Talk:bike thief

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Contents 1 Easter Egg, what does Homestar Say? 2 Ocean's Eleven 3 College References 4 Ivory tower 5 CHiPs 6 MIT 7 Bromide 8 Peasant's Quest Bush 9 Spray Can 10 College Girl 11 Ban Roll-On 12 Trashcan Robot Explaination 13 Jump Back?

Easter Egg, what does Homestar Say?

I hear "burger wrapper". this makes more sense, as it's a kind of garbage, similar to how SB was listing parts of the bush earlier. "Murder weapon" makes no sense. — Defender1031*Talk 12:43, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Murder weapon. —BazookaJoe 12:45, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

How does that make any sense? — Defender1031*Talk 12:46, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

You'd put a murder weapon in the trash after using it, wouldn't you? —BazookaJoe 12:46, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

WHAT?! THAT'S the best you can come up with? No, you wouldn't necessarily put a murder weapon in the trash. You WOULD however, necessarily put a burger wrapper in the trash. — Defender1031*Talk 12:51, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

It's not a question of what makes more sense. It's a question of what he's actually saying. --phlip ^T_C 12:53, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I very definitely hear "murder weapon", and can't hear anything like "burger" or "wrapper" no matter how hard I try. It couldn't be any clearer. --phlip ^T_C 12:47, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Personally, I heard "Mortor Weapon". That sounds closer to Murder Weapon, and I doubt my opinion means much here.--147.133.211.123 12:49, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Okay, just listened to it again, with the sound all the way up, it is most definitely "murder weapon". I stand corrected, and bid you all a good day. — Defender1031*Talk 12:58, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I realize that you've agreed it is "Murder Weapon" so i'm not saying anything other than I agree. But to the person who asked why that makes sense, it's to do with Strong Bad's line where he asks if Homestar is a trash can or a robot, some robots would probly have some sort of gun of some sort, which is a murder weapon - that is why it makes sense. 15:36, 10 September 2007 (UTC) MJN SEIFER

I'm confused. When did we start worrying about whether Homestar made any sense?--.Johnny Jupiter! ^talk _cont 19:58, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Ocean's Eleven

When Strong Bad tries to steal the bike seat off the couch, he says, "I'll have to employ some Chinese acrobatics!" When I saw this, I thought of the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven, in which thieves rob a Las Vegas casino. In the heist scene of that film, one of them (a Chinese acrobat) uses his talents to break into the vault. As a side note, two thieves also have to bypass laser security in a long vertical shaft, although they get through the shaft by rappelling rather than using suction cups.

I think that at least the Chinese acrobat bit is a real-world reference; anyone agree? Unless I'm mistaken, the combination of Chinese acrobatics and thievery is uncommon enough that it's almost certainly a reference to that film, but I wanted to post here first and see what others thought... Trey56 13:10, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

No, many movies i've seen make use of acrobatics to avoid lazer security. — Defender1031*Talk 13:22, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Sure, but Chinese acrobatics? Trey56 13:30, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Nah, i think he just picked a country famous for martial arts. — Defender1031*Talk 13:31, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

BEH! its Ocean's Eleven (series of movies). Name one other (reasonably famous) movie where they avoid lasers with chinese acrobatics? Not Mission Impossible. And what does martial arts have to do with acrobatics? -Jdhannan 15:32, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Lucy Liu is Chinese, she was in Charlie's Angels. She did that stuff.--71.203.169.248 18:43, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

College References

One wonders just how many college references need to be included in the Real World section. Are backwards baseball caps a uniquely American cliche/frat-boy joke? Wannabe hippies with dreads carrying generally ignored petitions? Or should the jokes be allowed to stand on context in the hopes that a viewer in, say, Bangladesh who has never set foot on a university campus will infer the references?

Ivory tower

Another debatable RWR: when I saw the CGNU tower off in the distance during the scene in the Field, I immediately thought of Stanford University's Hoover Tower, a similar tower that is often used as a symbol of the university. I've also seen it silhouetted like that in illustrations (PhD comics, for example). Probably won't get people to agree it's a reference, but thought I'd mention it here. Trey56 13:48, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps if we just mention that many university campuses (at least in my travels and inferences, which may be inaccurate) have a generally-recognized tower that is used in a lot of said campus' signage...For example, when I first saw the CGNU tower, I thought of the Coughlin Campanile, here on the campus of South Dakota State University...even though we do not have SDSU branded on the outside. Rosseloh 18:43, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Agree with the original poster that they do look similar. Also agree with OP that they would have a diffiult time convincing anyone of such specificity. The Berkey campus has a remarkably similar tower, as I'm sure many campuses do. One instance where I'm sure the Chaps snigger over the fan base's tendency to nitpick over every joke.

CHiPs

I think, rather than "Punch" and "John", Strong Bad is actually exclaiming "Ponch" and "Jon" who are the main characters in the 70s TV show CHiPs.

Definitely agree. Transcriber dropped the ball on that one.

Well, I'm so sorry for not being an active US TV watcher, or alive, in the '70s. :-P    But yes, that does make sense. --phlip ^T_C 00:17, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

MIT

Can someone verify my explaination for MIT? I'm not sure about it. It could also refer to NIT. Awexome 16:38, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Sure — he's referring to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (I changed it). Trey56 16:42, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Bromide

Bromide is not a compound. A compound contains two or more elements. Bromide is an ion based on the element bromine. --H-ko 19:16, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Technically, a bromide is a compound. A bromide ion is not, but rather a single atom. — Lapper (talk) 19:38, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Technically, "bromide" refers to the ion... it's just in common usage that it refers to a compound containing bromide (because, once it's dissolved, it doesn't matter what the cation is... just that there is one). Like how the "fluoride" in toothpaste is generally sodium fluoride, which is a compound. But the fluoride itself is only one element. --phlip ^T_C 00:15, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Peasant's Quest Bush

Maybe I'm reaching, maybe not, but did anyone else find that SB's bush disguise looked remarkably similar to the berry bush in the Peasant's Quest video game? — 87.69.106.165 (Talk | contribs) 21:49, 10 September 2007 (UTC) (left unsigned)

Hmm, it does, now that you mention it. Not sure it's good enough for a reference though. — Defender1031*Talk 21:55, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I thought the same thing when I watched it. Trey56 21:56, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I thought it too, especially on the mention of berries by Strong Bad. --DorianGray 21:57, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Vote!

I'd have to say that it deserves a reference. Or at least a "is possibly a reference to".

yeah, I think it deserves a reference --Geoblu2 00:51, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Spray Can

What does it say on the spray can he uses on the lasers? I'm lazy and can't find it anywhere on the page. -Telamon 22:10, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

It reads "C'mon! It's Fog!" You're right, it should be added somewhere. — Has Matt? (talk) 22:17, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

It seems too specific to not have a reference, but I can't think of what it might be...

I think having it in the transcript is enough, but if you were going to mention it elsewhere, i guess it would go under trivia. -Telamon 22:55, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

College Girl

Not sure if it's worth noting, but in hygiene Strong Bad complained about receiving email from kids, and wanted more email from college girls, which this one presumably is. Don't know any guys named Virginia. Xerzes 23:33, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Sounds good to me, i hadn't even noticed the relation. -Telamon 03:00, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Ban Roll-On

Incidentally, when Strong Bad said "to ban roll-on", my immediate assumption was that it was a reference to the common urban myth that deodorant causes cancer. This theory was particularly common amongst health enthusiasts for a quite a while, and in fact, persists to this day. In the context of the cartoon, it doesn't really make much sense for him to be talking about "a petition to Ban Roll-On" (the brand); since the brand name is a noun, this would be akin to "a petition to tree" or something, wouldn't it? I know that we don't hear the rest of his sentence, but grammatically, I can't think of any way for that statement to end. Meanwhile, for him to be trying to ban roll-on deodorant (because it causes cancer) makes a fair amount of sense, particularly when coupled with his later comments about vegan food and brotherhood (indicating a sort of hippie/health nut image). I know this is Strong Bad we're talking about, and he rarely makes complete sense, but could my explanation be considered, at least?--Tally Solleni 00:07, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I think you are right that "ban" is being most likely used as a verb, but that doesn't change the fact that Ban Roll On is a brand name, so it makes sense to mention the word play for the benefit of people unfamiliar with the brand. Incidentally, one way the sentence fragment could be interpreted so that "ban" is a noun was if Strong Bad were saying "...signing this petition [addressed] to Ban Roll On". (pretty unlikely). 74.136.220.105 00:51, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Trashcan Robot Explaination

When Homestar says "Murder Weapon" he's not referring to a robot having a murderous weapon. He is indeed referring to something thrown in the trash. Strong Bad asks if he's a robot because of his monotone robot-like voice he's using, which doesn't necissarily befit a trashcan as much as it would classically be associated with a robot. That, or it's a reference to his trash can shape looking similar to the Visor Robot. I don't expect anyone to listen or agree even though it's pretty obvious, but there you go. -- 208.60.233.130 02:18, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Jump Back?

When Strong Bad just throws out the words "jump back", it reminded me of Kevin Bacon in Footloose saying that line in response to what he thought was absurd (that dancing in town was banned). I'm thinking it might be worth mentioning. The phrase is common, but only in sentences where it is elaborated on, like, "jump back in time", or, "jump back 5 feet". By itself, I can only think of Kevin Bacon here. Thoughts? PlasticDiverGuy 03:39, 11 September 2007 (UTC)