You Ever Notice...and What's the Deal...

[CensoredAlso]

Well speaking just for myself, I've never mailed an outgoing letter using my home mailbox. I've always used a public one.

And having Linus go to the post office would take too much time away from the story and provide less of an obvious opportunity for a sight gag with the blanket.

 

[Drtooth]

What the heck is the deal with the complete incompetence of the media when it covers fads?

Either the fads don't really exist and are sensationalized by loud mouth squawking heads for a "What's wrong with these kids today" self-entitlement point, or a "We're Still Relevant, Darnit" point that would almost be hilarious if it wasn't so pathetic and annoying?

Now, I'd love to rant about the dark stuff... the imaginary drug scares, the "we didn't do the research" moral panics... the vapidly trying to be relevant thing is starting to get to me. Why?

There's this awful commercial for Michigan's Tourism Board that essentially says "Today's Kids have Super Heroes that can lift buildings..." Blah blah blah... why not the real heroes of blah blah blah. Essentially the message that kids are somehow stupid or something because they don't know about real people vs. a fantasy world and how you need to go to Michigan to get culture (as if books, reliable internet sites, and travelogues aren't enough- but that's par for a tourism commercial, they want to get you there to spend money). All and all, it comes off as a "Kids are so stupid and adults is smarterer" thing, but that's another multi-layered rant I don't want to get into.

My rant is thus: Super Heroes have been around since the 1930's. Ignoring the obvious Superman (who was a huge thing in the late 30's, so much so the first parody characters popped up around then, like Mighty Mouse and Plastic-Man)... Captain America fought the Nazis even before the mainstream American knew what a Nazi was (and manage to earn the writers and creators death threats from American Nazi groups). Not to mention they've been consistently popular since the 40's... I mean, the parental group anti-violence crusade (as far as television animation is concerned) stemmed from the glut of mid-60's Superhero cartoons... and that didn't even stop the production of Super Hero cartoons... made them ridiculously safe (Super Friends)... we've had non-stop Super Hero animated fair since the 60's, and if you want to get theatrical the 40's. Only thing new is the technology to film otherwise unfilmable characters and the fact that we have an odd understanding of dork culture.

And Super Heroes haven't lifted buildings unironically since those early days. Now they just pout about, die, get resurrected, die again, get rebooted, annoy the fans until they get killed and rebooted again before they all flock to the kiddy versions of the same character because the plots aren't as convoluted.

But SERIOUSLY, Michigan Tourism Board? THAT'S the best you can think of to be relevant?

 

[mr3urious]

I always shrug off those stories about the crazy new fad or wild new way kids are getting high these days. The news always make it sound like every single kid is doing it.

 

[charlietheowl]

There's this awful commercial for Michigan's Tourism Board that essentially says "Today's Kids have Super Heroes that can lift buildings..." Blah blah blah... why not the real heroes of blah blah blah. Essentially the message that kids are somehow stupid or something because they don't know about real people vs. a fantasy world and how you need to go to Michigan to get culture (as if books, reliable internet sites, and travelogues aren't enough- but that's par for a tourism commercial, they want to get you there to spend money). All and all, it comes off as a "Kids are so stupid and adults is smarterer" thing, but that's another multi-layered rant I don't want to get into.

I haven't seen those specific commercials, but it reminds me of some truck commercial where a kid's sitting in a truck looking at his phone, and then once he gets out into "the wild" with his dad he puts his phone away and immediately becomes enraptured by the outdoors. It's like the kid had never been outside or something. You would have thought the "kid can't put down the technology" commercial trope would have died out when smart-phones became prevalent and everyone picked them up.

 

[Drtooth]

In a culture where a lot of adults still treasure Childhood/childish things, I'm baffled by these ads that essentially say that kids today are the only ones who actually acted like kids (the opposite is true in some cases). At least with those commercials where wild animals kidnap a family to pollute and disturb their environment, they're even handed in saying we're too reliant on modern tech. it's like everything crappy with a generation only happens with kids and only currently. I could make a political rant that assures the opposite is true and that certain adults are more immature, ungrateful, and capable of bigger temper tantrums than even the most spoiled rotten of kids, but I won't.

Still, it's baffling that certain outlets think this super hero thing is some fad that all the sudden popped up. They've been consistently popular since the 40's. Superman was plastered on things when the writers of that commercial's grand parents were in diapers (insert old people joke smartalecky response here). We just have a consistent stream of superhero movies because... well... for the most part, they're good and profitable all the sudden. Not to mention filmable. There's been several Super Hero themed cartoon series a decade since cartoons were made for television. Even if kids aren't even reading comics, they're always buying superhero fruit snacks, ice cream, coloring books, and junk like that. Why are they treating it like its a new thing?

And DO NOT get me started on commercials that think they "get" 20-30 year olds by throwing bad video game references into commercials. It's like they think the technology for that peaked at the Atari 2600... maybe the NES.

 

[minor muppetz]

On The Big Bang Theory, Amy and Bernadette are nerds just like the guys, so how come they're not interested in many of the nerdy things their boyfriends like?

And if Sheldon is so smart, why can't he understand sarcasm?

 

[beatnikchick300]

And if Sheldon is so smart, why can't he understand sarcasm?

I can't speak to your first question (I don't really watch the show), but there are a lot of smart people for whom sarcasm goes right over their heads (mostly those with poor social skills).

 

[Drtooth]

On The Big Bang Theory, Amy and Bernadette are nerds just like the guys, so how come they're not interested in many of the nerdy things their boyfriends like?

No... Amy and Bernadette are nerds in the sense that they're in the field of science... everyone else on the show is a combination of both nerdy vocations and tastes. It does add to the unfortunate stereotype of only nerdy guys being nerdy, but you could also take it as they're on a more mature level than the guys. I just with that somehow they gave Amy some sort of pop culture related obsession like the guys do, but with some other form of entertainment specifically slated to nerds. She strikes me as someone who'd fawn over slice of life anime.

 

[minor muppetz]

Recently, I saw this old Sunny Delight commercial again after many years...

And what's up with "purple stuff" among the drinks in the fridge? I know they couldn't use actual brands, but "purple stuff"? That's just kinda funny. They couldn't have said "grape juice" or "purple soda" or something like that?

And I've been wondering, was that a regular thing for Sunny D commercials, having a character look through a fridge listing what drinks they have before settling on Sunny D? This is the only commercial I remember that does it (in fact, it's the only Sunny D commercial I actually remember), but recently I saw an episode of Family Guy that seemed to do this gag with Stewie, which was actually what got me seeking this commercial online. Not sure if he was referencing a specific commercial or a regular element of the commercials.

 

[mr3urious]

And what's up with "purple stuff" among the drinks in the fridge? I know they couldn't use actual brands, but "purple stuff"? That's just kinda funny. They couldn't have said "grape juice" or "purple soda" or something like that?

My theory is that "Purple Stuff" is the actual brand name of the drink.