DataNinja's Scintillating Digital Random Banter #231

[Rater202]

You ever go back and watch shows you watched as a child and realize that "holy crap, how did this make it to air in the first place?"

an episode of the original Powerpuff Girls cartoon had a plot that can be accurately summarized as "morbidly obese middle-aged man is obsessed with three five-year-olds, stalks them, steals their personal possessions, kidnaps them, and keeps them trapped in his basement until they're rescued by the conjoined efforts of the girls' father, the local government, and concerned citizens."

It's clearly supposed to be a commentary on toxic fandoms based on the lecture that Professor Utonium gives the kidnapper, but remove superpowers from the equation and that's an episode of Law and Order SVU.

[Peelee]

You ever go back and watch shows you watched as a child and realize that "holy crap, how did this make it to air in the first place?"

an episode of the original Powerpuff Girls cartoon had a plot that can be accurately summarized as "morbidly obese middle-aged man is obsessed with three five-year-olds, stalks them, steals their personal possessions, kidnaps them, and keeps them trapped in his basement until they're rescued by the conjoined efforts of the girls' father, the local government, and concerned citizens."

It's clearly supposed to be a commentary on toxic fandoms based on the lecture that Professor Utonium gives the kidnapper, but remove superpowers from the equation and that's an episode of Law and Order SVU.

But add in super powers to the equation, which fundamentally changes the entire power dynamic, and that's a commentary on toxic fandoms.

You have correctly deduced that context changes meaning.

[Fyraltari]

You ever go back and watch shows you watched as a child and realize that "holy crap, how did this make it to air in the first place?"

an episode of the original Powerpuff Girls cartoon had a plot that can be accurately summarized as "morbidly obese middle-aged man is obsessed with three five-year-olds, stalks them, steals their personal possessions, kidnaps them, and keeps them trapped in his basement until they're rescued by the conjoined efforts of the girls' father, the local government, and concerned citizens."

It's clearly supposed to be a commentary on toxic fandoms based on the lecture that Professor Utonium gives the kidnapper, but remove superpowers from the equation and that's an episode of Law and Order SVU.

Why wouldn't this make it to air?

[Rockphed]

Why wouldn't this make it to air?

Something about having a middlea-ged man kidnapping 3 pre-k girls. Now, I think that Peelee is right about context being important (hence The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn being somewhat still relevant despite being packed full of racial slurs). Also, kidnapping plots are not inherently more edgy than any other type of plot.

[Fyraltari]

Something about having a middlea-ged man kidnapping 3 pre-k girls. [...] kidnapping plots are not inherently more edgy than any other type of plot.

Thank you for making my reply for me. Much efficiency.

[Peelee]

This is almost completely irrelevant nitpicking, but I thought they were kindergarteners?

[Rogar Demonblud]

It kind of bounced around, IMS. A few times they acted like tweens or even low-teens, others they were solidly pre-K or K.

[Peelee]

It kind of bounced around, IMS. A few times they acted like tweens or even low-teens, others they were solidly pre-K or K.

Imean I think I remember them being in a facility sometimes. I thought it was kindergarten but it may have just been a daycare now that I think about it. I'm unsure.

[Rater202]

Their school was explicitly a kindergarten.

And there's a reason I compare it to an SVU episode: I say "take the superpowers out of the equation" but really the girl's powers don't factor into the plot. The point is that they're celebrities with merchandise and a middle-aged anti-social guy kidnaps them, physically restrains them, and imprisons them in his basement to sate his obsession over them.

It's the implications of the scenario that honestly...

I'm pretty sure the only reason that it made it to air is becuase the myriad of ways that could have gotten really dark really fast woulnd't occur to the target audience.

[Fyraltari]

It's the implications of the scenario that honestly...

I'm pretty sure the only reason that it made it to air is becuase the myriad of ways that could have gotten really dark really fast woulnd't occur to the target audience.

Then there is no issue, is there? I mean that's a bit like saying "the only reason this was allowed is because it was virtually guaranteed not to be a problem."

Or am I missing something?

[Peelee]

Their school was explicitly a kindergarten.

And there's a reason I compare it to an SVU episode: I say "take the superpowers out of the equation" but really the girl's powers don't factor into the plot. The point is that they're celebrities with merchandise and a middle-aged anti-social guy kidnaps them, physically restrains them, and imprisons them in his basement to sate his obsession over them.

It's the implications of the scenario that honestly...

I'm pretty sure the only reason that it made it to air is becuase the myriad of ways that could have gotten really dark really fast woulnd't occur to the target audience.

The implications are exactly what they explored thematically, and the only reason it went to air was because every person involved saw no overarching problem with it because they were able to view it in the context it was presented in.

Sure, there's plenty of shows and episodes that were more or less exercises in seeing what the writers could slip past the censors (almost the entirety of Rocko's Modern Life springs to mind), but in this case I think your theory is a a little overblown.

[Bartmanhomer]

Happy Valentine's Day GITP family.

[Rater202]

If you could live your life only eating one or two kinds of take-out food but you could eat as much of it as you want with no consequence, would you do it?

Because I'm gonna be honest, I think I could live indefinitely off of pizza and/or Chinese take-out if that was a viable option.

[Lord Raziere]

If you could live your life only eating one or two kinds of take-out food but you could eat as much of it as you want with no consequence, would you do it?

Because I'm gonna be honest, I think I could live indefinitely off of pizza and/or Chinese take-out if that was a viable option.

Pizza and chicken tenders, probably.

[Mystic Muse]

If you could live your life only eating one or two kinds of take-out food but you could eat as much of it as you want with no consequence, would you do it?

Because I'm gonna be honest, I think I could live indefinitely off of pizza and/or Chinese take-out if that was a viable option.

If I choose chinese, can I also do chinese buffets?

[Rawhide]

If you could live your life only eating one or two kinds of take-out food but you could eat as much of it as you want with no consequence, would you do it?

Because I'm gonna be honest, I think I could live indefinitely off of pizza and/or Chinese take-out if that was a viable option.

One of my selections, definitely positively, has to be Japanese.

If I choose chinese, can I also do chinese buffets?

And for me too, but Japanese (sushi trains!).

[Rater202]

That's not really take-out but I guess okay

Revising: The kind of food you can get as take-out.

[enderlord99]

Yes I would, Rater. Yes I would.

[Mystic Muse]

That's not really take-out but I guess okay

Revising: The kind of food you can get as take-out.

I only ask, because never being able to go to a buffet again, not even every once-in-a-while would make me sad.

American, and chinese or japanese for me, probably.

American for breakfast food and lunch. Chinese or Japanese for lunch and dinner. Both for dessert.

[enderlord99]

By "American" do you mean "hamburgers and similar"

[The Fury]

It feels like I've been away for a while. I haven't been feeling well, and we've been hit with a winter storm so that's a thing. We're pretty well snowed-in.

My mom sent me a picture of a champagne cake she made for Valentine's Day, so that's kind of nice.

[Peelee]

By "American" do you mean "hamburgers and similar"

Or steak, barbecue, potatoes, ribs, wings, basically any Cajun, creole, southern, new England, tex/mex, etc foods. American cuisine is quite expansive.

Oh, and burgers, hot dogs, and pizza.

[Rater202]

Unrelated: Is it ironic that Italian sausage goes best on french rolls or just coincidental?

(Mom's recipe for Italian sausage sandwiches: Peal sausage out of casings, brown on both sides, then pour a can of tomato sauce over it and let it finish cooking--the tomato sauce mixing with the juices and spices from the cooking sausage makes for a simple but still pretty decent red sauce. Serve sausage and sauce on a french roll with a slice of mozzarella cheese. Assembled fresh from the pan, the residual heat will melt the cheese. It's like a pizza sandwich.)

[enderlord99]

Or steak, barbecue, potatoes, ribs, wings, basically any Cajun, creole, southern, new England, tex/mex, etc foods. American cuisine is quite expansive.

Oh, and burgers, hot dogs, and pizza.

Counting all of that as one "type" of takeout sounds kinda cheaty.

[Peelee]

Unrelated: Is it ironic that Italian sausage goes best on french rolls or just coincidental?

(Mom's recipe for Italian sausage sandwiches: Peal sausage out of casings, brown on both sides, then pour a can of tomato sauce over it and let it finish cooking--the tomato sauce mixing with the juices and spices from the cooking sausage makes for a simple but still pretty decent red sauce. Serve sausage and sauce on a french roll with a slice of mozzarella cheese. Assembled fresh from the pan, the residual heat will melt the cheese. It's like a pizza sandwich.)

That sounds delightful!

Counting all of that as one "type" of takeout sounds kinda cheaty.

Maybe, but that's what happens with a geographically huge country whose population base is massively immigrant-populated.

[Rater202]

That sounds delightful!

In my experience, the stuff that's really good homemade is either the stuff that's quick, cheap, and easy to make at home(these sandwiches, for example) or the stuff that's requires a decent effort(like say, a lasagna.)

The stuff that's only moderately difficult to make at home tends to be moderately good. It's the simple stuff or the hard stuff that's good good.

Does that make sense?

[Qwertystop]

Maybe, but that's what happens with a geographically huge country whose population base is massively immigrant-populated.

Yeah, but individual takeout places tend to specialize more.

[Peelee]

Yeah, but individual takeout places tend to specialize more.

True, but I ain't the one who said "American". I just commented on what American is.

[Rawhide]

New rule: If you specify a country, you only get the type of food you'd get if you went to a takeaway restaurant overseas.

e.g. An American takeaway restaurant in Japan.

[Peelee]

New rule: If you specify a country, you only get the type of food you'd get if you went to a takeaway restaurant overseas.

e.g. An American takeaway restaurant in Japan.

So if I say "Australian" I'm limited to Outback Steakhouse?