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Tropic Chunder?
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$10 says Mad Magazine or Cracked use that same title.
When I say that many of these comics are autobiographical, please believe me. For not one, not two, but three of my friends approached me with roughly the same review of “Tropic Thunder.” It just so happens they were the three featured regularly in HijiNKS Ensue. I hope when I have lunch with them later today I might actually learn if they thought it was a good movie.
Eli said basically what I portrayed in the panels above. He speaks in cryptic riddles and half truths. I think I’m supposed to find an amulet to decode what he tells me.
Denise was actually the one that suggested Eli might have been talking about “unicorn vomit” as opposed to his own, or someone else’s. Somehow, in her world, this suggests a shift from a negative connotation (throwing up in your own mouth) to a positive one (finding that there is mythical horned horse vomit in your mouth). As if the response to that discovery would be “Mmm, delightful!”
Denise also proposed that “Tropic Thunder” was made by 12 year olds with access to high explosives. Again, I think she meant this as a compliment to the film makers.
I’m so confused.
REMINDER: We will be Castcasting the HE Podcast tonight starting between 8pm and 9pm Central. Check out the live broadcast on Ustream.TV and join in on the live chat!
“Tropic Thunder” sounds like a sports drink that might actually be “enfused” with unicorn vomit.
SAVE HIJINKS ENSUE UPDATE
As of this post, Monthly Donation Subscriptions are at $400/mo and One Time Donations have reached $1897 since the beginning of The Experiment 4 months ago.
If the Monthly Subscription Donations can reach $1000 by the end of August, I can almost definitely continue the Experiment through September.
A few of you have asked what to do if you want to subscribe for more than the amounts listed on the Donations page. What a wonderful question! If you want to subscribe for, say, $30 you can set up subscriptions for $10 and $20. Paypal shouldn’t have a problem with that.
Thanks for your continued support!
Tags: movies, tropic thunder, unicorns
August 27th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I think Im leaning towards Tropic Thunder just so I can be in on everything Josh and Eli said in the last HE Podcast.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Isn't Tom Cruise in this movie?
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Damn you and your mathematics.
You get my point though.
BTW I don't hate to be a pedant and 2,000 x $1 = $2,000 (HA!)
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
hmmm, maybe being a white middle class Brit I'm oversensitve to this sort of thing but I don't think claiming satire cuts it.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I've not seen the movie but all indications are that the character played by Downey is such a self-centered, self-important actor, that he sees getting his skin dyed as simply going the distance for his craft. The other characters, especially the one played by an actual black man, are there to point out how ridiculous he is.
And I'm not sure this is anything like "blackface" minstrel show makeup, anyway. That term usually describes an exaggerated style of makeup that includes offensive features like huge red lips and "nappy" hair that really don't look anything like a real black person. Downey's makeup, in all the images I've seen, does look fairly realistic.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
So the guy with the Family Guy avatar is offended by satirical black face?
I haven't seen the movie yet, though I've heard much more controversy about use of the word "retard" than about the whole blackface thing.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Perhaps… JUST PERHAPS… Eli had a touch of the flue.
Damn you and your overactive imagination Joel
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
i spelled flu wrong. i know this and beg for your forgiveness.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Don't know if you realise this or not but Family guy = cartoon
Anyway I'm not exactly offended (I don't think I can be offended by it) just very uncomfortable about a white guy blacking up.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I've got some friends who make cryptic remarks like these, too. I often just smile/nod but I've started saying, "What do you mean??" more often.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I have noticed that the timeliness of the comic going up is directly proportionate to the complexity of the backgrounds in said comic. Case-in-point: this one was out pretty damn early.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I agree, I know a few people who enjoy but don't listen to the podcasts etc. like I do, and would probably have no feasible argument against donating a dollar.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I have to be so careful when i choose my "theater movies" since we only get to see about 1 a month.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Most of my friends arent married and dot have kids so they can see 2-3 movies a week if they like. Without this luxury I usually wait for DVD.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Joel has said before that PayPal's fees are so high that donating less than $4 or $5 is essentially useless.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Not really. Out of a $1 donation paypal takes about $.30 and income tax takes another chunk. I end up with a few pennies, so it's not worth it.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Im totally fine with making fun of racism (we do it every week) even if it pushes a few peoples buttons. I support the idea of making racism "absurd" and this extinguishing it's power.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Agreed. Minstrel shows were based on the concept that society found the very idea of a black man hilarious because of their "inherent stupidity." That's obviously a false notion. What Downey is doing is making fun of the "pretentious, self centered actor" which, by their very nature, are ridiculous.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Dont ask me for forgiveness. I misspelled 4 words while typing this sentence.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
and they were all saying it with such enthusiasm. Im sure they either REALLY liked it or REALLY hated it.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
eh, kinda yes and kinda no. This one still took me 6 hours. I worked straight through to 4am to get it done. When it IS 4am and the location isn't important I usually go simple with the backgrounds because I cant think straight any more. Also if another graphical element is going to carry the weight (the unicorn) I tend not to focus on the background details.
Good observation though.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Indeed. I certainly wont turn down free money, but Im not going to encourage $1 donations. If your goal is to keep HE going, then Id rather you ACTUALLY contribute to the cause financially, or just be a cheerleader for the site which costs nothing.
Either that or save your $1 for a few months and donate $5 when you have it.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Yeah I follow you on that. I hadn't thought about the unicorn. I hear Eli's "WRONG" effect in my head now.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I'm reading this on someone elses computer using IE, and I'm getting gray text on a black background. FYI.
Denise is right. I think unicorn vomit is probably delicious. All unicorn bodily fluids and excrements would probably be delicacies. With unicorn tears being the most delicious of all. Mu ha ha.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
IE 6 or 7?
I see the same prolem with IE 6. It appears to be ignoring certain parts of the CSS.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Trust me I have no problem with ironic racism, sexism, etc., etc. (mexicans are all sleepy gardeners, all gay men have huge tashes and wear leather chaps, etc.)
I realise that this is supposed to be satire and there's no racism but it's still black face and I'm just not sure I'm comfortable with that. Maybe that's my personal problem.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
After seeing Tropic Thunder I can say it's well worth being your monthly movie. It's personally the funniest movie I've seen this year.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Question-I'm debating on whether to go see tropic thunder. Should I pony up the cash to see it or should I just see the Dark Knight for the 4th time? (Solely to see the Joker in that Nurses Outfit.)
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Not sure why that happens but I think you can fix it by adding this to your CSS:
.post {
background: white;
}
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Well the weird thing is, when i checked it in IE6 the site was missing several changes I had made to the CSS. As if it had somehow gotten a hold of the original unmodified style sheet. And actually its not missing the background. Its covering it with the background color of the top ad box. You can tell because the argyle sidebars are missing too.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Oh. something strange is happening. if i use "Edit CSS" in web developer toolbar in Firefox, something similar happens (but this time all the background is the lighter-gray #555 used for the page background). I know IE 6 has problems with CSS that has descendant selectors (i.e. ".post > abbr" or something), but i don't see any of those in your CSS.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I thought it might be JavaScript doing something funny, but the problem is still there in IE after disabling JS.
some thoughts: you're using the FF3 rounded border CSS rules, not sure how IE6 reacts when it hits a property it doesn't understand. Maybe you should try moving those CSS rules to the end of the blocks they're in. (i could be totally wrong on this). also, you're using <!– html comments –> in your CSS, when you should use /* CSS comments */ instead. that could be messing up IE's CSS parser somehow.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
props to denise for the unicorn vomit — it probably tastes like vodka and cookies.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I'd rather have Pegasus vomit personally, I like the milk and cookies taste more.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
It was IE6. They can't update to IE7 because IE7 messes up some FTP settings.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
He was pretty hot as a nurse, wasn't he?
I mean… uh…
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I wonder if unicorn vomit gives you more or less super powers than unicorn blood…
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Firstly, FIRST-POST!
Anyway, this shits me because I want to know how it is as well, I'm wary of paying to see it as well…
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Since I only see about four movies per year in the theater … I don't think I'm wasting one of them on Tropic Thunder. Don't get me wrong, I'll likely rent the blu-ray when it's out. But, I seem to get the same impression from the (few) people I know that have seen the movie. Maybe it takes them a while to process what they've seen and determine whether they liked it or not …
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
A comic that perfectly illustrates the, often hilarious, non sequiturs that Eli often subjects podcast listeners and I suspect more often Joel, etc. to.
Regarding Tropic Thunder can somebody explain to me when black face became socially exceptable again?
Would it be possible to set up a $1 monthly subscription button? I suspect that more of the thousands of regular readers who haven't yet subscribed (for whatever bizarre reason) would be willing to make such a small donation and 2000 $1 donations is better than 500 $5 subscriptions. I realise there may be paypal charges to account for but if you tried something like a 2 week $1 ($2) subscription drive you could clock up 2000+ small subscriptions.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I'm not sure it IS socially acceptable again.
But hey, it's Robert Downey, Jr. He can do what he wants. Also it's a satire comedy, soooo…
*shrugs*
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I hate to be a pedant but 500 x $5 = $2,500, whereas 2,000 x $1 = 2,0000
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Yeah, it's funny *because* it's not socially acceptable.
I thought this movie would be really bad, but I keep hearing that it is actually really funny.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Things I like:
- There's a difference between people vomit and hobo vomit. Who knew??
- Thought bubbles forming over Joel's head in panel 2. (Or is it steam? Is Joel about to start playing train and shouting, "Choo-Choo"?)
- The unicorn's slightly evil expression.
- Eli spitting out the butterfly in panel 4. Excellent!
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
In that case I'd see Pineapple Express…
ALSO! In PC24 you were dead on about Franco, I can't see him as anything but 'that guy from spider-man' and he just looks out of place in Pineapple Express…
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Yeah he was pretty damn sexy uh i mean uh BOOBIES!
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
You know, maybe I'm just less open-minded regarding vomit than you guys are, but for me even unicorn vomit constitutes negativity.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I totally was confused by Eli's tweets too! Denise also advised me on the "unicorn vomit, not too much tequila vomit" thing.
I also assumed Denise's comment on 12 year olds with HE meant teenagers who read this comic, Hijinks Ensue.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I just saw Tropic Thunder and I also was vomited on by unicorns. I liked it!
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
This is a test to see if I logged in…
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Ever seen an FSU football game? You know, where they paint some honky bright-red and have him ride a horse around the field making, "Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!" yells, wearing a big head-dress and wielding a spear?
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
My wife and I have an invisible baby that we named Ten-Hours-Of-Sleep-Per-Night.
/Patton Oswalt
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
it will still be a few weeks at least before I see it, but I plan to.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
inversely proportional powers.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Thats my point! It is certainly not a positive connotation.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
thats right. You were the catalyst for this comic.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
what have I started?
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
If you only have time for one movie, see Pineapple Express. I know it was said, but it's worth saying again.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I sense sarcasm….
Anyway, I caught a showing yesterday for my birthday. Disappointed….
April 12th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
[...] U.S. movies? I wouldn’t take a kid to see this film even if you replaced all the blood with rainbow unicorn vomit, so what gives? It’s obviously intended for [...]