Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2014 11:11:32 GMT -5
random dude: Hey everyone. It's been a while since Raige and I have reviewed any non-sbemail material from homestarrunner.com. This is largely because we've approached our reviews such that we only review sbemails or only review other cartoons in any given review, but also because there was a long stretch on homestarrunner.com where the overwhelming majority of new material from the Brother Chaps were sbemails. So this week, we're going to cover a couple of cartoons that were released during this stretch of sbemails. Like last week's cartoons, I think they're consistently a lot funnier than most of the site's other cartoons up to that point. What do you think, Raige?
Cypher Raige: I am conflicted on this. On the one hand, we slogged through several weeks of unsatisying sbemails to get to the good stuff, and now we must break away from it. But on the other hand, I think it is a more honest view of the site to include the alternate content, which has many merits on its own and can at times stack up to the best of the sbemails. So let's get this show on the road!
Interview
random dude: This cartoon opens with the first appearance of Strong Bad's old-fashioned noire-style journalist's office which shows up from time to time, and is complete with typewriter and cigarette smoke clouding the air above the desk, where he decides to interview Homestar, to "get to the chewy caramel center of this no-armed whitey." The setup to the actual interview isn't very good, largely because of the casual homophobic connotations of the word "fruity", which the Brothers Chaps unwisely have Strong Bad use to describe the marshmallow stand where the interview takes place. But as soon as Homestar appears on the screen, everything changes for the better, as our protagonist is at his most adorably oblivious in this episode, walking by the marshmallow stand multiple times before he actually enters the joint, and then twice in the first thirty seconds of the interview claiming to have driven despite gamely conceding that he "probably" doesn't even have a car. Add in Homestar's mispronunciation of résumé (which is actually just a grocery list that contains the sole word "five" as one of its items), his reversal of interviewing roles, and the way that he gets Strong Bad to briefly exhibit a friendly rapport between the two after answering a question, and this ends up being a really funny cartoon.
Cypher Raige: I think one of the most shocking aspects of this cartoon is seeing a character with a lit cigarette. After all of the hubbub in the 90's about Joe Camel being used to market smokes to children, it's crazy to see a cigarette in any kind of cartoon, even the web variety. It doesn't really contribute much to the toon, besides adding to the noire-ish vibe, but it could have easily been left out. But since the Brothers Chaps do not answer to any advertising groups, they could do whatever they wanted with their characters. Homestar is great in this one, and any time I have to prepare for an interview, I always say something along the lines of, "Well, time to update my rezoom!" It's hard being this clever, people. It takes a lot of work. Anyway, I also enjoy seeing any cracks in Strong Bad's macho badass veneer, and we once again hear about Strong Bad's love of baking (previously referenced in a Marzipan's Answering Machine toon), as well as his enjoyment of doing the Jumble. What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man!
Everybody to the Limit
random dude: A few weeks back we reviewed "i love you" one of the better sbemails of the Tandy 400 era, in which a sender with a very the-cat-ran-across-the-keyboard-esque name which gets shortened to "fhqwhgads" inspires Strong Bad to paint a picture of a "guy holding a big knife". "Everybody to the Limit" is ostensibly addressed to fhqwhgads, but very little about Strong Bad's lyrics or the Cheat's music video makes any sense. And this is what makes it so amazing; the are random rolls of duct tape featured prominently in the video, bizarre utilization of wiffle balls, and the brief segment which, apropos of nothing, appears to take place in a doctor's office, all combine with Strong Bad's largely meaningless lyrics to make one of the coolest cartoons that we've reviewed on the site thus far. And, as if "Everybody to the Limit" wasn't already awesome enough, a Youtube user who calls themself DJ Arique has remixed the song to the latest Daft Punk album, yielding the mashup album <link>"Random Access Fhqwhgads" (and of course, I'm such a nerd that not only have I listened to it all the way through, I intend on listening to it on my iPod the next time I run). Like last week's "techno", "Everybody to the Limit" showcases the Brothers Chaps' improving songwriting abilities, although this video actually precedes "techno" by several months.
Cypher Raige: Yes, this is one of the most random but fun things on the site. We have seen other short examples of the Cheat directing his own little cartoons, and they always contain a skewed perspective on hip hop and just life in general that could probably only come from a dog-like little creature's interpretation of our weird human world. I like how, for no real reason at all, we get cameos of John and Robert Kennedy, immediately followed by a silhouette of Abraham Lincoln. I love Strong Bad's absolute astonishment at the awesomeness of the Cheat's music video, and he utters a line that I still use to this day: "I'm buyin' you... a pizza!"
Meet Marshie
random dude: When Homestar did a commercial for Fluffy Puff Marshmallows in the cartoon we reviewed a couple of weeks back, his consistent screwing up of his lines must have convinced the good folks down at Fluffy Puff to realize that he might not be the best celebrity endorsement for a product. Hence their new mascot, Marshie, who serves as a brilliant parody of children's advertising, specifically when adults try to play themselves off as hipper than one's parents when it comes to junk food, but end up just seeming lame, or, in some cases, Marshie's included, unbelievably creepy. The way that Marshie apparently seems to see nothing wrong with the way that he says things like "stuff some in your pocket for secret eating" or "made from the best stuff" or the rapid fire nonsensical combination of toppings and outfits that adorn the pile of marshmallows when he says "breakfast, lunch, munch, and tinner", or simply the way that he's an anthropomorphic marshmallow with a bite out of his head advertising marshmallows, makes him quite possibly the creepiest character in the Homestarniverse. He's certainly one of the most memorable secondary characters, and a lot of his subsequent appearances are even funnier than this one.
Cypher Raige: You covered this one pretty well, random dude, so I will just add: Marshie fuckin' freaks my shit out! Seriously, that guy haunts my dreams. Sometimes when I am walking down the street alone at night, I can sense him following me, his creepy marshmallow-ness making the hairs on my neck stand up, but every time I turn around to look, he is gone, swallowed up into the darkness of which his deceptively light form is composed. *shivers* Anyway, I also like how at the end we get to see Homestar confess his hatred of Marshie. Hmm, feeling a little professional jealousy there, are we, Homestar?
Parsnips A-Plenty
random dude: When we first covered Old Timey cartoons a few months back, they were among some of the dullest cartoons yet reviewed, and "Parsnips A-Plenty" is probably the weakest of the cartoons that we'll review this week, but this time, this is more due to the strength of the cartoons around it, because this is a much better cartoon than the previous Old Timey one. First off, this one is a Talkie, and the sound helps to create an anachronistic (though I suspect deliberate so) amalgam of 1920s-1950s American culture. The humor reflects an exaggeratedly dry Great Depression-era austerity, with Old Timey Marzipan repeating "Let's make soup" clearly intended as a joke by the fictional creators of the cartoon. Add in the way that The Homestar Runner simply says "What?" every time Strong Bad says something to him, and Homestar's reserved little celebration dance at the end, and you have a parody of old cartoons that, while it doesn't exactly make sense, serves as an amusing sort of meta-parody of the genre. Plus, the way that The Homestar Runner says "depot" is pretty funny. And it looks like poor Strong Sad was a real bummer even way back in 1936 ("Sorry Sickly Sam; I wish you'd leave us alone"). If you click on the "D" in "THE END", you'll reveal an easter egg where Strong Bad appears to be being tortured by an Old Timey Poopsmith, while Old Timey King of Town looks on. And if you click on Old Timey King of Town's head, you'll see another easter egg, which serves as an add which says "Buy U.S. Soup Bonds," a joke which I'm pretty sure I found funnier than I had any right to.
Cypher Raige: I think I may have enjoyed this one more than you, random dude. I like how all of the Old Timey characters basically just act and sound like very old people, as if the Brothers Chaps imagine that everyone in the 30's must have been a 90 year old man, since that's how 90 year old men act now. There are also a few other odd and/or amusing touches, such as Bubs being blind for some reason, and Pom Pom's earlier incarnation being known by the decidedly un-PC name of "Fat Dudley." There are also a couple of other nice touches that add to the feel of the cartoon, such as the ever present sound of the projector, the "SCENE MISSING", and the occasional random pubic hair that gets stuck on the film.
Pumpkin Carve-nival
random dude: Hey, it's another Halloween cartoon! Yay! These are always fun. The premise behind this one, from the year 2002, is that Homestar, dressed as Angus Young is the judge of a pumpkin carnival. Of course, because he's Homestar Runner, he's not exactly the world's best judge. He appears to express shock at Strong Sad's name being "Strong Sad", he asks persistent questions of the contestants about Witches' Brew (confusing the Wu Tang Clan symbol that Coach Z carved into his pumpkin for the letter "W"), and there seems to be no method to his judging system, as he give multiple people "last" place blue ribbons. My favorite moment though comes when Strong Bad, dressed in a surprisingly lame bee costume ("the bee, like from nature"), when, explaining that after stabbing his pumpkin and wrapping it in barbed wire, he felt sorry for it and gave it a bunch of googly eye, to which Homestar responds with the brilliant, though cheerily oblivious, backhanded comment "That sure was nice of you." Except, in a surprise twist, when confronted as to who won the contest, Homestar turns out to have been Strong Bad disguised as Homestar dressed up as Angus Young, and Strong Bad dressed up as the bee turns out to be the goblin! I love the goblin; that little guy is adorable! This brings us to the end of the cartoon, where Homestar tries to peer over the top of the blue ribbon that serves as a "The End" screen for several seconds before fading to a screen that explains who everyone was dressed up as. There were a couple of easter eggs in this one. If you click on the Poopsmith's pumpkin, Homestar and the Cheat will have a conversation with Homsar whose "pumpkin" is actually just a spoon taped to an eggplant. Also, click on "Homestar as Angus Young" on the final screen to hear Homestar converse with the Cheat re: whether he's dressed up as Witches Brew. And if you click on the King of Town, you can play a game called "Super Kingio Bros" (which is about as cool as its titular character).
Cypher Raige: God dammit, I love the Homestarloween toons so freakin' much! random dude missed one easter egg at the very beginning of the toon: if you click on the jack-o-lantern's eyes and mouth before hitting play, you can make different faces. This is one of my favorites. I love Homestar's imitation of a storm, "That was... um, the lightning." I also have employed his disinterested King of Town chatter ("Right. Uh-huh. I see. Go on. I see, go on.") when listening to people who suck ramble on about their stupid crap. I also love his dripping with sarcasm "Ding" when walking away from Coach Z's pumpkin. There's just so much to love here. So stop reading this and go watch!
random dude: Well, that's it for this week, everyone. Next week, it's back to more sbemails, with:
Strong Bad Email #46: your friends
Strong Bad Email #47: new hands
Strong Bad Email #48: ghosts
Strong Bad Email #49: theme party
Strong Bad Email #50: 50 emails
Cypher Raige: I am conflicted on this. On the one hand, we slogged through several weeks of unsatisying sbemails to get to the good stuff, and now we must break away from it. But on the other hand, I think it is a more honest view of the site to include the alternate content, which has many merits on its own and can at times stack up to the best of the sbemails. So let's get this show on the road!
Interview
random dude: This cartoon opens with the first appearance of Strong Bad's old-fashioned noire-style journalist's office which shows up from time to time, and is complete with typewriter and cigarette smoke clouding the air above the desk, where he decides to interview Homestar, to "get to the chewy caramel center of this no-armed whitey." The setup to the actual interview isn't very good, largely because of the casual homophobic connotations of the word "fruity", which the Brothers Chaps unwisely have Strong Bad use to describe the marshmallow stand where the interview takes place. But as soon as Homestar appears on the screen, everything changes for the better, as our protagonist is at his most adorably oblivious in this episode, walking by the marshmallow stand multiple times before he actually enters the joint, and then twice in the first thirty seconds of the interview claiming to have driven despite gamely conceding that he "probably" doesn't even have a car. Add in Homestar's mispronunciation of résumé (which is actually just a grocery list that contains the sole word "five" as one of its items), his reversal of interviewing roles, and the way that he gets Strong Bad to briefly exhibit a friendly rapport between the two after answering a question, and this ends up being a really funny cartoon.
Cypher Raige: I think one of the most shocking aspects of this cartoon is seeing a character with a lit cigarette. After all of the hubbub in the 90's about Joe Camel being used to market smokes to children, it's crazy to see a cigarette in any kind of cartoon, even the web variety. It doesn't really contribute much to the toon, besides adding to the noire-ish vibe, but it could have easily been left out. But since the Brothers Chaps do not answer to any advertising groups, they could do whatever they wanted with their characters. Homestar is great in this one, and any time I have to prepare for an interview, I always say something along the lines of, "Well, time to update my rezoom!" It's hard being this clever, people. It takes a lot of work. Anyway, I also enjoy seeing any cracks in Strong Bad's macho badass veneer, and we once again hear about Strong Bad's love of baking (previously referenced in a Marzipan's Answering Machine toon), as well as his enjoyment of doing the Jumble. What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man!
Everybody to the Limit
random dude: A few weeks back we reviewed "i love you" one of the better sbemails of the Tandy 400 era, in which a sender with a very the-cat-ran-across-the-keyboard-esque name which gets shortened to "fhqwhgads" inspires Strong Bad to paint a picture of a "guy holding a big knife". "Everybody to the Limit" is ostensibly addressed to fhqwhgads, but very little about Strong Bad's lyrics or the Cheat's music video makes any sense. And this is what makes it so amazing; the are random rolls of duct tape featured prominently in the video, bizarre utilization of wiffle balls, and the brief segment which, apropos of nothing, appears to take place in a doctor's office, all combine with Strong Bad's largely meaningless lyrics to make one of the coolest cartoons that we've reviewed on the site thus far. And, as if "Everybody to the Limit" wasn't already awesome enough, a Youtube user who calls themself DJ Arique has remixed the song to the latest Daft Punk album, yielding the mashup album <link>"Random Access Fhqwhgads" (and of course, I'm such a nerd that not only have I listened to it all the way through, I intend on listening to it on my iPod the next time I run). Like last week's "techno", "Everybody to the Limit" showcases the Brothers Chaps' improving songwriting abilities, although this video actually precedes "techno" by several months.
Cypher Raige: Yes, this is one of the most random but fun things on the site. We have seen other short examples of the Cheat directing his own little cartoons, and they always contain a skewed perspective on hip hop and just life in general that could probably only come from a dog-like little creature's interpretation of our weird human world. I like how, for no real reason at all, we get cameos of John and Robert Kennedy, immediately followed by a silhouette of Abraham Lincoln. I love Strong Bad's absolute astonishment at the awesomeness of the Cheat's music video, and he utters a line that I still use to this day: "I'm buyin' you... a pizza!"
Meet Marshie
random dude: When Homestar did a commercial for Fluffy Puff Marshmallows in the cartoon we reviewed a couple of weeks back, his consistent screwing up of his lines must have convinced the good folks down at Fluffy Puff to realize that he might not be the best celebrity endorsement for a product. Hence their new mascot, Marshie, who serves as a brilliant parody of children's advertising, specifically when adults try to play themselves off as hipper than one's parents when it comes to junk food, but end up just seeming lame, or, in some cases, Marshie's included, unbelievably creepy. The way that Marshie apparently seems to see nothing wrong with the way that he says things like "stuff some in your pocket for secret eating" or "made from the best stuff" or the rapid fire nonsensical combination of toppings and outfits that adorn the pile of marshmallows when he says "breakfast, lunch, munch, and tinner", or simply the way that he's an anthropomorphic marshmallow with a bite out of his head advertising marshmallows, makes him quite possibly the creepiest character in the Homestarniverse. He's certainly one of the most memorable secondary characters, and a lot of his subsequent appearances are even funnier than this one.
Cypher Raige: You covered this one pretty well, random dude, so I will just add: Marshie fuckin' freaks my shit out! Seriously, that guy haunts my dreams. Sometimes when I am walking down the street alone at night, I can sense him following me, his creepy marshmallow-ness making the hairs on my neck stand up, but every time I turn around to look, he is gone, swallowed up into the darkness of which his deceptively light form is composed. *shivers* Anyway, I also like how at the end we get to see Homestar confess his hatred of Marshie. Hmm, feeling a little professional jealousy there, are we, Homestar?
Parsnips A-Plenty
random dude: When we first covered Old Timey cartoons a few months back, they were among some of the dullest cartoons yet reviewed, and "Parsnips A-Plenty" is probably the weakest of the cartoons that we'll review this week, but this time, this is more due to the strength of the cartoons around it, because this is a much better cartoon than the previous Old Timey one. First off, this one is a Talkie, and the sound helps to create an anachronistic (though I suspect deliberate so) amalgam of 1920s-1950s American culture. The humor reflects an exaggeratedly dry Great Depression-era austerity, with Old Timey Marzipan repeating "Let's make soup" clearly intended as a joke by the fictional creators of the cartoon. Add in the way that The Homestar Runner simply says "What?" every time Strong Bad says something to him, and Homestar's reserved little celebration dance at the end, and you have a parody of old cartoons that, while it doesn't exactly make sense, serves as an amusing sort of meta-parody of the genre. Plus, the way that The Homestar Runner says "depot" is pretty funny. And it looks like poor Strong Sad was a real bummer even way back in 1936 ("Sorry Sickly Sam; I wish you'd leave us alone"). If you click on the "D" in "THE END", you'll reveal an easter egg where Strong Bad appears to be being tortured by an Old Timey Poopsmith, while Old Timey King of Town looks on. And if you click on Old Timey King of Town's head, you'll see another easter egg, which serves as an add which says "Buy U.S. Soup Bonds," a joke which I'm pretty sure I found funnier than I had any right to.
Cypher Raige: I think I may have enjoyed this one more than you, random dude. I like how all of the Old Timey characters basically just act and sound like very old people, as if the Brothers Chaps imagine that everyone in the 30's must have been a 90 year old man, since that's how 90 year old men act now. There are also a few other odd and/or amusing touches, such as Bubs being blind for some reason, and Pom Pom's earlier incarnation being known by the decidedly un-PC name of "Fat Dudley." There are also a couple of other nice touches that add to the feel of the cartoon, such as the ever present sound of the projector, the "SCENE MISSING", and the occasional random pubic hair that gets stuck on the film.
Pumpkin Carve-nival
random dude: Hey, it's another Halloween cartoon! Yay! These are always fun. The premise behind this one, from the year 2002, is that Homestar, dressed as Angus Young is the judge of a pumpkin carnival. Of course, because he's Homestar Runner, he's not exactly the world's best judge. He appears to express shock at Strong Sad's name being "Strong Sad", he asks persistent questions of the contestants about Witches' Brew (confusing the Wu Tang Clan symbol that Coach Z carved into his pumpkin for the letter "W"), and there seems to be no method to his judging system, as he give multiple people "last" place blue ribbons. My favorite moment though comes when Strong Bad, dressed in a surprisingly lame bee costume ("the bee, like from nature"), when, explaining that after stabbing his pumpkin and wrapping it in barbed wire, he felt sorry for it and gave it a bunch of googly eye, to which Homestar responds with the brilliant, though cheerily oblivious, backhanded comment "That sure was nice of you." Except, in a surprise twist, when confronted as to who won the contest, Homestar turns out to have been Strong Bad disguised as Homestar dressed up as Angus Young, and Strong Bad dressed up as the bee turns out to be the goblin! I love the goblin; that little guy is adorable! This brings us to the end of the cartoon, where Homestar tries to peer over the top of the blue ribbon that serves as a "The End" screen for several seconds before fading to a screen that explains who everyone was dressed up as. There were a couple of easter eggs in this one. If you click on the Poopsmith's pumpkin, Homestar and the Cheat will have a conversation with Homsar whose "pumpkin" is actually just a spoon taped to an eggplant. Also, click on "Homestar as Angus Young" on the final screen to hear Homestar converse with the Cheat re: whether he's dressed up as Witches Brew. And if you click on the King of Town, you can play a game called "Super Kingio Bros" (which is about as cool as its titular character).
Cypher Raige: God dammit, I love the Homestarloween toons so freakin' much! random dude missed one easter egg at the very beginning of the toon: if you click on the jack-o-lantern's eyes and mouth before hitting play, you can make different faces. This is one of my favorites. I love Homestar's imitation of a storm, "That was... um, the lightning." I also have employed his disinterested King of Town chatter ("Right. Uh-huh. I see. Go on. I see, go on.") when listening to people who suck ramble on about their stupid crap. I also love his dripping with sarcasm "Ding" when walking away from Coach Z's pumpkin. There's just so much to love here. So stop reading this and go watch!
random dude: Well, that's it for this week, everyone. Next week, it's back to more sbemails, with:
Strong Bad Email #46: your friends
Strong Bad Email #47: new hands
Strong Bad Email #48: ghosts
Strong Bad Email #49: theme party
Strong Bad Email #50: 50 emails