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

[fuzzygobo]

There's always a rise this time of year leading up to Memorial Day, then it should level off.
Two bucks a gallon is still pretty steep, but it's still half of what it was at the end of George Dubya's term.

 

[D'Snowth]

Lest we forget that gas prices shot up to $5 and more immediately (literally) when people began evacuating the southern states to get away Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. And again, that was under Dubya's term.

 

[Drtooth]

And the worst part is, it's not that the price of oil climbed much higher, so much as the oil companies just raised prices for the sake of making more money. And the joke's going to be on those who bought gas guzzlers the second gas went under 2 bucks. What goes down inevitably comes back up again. I've always said that the insane gas prices in 2007 were one of the side factors that lead to economic collapse, right up there with the ridiculous level of gentrification and creation of well overpriced luxury condos pushing the lower class out of the crappy city streets they once had to live on.

But that's another rant for another day.

 

[fuzzygobo]

People have notoriously short memories. After the gas crisis of 1979 (and a botched hostage crisis) within two years, it seemed everybody was driving a compact. No more gas guzzlers. Then every decade, there would be this ebb and flow. Gas prices drop, people get bigger cars.
Around 2004, there was some show with celebrities (probably one of the "Housewives" shows) parading around in their Hummers. I knew before too long this delightful state of affairs will come crashing down. If people can't remember the past, more's the pity.

 

[minor muppetz]

Maybe I've asked before, but what's the deal with Facebook posts that say "if you remember this, your childhood was awesome", particularly when it's something that isn't really from that long ago and was really popular for years?

Even more "what's the deal..." are posts like "You're a '90s baby (or maybe '80s baby) if you remember this"? Often it's for something from the very end of the decade, like Ed, Edd, and Eddy, which lasted past the decade in question. I was born in 1984 and I remember that cartoon. In fact, many of the cartoons mentioned in the "you're a '90s baby if..." posts had large adult fanbases. I think I've also seen Spongebob in these kinds of posts, and he's still really popular. A post like this might be more accurate for, say, a mid-1980s Nickelodeon show that didn't continue past the 1990s.

In fact, there are times when I make references to shows from way back in the past, long before I was born, and people (usually people a lot older than me) react with surprise that I "remember" them. Like I had to have watched the shows to be aware of them (especially with pop culture osmosis, combined with places like TV Tropes and wikipedia filling me in on the reference sources). Besides, a lot of shows have been heavily rerun for years or released on DVD by now. I think the most common "I'm surprised you remember this" I get that I never really watched was Howdy Doody, which probably wasn't rerun due to the fact that very few episodes were saved (not sure if these people would be aware of that) and wasn't available on video until a few years ago. But I know of it via non-fiction books, websites, an episode of Happy Days, and the fact that the opening appears at the beginning of Back to the Future Part III, among other sources.

 

[D'Snowth]

So what's the deal with this: you've got a new show getting ready to premiere for the first time, right? But, at the same time, the promos for the show also advertise itself as this: "on an all new season!" That indicates that the show's already been on for a while. So, what's the deal with advertising a show premiering with an all-new season?

 

[D'Snowth]

So Maya Rudolph is getting another new show after she just had one (even though apparently it was just a pilot or something along those lines). And this after NBC gave Amy Poehler a new show to direct, while Tina Fey is still working on that weird Kimmi Schmidt thing, and Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, and Fred Armesin continue to supply voices in practically every single new CGI movie. It's like I say: SNL castmembers are always given projects on a silver platter.

 

[Drtooth]

Like I said before, SNL cast members make great voice actors. MadTV too, let's not count them out. Phil LaMar must be more known as a voice actor than his short run on MadTV, that's for sure. But SNL cast members always had some side project when they leave or are about to. I mean, look at Chevy Chase. Once he had a movie deal he completely left the show in one season. And we got Bill Murray out of it.

Personally, I feel bad about the left behinds that never became anything big. Like the woman who played Pat. She did do some voice acting, but not that much. That's about it. I think she played Velma's mother in one Scooby-Doo project. That's all I can remember off the top of my head.

Anyway, here's an observation I just had. The only thing DC comics is getting praise for right now is their TV shows. Specifically their CW shows, Gotham's a might split, TTG has a fan base but a bigger hate base. And Preacher's too new to read into it, but it got modest ratings. But other than that, they're getting crap over their movies and their constant rebooting comics. Meanwhile Marvel is dominating everywhere but TV as their other TV show was canned and one was not picked up for a series. Plus their cartoons somehow get a poor reception from those outside the demographic even though they're quite good.

 

[fuzzygobo]

SNL cast members, from the beginning, seemed to use the show as a springboard into movie careers. For the first decade or so, it seemed an SNL lead meant box office gold.
Foul Play, Caddyshack, Meatballs, Animal House, The Blues Brothers, 48 Hours, Trading Places, Ghostbusters, Stripes, Beverly Hills Cop, to name a few. Not too many misses.(1941, Neighbors).
Also worth seeking out, 1978's underrated gem The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash. Gary Weis and Lorne Michaels brilliant Beatle spoof with equal parts SNL members, Monty Python, and even George Harrison got in on the act.

 

[Drtooth]

Neighbors was somehow successful enough to get a sequel.

But I'm totally for sketch comedy cast members becoming voice actors. Either on the big screen or television. If there's one thing I really liked about The Looney Tunes Show it was Kristin Wiig's Lola Bunny (oddly enough Kath Sourcie sounded just a little like Kristin when she played Mrs. Pataki on Hey Arnold, so it wasn't that off) and especially Fred Armisand's Speedy Gonzales, breathing new life into the characters. I'm actually going to miss wacky Lola and no doubt we'd go back to barely interesting furry fanboy favorite Lola when Space Jam 2 comes out (why?!?!)