Homestar Runner Reviews Week 13 (3/26/2014)
Mar 26, 2014 10:34:30 GMT -5
🐍 huss 🐍, Pear, and 1 more like this
Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2014 10:34:30 GMT -5
random dude: Hey everybody. Another week, another Homestar Runner Review. We've got five more sbemails this week, and I know we talk about the increasing quality of the toons on this site almost every week, but we truly are on the verge of where the site becomes truly great. But this week is once again a bit of a mixed bag, with some jokes being played out tropes, but also some stuff that's pretty good. What do you think, Raige?
Cypher Raige: Eh, these are better than many of the ones that have come before. While none of this week's emails will set your hair on fire, they are still pretty decent. Also, why would you want to have your hair set on fire? Weirdo! Also, sorry for the lateness on this one. Totally my fault!
Strong Bad Email #36: guitar
random dude: After email sender Derek asks Strong Bad if he can play the guitar, Strong Bad gets carried away in his sketchy claims to have mastered the instrument, becoming fully invested in a hypothetical song where he vocalizes all the instruments with "meedlies", "jug jigga jugs", "dows" and "boops". It's not a terribly funny email, but elements of it serve as a precursor to a couple of other songs that the Brothers Chaps will write. I also thought the way that Strong Bad's lighter blackens the edges of The Paper at the end of the email made for a nice touch.
Cypher Raige: Jeez, random dude. I mean, you're a good guy and all, but we just couldn't be farther apart on our opinions of this sbemail. It's like you don't even understand what the word "awesome" means. When we started this whole thing, I really thought we had a connection. Now, I'm just... I don't even... *sigh* I don't know. Maybe we'll get past this, but for now, I think I need some space. Some time to myself to watch this sbemail over and over again while throwing out the double devil horns (\m/ \m/) and rocking out to Strong Bad's infectious rock vocalizations, all the while wondering where we could have gone wrong. Don't call me, I'll call you.
Strong Bad Email #37: dullard
random dude: Here we have what I believe is the first appearance of the office that many of the characters appear to work at: the stereotypical, cubicle-filled space that serves as a catch-all setting for any sort of office humor. I enjoy most of the Brothers Chaps' office humor, even if this one isn't quite as strong as future sbemails that involve the workplace. Homestar's ceaseless, vapid banter makes him the perfect office dullard as Strong Bad employs various tactics to attempt to get rid of him. And Strong Bad's method of saying some variant of "yeah" every three seconds, even when a dullard has finished talking, manages to piss off even Homestar, who narrows his eyes and walks away. As far as easter eggs go, if you click on the comic strip tacked to Strong Bad's cubicle wall you can read the strip, a parody of Dilbert called Dullard, which takes Dilbert's dry, some would say punchline-less humor, and dials it up to hyperbolic levels of unfunny.
Cypher Raige: I would say that I enjoyed this email a little bit more than you, random, but probably because I am old and have worked in numerous cubicle farms during my lifetime. Homestar here represents that guy that exists in every office environment, described here as the "dullard." He can come in many forms, from the douchey frat bro who wants nothing more to talk about how he bro'd it up with his bros in downtown Bro Town over the bro-weekend, to the socially awkward smelly goon who rambles about topics that could only be of interest to other socially awkward smelly goons, to the self-important management type who thinks that all words that spring forth from his mouth are pure gold to be cherished by any who are fortunate enough to have said words penetrate their ear holes. One common trait of all of these types is that none of them can take a hint, so Strong Bad's methods will always be doomed to fail. This toon had a hint of Office Space to it, which again makes it okay in my book.
Strong Bad Email #38: helium
random dude: Oh hey, it's a joke about how your voice gets higher when you breathe in helium, how original. I can barely contain myself for all the uncontrollable laughter. I guess I can probably stop being so sarcastic now. So yeah, there's not a whole lot to the plot of this one, Strong Bad breathes in some helium, and sings a song in a high voice. I don't think I've ever caught the way that Strong Bad initially misspells emailer Shack's name as Shaq, though, which was an amusing subtle moment. And I'm curious about what led to that conversation between Marzipan and Homestar that we only hear the tail end of. Oh, and Raige: check out that ugly bird!
Cypher Raige: So from then on, it was pork and beans! Oh, hello! Yeah, this one is a little slight, but I think my favorite part, aside from Homestar's mangled pronunciation of the word "bird," is how Strong Bad's voice slowly returns to normal in the middle of singing his munchkin-like tune. It's an effective metaphor for the disappointing come down of drug use, immediately followed by the hangover, as evidenced by Strong Bad's headache/head rush. Don't do drugs, kids! Or maybe it's not about drugs at all. Impossible to tell. Also, there is one easter egg at the very end: after Homestar and Marzipan stop talking, the Cheat floats by again in the background, and if you click on him, Strong Sad's voice will say, "I'm saaaad that he's flying!" This is a call back to the Cheat's version of the HSR main page. If you mouse over Store, the Cheativerse version of Strong Sad appears and utters this non-sensical line.
Strong Bad Email #39: property of ones
random dude: Strong Bad devotes an entire sbemail to talking about Cold Ones, the Brothers Chaps' thinly veiled semi-euphemism for beer, via one of Strong Bad's "bogus mathematical theorums" (a phrase which I particularly liked). He goes on to make some fairly standard Europeans-drink-their-beer-at-room-temp jokes, which are partially redeemed by the labels of some of these putative beers, such as Not So Cold Ones, Room Temperature Ones, and Warm Ones (whose label reads "Straight from the oven!"). Anyway, as someone who doesn't currently own a refrigerator, I'd like to affect a snobbish defense of Room Temperature Ones, although I did have a nice Cold One at a hockey game last week, which was very refreshing. What's your philosophy on beer temperature, Raige?
Cypher Raige: Don't try to force your fridge-less beliefs on me, you hipster! "Ohhh, look at me, I'm random dude! I don't even own a refrigerator! And notice I didn't say 'fridge,' because 'fridge' is a nickname and nicknames are for friends and refrigerators are NO friends of mine!" Anyway, ones are supposed to be cold. Why else would the good people over at Coors have designed a can that shows you when your one is cold enough to drink? That type of technology is not something to be scoffed at, random dude! Imagine what would happen if the Russians got their grubby, evil hands on that technology! JUST IMAGINE!
Strong Bad Email #40: vacation
random dude: Strong Bad gets an email from a sender named BrothaCheese (which provokes a well-earned groan from Strong Bad), which prompts him to post a sticky note reading "DORKS!" on the monitor screen, and following BrothaCheese's advice, go on vacation. Then you hear from Strong Bad by clicking on any of five different postcard links from such lame tourist attractions as: "The Great Mound", "Downtown Pantsburg" (which apparently consists of a mailbox, two houses, and a bike welded to one of the houses), "That [broken] Clock" (where, in an unsurprising twist, we learn that Strong Bad totally can't play guitar, when he plays something that's almost as bad as the worst guitar solo I have ever heard, "Two Cars, Tennessee" ("How does Homestar pick stuff up if he's not wearing any Marzipans?"), and "Historic Over There" (where everything is literally sepia-toned).
Cypher Raige: Actually, random, I think Strong Bad's groan at the very beginning was due to BrothaCheese's closing of the sbemail, "Filled with crap." He addresses this even more in postcard #4 from Two Cars, TN. I generally enjoyed Strong Bad's irreverent ripping on those weird Mid-Western/Southern attractions that really shouldn't hold much appeal for anyone, and yet they somehow exist. Ah, weird Americana, how you are a thing! Also, note the easter egg: if you click on the DORKS! post-it note four successive times, the little face on the note has a little message just for you dorks!
Next time, we'll be doing our last set of Strong Bad Emails for a couple of weeks before reviewing some other cartoons again, as we review:
Strong Bad Email #41: invisibility
Strong Bad Email #42: action figure
Strong Bad Email #43: little questions
Strong Bad Email #44: lures and jigs
Strong Bad Email #45: techno
Cypher Raige: Eh, these are better than many of the ones that have come before. While none of this week's emails will set your hair on fire, they are still pretty decent. Also, why would you want to have your hair set on fire? Weirdo! Also, sorry for the lateness on this one. Totally my fault!
Strong Bad Email #36: guitar
random dude: After email sender Derek asks Strong Bad if he can play the guitar, Strong Bad gets carried away in his sketchy claims to have mastered the instrument, becoming fully invested in a hypothetical song where he vocalizes all the instruments with "meedlies", "jug jigga jugs", "dows" and "boops". It's not a terribly funny email, but elements of it serve as a precursor to a couple of other songs that the Brothers Chaps will write. I also thought the way that Strong Bad's lighter blackens the edges of The Paper at the end of the email made for a nice touch.
Cypher Raige: Jeez, random dude. I mean, you're a good guy and all, but we just couldn't be farther apart on our opinions of this sbemail. It's like you don't even understand what the word "awesome" means. When we started this whole thing, I really thought we had a connection. Now, I'm just... I don't even... *sigh* I don't know. Maybe we'll get past this, but for now, I think I need some space. Some time to myself to watch this sbemail over and over again while throwing out the double devil horns (\m/ \m/) and rocking out to Strong Bad's infectious rock vocalizations, all the while wondering where we could have gone wrong. Don't call me, I'll call you.
Strong Bad Email #37: dullard
random dude: Here we have what I believe is the first appearance of the office that many of the characters appear to work at: the stereotypical, cubicle-filled space that serves as a catch-all setting for any sort of office humor. I enjoy most of the Brothers Chaps' office humor, even if this one isn't quite as strong as future sbemails that involve the workplace. Homestar's ceaseless, vapid banter makes him the perfect office dullard as Strong Bad employs various tactics to attempt to get rid of him. And Strong Bad's method of saying some variant of "yeah" every three seconds, even when a dullard has finished talking, manages to piss off even Homestar, who narrows his eyes and walks away. As far as easter eggs go, if you click on the comic strip tacked to Strong Bad's cubicle wall you can read the strip, a parody of Dilbert called Dullard, which takes Dilbert's dry, some would say punchline-less humor, and dials it up to hyperbolic levels of unfunny.
Cypher Raige: I would say that I enjoyed this email a little bit more than you, random, but probably because I am old and have worked in numerous cubicle farms during my lifetime. Homestar here represents that guy that exists in every office environment, described here as the "dullard." He can come in many forms, from the douchey frat bro who wants nothing more to talk about how he bro'd it up with his bros in downtown Bro Town over the bro-weekend, to the socially awkward smelly goon who rambles about topics that could only be of interest to other socially awkward smelly goons, to the self-important management type who thinks that all words that spring forth from his mouth are pure gold to be cherished by any who are fortunate enough to have said words penetrate their ear holes. One common trait of all of these types is that none of them can take a hint, so Strong Bad's methods will always be doomed to fail. This toon had a hint of Office Space to it, which again makes it okay in my book.
Strong Bad Email #38: helium
random dude: Oh hey, it's a joke about how your voice gets higher when you breathe in helium, how original. I can barely contain myself for all the uncontrollable laughter. I guess I can probably stop being so sarcastic now. So yeah, there's not a whole lot to the plot of this one, Strong Bad breathes in some helium, and sings a song in a high voice. I don't think I've ever caught the way that Strong Bad initially misspells emailer Shack's name as Shaq, though, which was an amusing subtle moment. And I'm curious about what led to that conversation between Marzipan and Homestar that we only hear the tail end of. Oh, and Raige: check out that ugly bird!
Cypher Raige: So from then on, it was pork and beans! Oh, hello! Yeah, this one is a little slight, but I think my favorite part, aside from Homestar's mangled pronunciation of the word "bird," is how Strong Bad's voice slowly returns to normal in the middle of singing his munchkin-like tune. It's an effective metaphor for the disappointing come down of drug use, immediately followed by the hangover, as evidenced by Strong Bad's headache/head rush. Don't do drugs, kids! Or maybe it's not about drugs at all. Impossible to tell. Also, there is one easter egg at the very end: after Homestar and Marzipan stop talking, the Cheat floats by again in the background, and if you click on him, Strong Sad's voice will say, "I'm saaaad that he's flying!" This is a call back to the Cheat's version of the HSR main page. If you mouse over Store, the Cheativerse version of Strong Sad appears and utters this non-sensical line.
Strong Bad Email #39: property of ones
random dude: Strong Bad devotes an entire sbemail to talking about Cold Ones, the Brothers Chaps' thinly veiled semi-euphemism for beer, via one of Strong Bad's "bogus mathematical theorums" (a phrase which I particularly liked). He goes on to make some fairly standard Europeans-drink-their-beer-at-room-temp jokes, which are partially redeemed by the labels of some of these putative beers, such as Not So Cold Ones, Room Temperature Ones, and Warm Ones (whose label reads "Straight from the oven!"). Anyway, as someone who doesn't currently own a refrigerator, I'd like to affect a snobbish defense of Room Temperature Ones, although I did have a nice Cold One at a hockey game last week, which was very refreshing. What's your philosophy on beer temperature, Raige?
Cypher Raige: Don't try to force your fridge-less beliefs on me, you hipster! "Ohhh, look at me, I'm random dude! I don't even own a refrigerator! And notice I didn't say 'fridge,' because 'fridge' is a nickname and nicknames are for friends and refrigerators are NO friends of mine!" Anyway, ones are supposed to be cold. Why else would the good people over at Coors have designed a can that shows you when your one is cold enough to drink? That type of technology is not something to be scoffed at, random dude! Imagine what would happen if the Russians got their grubby, evil hands on that technology! JUST IMAGINE!
Strong Bad Email #40: vacation
random dude: Strong Bad gets an email from a sender named BrothaCheese (which provokes a well-earned groan from Strong Bad), which prompts him to post a sticky note reading "DORKS!" on the monitor screen, and following BrothaCheese's advice, go on vacation. Then you hear from Strong Bad by clicking on any of five different postcard links from such lame tourist attractions as: "The Great Mound", "Downtown Pantsburg" (which apparently consists of a mailbox, two houses, and a bike welded to one of the houses), "That [broken] Clock" (where, in an unsurprising twist, we learn that Strong Bad totally can't play guitar, when he plays something that's almost as bad as the worst guitar solo I have ever heard, "Two Cars, Tennessee" ("How does Homestar pick stuff up if he's not wearing any Marzipans?"), and "Historic Over There" (where everything is literally sepia-toned).
Cypher Raige: Actually, random, I think Strong Bad's groan at the very beginning was due to BrothaCheese's closing of the sbemail, "Filled with crap." He addresses this even more in postcard #4 from Two Cars, TN. I generally enjoyed Strong Bad's irreverent ripping on those weird Mid-Western/Southern attractions that really shouldn't hold much appeal for anyone, and yet they somehow exist. Ah, weird Americana, how you are a thing! Also, note the easter egg: if you click on the DORKS! post-it note four successive times, the little face on the note has a little message just for you dorks!
Next time, we'll be doing our last set of Strong Bad Emails for a couple of weeks before reviewing some other cartoons again, as we review:
Strong Bad Email #41: invisibility
Strong Bad Email #42: action figure
Strong Bad Email #43: little questions
Strong Bad Email #44: lures and jigs
Strong Bad Email #45: techno
