls off the tongue, dunnit?

Iambs, man. Everything sounds better in meter that doesn't suck. The old 'despicable' sounds dumb and weird because it isn't iambic. Good old Daffy gave us a better 'despicable', and got his beak blown off a kabillion times for it. Martyr.

[CaptHayfever]

^^Oh, for Cliff's sake. 'Billie', huh? Compatriot of Cincinatti Bones and his Korean friend Small Circle, I presume?

Sorry, Willie. They're both derivatives of the same name.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Booyakasha]

...I'm sorry, too. Here I go like two minutes from 'complaining about people nitpicking' to 'myahaha you made a very small error! thou fool!'. It cheapens us all.

[Booyakasha]

...I think I need an explanation for the "On Wisconsin!" part of Disney's 'Robin Hood'. That's too blisteringly insane to ignore.

I'm not angry, I'm just confused. I love "On Wisconsin!" as much as the next man. Why is it in Disney's 'Robin Hood', again? Were they mental? Am I?

It's in there, dangit, and I wanna know why.

[Booyakasha]

So about a quarter of the way into 'Living Daylights', the big bad bad guy thug decides to try it on against this poor little MI6 butler guy, and they go round, with kitchen knives and motorised kitchen knives and martial arts, and at one point the bad guy smushes the good guy's face against a stove-top, and it's never clear until the end who has the upper hand. It's weird and scary. It's good biz.