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"Trope Of The Day II: Our Troperiffic (Second) Century."
Posted by Estee on 05-20-12 at 04:57 AM
Strange and mysterious are the ways of the ineffable Random button.

Mostly strange.

Table of contents
Messages in this discussion
"#101"
Posted by Estee on 05-20-12 at 05:03 AM
Because in the history of western animation, just about no one has ever thought to themselves 'Why is that bush following me?'

Okay, one pony got freaked out by a trotting haystack, but the straw pile was wearing Groucho glasses at the time.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MobileShrubbery

And then you have the Get Smart example where one cardboard box was being shadowed by another cardboard box...

"Ineffable..."
Posted by IceCat on 05-20-12 at 08:43 AM
... effable, effanineffable, deep & inscrutable, singular random button.
"RE: Ineffable..."
Posted by Estee on 05-20-12 at 12:20 PM
And how.
"RE: Ineffable..."
Posted by kingfish on 05-20-12 at 08:18 PM
And don't forget, inedible.
"#102"
Posted by Estee on 05-21-12 at 06:53 AM
Oh, this piece? Right off the shelf at Nordstrom. A perfect fit, as always. And look at the jacket! Yes, I know the label looks a little off, but that's because I met the designer when she was still doing them by hand, all the way back at her second street fair. I'm proud to say I knew her from before her win on Project Runway, which was a natural for her: so much experience and talent... That one? Well, after I saw it on the world's most popular supermodel last spring, I had to have one for myself: the only challenge was in beating everyone else to the store. See how well it contours? Sure, I know I don't technically need this much of a wardrobe, but the sheer pleasure of wearing all these beautiful pieces that work as if they were made just for me more than justifies it. Can you imagine if I had to get all this personally done instead of just pulling my size? How strange would that be?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WorldOfBuxom

...and this? Would you believe some idiot put this on clearance?

"RE: #102"
Posted by kingfish on 05-21-12 at 10:55 AM
LAST EDITED ON 05-21-12 AT 02:39 PM (EST)

Big breasts are sexy.

Little breasts are just as sexy, really.

What really matters, though, is the proximity of those breasts to my hands eyes.

And whether or not they are tied up with ribbons.

(But I swear, those Anime girls said they were 18. And surely some of the blame goes to the artist).

"RE: #102"
Posted by Estee on 05-21-12 at 01:39 PM
That? Is a high school uniform.

Wanna guess which year?

Wanna see how fast he can edit?

"#103"
Posted by Estee on 05-22-12 at 06:30 AM
Someone has wronged you. But they apologized for it. And that's the important thing, really. Anyone could make a mistake, even one as colossally stupid and arrogant as theirs. That kind of monumental hubris comes along all the time. Just because it personally and permanently destroyed everything you were working for doesn't mean you can't just take -- them -- back...

...

...right after you do this one little thing.

*!POW!*

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MyFistForgivesYou

Much better.

"RE: #103"
Posted by newsomewayne on 05-23-12 at 08:36 AM
McClintock was the first thing I thought of when I read the trope. That's one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies. Not his best western, but very entertaining.


Fear the reaper.
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." - Margaret Thatcher

"#104"
Posted by Estee on 05-23-12 at 07:51 AM
Alfred Hitchcock was a trope namer -- the official designation-applier of the MacGuffin: the object everyone in the plot is after. It may be valuable, contain secrets, have magical or super-science powers, or maybe it's just the family heirloom that determines who gets to hold the throne, but by the gawds, if you are in this story, you are after the MacGuffin. Or worse, you have it. And everyone else knows it.

But -- sometimes you get to chase the dead horse. The object everyone's after? Is worthless. In fact. calling it garbage is an insult to litter. Take the thing and two bucks and you'll have $1.98 because your possessing it devalued everything else you were carrying. You have totally wasted your time. And unless you can convince the pack that they in turn are wasting their own, they will still be trying to kill you.

Congratulations. You are the proud owner of the

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MockGuffin?from=Main.GoldenHelmetOfMambrino

and you really, really wish you weren't...

Most Big Brother twist items work out like this.

"#105"
Posted by Estee on 05-24-12 at 05:24 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MythArc

When an entire extended series is trying to tell one whole story, this trope is the general goal. Not every episode will directly relate to the ultimate ending, but each airing is one more theoretical step on the way there. And what does this usually lead to? With television, it typically means a canceled series and frustrated viewers, because networks don't have a lot of patience for letting people finish. Or you get those times when the series really had no idea what it was doing after all and makes something up at the last minute. Plus there's the stories which will be stretched out forever as long as renewal keeps coming and you can just wait for your last chapter forever. And worst-case? All three at once: series canceled abruptly, the writers scramble to resolve things last-minute -- and fall short. Keep those cards and letters, but go ahead and set the Blu-Rays on fire.

But when it works...

"#106ay"
Posted by Estee on 05-25-12 at 06:03 AM
Indkay urprisingsay otsay eesay, ightray?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PigLatin

"RE: #106ay"
Posted by newsomewayne on 05-25-12 at 09:15 AM
From just reading your subject, I thought this one was gonna be something about Canada.

I did appreciate how the headings on the trope page were translated.


Fear the reaper.
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." - Margaret Thatcher

"#107"
Posted by Estee on 05-26-12 at 03:10 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YellowLightningBlueLightning

Don't worry: North Carolina already has a law on the books forbidding them to marry.

"#108"
Posted by Estee on 05-27-12 at 03:36 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AlertnessBlink

Playing with graphics to make it visually obvious that a character has just noticed something. As opposed to 'It is three in the morning and I will need to blink at this object approximately six times before starting to figure out what it is.'

I would have totally understood that second one.

"#109 (Memorial Day)"
Posted by Estee on 05-28-12 at 07:23 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThePoppy

There are more lost than simply ours.

"#110"
Posted by Estee on 05-29-12 at 05:43 AM
So you're working on some sort of series. And it occurs to you that your sales and viewership might peak a bit if you introduced a gay character. (In the States, this is mostly from people buying your work pre-burning, but as long as you've got their money...) There's just one problem: you need that character now.

Well, maybe two problems. You're also kind of lazy. Creating characters is hard. Why do you have to go through all the effort of whipping up a brand new sentient being? Isn't there some easier way to work? You've got so many established characters already, and they were enough of a problem to start with. Life would be so much simpler for you if one of the old hands abruptly went against everything you've ever written about them, from dating life to bedroom activity and that one time on the roof, and out of totally @#$%ing nowhere revealed they were actually --

-- hmmm...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SuddenlySexuality

(Oh, and that character not rather more sensibly being bisexual? Completely different trope. Which you are also too lazy to use.)

"RE: #110"
Posted by SpotTheDiffference on 05-29-12 at 07:47 AM
This embarrasses me to admit to watching this, but Santana's abrupt transition from school slut to her gay-for-Britney storyline absolutely baffled me. It just seemed like the writers realized that they had no lesbian characters and decided to write her up as one.

"RE: #110"
Posted by Estee on 05-29-12 at 09:01 AM
The phasing storyline issue (they fall in through the ceiling and leave via the walls) is one of the main reasons I don't watch Glee. The whole series feels like the writers have a six-second memory and assume the viewers are working with three.
"RE: #110"
Posted by SpotTheDiffference on 05-29-12 at 09:21 AM
I felt like the initial series was OK. Nothing special, but kept me interested. The second season felt like a parody of the first, which was why I barely watched the last season (Sue's heel-face turn was a huge WTH moment, though).
"#111"
Posted by Estee on 05-30-12 at 07:41 AM
Quick riddle: what is it that pulls in anyone who gets within a certain distance, is inevitably fatal without miraculous aid, has arguably claimed more victims in fiction than in life, and doesn't even remotely work the way writers tell you it does?

So tempted to say 'Religion?' here...

Black hole? Close. But no, this is found on Earth. In fact, if a hack so desires, it will be in your backyard.

What if I threw in a really convenient vine?

Light just went on, didn't it? Because one of those things we can nearly all agree on (unless you're about to put it in someone's backyard) is that

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/QuicksandSucks

Generally with a strength of 3.8 Harrisons.

"RE: #111"
Posted by newsomewayne on 05-30-12 at 08:34 AM
How, how, HOW did Perfect Strangers make the trope list and Gilligan's Island did not? I mean, GI writers practically had the castaways build their huts on top of the stuff it was used so much.

I suppose I could submit it for correction, but then I would have to do stuff, so...

"#112"
Posted by Estee on 05-31-12 at 06:42 AM
LAST EDITED ON 05-31-12 AT 06:58 AM (EST)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MedievalMorons

Basically, this one claims that not only are the majority of people found in this era going to be stupid, anyone attempting anything resembling thought during the Dark Ages is going to be punished for it, as in:

1152 A.D.

Peasant: "I have discovered crop rotation! Our lands will no longer turn barren!"

Church: "BURN THE WITCH!"

Then again...

2012 A.D.

Scientist: "I have discovered stem cell regeneration! All those with lost limbs and organs will be whole again!"

Church: "BURN THE WITCH!"

Oh, so that's what they mean by traditional values...

"#133 (Games)"
Posted by Estee on 06-01-12 at 07:40 AM
LAST EDITED ON 06-01-12 AT 07:44 AM (EST)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExtraTurn

It doesn't get much more basic than that. You go, and then you go again. And if the rules are broken, again and again and again...


ETA: Yes, I see the unfixable sleepy-typo and I'm aware this is actually #113. Apparently my subconscious took a few extra turns of its own. And didn't bother telling anyone else.

"RE: #133 (Games)"
Posted by dabo on 06-01-12 at 07:59 AM
Yet not a word about rolling doubles. That was too many, go directly to jail.

"RE: #133 (Games)"
Posted by Estee on 06-01-12 at 08:31 AM
Extra turn by accident versus extra turn by deliberate player intent? If you can roll doubles on purpose, there are things you should be doing away from Monopoly. And Vegas will hate every one of them.
"RE: #133 (Games)"
Posted by SpotTheDiffference on 06-01-12 at 09:36 AM
Easily taken advantage of in Pokemon...

Togekiss used Thunder Wave!

Opponent is paralyzed! It can't move!

Togekiss used Air Slash!

Opponent flinched!

Togekiss used Air Slash!

Opponent flinched!

Togekiss used Air Slash!

Opponent fainted!

Repeat until everyone dies.

"RE: #133 (Games)"
Posted by kingfish on 06-01-12 at 10:02 AM
At least you didn't accidentally send everyone back in time possibly causing a history rewrite.
"#114 (Reality TV)"
Posted by Estee on 06-02-12 at 10:20 AM
They Thought They Had Talent

They Were Wrong

You Will Scream

You Will Cower

But There's Nowhere To Hide From

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HopelessAuditionees

Coming Soon To Every Bloody Reality Show Near You

(Whether You Like It Or Not)

"RE: #114 (Reality TV)"
Posted by kidflash212 on 06-02-12 at 10:26 AM
I was totally expecting todays trope to be something about the end of a very long quest for something finally coming to an end.
"RE: #114 (Reality TV)"
Posted by Estee on 06-02-12 at 12:02 PM
I was in too much lingering shock to think about it and just went with the Random button. And I'm not sure which trope would qualify.

Gary Cohen was asked on-air after the last pitch if he thought it would ever happen. His immediate answer: "No."

"RE: #114 (Reality TV)"
Posted by kingfish on 06-02-12 at 11:16 AM
I think Johnny Carson may have been responsible for introducing us to this when he tortured us with Tiny Tim.
"RE: #114 (Reality TV)"
Posted by Estee on 06-02-12 at 11:43 AM
I remember reading about the Marx Brothers doing a parody of this (one-reeler promo, not part of a movie) where they were, one by one, auditioning for a talent agent with the exact same song. Which included Harpo's attempt. (Simon would approve. Or not.) So for video capture, this goes back farther than most people might think.

As the trope listing notes, this also turned up in comics around the 60s with the Legion Of Super Heroes, who always held open auditions to try and find new members. And they always got people who couldn't quite make the cut. Admittedly, they were horrible judges a lot of the time -- tossing away someone who could create sub-zero cold zones was not their best collective idea -- but some of the prospects were beyond suspect. The one who always stuck in my head from seeing the collections was Arm Fall Off Boy.

No, he did not have the power to make an opponent's arms fall off. That would have been interesting, if a little bit one-way. He had the power to make his own arm fall off at the shoulder. One arm. And then he'd pick it up with his surviving arm and beat you with it.

He did not make the second round.

No idea if the thing ever reattached.

"RE: #114 (Reality TV)"
Posted by kingfish on 06-02-12 at 11:49 AM
Like most things, it probably goes back to the Greeks.
"RE: #114 (Reality TV)"
Posted by Estee on 06-02-12 at 12:04 PM
Were they known for having their arms fall off?
"RE: #114 (Reality TV)"
Posted by Snidget on 06-02-12 at 12:16 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_de_Milo
"RE: #114 (Reality TV)"
Posted by Estee on 06-02-12 at 01:39 PM
In retrospect, I really should have seen that coming.

But how did she beat people to death with them?

"RE: #114 (Reality TV)"
Posted by dabo on 06-03-12 at 01:53 AM
Arm-Fall-Off Boy tries on a Legion flight ring

"RE: #114 (Reality TV)"
Posted by kingfish on 06-03-12 at 11:47 AM
Actually, it should be "Arm-Float-Off-Boy".
"RE: #114 (Reality TV)"
Posted by Estee on 06-03-12 at 09:10 PM
You know the worst part? Legion flight rings are triggered by willpower. His arm has a mind of its own. And it's trying to get away from him.
"And Who Could Forget"
Posted by dabo on 06-04-12 at 10:46 AM
Fortress Lad?

http://www.comicvine.com/fortress-lad/29-79728/

Well, besides everyone including Fortress Lad.

"#115"
Posted by Estee on 06-03-12 at 04:41 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CircusBrat

Leading to one of the few situations where you can break your parents' hearts by running away to join the supposed mainstream reality.

Actually, Military Brats can find common ground, especially if you were both expected to clean up after the elephant.

"RE: #115"
Posted by kingfish on 06-03-12 at 11:52 AM
LAST EDITED ON 06-04-12 AT 00:05 AM (EST)

Similar to the "Hippie Brat" (which I may have just invented) who, after a childhood raised by the Flower Child generation in a free love commune decides to join regular society.

The little bastard just wouldn't smoke his pot like he was told to.

"#116"
Posted by Estee on 06-04-12 at 06:37 AM
Let's say you're playing a video game where your character has to defuse a bomb. And the bad guy announces that the explosives are on the ground floor of the building. You? Are on the top. Eighty stories up. The elevators are out, the stairs are crammed with mooks, you can't improvise a rappel right now, and there's thirty minutes on the countdown. You'll have to fight your way to street level, floor by floor. In thirty minutes.

So your character fights.

Locates some powerups.

Changes body armor a few times.

Checks out the bathrooms.

Reads dozens of interoffice memos to learn how the bomb plot came to be.

Searches for those elusive Collect 'Em All game stamps.

Stops to heal up a few times.

Receives skill training (between floors).

Over six hours of actual game play.

And when you finally reach the bottom? The timer will read 00:10.

In fact, you could have gone down to the second floor, then climbed all the way back up to see if there was anything you missed, gone into the cafeteria, cooked for every last mook, received your certified culinary institute diploma, then headed back down via chewing your way through the ceilings and there still would have been 00:10 left on the timer.

So go ahead and

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TakeYourTime

because the bomb will wait. And besides, you really wanted to learn how to make your own croissants.


"RE: #116"
Posted by kingfish on 06-04-12 at 08:48 AM
Those pesky mooks are always underfoot. Fortunately, although there are a lot of them, they are expendable.

The last RPG I played was Doom.

"#117"
Posted by Estee on 06-05-12 at 05:25 AM
LAST EDITED ON 06-05-12 AT 05:40 AM (EST)

So why would anyone want to drink at a wretched hive of scum and villainy? Well...

They have the best drink selection inhumanely available.

No one ever waters the booze.

Customer satisfaction is Job One And Only.

There has never been a shortchanged customer in the history of the bar, and you know this (plus all of the above) for a fact because the bar is still standing.

Think about it.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BadGuyBar

And everybody knows your name. Because it was on the Hall Of Wanted Poster Fame when you walked in.

"RE: #117"
Posted by kingfish on 06-05-12 at 10:47 AM
I always drink milk in a bad guys bar. If they don't serve sarsaparilla. And shots of red eye whiskey in a good guy bar.

It's the rebel in me, I suppose. Yeah, that's how I roll.

"#118"
Posted by Estee on 06-06-12 at 04:39 AM
In real life, the most fatal aspect of a terminal disease is generally the disease itself.

In reel life, all that's required for death is finding out you have one.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LethalDiagnosis

If your doctor's name is Greg, you may have to find out five or six times.

"RE: #118"
Posted by byoffer on 06-06-12 at 09:04 AM
So we didn't get a Gilligan's Island reference for the quick sand trope, but we get one for this?

"RE: #118"
Posted by kingfish on 06-06-12 at 10:55 AM
LAST EDITED ON 06-07-12 AT 11:15 AM (EST)

I like the one(s?) with the twist that the death diagnosis is false, either as a result of an honest mistake or a hoax by a charlatan with nefarious intent, and the hoaxee goes into an end of life paroxysm of spending and wild life before learning that he actually has a long life to live, except his 401K is now gone.

And our hero says at the end, after learning the he isn't to die after all, that the charlatan (doctor, or whoever) gave me the greatest gift ever, the gift of really living.

Then, we all throw up.

"#119"
Posted by Estee on 06-07-12 at 10:48 AM
Most murders (of the private grudge, no-state-sanction variety) don't work well in public. Not many killers want witnesses. A few of them may wish to avoid collateral damage. Pretty much all of them would like to avoid being criticized on their technique. For the most part, the actual act murder winds up as a private event between killer and victim, with any invitations issued posthumously.

But sometimes, a killer wants spectacle. In fact, for this trope, you want cheering. Rally music. People clapping rhythmically in time to your stabs. In fact, what you're trying for is to have fifty thousand witnesses to your act, none of whom know what happened.

Only one thing to do.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TakeMeOutAtTheBallGame

Bonus points for championships.

"RE: #119"
Posted by byoffer on 06-07-12 at 11:59 AM
So maybe Saturday night in New Jersey?
"RE: #119"
Posted by Estee on 06-07-12 at 12:03 PM
Can't happen. You'll never get 50,000 people into the building.
"RE: #119"
Posted by kingfish on 06-07-12 at 08:53 PM
LAST EDITED ON 06-07-12 AT 08:54 PM (EST)

I would like to see a plot where the Ump gets killed in front of a stadium full of witnesses, and no one sees who did it.

And a bench clearing brawl is too easy for cover, it has to be a killing by multiple stabbing (knife, ice pick, eyebrow tweezers, etc) or blunt instrument bashing, or something personal like that. I suppose a poison pellet delivered via umbrella would be acceptable.

"#120 (Every beer commercial ever.)"
Posted by Estee on 06-08-12 at 06:14 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TestosteronePoisoning

Excessive use of 'male traits' (violence, shouting, muscle poses) played for laughs. Also known as most of MTV's programming, all of Spike's, about a third of the Tea Party, half the contents of your average bar, and nearly every man on any given beach. Only they're not in on the joke. In fact, if you go by advertising, Traditional Values, and military recruiters, this is what every man on the planet is supposed to act like. And what most of the teenage editions spend at least a year actively trying for.

*covers eyes*

Don't make me look.

"RE: #120 (Every beer commercial ever.)"
Posted by Snidget on 06-08-12 at 07:21 AM
I wish I remember what magazine it was, but there was an article by a man who had ended up having both testes removed (10 years apart) from cancer.

He said he never understood why women complained about testosterone poisoning in men. After all men are way too strong and amazing to be influenced by puny little hormones like those women with their PMS are.

Then he had no testosterone. And the world was different, he was different. After the end of cancer treatments they started with the testosterone injections to get him back to normal, and everything was different once again. With a bit more of a roller coaster as they inject like once or twice a month and the jump in level each time had a distinct effect.

"RE: #120 (Every beer commercial ever.)"
Posted by Estee on 06-08-12 at 07:34 AM
I'm guessing a Google search for 'testosterone poisoning testicle removal' would turn up about a hundred radical feminist blogs.
"RE: #120 (Every beer commercial ever.)"
Posted by kingfish on 06-08-12 at 08:24 AM
Those pesky radical feminists are always underfoot.

(wanna feel my pecs?)

"RE: #120 (Every beer commercial ever.)"
Posted by Snidget on 06-08-12 at 09:42 AM
Are they like these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWweFS50C8g about 2:19

"RE: #120 (Every beer commercial ever.)"
Posted by byoffer on 06-08-12 at 11:09 AM
The "pec pop of love"!!

Snidget, you never cease to amaze me with your links.

"#121"
Posted by Estee on 06-09-12 at 05:43 AM
"You want an answer? Here's the only one you're ever going to have: there are no answers. The bad guy gets away, the victim doesn't even have the dignity of a name to be buried under, the cops are demoted for not solving the crime, the media gets the investigation budget cut by forty percent, and whoever cared spends the rest of their life ripping themselves apart because they couldn't do anything. Your prize for going through all this crap is a void you'll never fill. And every time you miss a resolution from now on, that void is going to get bigger. Eventually, it'll swallow you. And if you're lucky, just before it happens, there won't be enough left of you to notice."

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheUnsolvedMystery

"Welcome to the long suicide."

"RE: #121"
Posted by kingfish on 06-09-12 at 07:09 AM
Some of these just have great names, like the referenced and related trope "Karma Houdini".
"#122 (NKF)"
Posted by Estee on 06-10-12 at 12:10 PM
Not KingFish

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ALadyOnEachArm

A female can do this with two males, but you're considered to either be a slut or on ABC. And who wants to risk the second one?

"RE: #122 (NKF)"
Posted by kingfish on 06-10-12 at 01:28 PM
If you're on the fins of the Kingfish, it's pure respect. And most women would be wishing Kingfish had more fins.

(i](Is the fish poop getting too deep?)

"#123 (actual person)"
Posted by Estee on 06-11-12 at 06:48 AM
This has been known to happen. When you're very well-known, have a number of myths existing around you, and happen to be in the public domain, enough writers may wind up putting their own spin on you to turn you into your very own semi-trope. The site has some celebrities and personages troped out with everything that applies, sure -- but when the person becomes the story element, they've crossed the line.

And this guy had already crossed so many.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RasputinTheMadMonk

(He also happens to be a trope namer, but it's not the kind of thing you'd really want to be remembered for.)

"RE: #123 (actual person)"
Posted by kingfish on 06-11-12 at 01:28 PM
Rasputin's picture, from the TV Tropes website:


Caption: Russia's greatest love machine!

Notice the size of his hands. There's another trope in there, somewhere.

Also, is there not a resemblance to:

?

Maybe they didn't kill Anastasia, and maybe they didn't kill Rasputin.

The Mad Monk Love Machine lives on!

"RE: #123 (actual person)"
Posted by Estee on 06-11-12 at 01:39 PM
Now: of those two men, which looks to be the more sane? Come to think of it, you could argue that Rasputin got axed over breaking a confidentiality agreement... Well, reincarnation's a funny thing. I'm not sure it's that funny this time around, but it's certainly entitled to a sense of humor.

Seeing a picture of the actual Rasputin was an odd experience: despite knowing the time period involved, I keep mentally putting him on the pre-photography side of the divide. Maybe it's just that hard to imagine him consenting to having his picture taken.

I think he's hamming it up for the camera there. But there's something about the eyes...

"RE: #123 (actual person)"
Posted by kingfish on 06-11-12 at 02:39 PM
Yeah, the "early 20th century" time frame caught me a little by surprise too. I guess I associate Mad Monks with medieval times.

And whose other picture has those eyes? No we don't want to go there. Reincarnation (even metaphorically of the living) is only interesting up to a point.

"RE: #123 (actual person)"
Posted by Estee on 06-11-12 at 02:44 PM
We'll see how you feel about that after you hit the rinse cycle.
"#124"
Posted by Estee on 06-12-12 at 06:39 AM
There are worlds where, for young women of a certain personality and determination, learning magic seems to take about five minutes.

Unfortunately, those are the same worlds where learning the meaning of the words 'property damage' takes about twenty years.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlackMagicianGirl

Note that nothing about this trope automatically indicates evil. This generally represents someone who has just been given a very large hammer and has not figured out the rest of the world isn't composed of nails. They may be friendly. Some of them are genuinely nice people. But misplace their coat in the cloakroom and any tip they leave tends to explode. Serve them inferior food and they'll serve you superior fireballs. And you see that two-mile crater over there? That's where that last pickpocket used to operate. The proper response to having one of them coming to save you is turning to the evil forces conquering your land to negotiate the terms of your surrender, because at least the evil forces might leave something standing.

They're here to help you. For a very painful definition of 'help'.

"RE: #124"
Posted by kingfish on 06-12-12 at 12:31 PM
I'm glad Skye is on our side.
"#125 (religion)"
Posted by Estee on 06-13-12 at 06:56 AM
And now, Reason #246 in our potentially infinite series on why Christianity is boring.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LoveGoddess

Lack thereof.

"RE: #125 (religion)"
Posted by kingfish on 06-13-12 at 08:17 AM
Another Charlie Sheen bashing thread? If it must be, it must be.
"#126"
Posted by Estee on 06-14-12 at 05:53 AM
LAST EDITED ON 06-14-12 AT 05:55 AM (EST)

So let's say you've recently had cause to swear off doing or having something. Say, sex. Sure, that'll work. And as soon as you make the vow, potential sexual partners start to -- materialize. In fact, you can't open a door without finding someone desirable on the other side. And not only are these people you would want to have sex with, every last one of them? Wants to have sex with you. Sometimes in groups. And the more you explain that you are sworn not to have sex right now, the more they desire you, because now you're forbidden fruit and they're trying to get you to eat your own apple. And the longer you go on and stick to your vow, the more of these people show up, to the point where you finally throw yourself into the local equivalent of a religious celibacy retreat and find out this is the day their deity personally descended to ground level to give just one more commandment: Screw Any Eligible Person You See, Starting With The One Who Just Walked In. Because as we all know,

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere

(By the way, it only works if you mean it.)

"RE: #126"
Posted by kingfish on 06-14-12 at 08:01 AM
Fortunately or unfortunately this is another NKF. I'm not good at keeping vows.

I am pretty good at personalizing tropes, though.

"#127"
Posted by Estee on 06-15-12 at 07:47 AM
No landmarks.

No food.

No shelter.

No water.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThirstyDesert

No breathing.

"RE: #127"
Posted by kingfish on 06-15-12 at 08:43 AM
"In its most desolate regions the Atacama is allegedly sterile, as not even bacteria can survive there. When the Top Gear boys crossed the Atacama on a road trip, Jeremy Clarkson mentioned this - primarily to illustrate that co-host Richard Hammond was currently the smallest organism within a hundred miles. "

"RE: #127"
Posted by Estee on 06-15-12 at 09:08 AM
The things you learn.

I suspect this could be best explained with a picture of Richard Hammond.

"RE: #127"
Posted by kingfish on 06-15-12 at 01:56 PM
From the better (IMO) BBC version of Top Gear, the diminutive Richard Hammond (left) and the hulking Jeremy Clarkson (right). Nominally it's a show about cars, motor sports, and driving, but the real entertainment is the interplay between the co-hosts which also include Richard May. They, particularly with the dry British wit of Clarkson, are pretty funny.

"#128 (music)"
Posted by Estee on 06-16-12 at 02:54 AM
This is when the song is about the song. Or at least the genre of the song.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeavyMeta

It doesn't necessarily like itself.

Overweight paranormals are a separate topic.

"RE: #128 (music)"
Posted by kingfish on 06-16-12 at 11:05 AM
Heavy metal music is a con invented by neck trauma doctors.
"RE: #128 (music)"
Posted by dabo on 06-16-12 at 11:37 AM
Overweight paranormals are a separate topic. That's no excuse for omitting "Hot Patootie."
"RE: #128 (music)"
Posted by kidflash212 on 06-17-12 at 10:44 AM
Bless my soul
"#129 (gaming)"
Posted by Estee on 06-17-12 at 12:42 PM
Human nature: if killing someone via decapitation would, roughly two percent of the time, cause a magic item to appear --

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RandomDrop?from=Main.RandomlyDrops

-- within a month, the species would exist in two forms: headless and heavily invested in neck guards.

"RE: #129 (gaming)"
Posted by kingfish on 06-17-12 at 04:45 PM
I had a cat that used to randomly drop stuff on the floor of the kitchen. Bats, flying squirrels (Not Rocky, or Fooner) and once a rabbit that was bigger than he was.

(OK, not related to the trope, except that it is random)

"#130"
Posted by Estee on 06-18-12 at 07:38 AM
In reel life, the teacher will, in the course of three minutes, tell you not only everything you need to know, but everything you need to survive, handle the opposition, turn the odds in your favor, and get a happy ending.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LectureAsExposition

In real life, this has never happened.

"RE: #130"
Posted by kingfish on 06-18-12 at 01:54 PM
With all the look alike tropes in this vein, it's hard to tell if Indy's lecture (Raiders of the Lost Ark) in the sequence following the opening jungle sequence is an appropriate example.

I guess not though, As I remember he isn't really revealing anything that comes up again later. Of course, the eyelid flirting with the girl in the first row might have produced a follow up.

So nevermind.

"RE: #130"
Posted by Estee on 06-18-12 at 04:40 PM
That's the first time I've ever heard of a girl flirting with a man's eyelids. Talk about your focused fetish...
"RE: #130"
Posted by kingfish on 06-18-12 at 09:14 PM
You can use this one tomorrow.

Memetic Sex God.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MemeticSexGod

NKF, but I try.

"#131"
Posted by Estee on 06-19-12 at 05:58 AM
Our first from the paranormal ability field is one of the most dangerous. Any power can be threatening under the right circumstances, but this one can get just about anyone in any given setting. All its possessor needs is patience -- and nightfall.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DreamWeaver

In the right milleu, there are ways in which this is scarier than telepathy. Many telepaths have to do a lot of digging to sort through the mind's slightly scrambled filing system: surface thoughts are easy, deeper stuff requires an expedition and several hours of non-stop effort. In this state, your mind is making the links for the observer's benefit and will happily do so all night. And pretty much everyone's vulnerable. Not remembering your dreams doesn't mean you don't have dream. Subconscious influences, outright hypnosis, phobia creation, getting at your traumas -- it's all available. And as for direct damage -- do the words 'falling forever' mean anything to you?

Sweet dreams. But for who?

"#132 (universal)"
Posted by Estee on 06-20-12 at 07:46 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ICanExplain

And I would just love to hear you try.

"RE: #132 (universal)"
Posted by byoffer on 06-20-12 at 10:24 AM
Sorry, I can't explain.


"RE: #132 (universal)"
Posted by Estee on 06-20-12 at 10:58 AM
Answering questions does seem to be their weak suit.
"#113"
Posted by Estee on 06-21-12 at 07:03 AM
If your characters visit the Statue Of Liberty, that's potentially kind of interesting.

If they have a fight there, you've got potential.

If they engineer the statue into a giant robot which steps off the island, walks into Manhattan, and starts kicking enemy rear, you have just entered the realm of the

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WeaponizedLandmark

Also, there's a good chance they're awesome. Or really cheesy. One of those.

"RE: #113"
Posted by kingfish on 06-21-12 at 09:20 AM
Well, North by Northwest would almost qualify here, for me at least. Standing on the edge of a precipice (even if it is G Washington's forehead) and involuntarily imagining the feeling of an incipient slip slide and a long fall is enough to put me in manic/panic mode.

But I guess that's not the same as Teddy's eyes doubling as laser cannons, or Washington's false teeth as a gnashing village demolishing robot. Which would be a dam good movie device.

"#134"
Posted by Estee on 06-22-12 at 06:39 AM
LAST EDITED ON 06-22-12 AT 06:40 AM (EST)

'So before we go out there and announce NBC's new fall schedule, I thought I'd say a few words of encouragement. Yes, I know the only remotely successful shows we have are aging faster than Ryan Seacrest's portrait, and most of them have at most two years to go. Sure, we went and canceled the only viewer-luring drama we've created in the last five years just because the people watching it had finished puberty. Maybe we haven't had a reality show stick since reality television was created. And we do seem to keep shelving anything people like while renewing the single most reviled comedy of the past decade. It's true that we've put all our sports eggs into the giant jingoistic basket that we'll turn the Olympics into and we don't have any cash left to bribe people into letting the Americans win every event. And yes, we've descended as a network to the point where we are now getting our asses regularly kicked by the History Channel. But we're still NBC, and we're going to go out there and announce a completely-new fall schedule. And you know why we're going to do that?'

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoYeHeroesGoAndDie

'Because twelve months from now, after all those series are canceled, we're going to have to do it again!'

"RE: #134"
Posted by kingfish on 06-22-12 at 08:24 AM
I'm right behind you. Way behind.
"RE: #134"
Posted by Estee on 06-22-12 at 09:43 AM
Elan's example is notable for how fast it falls apart at the end. He didn't win the battle for the enemy right there, but he arguably set up a few of the desertions.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0421.html

Morale check: induced and failed. Simultaneously.

"#135"
Posted by Estee on 06-23-12 at 05:21 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GirlFriday

I'm not sure where this trope is evolving to. It used to be that you almost couldn't take this one on without having the relationship go sexual because gosh, males and females just couldn't exist in any other kind of partnership. Now if you have a Girl Friday on your hands, you may be implying that the helper role is as good as it's going to get and hello, troping glass ceiling -- even if that's where the character wants to be -- but at least the possibility of a non-romantic relationship is just barely out there.

Personally, I like to think of this as the woman who knows far too much about you to ever consider marriage.

"RE: #135"
Posted by kingfish on 06-23-12 at 08:33 AM
Velda jumped immediately to mind. In fact, I've had a fling (in writing) with a certain parody named Velma.

Also, I've known plenty of RL (mundane, personal level) examples, female assistants who may have hired on as a low level employee but have worked their way into being indispensable to the boss, and actually to a certain extent responsible for the success of the operation.

"#135"
Posted by Estee on 06-24-12 at 11:22 AM
And then one day, a female agent took a stiletto heel right through the eardrum...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShoePhone

This is any mundane object concealing spy tech. The trope being named after one of the least effective versions ever can be blamed directly on Take A Wild Guess for putting the idea in the public's collective head. Obviously defictionalized as any trope gets, with some fun Real Life examples on the list. Don't bang that pen against the desk: it might go off.

By the way, stiletto heels? Are lethal all by themselves.

"#135 again again"
Posted by dabo on 06-24-12 at 12:22 PM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RepeatAfterMe
"Hey..."
Posted by Estee on 06-24-12 at 03:16 PM
...missed it by that much.
"#136/137"
Posted by Estee on 06-25-12 at 06:59 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/POVSequel

Which means that one day, George Lucas will sit up in bed and scream 'Hey, let's retell the entire Star Wars saga from the perspective of Anakin's midi-chlorians!'

The toys would sell.

"Although not a 'sequel' per se"
Posted by IceCat on 06-25-12 at 09:26 AM
LAST EDITED ON 06-25-12 AT 09:30 AM (EST)

... this would be my favorite example of the general spirit of the trope:

http://www.startrek.com/database_article/trials-and-tribble-ations

"RE: Although not a 'sequel' per se"
Posted by Estee on 06-25-12 at 09:30 AM
They never did explain the bloody foreheads, did they?
"Worf's reaction"
Posted by IceCat on 06-25-12 at 09:31 AM

... was far better than any explanation IMHO.
"RE: Although not a 'sequel' per se"
Posted by dabo on 06-26-12 at 11:46 AM

Yes, they did. http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Klingon_augment_virus This storyline, seen in the Enterprise episodes "Affliction" and "Divergence", was intended in part to explain why Original Series Klingons had a more human-like appearance, and later Klingons did not. The writers also hoped the two-parter would shed some light on the change in the Klingons' temperament and disposition between the TOS and TNG eras.


"RE: Although not a 'sequel' per se"
Posted by Estee on 06-26-12 at 12:12 PM
*reads*

What would you have given to have the entire cast turn to the camera and chorus "We didn't have the budget back then, okay?"

"#138 (you've done it) "
Posted by Estee on 06-26-12 at 05:34 AM
"Back when Apple was not only called Apple Computer but they made computers besides Macintoshes, their big, expensive (and most importantly, fanless and made of solid aluminum) Apple III models had an issue where the computer would run so hot, its chips would unsolder themselves. The official tech support solution was "raise the CPU three to four inches off the desk and release it," which usually re-seated the components."

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PercussiveMaintenance

And y'all wonder why I never buy any Apple product until Generation #4.

"RE: #138 (you've done it) "
Posted by SpotTheDiffference on 06-26-12 at 05:50 AM
LAST EDITED ON 06-26-12 AT 05:53 AM (EST)

Applies to a number of things in my house, especially those that were handed down to me from my parents.

- Refrigerator door won't close fully? Open the door a few inches and slam it shut. Then push with all your strength. If all else fails, prop a chair against the door.

- Old Sanyo radio from my father's bachelor years won't play? Lift up the left side two inches from the table and drop. Usually works. If not, you really can't blame the makers--it's ten years older than I am.

- TV, which again, is older than I am. It's so old you can only program 14 channels into it, with each channel represented by a button on the TV panel. Surprisingly, the remote still works quite well, requiring just a little shake from time to time.

I also used to have an Action Replay that had to be jiggled a little bit for it to work. Just pop it out of the console, blow into the slot, and very carefully slide it back in while tilting the DS slightly to the left.

"RE: #138 (you've done it) "
Posted by qwertypie on 06-28-12 at 06:02 PM
My folks had a Zenith TV c. 1974. After awhile, you could only get it to turn on by shocking it. We would shuffle our feet back and forth on the carpet and touch the on button. One zap is usually all it took. I, for the life of me, can't remember how we figured that one out.

And after the picture tube finally blew, the TV became the new tv stand for the next one. We were so classy like that.

"RE: #138 (you've done it) "
Posted by Estee on 06-28-12 at 07:39 PM
And that's still not my favorite Zenith story. That would be the one whose remote control was a Slinky being vibrated in the general direction of the set.

Seriously.

"RE: #138 (you've done it) "
Posted by kingfish on 06-28-12 at 07:45 PM
If that was a line from the cook on "2 broke Girls", it would have a whole different meaning.
"RE: #138 (you've done it) "
Posted by Estee on 06-28-12 at 07:52 PM
Yes, because it would come out the same way as everything else he says: "Kick me in the crotch, oh dear god please kick me in the crotch as hard as you can and then keep doing it until I die because someone has to make me die right now as I so richly deserve."

It's amazing how no one ever understands him.

As for the Zenith: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/766/can-playing-with-a-slinky-change-the-channels-on-your-tv-set

"RE: #138 (you've done it) "
Posted by Snidget on 06-26-12 at 07:26 AM
One of my few moments of cool in high school.

I knew exactly where to hit the soda machine in the cafeteria to make the coins drop into the box so the machine would then release the drink.

"RE: #138 (you've done it) "
Posted by Estee on 06-26-12 at 11:09 AM
I'm trying to get an exact mental picture on this. Would the coins get stuck in the chute and you knew where to hit the machine in order to finish the trip to the internal collection area and release the soda -- or could you make them fall all the way through into the coin return box while still paying off in drink?
"RE: #138 (you've done it) "
Posted by Snidget on 06-26-12 at 11:20 AM
To the internal collection.

Didn't have enough cool to make it give the money back as well.

Usual scenario was someone would be mashing for all they were worth on the button of their choice. I'd walk up and pop the machine right above the internal coin collector and then push their button, and walk away with as much cool as I could muster as they collected their can of soda.

"RE: #138 (you've done it) "
Posted by kingfish on 06-26-12 at 08:02 AM
This works well with women and teenage sons. I called it "percussive therapy", but tomatos, tomatoes...

(In the case of women, must be combined with the "Then I Runs for the hills" strategy ).

"#139 (music)"
Posted by Estee on 06-27-12 at 07:48 AM
Say, what's the name of that song called Teenage Wasteland?

Yes, it's a trick question. On a couple of levels.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RefrainFromAssuming

This is a trope just about all but the most knowledgeable listeners have been guilty of: when you hear an emphasized part of the song and decide it has to be the title -- but the composer had other ideas. (Look down the example list. You will probably find your own misassumption before hitting the end of the page.) The various search engines have made it easier to pin down titles and a truly forgiving ongoing music seller will allow you to hit the right song via the common mistake, but it's still a great way to look like an idiot in the record shop of your choice.

Which admittedly is the main reason people wind up in record shops.

"RE: #139 (music)"
Posted by byoffer on 06-27-12 at 09:16 AM
Geez, that's a long list, and many very true.

Blur's "Song 2" (often called "Woo Hoo") brings back memories. That was the "official song" of a snowboard trip with some buddies about 20 years ago.

"RE: #139 (music)"
Posted by Estee on 06-27-12 at 05:07 PM
So on a scale of one to ten for 'massively stoned', you were...?
"RE: #139 (music)"
Posted by byoffer on 06-28-12 at 08:36 AM
Honestly, zero.

Flying through the powder down Blackcomb Mountain (Whistler) on a snowboard is all the high I would ever need.

"#140 (Westerner confuser.)"
Posted by Estee on 06-28-12 at 07:49 AM
Unless you've been to Japan or understand a lot about Eastern wealth and Zen garden design, the following trope name will make no sense whatsoever.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheThingThatGoesDoink

If, however, you fulfill either condition or have been in the presence of one, the trope name will make perfect sense. And if you paid a feng shui expert $1200 to tell you how badly you needed one, you may find their head also goes *doink*. As often as you want it to.

Now that's Zen.

"RE: #140 (Westerner confuser.)"
Posted by kingfish on 06-28-12 at 09:19 AM
LAST EDITED ON 06-28-12 AT 07:42 PM (EST)


There are a lot more Doink, Donk, or Dink related tropes that I would have ever guessed.

And no Boinks.

"RE: #140 (Westerner confuser.)"
Posted by SpotTheDiffference on 06-29-12 at 04:26 AM
I've seen a lot of these in the anime I used to watch. Never really figured out that it was a "status symbol" (or a deer-chaser for that matter). I always thought that this was some kind of timer that was used when someone was meditating.
"#141 "
Posted by Estee on 06-29-12 at 07:13 AM
There is no such thing as a stripper name: let's clear that up right now. Yes, there are names more likely to be found in clubs than others, but they're stage names, applied because you don't want your real ID totally out there and media-trained people think all those monikers are supposed to sound a certain way, so they keep repeating. In real life, giving your child a name ending in 'i' does not increase the odds of her becoming an ecdysiast. (And if it did, what are you so afraid of? Especially in this economy.) Unless she goes into the field just because people keep telling her she has to, in which case, you really should have raised more of a free thinker.

However, in reel life, Names Can Be Destiny. And if you happen to be in the metahuman/paranormal section, Names Can Also Be The Powers You Eventually Wind Up With. If you have something which would sound at least vaguely ironic as a secret identity, the universe will bend over backwards to make sure you wind up with an ability set to match. After all, very few people get four robotic tentacles grafted to their bodies just because everyone kept telling them they should. Mostly for a lack of graftable robotic tentacles.

So step over here and meet

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StevenUlyssesPerhero

Don't read too many of the examples at once. The pain builds up faster than you might think.

Pity the Real Life examples -- except when they brought it on themselves. Doctor Doom, indeed.

"Hsnemah Ludzmeh"
Posted by IceCat on 06-29-12 at 07:39 AM

I came up with this name. Thought it would be a great name for a spy from a non-specific middle eastern country.

"You know what time it is in the States?"
Posted by Estee on 06-29-12 at 07:48 AM
It is way too gawdsdamn early to figure out how the @#$$ I'm supposed to pronounce that.
"His name eludes me"
Posted by IceCat on 06-30-12 at 09:07 AM
"RE: His name eludes me"
Posted by Estee on 06-30-12 at 07:35 PM
I'd horsewhip you if I had a horse.
"RE: #141 "
Posted by kingfish on 06-29-12 at 08:29 AM
There is. however, such a thing as a "stripper butt". A very good thing it is, too.

My pre-shower meaningful stripper name is Girth McLongboy. Sometimes. Unless I'm in Asian mode, in which case it's Hung Lo.

"RE: #141 "
Posted by Estee on 06-29-12 at 08:36 AM
LAST EDITED ON 06-29-12 AT 08:42 AM (EST)

I hereby sentence you to orange spandex, concentric circles radiating from your head, and fifty years of people finding new and innovative ways to make fun of you, Kingfish.

"RE: #141 "
Posted by kingfish on 06-29-12 at 11:23 AM
LAST EDITED ON 06-29-12 AT 11:35 AM (EST)

And I opened that door all by myself.

"#142"
Posted by Estee on 06-30-12 at 03:39 AM
Ever have a limb fall asleep on you?

Ever have it happen during a crucial moment and then find out the thing wouldn't wake up?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BitsOfMeKeepPassingOut

Ever have it teleport away and send back a Christmas card?

"RE: #142"
Posted by kingfish on 06-30-12 at 08:11 AM
I'd like to see the writers of "The Big Bang Theory" do something with this. Obviously Sheldon would be hilarious, but interesting possibilities exist for the other cast members as well.
"#143"
Posted by Estee on 07-01-12 at 03:30 AM

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RiceBurner

"RE: #143"
Posted by kingfish on 07-01-12 at 08:19 AM
Visit the infield or camping area of any NASCAR race. One guy's idea of souping up his beat up mini-truck was to get florescent orange windshield wipers. He was, of course, bedding down during the week in the uncovered un-mattressed bed of his truck.

But, he was happy, he was racin'.

"#144 (Throwback)"
Posted by Estee on 07-02-12 at 08:29 AM
Let's say you're female, heterosexual, and you have a good job. In fact, you have a fast track position which may eventually lead to running the whole thing. And along comes a man. You like this man. You could love him. You might even be considering marriage. But this guy has made it very clear that you can have him, or you can have the fast track. Because he is man, hear him roar, but most especially hear him whine and twitch in the corner because he cannot stand the thought of living with someone more successful and wealthy than he. Besides, if you're working, then who's going to clean the house? Certainly not he.

Yes, it's just another case of

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CareerVersusMan

and in stories, guess which usually wins.

You're a fast-track career woman. And yet you don't have the brains to dump a sexist idiot.

"RE: #144 (Throwback)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-02-12 at 11:34 AM
I'm going to guess that there is a roughly parallel but opposite trope called Mr. Mom.

Which I would fully support, both because Terri Garr was hot back then, and marrying a rich and successful woman and leading an indolent life of leisure doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.

"#145 (mostly comics)"
Posted by Estee on 07-03-12 at 11:37 AM
Let me know if this one sound familiar: a supervillain has decided to draw the hero out and do so on his terms. No random confrontations, getting pulled into a trap by the spandex contingent, or having your headquarters infested by a horrible case of capes. Instead, the villain is going to bring the hero to him, luring future victim of choice into a specially-designed area which will give the bad guy the advantage, especially after he presses the Kill Idiot Instantly button. And what is the single best way to ensure the hero will show up even when he knows it's going to be a fatal trap?

Take hostages. Either the good guy shows up or innocents die. How can he refuse? So you capture a number of flashbulbs (use once, throw away) and wait for the hero to come. Only he doesn't show up. And keeps not showing up no matter how many revised deadlines you throw out. And it's not because he suddenly stopped caring, he's out of town (which no villain ever considers), or someone took him down on the way to the playdate.

Because he's already there. And he can't do a thing.

What you've got -- completely unawares -- is just another case of

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BruceWayneHeldHostage

Congratulations, genius: you just grabbed the secret identity. And you will never, ever figure it out, because the hero is going to be running ragged finding a way to be hostage and savior both without you making the connection -- and the Laws Of Story say he's going to pull it off.

Stupid Laws Of Story.

(This is one of my least favorite comics tropes. While it's still possible to execute it well, it's generally so far past done to death as to need an embalmer -- and when it happens to the trope namer, take a nap. Welcome to Gotham City, where your odds of being taken hostage by a crazed villain are currently at 98.3%, an all-time low...)

"RE: #145 (mostly comics)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-03-12 at 12:03 PM
Not to worry, there's always that inexhaustible, not mention ineffable (heh heh) utility belt.

Yeah, use of this trope is the mark of either a brilliantly original writer (if they actually manage to pull it off) or a lazy hack.

"#146"
Posted by Estee on 07-04-12 at 05:36 AM
It's easy to create a fictional society obsessed with a single ideal role: go ahead and turn an entire nation or race into just one basic character type, because it'll save you a lot of work in making individuals. So write up your planet of warriors -- but ask yourself this first: what happens to the support staff? Because unless you're willing to deal with everyone wielding unusually effective rocks and clubs, you can't have a planet of warriors without someone making the weapons.

And typically, these people will be hated. Loathed. Looked down upon because you're standing on their heads. After all, if they were real warriors, they would be out there on the battlefield slaughtering millions of people instead of having handed you the tools which let you personally do it. Anyone advancing your knowledge is a wimp, no matter how you might personally benefit from what they come up with. Sure, your world would collapse without them. Yes, without them, you don't have one at all. They are utterly essential. If only there was a way to kill every last one of them. Oh, well -- might as well just shoot the one in front of you. It's not as if it matters.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect

Say, what did he just say? Something about reflective shielding with perfect redirection? Nerd --

Note the Tropers trying to keep Real Life examples off the page. Depressing, ain't it?

"RE: #146"
Posted by kingfish on 07-04-12 at 10:18 AM
As an Engineer, this hits home.

I get no respect, no respect at all.

"RE: #146"
Posted by Estee on 07-04-12 at 06:32 PM
As long as no one's ever called you an Oompa-Loompa, you're probably in better shape than some of the pack. I'm guessing the BBT writers got a few nasty Emails after that one.
"RE: #146"
Posted by kingfish on 07-05-12 at 10:03 AM
Stop it. You're ruining my pity party.

Yeah, Howard and me. He doesn't get no respect either. But he got to visit the space station.

"#147"
Posted by Estee on 07-05-12 at 04:51 AM
Thinking requires energy.

The brain primarily runs on sugar.

Therefore, the more you think, the more sugar you're going to need.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GeniusSweetTooth

Also the more you tend to think about dentists.

"RE: #147"
Posted by kingfish on 07-05-12 at 10:15 AM
Tangenting again, but since the only other fuel that brain cells metabolize is alcohol, a similar but somewhat opposite trope probably involves the brilliant alcoholic. Poe? Heck, too many RL examples to name.

And a parallel thought, "The more you think, the more you realize you need it", applies in general RL.

It would be an inapt analogy, but Sherlock Holme's usage of Cocaine also comes to mind.

"RE: #147"
Posted by Estee on 07-05-12 at 01:08 PM
LAST EDITED ON 07-08-12 AT 04:29 PM (EST)

I can think of two authors (Pratchett and Robinson) who had their characters walking a delicate tightrope called 'just drunk enough to have stunning insights, but not so drunk as to forget them instantly'. So the story power of your sim-opp has been recognized. I wouldn't care to test for any real-life one, as the general stunning insight alcohol provides the drinker is 'I'm a jerk and I don't care!'

ETA: Just remembered another one: David Gerrold went on a sideways veer with this trope. His Chtorr series contains pills which flash-sober the recipient in a matter of minutes, partially by very rapidly converting all the alcohol in the bloodstream to sugar -- which the brain then has to process instead of the alcohol, giving it a sudden surge in power supply while initially in a drunken state. It's a known (if unreliable) trick to get an intelligent person hyper-drunk, then give them Sober-Ups and start asking them impossible questions just to see what comes out.

"RE: #147"
Posted by kingfish on 07-08-12 at 04:21 PM
Been thinking about this side-veer (another category?). Haven't read Gerrold, but something that would convert alcohol to blood sugar seems to me to be not impossible. I'm not a chemist, and maybe Snidget could add something here, but the right molecules (H, C and O) are all there in somewhat similar combinations, so why not? At least it is rational enough for the purposes of a SciFi plot device.

Be danged if I can figure out how to make it important to a plot, but I guess reading Gerrold could help with that. The idea that it would make a flash sobered brain hyper-intelligent? To use that weird idea in conjunction with one that actually seems possible seems like a waste. One might as well and hypothesize that just a sugar overdose would grant temporary IQ points.

Still thinking on it.

"RE: #147"
Posted by Estee on 07-08-12 at 04:53 PM
The way I interpreted it as working from the text description is that it sends the brain careening down creative paths: having to deal with so much fuel at once means everything is sparking all over the place and not necessarily following step-by-step procedures in doing so: you jump the gaps because you're running on pure nitro and you have to jump something. The hard part might be staying focused on a single topic long enough to channel the efforts into it.

In the case of main character James McCarthy (yeah, I know: it's just one of the crosses he has to bear and it's arguably the smallest one in his set of six hundred), he's known for being the foremost expert on the alien invasion's terraforming (or Chtorraforming) of Earth, putting together pieces of the puzzle no one else even had in the same box. A few members of his team basically said 'If he can come up with this stuff sober, what would happen if we put him on hypercharge for a few minutes?' And he did come up with something new -- but he's not sure how he got there, and no one has any real idea what it means or how to use it, including him.

And then the series went on a two-decade break.

"RE: #147"
Posted by kingfish on 07-09-12 at 09:28 AM
My interest and curiosity about Jerrold is piqued. Hope his stuff in on Kindle.
"RE: #147"
Posted by Estee on 07-09-12 at 11:30 AM
The Chtorr books (four) aren't, but used copies of the most complete editions start at a penny per book plus shipping.

"#148 (Canada)"
Posted by Estee on 07-06-12 at 07:23 AM
Vancouver is Vancouver. Also New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and whatever other major U.S. city the producers want it to be because they were too cheap to film on the actual site and Vancouver can pass for nearly anything as long as you restrict your shooting to certain areas. And don't film the high background. I said, don't film the high background. Listen to me, gawdsdamnit, you can't --

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HereThereBeLions

-- crap.

"RE: #148 (Canada)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-06-12 at 08:52 AM
Vancouver's Canadian football team is the BC Lions (though the team mascot is an actual lion, not a mountain peak).

An inanimate mountain for a mascot would be much less annoying.

"RE: #148 (Canada)"
Posted by Estee on 07-06-12 at 09:08 AM
Ask Max. His team went so far as to have an inanimate object for a second baseman.
"RE: #148 (Canada)"
Posted by byoffer on 07-06-12 at 10:56 AM
Isn't the Stanford University mascot a tree? Wouldn't seem too animated, but apparently it can be.
"#149 (estrogen bait)"
Posted by Estee on 07-07-12 at 07:09 AM
Since the laws of many countries allow males to go around with their torsos completely uncovered at no penalty, most men in those areas will take advantage at some point in their lives. And since it's legal, the local networks will take advantage and have their more conventionally attractive characters occasionally show off in an attempt to lure in the viewership.

Some do so more than others.

And if a certain type of man knows his torso looks good, he's going to expose it a lot. There are guys out there who will take any excuse to remove their upper-body garments. Hard work. Light sweat which might ruin it. Just did a barrel roll and now it's dusty. Somewhere just out of their immediate detection, there might be a female looking at them. And off goes the shirt, every time.

And somewhere beyond that level, you get this guy.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WalkingShirtlessScene

He's never even heard of a shirt. Arousing the legions is religion and my, is he ever faithful. Any attempt to clothe him from the waist up will be met with derision, followed by violence -- which may come from those around him who will not let you take away the view. This is him and those are his pecs, but never will he let you mentally distinguish the two...

Note the raw length of the example list.

It's legal, y'know.

"RE: #149 (estrogen bait)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-07-12 at 12:56 PM
The length is impressive. Especially considering that a Real Life category was not included.

They should have labeled this trope "Cougar Bait".

"RE: #149 (estrogen bait)"
Posted by qwertypie on 07-22-12 at 01:48 PM
LAST EDITED ON 07-22-12 AT 02:06 PM (EST)

I am shocked, Shocked, SHOCKED that the Flash http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098798/ wasn't mentionned.

Power goes out in the city? Just have good ole' Barry (John Wesley Shipp) strip down to his shorts and run on a tread mill superfast to generate electricity. I am not sure why he couldn't wear his suit, but I am not complaining.

Evil twin cloned of the Flash (that unfortunately has the mentality of a 4 year old) has a temper tantrum and ends up somehow rubbing whipped cream all over his glistening torso. *pauses for a moment, reminiscing*. Oh yeah - very, very necessary for plot development.

"RE: #149 (estrogen bait)"
Posted by Estee on 07-22-12 at 02:15 PM
You probably need the base trope of Shirtless Scene for that. This one is for people who never cover their torso, and the costume counts.

*checks*

Series not on the trope page, trope not on the series page. Maybe someone should edit that.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/TheFlash

The series is on my perpetual 'should pick up eventually' list, but I hadn't gotten down that far on it... ($28.00 on Amazon right now. Regardless, Being Human Season #2 is my next-up.)

BTW, he's still getting some odd bits of mileage from the part -- I remember seeing him on a voice work credit for playing Zoom (arch-nemesis of Barry) recently.

Bad time to tell you Mr. Shipp is gay?

"RE: #149 (estrogen bait)"
Posted by qwertypie on 07-22-12 at 05:13 PM
LAST EDITED ON 07-22-12 AT 05:22 PM (EST)

sometimes it doesn't matter

"#150 (animation)"
Posted by Estee on 07-08-12 at 11:06 AM
Sheer nausea prevents me from discussing this trope of popular misassumption.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AllAnimationIsDisney

Not to mention the dry heaves.

"RE: #150 (animation)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-08-12 at 01:21 PM
Ahem...I thought I saw a Tweety, Boyd.

No you didn't, it was a Pussy, Cat.

(A favored adolescent misquote).

"RE: #150 (animation)"
Posted by dabo on 07-08-12 at 01:54 PM



"#151 (not PG13)"
Posted by Estee on 07-09-12 at 05:58 AM
@#$% the @#$%ing language limits around this !@#$ing place and the #$%^ing horse they tried to publicly @!#$ before they got here with someone else's $#^&.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SirSwearsalot

Or (quoting the page here), as Dexter viewers know it, "Ladies and gentlemen, Debra @#$%ing Morgan."

"RE: #151 (not PG13)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-09-12 at 09:34 AM
John Madden too? Well gosh golly darn.

I still don't see why frigging, fracking, or fricken are more acceptable than #####.

"RE: #151 (not PG13)"
Posted by Estee on 07-09-12 at 11:20 AM
It's not uncommon in sports. Ron Luciano once noted that if the mandatory fines for swearing hadn't been taken out of baseball, it would have cost Ted Williams a buck to say hello.

(There was also the time Williams was introduced to then VP Nixon and greeted him with a typical "Hey, how the @#$% are you?" Nixon looked around at the horrified audience and, without missing a beat, told them not to worry: he'd met the @#$%er before.)

I still don't see why frigging, fracking, or fricken are more acceptable than #####.

For the same reason Oh My Heck is a substitution: it's not having the emotion that's the sin, it's how you express it -- so far.

"RE: #151 (not PG13)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-09-12 at 12:51 PM
Well, I do like having variety.

But Madden? Well, maybe I should have guessed, he's very enthusiastic and very verbose, so it would follow that the ultimate in enthusiastic verbosity would be his thing. And an NFL football coach does have to get their attention.

"#152 (half of you did it)"
Posted by Estee on 07-10-12 at 07:01 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SmittenTeenageGirl

On a good day, this is a memory I can look back on without trying to drown myself.

"RE: #152 (half of you did it)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-10-12 at 10:51 AM
Does that memory include being a Yandere? The severed head in a bag type?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Yandere

"RE: #152 (half of you did it)"
Posted by Estee on 07-10-12 at 12:18 PM
Worse.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IncompatibleOrientation

"RE: #152 (half of you did it)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-10-12 at 03:21 PM
Life is complicated.
"RE: #152 (half of you did it)"
Posted by Estee on 07-10-12 at 04:03 PM
You do realize I can hear you snickering from here. Personally, I fully expect to have a good laugh about this roughly six incarnations from now, if the universe is so sadistic as to let me remember all the details.

It did lead to one of the Great Retroactive Mega-Duhs of my current life, as someone near and dear to me in those days came in around the middle of the futility string and tried to convince me my target was simply into, quote, more boyish figures, unquote. And several months later, I was all like "Y'think?"

"RE: #152 (half of you did it)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-10-12 at 09:08 PM
Now I'm snickering.
"#153"
Posted by Estee on 07-11-12 at 07:58 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LibationForTheDead

There's an old meme which claims that when you die, you're suspended upside-down in a barrel filled with all the alcohol you've ever spilled and if you drown, straight down you go.

So to me, this trope represents people trying to take you with them.

"RE: #153"
Posted by kingfish on 07-11-12 at 01:46 PM
All my German/Spanish/Cuban/Scots-Irish/whatever genes are in agreement with libation down the throat, and not on the ground.

Salud.

"#154"
Posted by Estee on 07-12-12 at 06:08 AM
This is not what it sounds like.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LipLock

This is when a series is dubbed over into another language without anyone redoing the mouth movements of the actors (animated or live, but generally the former), creating either moments of total dissynching or comedic speech patterns as the new voices try to match their timing to the shifts already present. Embarrassing at best and 'Get Mike and the 'bots ready' at worst. One of the less subtle curses of trying to put up with anime dubs. And as the article notes, anime frequently doesn't match up in the original language.

One of the strongest arguments for subtitles -- but those have their own problems.

"RE: #154"
Posted by kingfish on 07-12-12 at 08:31 AM
First, the mouth isn't often in sync with the brain, so being in sync with the language would just be by accident (that made sense a while ago).

Second, the whole world should be in sub-titles.

"#155 (man-eater)"
Posted by Estee on 07-13-12 at 07:31 AM
It's only a myth.

An urban legend.

Something told around the campfire at two a.m. to scare gullible teens and tweens into celibacy.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VaginaDentata

You hope.

*snicker*

I just got a killer idea for a totally non-PG13 Halloween costume.

"Does the costume"
Posted by IceCat on 07-13-12 at 08:31 AM

... involve one or more of these?
"RE: Does the costume"
Posted by Estee on 07-13-12 at 09:02 AM
LAST EDITED ON 07-13-12 AT 09:05 AM (EST)

Not dangerous-looking enough. I want them to look diamond-hard. I may file them into points. I will definitely be rigging things (probably with a lot of outside help) to snap them shut by remote or squeeze trigger. I want a distinctive jump-out-of-your-skin snapping/slamming sound when it happens.

I'm considering doing this as a full-body rig with teeth eight inches across.

"RE: Does the costume"
Posted by kingfish on 07-13-12 at 11:24 AM
Fanged vaginas. Hummph!

One of the few free pleasures in life used to be free and perfect sex in dreams.

Now that's all gone.

"RE: Does the costume"
Posted by Estee on 07-13-12 at 11:34 AM
*evil smile*

Vagina Dentata... what a wonderful phrase!
Vagina Dentata... ain't no passin' craze!
It means no weiner... for the rest of your days!
It's a penis free... girl cavity! Vagina Dentata!

Sweet dreams.

Queen Of Wands: sadism on the earworm plan.

"RE: Does the costume"
Posted by kingfish on 07-13-12 at 04:35 PM
No way am I buying that this one was random.

And if only it had remained ineffable.

"RE: Does the costume"
Posted by Estee on 07-13-12 at 06:43 PM
I'd say this one is guaranteed to remain ineffable.

It was random. My giving you the Teeth movie at the next Secret Santa? Deliberate.

"RE: Does the costume"
Posted by dabo on 07-13-12 at 11:40 AM

"#156"
Posted by Estee on 07-14-12 at 06:38 AM
Technically, you've almost been murdered -- but it's just a matter of time, which you don't have much left of. Dying, but not quite there yet. And you got a good look at your killer before he left. You know exactly who did this to you and why. You've got some strength remaining, too. And within easy reach? Is a working pen and lots of paper.

So you write down --

-- the killer's childhood nickname (at the age of two), the three places he'd least like to go on vacation, the middle three digits of his Swiss bank account, five colors you'll never find in his wardrobe, and his strikeout totals from junior high.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DyingClue

You figured the police would like something to do.

"RE: #156"
Posted by kingfish on 07-14-12 at 10:24 AM
LAST EDITED ON 07-14-12 AT 01:07 PM (EST)

Hey! The numbers match! I won the Lottery.

(probably falls more under the heading of "famous last words").

"#157"
Posted by Estee on 07-15-12 at 12:56 PM
The things you learn on TVTropes: Jimi Hendrix could play the guitar.

And not with his hands.

...no. (And imagine the calluses.) No, we're talking about

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NowThatsUsingYourTeeth

The mouth is a tool. And so are most of the people using it.

"#158"
Posted by Estee on 07-16-12 at 04:48 AM
Kid: "You're not the real Santy Clause!"
Bullock: "Sure I am. Wanna see my gun?"

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MallSanta

Also known as being paid to have children kick, punch, and occasionally urinate on you. (This differs from parenthood in that you get paid.) And question your existence. To your face. Induction of fundamental philosophical dilemmas in four-year olds.

Come to think of it, it's a pity there's no such thing as a Mall Jesus.

"#159"
Posted by Estee on 07-17-12 at 08:54 AM
Putting a few of the Real Life examples from the page:

Charlie Chaplin entered a Charlie Chaplin Impersonation contest.... and came in 3rd.

Larry the Cable Guy had a similar experience in Las Vegas at a club where people did celebrity impressions. He played himself, and interviews of people leaving said he did the jokes well, but didn't sound the same.

An audience member was asked to leave a showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show because he was a Tim Curry impersonator. The member: Tim Curry himself.

In the 60's, Brazilian rock'n'roll musician Raul Seixas once showed up to perform so high that he couldn't sing his own songs. That led to the audience thinking he was an impostor and calling the police.

Dolly Parton once lost a Dolly Parton look-a-like contest.

The late Jeremy Beadle hosted a hidden-camera prank show called Beadle's About during the 1990s. He would appear in disguise (usually as an authority figure like a policeman or traffic warden), wind up the victim a little more, and then reveal that it was all a set-up for the TV. The downside? There was at least one case of a member of the public mistaking a real policeman for Jeremy Beadle, and attempting to pull his "disguise" off...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MistakenForAnImposter

And of course, Harpo Marx was once charged with impersonating Harpo Marx.

He did the only thing he could do. He fell asleep.

"RE: #159"
Posted by kidflash212 on 07-17-12 at 08:58 AM
There's a law on the books somewhere that makes impersonating Harpo Marx a crime? Who knew the Marx bros had so much pull?
"RE: #159"
Posted by Estee on 07-18-12 at 06:59 AM
(Doing this from memory because I can't find the sourcebook right now.)

But claiming you're someone famous in order to get out of trouble is fraud...

As the story goes, Harpo had attended a costume party dressed as a famous (and at the time, living) German politician (and not Hitler. Harpo had enough trouble there: he was of German descent and his birth name was Adolph, later quietly changed to Arthur), where he'd done quite well for himself, taking third prize and staying very late until the party had completely wrapped up, the hosts were in bed, and he was the last one out the door. And it was one of those parties where you were supposed to guess the identity of the attendees, with no one obligated to give their real name unless someone successfully saw under the mask. And, as Hollywood was much looser in those days, he'd crashed it under the certain Harpo confidence that no one would mind.

As it was a nice night, he decided to walk home -- which gave the police the sight of a rather famous (and then-living) German politician wandering through Hollywood. They stopped him and asked for his name. He was carrying no ID: it didn't go with the costume. Harpo being Harpo, he started by giving them the name of the German politician. No sale. Seeing he had an unreceptive audience, Harpo gave his real name and explained that he'd been at a costume party. The police called the hosts, who were dazed from being woken up at that hour and couldn't remember every costume in attendance, but they certainly knew they hadn't invited any Marx to the proceedings.

It was around this point that the conversation moved to the police station.

Harpo continued insisting on his true name, but no one was buying it: a Marx brother out of makeup looks almost nothing like one in, and it wasn't as if anyone could recognize his voice. But he had an easy out. All it takes to vouch for a Marx is another Marx. So he gave them Chico's number (because Chico saw five a.m. all the time, generally from the far side of a poker table) and told them to call his brother.

The police called Chico, who was quite receptive. Yes, he had a brother. In fact, his brother was right there with him now: would the police like to speak with him?

No, that wouldn't be necessary, the police said, and turned back to the matter of this unknown stranger -- who was now in trouble for impersonating an important German politician, trespassing (if he'd been at the party), wandering the streets at all hours, and impersonating Harpo Marx.

And Harpo, upon being informed that he was facing possible jail time for pretending to be himself, did the only thing he could: fell asleep in his cell and stayed that way until someone showed up to get him out.

"#160 (someone here fell for it)"
Posted by Estee on 07-18-12 at 07:19 AM
Disney animation is tremendously expensive and takes years to complete. Disney voice acting is high-end and brings in the best performers of the day.

Disney stories? Are generally public domain.

And that means there are all sorts of little studios around the world who carefully study Disney's release schedule, then throw together the cheapest possible animation, voice actors who can just about speak their native tongue, and a script based on the original tale in the way that toxic waste is based on water, then throw about fifty minutes of barely-moving figures into a plot that makes no sense for characters incapable of explaining it, followed by slapping on a cover and title that would look vaguely like the Disney release to a concussed monkey in a dark room, and ships it on the day the Disney movie comes out. It sits on a display rack, just waiting for some unsuspecting parent to decide it's a video read-along for the real thing, or a filmed-from-the-screen that got into the store (especially in my area), or the import from Hong Kong because everyone knows the movie is on DVD there two weeks before it reaches the screen here. So they buy it and take it home for a night of family viewing, believing themselves to be saving the money that would have been spent on all those movie tickets.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMockbuster

And then about 8000% of that goes to the ensuing therapy bills.

Note that this isn't limited to animation: the serial numbers can be filed off most major releases, with the shavings scattered across a four dollar budget. But the Disney/Pixar impersonator is the one you're most likely to find.

You'll have a harder time finding the production company. They haven't shown up in court yet.

"RE: #160 (someone here fell for it)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-18-12 at 09:36 AM
LAST EDITED ON 07-18-12 AT 09:36 AM (EST)

Yeah. After I bought "Sin"-derella, I was so mad that I had been taken in by an impostor film that I had to watch it multiple times to quiet my nerves.

Just thinking about having been duped like that makes me so mad I have to watch it again.

And Mother Hubba-Hubba? Jack and Jill went down on the hill? Snow White and the Dwarf's seven inches? Don't get me started.

"RE: #160 (someone here fell for it)"
Posted by Estee on 07-18-12 at 09:47 AM
Wrong trope.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ParallelPornTitles

(Imagine how non-PG13 that page is. Then approach it at your own risk.)

Same general spirit, though. But the adult entertainment parody generally winds up with higher production values plus better acting from a stronger script.

Seriously.

Ratatoing (from the Mockbusters page) will make you weep. Or kill something. Or both simultaneously.

"RE: #160 (someone here fell for it)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-18-12 at 11:21 AM
The Malaprop trope.
"#161"
Posted by Estee on 07-19-12 at 06:07 AM
The battlecry of many of a director: 'Who cares if it makes sense, as long as it looks neat!'

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RefugeInCool

For 'neat', read 'something blows up real good.'

One of the all-time hit or miss tropes. You can't do this one halfway. Once it starts moving, the entire work has to be a no-bends-payback dive into uncharted depths of coolness or nitrogen bubbles explode it from within, mostly produced by laughter.

Pull it off and you've got a classic. Fail...

"Fail..."
Posted by newsomewayne on 07-19-12 at 09:00 AM
...and your Michael Bay.
"RE: Fail..."
Posted by Estee on 07-19-12 at 10:20 AM
My Michael Bay?

*sudden surge of nausea*

The examples on the page are for those who tried to take refuge. It doesn't mean they made it.

"RE: #161"
Posted by kingfish on 07-19-12 at 11:43 AM
A work that tries to be cool, whether it makes sense or not, and whether it succeeds or not.

Fills a nitch, I guess.

"TropeSwoop!"
Posted by foonermints on 07-19-12 at 01:07 PM



Handcrafted by RollDdice

"#162 (slow-motion drama)"
Posted by Estee on 07-20-12 at 06:04 AM
We'll keep this one relatively short because the example list is approximately a day long. A bullet travels very quickly. Some ultra-tech sniper rifles can get one moving at a couple of hundred miles an hour. Therefore, when dodging bullets, you're actually dodging the gun barrel: seeing where it's pointing and moving away before the shooter can fire. This doesn't always work because as said, bullets are fast. You can't readily get out of one's way.

However, if the need is to get into the path, any human being is capable of instantaneously accelerating to just below the speed of sound, making a ten-second scream of denial which may be followed by an extended speech, catching five feet of air in order to find the right intercept point, and never, ever doing this in front of a projectile strong enough to go completely through them and whatever they were diving in front of. And this works every. single. time.

Yeah, you know this one.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TakingTheBullet

It's kind of like using up every bit of speed for your entire life in one try. And since you won't need it any more, it works.

(The speed. And your life.)

"RE: #162 (slow-motion drama)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-20-12 at 11:58 AM
Call me a coward, maybe, but it makes better sense to grab the guy next to you and throw him in the path of the bullet.

On him the laurels of heroism should fall.

I call it being practical.

"Practical?"
Posted by foonermints on 07-20-12 at 01:44 PM
Well, I guess so, but just in case of being personally in the path of the bullet, I recommend: this.

Handcrafted by RollDdice/Icecat Bouncy/Shameless Plug by the creator

A boy always needs something to do


"RE: Practical?"
Posted by kingfish on 07-20-12 at 03:06 PM
I want a cup made out of that too.

"Color?"
Posted by foonermints on 07-21-12 at 09:11 AM
LAST EDITED ON 07-21-12 AT 09:18 AM (EST)


Multicam will cost you extra.

If you can't swing it, go with black. ACU is getting kicked to the curb, and God knows you don't want that.

Phillipine Tiger Stripe is pretty cool.
You definitly don't want Japanese, unless you actually LIKE weird ugly-freaky-clown balloons. It also makes you feel small.

I guess I can do Fire Engine Red or Blaze Orange, but the thought makes me uncomfortable. Trouble is, those colors just say: "shoot me right here". Plus, why advertise any possibility that you have a rash?

For hunting, think about "Real Tree". There are several different types, but you can't go wrong with wood.
Girls like it.

foonermint: color coordinator

"java juice"
Posted by dabo on 07-20-12 at 12:37 PM
is for heroes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=Jp3TkopTb0A
"#163 (Big Brother spoiler ahead.)"
Posted by Estee on 07-21-12 at 06:08 AM
The official trope of the Hantz family.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RageQuit

"RE: #163 (Big Brother spoiler ahead.)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-21-12 at 02:54 PM
LAST EDITED ON 07-21-12 AT 05:52 PM (EST)


Lest we forget, Chima Simone.

And Rachel. She doesn't fit exactly, she is more of a Cry/threaten to quit as a ploy for sympathy kind of girl.

There really should have been a reality show category. It would have been pretty long, admittedly.

"RE: #163 (Big Brother spoiler ahead.)"
Posted by SpotTheDiffference on 07-22-12 at 07:46 PM
Probably one of the most common and most annoying things to anyone who plays the Random Matchup feature in Pokemon. You're up, 6-1, with his last 'mon at 2 HP. You select a 100% accuracy move, sure that you'll move before your opponent, and he disconnects.

Almost always leads to you doing a #164 below.


"*blink*"
Posted by Estee on 07-22-12 at 09:06 PM
...Alison Grodner plays Pokemon?

*mutter* Yeah, a disconnect would be just that bitch's style...

"#164"
Posted by Estee on 07-22-12 at 12:14 PM
*deep breath*

*tilt head back*

*raise arms*

*make fists*

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SkywardScream

GROOOOOOOODNERRRRRRRRR!

Ironically, I ordered Dan Vs. about twenty minutes ago.

"RE: #164"
Posted by kingfish on 07-23-12 at 08:48 AM
Good. Glad to see you got that out. Articulating the problem is the first step of the cure. Now, next step, get a bazooka...
"#165 (not Congress) "
Posted by Estee on 07-23-12 at 07:35 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ClownCarBase

This is any structure where the number or mass of people emerging from it never could have fit inside to begin with. Generally differs from a few related (and easily confused with) tropes in that you're catching them coming out. Bonus points if they're actually clowns coming out of a car. Triple fun score if they're all dead.

I saw that episode of Pushing Daisies. It worked.

"RE: #165 (not Congress) "
Posted by kingfish on 07-23-12 at 08:53 AM
LAST EDITED ON 07-23-12 AT 09:00 AM (EST)

Before going to the link, I am going to assume that the classic example will be Western Films where both good and bad guys had an inexhaustible supply of bullets in their guns.

Now to the link, where I find out how misguided my guess was. Again.

ETA: And I was. Evidently this is exclusively aimed at people emerging from a space. or a space being larger inside than it appears from the outside.

So, where was the TARDIS from Dr. Who?

"RE: #165 (not Congress) "
Posted by Estee on 07-23-12 at 10:14 AM
This is a sort of subtrope to the overall Tardis one. To get in on this one, you'd need every Doctor, every companion, and about a thousand Daleks emerging from the Tardis in a conga line.
"#166 (overexposure will kill you)"
Posted by Estee on 07-24-12 at 05:49 AM
A little cute goes a long way.

A lot of cute sticks in your throat.

Too many deliberate attempts to invoke cute can act as a repellant.

About three light-years beyond that point, you get this.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TastesLikeDiabetes

This trope represents any work that tries to play off so many 'cute', 'sweet', and 'aww, isn't it adorable' cliches that the only sane human response is a burst of psychotic rage channeled into a desperate strike at everyone involved, followed by salting the earth where they once stood before nuking the area until it glows because it's the only way to be sure. Watching too much of this stuff will either kill you or turn you into a Dobson devotee before joining the Million Bigot Mom March, which is the far worse of the two fates. Just reading down the full example list may leave you twitching for the rest of the day. And be really careful about how many of those you check out. There is a Wake Up Screaming Limit in all of you and I don't know where it is. Or we could just have a contest where everyone tries to read through the complete page plus all associated video links and whoever gets the farthest without dying gets to envy those who didn't make it.

You can go first.

I will now boil my hard drive in bleach.

"RE: #166 (overexposure will kill you)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-24-12 at 11:38 AM
This is why we have grouches, and why they (we) are absolutely necessary.
"#167 (Newsome, help!)"
Posted by Estee on 07-25-12 at 07:27 AM
Insects are a pain to animate, and a lot of that is in the limbs. There's two extra ones to deal with, and every insect character will have them, and if you're making a movie with lots of or nothing but insect characters, the extra detail multiplies into something approaching death. Most studios will cheat and create a

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FourLeggedInsect

just to keep the animators in their chairs instead of plummeting past the windows.

But there's also a literary example.

The Bible.

Which seems to say insects are supposed to have four legs.

Which is presumably how the creating deity designed them.

And they aren't that way now.

Please explain.

Does this affect their marriage prospects?

"RE: #167 (Newsome, help!)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-25-12 at 08:20 AM
Blessed are the fish, for we have no legs.
"RE: #167 (Newsome, help!)"
Posted by Estee on 07-25-12 at 08:25 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudskipper

The other option was a whole lot of Spongebob cels.

"RE: #167 (Newsome, help!)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-25-12 at 09:35 AM
We all have our Ozarks cousins.
"RE: #167 (Newsome, help!)"
Posted by newsomewayne on 08-17-12 at 10:49 AM
LAST EDITED ON 08-17-12 AT 11:34 AM (EST)

I know it took a while. My apologies for a delay in responding. I've only just now had the time to really look at the question and the possible answers. In this case, I'm completely deferring to the experts, as you'll see. The answers below are theirs, but I am in agreeance with what they say.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/01/26/contradictions-two-missing-legs
Leviticus 11:20–23
All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you. Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth. These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. But all other flying insects which have four feet shall be an abomination to you.

The Bible in Leviticus 11:21 indicates that the hind jumping legs are not included in the four “walking” or “creeping” feet. The feet are the four front limbs used for walking and look the same. The back two limbs are primarily for long hops.

Although today, people lump them all together and say there are six legs, the Bible distinguished them here. The Bible referred to them in more detail than perhaps expected. Notice how the feet and legs are separated in the verses and referred to separately. The Bible is being very precise as to distinguish the front four from the back two. So, there is no contradiction at all:

4 walking legs + 2 hind hopping legs = 6 total legs

Leviticus 11:20-23 refers only to the insects with these specific feet-leg combinations that have wings.1 Now, I know you’re wondering . . . did any Israelites actually eat these insects? Look up Matthew 3:4 and Mark 1:6!


http://www.tektonics.org/af/buglegs.html

Lev. 11:20-3 All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind. But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.
Is this an error -- since insects have six feet, not four, and since "fowl" have two feet, not four?

The reference to "fowl" is thought by some Skeptics to refer to birds, but the word used here is 'owph, which merely means a creature with wings -- it is the same word used in verse 21 (flying). The reference in both cases is to insects.

Now we might call this a poetic phrase (i.e., "crawling around on all fours"), and this is partially right. But there is an even better - and more correct - answer.

Quite simply, the big back legs on the locust, etc. were not counted as "legs" in the same sense as the other legs. Let's use an illustration from George Orwell's Animal Farm.

In this story, Snowball the pig invented the slogan, "Four legs good, two legs bad" so as to exclude humans from Animal Farm society. The geese and other fowl objected, because they had only two legs. Snowball explained (more clearly in the book than in the movie) that in animal terms, the birds' wings counted as legs because they were limbs of propulsion, not manipulation, as a human's arms and hands were.


Now note the differentiation in Leviticus above -- referring to "legs above the feet" for leaping. The "feet" are being differentiated from the "legs above the feet" because of their difference in function. They are legs, but in a different sense than the "four" legs which are just called "feet." We are being told of two types of legs: The "on all four" legs (which are nowhere called legs; they are only called "feet" ), and the "leaping legs."

It is clear that the Hebrews regarded the two large, hopping hindlimbs of the locust and the other insects of the same type, which are the only types of insects mentioned here (we now translate "beetle" as "cricket"), as something different than the other four limbs - perhaps because they were used primarily for vertical propulsion, whereas the other limbs were for scurrying around.

Shifts of terminology like this happen even today; check this proposal to redefine "planet". A helpful reader also noted a similar issue with the "legs" of the octopus; see here.)

Unacceptable? The alternative is to say that the Hebrews - who ate these things raw - didn't see that these bugs had six legs.

Objection: Such insects are sometimes hard to find, and some cannot be found for up to decades at a time. So it's possible they did make such a mistake.

Not all such insects disappeared entirely for any length of time, and the author of Leviticus, by virtue of his literacy, clearly within the context of the ancient world had to be someone with a few years under his belt. There is no way it can be claimed that he happened to live in a timeframe when there were never and insects of this type around, or no one who knew better.

Further objectionI did a little private survey and found out that a few people, even intelligent ones, did not know that insects had six legs.

All this really shows is that people aren't getting a decent science education...not that this is relevant anyway, since it is doubtful that any of them ate insects as part of their regular diet and had them constantly in their face as the Hebrews did.

What other "winged insects with four feet" (11:23) could there be?

The last pair of legs of many winged insects are specially designed for jumping or "lifting off" and therefore serve a differing function than the other four legs. With millions of species of insects in the world it seems rather presumptuous to try to select just a few and claim that these make a hash of Lev. 11:23. But let's just take one as an example.

Here there is a site on the anatomy of the honeybee. The picture shows clearly enough that the rear legs present an entirely different orientation than the other four. More technically, they serve a different function and have a different structure:

http://www.captted.com/bees/beemanual/cb05.htm

The hind legs differ from the other legs in their larger size and broad flattened form. These legs differ in size in the queen, worker & drone. It is only the worker that collects pollen and places it in the pollen baskets on these hind legs. The legs have long curved hairs. The space enclosed by these hairs is called the pollen basket. The worker bees carry pollen to the hive storing in these conclave shaped hind legs. The pollen is collected from the body by the front and middle legs and deposited on the large flat brushes on the inner surfaces of the hind legs. Each of which is covered by 10 transverse rows of stiff spines projecting backwards.
Although these legs are used to walk (even as the grasshopper's can be and are), in function and appearance they are clearly, vastly different. The Hebrews were just as able (and by extension of the same scheme used with grasshoppers, katydids, etc) to regard the back legs of other types of flying insects as being of a different order, of being something different, so that only the first four were called plain old "feet" as only the first four on the hoppers, etc. were called feet, while the others were given a differing name such as "legs above their feet".

-James Patrick Holding

----

Also, I found the following, which I think also connects to our discussion from the Sikh shooting thread. Texas groceries thread.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-47 What animals were clean and unclean. - These laws seem to have been intended, 1. As a test of the people's obedience, as Adam was forbidden to eat of the tree of knowledge; and to teach them self-denial, and the government of their appetites. 2. To keep the Israelites distinct from other nations. Many also of these forbidden animals were objects of superstition and idolatry to the heathen. 3. The people were taught to make distinctions between the holy and unholy in their companions and intimate connexions. 4. The law forbad, not only the eating of the unclean beasts, but the touching of them. Those who would be kept from any sin, must be careful to avoid all temptations to it, or coming near it. The exceptions are very minute, and all were designed to call forth constant care and exactness in their obedience; and to teach us to obey. Whilst we enjoy our Christian liberty, and are free from such burdensome observances, we must be careful not to abuse our liberty. For the Lord hath redeemed and called his people, that they may be holy, even as he is holy. We must come out, and be separate from the world; we must leave the company of the ungodly, and all needless connexions with those who are dead in sin; we must be zealous of good works devoted followers of God, and companions of his people.

"RE: #167 (Newsome, help!)"
Posted by Estee on 08-17-12 at 11:18 AM
Huh. Okay, slightly twisted here and there -- I was personally expecting something along the lines of handling limbs, as a few insects do try to manipulate with the front pair, and so didn't figure launchers to get involved. But I can see where the reasoning is (at least up until the bit about leaving the company of the ungodly). If it moves you through some sort of walking, it's a leg: if it pushes off, it's something else. B.C. taxonomy: fair enough.

Thankee for the research. I figured you'd know the proper sites to check (as in: 'the ones not attempting Wikipedia-style sabotage'). I appreciate your effort in answering the question seriously and thoroughly.

You can see where it would get at least a blink, though -- no evolution for higher forms (over cell size) allowed in the faith and intelligent design doesn't allow for 'You know, I think I'll add two more'. From there, the guessing starts at wild and gets progressively worse.

If you posted in the Sikh thread, my computer's not showing it. Do you mean about humans codifying we-call-it-divine law?

"RE: #167 (Newsome, help!)"
Posted by newsomewayne on 08-17-12 at 11:33 AM
You can see where it would get at least a blink, though

Sure. Thanks for the opportunity to respond.

If you posted in the Sikh thread, my computer's not showing it. Do you mean about humans codifying we-call-it-divine law?

my bad. Memory fails in old age. I meant the Texas groceries thread. I knew it was some event where a crazy tried to use Biblical justification for personal asshattery. And now that I think about it, I can't remember what the Sikh shooting "justification" was. BTW, I'll edit my post to correct.

"#168"
Posted by Estee on 07-26-12 at 07:10 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FunnyBackgroundEvent

Any time the stuff going on behind the main scene goes for comedy. It can take a few viewings to find them all for the most loaded productions, but some of these bits have become legendary.

Just read down the list on this one. You'll remember a laugh or two -- and be amazed by what you miseed.

"RE: #168"
Posted by kingfish on 07-26-12 at 03:56 PM
LAST EDITED ON 07-26-12 AT 05:11 PM (EST)

Yeah. I admit it. It was me back there. Not sayng when or where, just fessing up should be enough.

"#169"
Posted by Estee on 07-27-12 at 07:39 AM
This is a murder story. You've spent the entire tale chasing the killer. Who has been elusive. Everywhere you go, the killer isn't. Clues are left behind, hints abound, but you can't make sense of them. You don't know why the murder happened, you don't know how to make it stop, and you have no idea who did it.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheKillerInMe

And then on the last page, someone shows you a mirror.

Very much an all-or-nothing trope. Either it works spectacularly or it crashes through the basement and burrows deeper.

"RE: #169"
Posted by kingfish on 07-27-12 at 09:25 AM
I prefer the

"A) The 'hero' is a willing killer or monster who has been trying to shift blame or tie up loose ends."

as a way to resolve the problem.

And I really really don't prefer the "It was his trusted and loyal partner all along", which although not part of this trope, is often the way this kind of mystery is resolved.

The "B...blackout..." resolution is just too easy, a cop out, much like having a character wake up and discover it was just all a bad dream. Ptooie.

Now I have to find and read "Vidocq" and "Primal Fear".

"#170 (Hey, Rocky!)"
Posted by Estee on 07-28-12 at 06:24 AM
Watch me

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PullARabbitOutOfMyHat

(But that trick never works!)

"RE: #170 (Hey, Rocky!)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-28-12 at 12:09 PM
henson was so creative...

"On the Doug Henning episode of The Muppet Show, Fozzie attempts to perform his own magic by pulling the old rabbit hat trick. However, being Fozzie, he has some trouble with it; he pulls out a rabbi, followed by a robot. Fozzie then hits the hat too hard, and suddenly dozens of rabbits come bouncing out of the hat.

...and funny.

"#171 "
Posted by Estee on 07-29-12 at 01:23 PM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Intermission

Back in five.

"RE: #171 "
Posted by foonermints on 07-29-12 at 02:10 PM
Years?

Keeper of the NoNice Gorn

"Don't be silly."
Posted by Estee on 07-29-12 at 02:20 PM
The world is ending on December 23rd. We don't have five years.
"Whoops"
Posted by foonermints on 07-29-12 at 03:13 PM
I forgot. Let's party like it's 1999!


It's that Mayan Thing, isn't it? Funny, Scientology doesn't say anything about it, and you can at least trust them. About equally. Along with Tom Cruise. And Batman. Can't leave out Batman.

"RE: #171 "
Posted by Snidget on 07-29-12 at 02:21 PM
"RE: #171 "
Posted by qwertypie on 07-30-12 at 00:51 AM
got sidetracked by the Stange Brew link.
"Hoserama!"
Posted by kingfish on 07-30-12 at 08:29 AM
LAST EDITED ON 07-30-12 AT 11:06 AM (EST)

The worlds first movie shot in 3-B! (A beer reference eh?). Also referred to as "Hoser-ama".

"#172 (not comics)"
Posted by Estee on 07-30-12 at 06:47 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AllDeathsFinal

Any setting where once you're gone, you're gone. Resurrection magic/powers/science doesn't exist. You might have hypertech healing to get you back from the brink and people will continue to fake deaths with a Never Found The Body game, but any time someone is verified gone, it's going to stick. Note that this doesn't always prevent reincarnation or ghosts -- but it does mean you'll never get that person back as you knew them in the body they just abandoned.

Obviously not a trope Marvel & DC are willing to live with.

"RE: #172 (not comics)"
Posted by newsomewayne on 07-30-12 at 08:47 AM
Surprised the Bible doesn't get mentioned for avoiding this trope. Subverting, maybe?
"RE: #172 (not comics)"
Posted by Estee on 07-30-12 at 09:41 AM
In this case, I think we're looking at milleu where, given the other fantastic things that are happening on a daily basis, you'd think resurrections would just be part of the background decor. If you have to go to near-impossible means to make it work or it's a once-or-twice-in-a-lifetime event, we're probably under another trope. Let's face it: modern Earth does not exactly qualify as high, middle, or low fantasy. We can barely crack light science fiction.

The Bible likely has its own trope page. I'm not going there because I'm not starting that kind of fight until you get around to answering my four-legged insect question.

"RE: #172 (not comics)"
Posted by kingfish on 07-30-12 at 11:09 AM
"...modern Earth does not exactly qualify as high, middle, or low fantasy."

However, in an election year...

"RE: #172 (not comics)"
Posted by byoffer on 07-30-12 at 10:48 AM
Does Achmed pass of fail this trope??
"RE: #172 (not comics)"
Posted by Estee on 07-30-12 at 11:55 AM
Undead state, twisted reincarnation, or just plain 'I'm a puppet! I'll kill you!'
"RE: #172 (not comics)"
Posted by qwertypie on 07-30-12 at 12:34 PM
And obviously not Days of Our Lives.
(And yes, I guess the characters were never really dead -- I see a whole slew of "But there is no way anyone could have survived that" tropes)
"#173 (guilty)"
Posted by Estee on 07-31-12 at 07:19 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PollyWantsAMicrophone

Put simply, this is any time you use a talking bird as a character or plot point.

Been there, done that, didn't have to clean up the back of the t-shirt.

"#174 (video games)"
Posted by Estee on 08-01-12 at 07:31 AM
Your characters can destroy opponents with a single punch.

A casual effort at jumping vaults an entire river.

One bullet will just about disintegrate a wall.

And if they touch a single mote of dust, they die.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OneHitPointWonder

This is one of the most annoying tropes a video game player can face. Any contact with an enemy force costs you a life, sends you to a checkpoint, or just plain ends the game: have 'fun' starting over. And 'enemy force' can be defined as any part of the scenery the design team didn't want you making contact with. Sometimes this means all of the scenery (and that's another trope). And even if you're relatively durable, I've got two words for you: escort mission.

A leading cause of Rage Quits worldwide. And yet some people will try to finish the bloody game anyway.

"#175 (for Foonermints)"
Posted by Estee on 08-02-12 at 07:52 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mooks

There are a lot of mook tropes.

A lot.

A world with mooks is a world with near-full employment.

"RE: #175 (for Foonermints)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-02-12 at 08:46 AM
The unnamed (usually) crewman on Star Trek that accompanied the landing team to be sacrificed to the plot.

You always knew who was going to die.

"{Penn}YOU FOOL!{/PENN}"
Posted by Estee on 08-02-12 at 09:06 AM
...sorry, but that had to be done, because that statement was just embarrassing. You just messed up one of the very few tropes which has permeated just about every level of public consciousness. A mook is the near-faceless minion who heedlessly rushes into death on behalf of the villain. What you're thinking of is this:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RedShirt

The near-faceless minion who heedlessly rushes into death on behalf of the hero.

And you might enjoy this.

http://tinyurl.com/c5hh5st

"RE: {Penn}YOU FOOL!{/PENN}"
Posted by dabo on 08-02-12 at 11:14 AM
How could you have missed Redshirt Army!
Every major battle on LOST involves one group of redshirts attacking another group of redshirts with the main characters from both sides escaping unscathed.
"RE: {Penn}YOU FOOL!{/PENN}"
Posted by Estee on 08-02-12 at 11:36 AM
I was saving it for a special occasion? We may also wind up at Mauve Shirt eventually: we'll see how the randomness goes. And your example is just one of the many reasons to give up on Lost, where the title actually indicated the perpetual state of the writers. Well, there was the solution most of us recognized too late...

This quote from the Real Life section on your link is one of the more depressing things you'll read today.

While not in charge of an official Red Shirt Army, General Charles Mangin gave a speech that summarizes this trope to its essence: "Gentlemen, we attack tomorrow. The first wave will be killed. The second also. And the third. A few men from the fourth will reach their objective. The fifth wave will capture the position. Thank you, gentlemen."

Now imagine hearing that line as a member of waves #1-3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Mangin

"RE: {Penn}YOU FOOL!{/PENN}"
Posted by dabo on 08-02-12 at 02:36 PM
Mangin also became known for the observation: "Quoi qu'on fasse, on perd beaucoup de monde." ("Whatever you do," (i.e. attack or defend) "you lose a lot of men.").

Even though it seems very cold-hearted, in World War 1 all ground troops everywhere were essentially just cannon fodder, at least he was honest about it.

One of my main gripes about Lost, really my biggest gripe, is they pretty much made a mockery of the "Live Together or Die Alone" sentiment. Almost everyone died no matter what they did, most often because someone killed them. The saving grace, though, came in the season five when Rose, Bernard and Vincent turned up, and the old dears explained essentially, "Oh, you all can keep trying to get yourselves killed while getting everyone else killed too, we're retired."

"{wardrobe malfunction}left brain short circuit{/wardrobe malfunction}"
Posted by kingfish on 08-02-12 at 11:27 AM
Mind still contemplating, and google not working.
"RE: {wardrobe malfunction}left brain short circuit{/wardrobe malfunction}"
Posted by Estee on 08-02-12 at 11:42 AM
I can give you the link.

For two hundred dollars.

"RE: {wardrobe malfunction}left brain short circuit{/wardrobe malfunction}"
Posted by kingfish on 08-02-12 at 11:54 AM
I'll give you the Jennifer BB promise of $200 someday later plus I won't put you on the block for two weeks. I pinky swear on Fairplay's grandmother's grave.
"RE: {wardrobe malfunction}left brain short circuit{/wardrobe malfunction}"
Posted by Estee on 08-02-12 at 12:01 PM
Since I have more than Jordan's lone brain cell to consider that offer with, I'm gonna have to say no.

For those in total confusion: Janelle had it happen on yesterday's BB feeds.

"RE: {wardrobe malfunction}left brain short circuit{/wardrobe malfunction}"
Posted by kingfish on 08-03-12 at 09:37 AM
Ah yes, Jordan's one brain cell. Good times.
"RE: {wardrobe malfunction}left brain short circuit{/wardrobe malfunction}"
Posted by Estee on 08-03-12 at 09:45 AM
Not for those of us who fully remember what it is was like watching the poor thing trying to work, no.
"RE: #175 (for Foonermints)"
Posted by byoffer on 08-02-12 at 09:11 AM
I thought it was Moops!
"RE: #175 (for Foonermints)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-02-12 at 03:27 PM
Kramer's entrances were always a highlite for me. They were vaudeville-ish, but Kramer put a unique spin on them. Cleese in Faulty Towers had similar entrances.
"#176 (music -- sort of)"
Posted by Estee on 08-03-12 at 07:01 AM
From their own page:

"Back in the late seventies, when Punk Rock was the dominant form of rebellious music, a bunch of musicians came to a realization that led to the creation of a new genre. The conversation went a bit like this:

First: @#$%, I just realized something!
Second: What, you're drunk?
First: No, I realized that punk rock... has too much music in it! People listen to it!
Second: Your point being?
Third: Actually, that's a very good question. What's your point, man?
First: Look, what if we made the ultimate form of rebellious music by resisting conformity to musical standards?
Second: Eh?
First: What if we made ''anti''-music?
Second: ...
Third: That might work, actually."

tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Industrial

I already have a headache.

"RE: #176 (music -- sort of)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-03-12 at 09:48 AM
With his atonal and a-musical jazz Miles Davis would seem to fit here, except that his is not Industrial.

Neither are on my playlist. It seems that among my musician friends, Miles is appreciated by the most cerebral, while Industrial is appreciated by the least.

"RE: #176 (music -- sort of)"
Posted by Estee on 08-03-12 at 09:58 AM
Ever try this one?

http://tinyurl.com/cbvrga6

"RE: #176 (music -- sort of)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-03-12 at 10:20 AM
That sounds like something I could appreciate. But that isn't Industrial, or if it is, once again I'm way out of the loop.
"RE: #176 (music -- sort of)"
Posted by Estee on 08-03-12 at 10:41 AM
No, not even remotely industrial. But that's the sort of music you can find at the top of the list for a lot of professional musicians. Ask your friends about it and decide if you want to sample. You can always grab a track download from the album for $0.99 or so.
"RE: #176 (music -- sort of)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-03-12 at 03:46 PM
I just ordered the CD. Most of the music I listen to lately is in the car, and CD's work best for me.
"RE: #176 (music -- sort of)"
Posted by Estee on 08-03-12 at 04:10 PM
And now I've effectively spent his money. *wince* Let me know what you think after you listen to it.

I may have just done a beautiful thing. Or not.

"Memaw of the trope"
Posted by dabo on 08-03-12 at 11:53 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnjx9SqH838&feature=player_embedded#!

to quote one of the few replies

some of the suckiest crap ever recorded

"#177"
Posted by Estee on 08-04-12 at 12:10 PM
*mutter*

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SunnySunflowerDisposition

*darker mutter*

"RE: #177"
Posted by Snidget on 08-04-12 at 12:24 PM
I suppose now is the time to suppress the urge to make you a sunflower siggie?
"RE: #177"
Posted by Estee on 08-04-12 at 01:15 PM
Only if you want me to suppress the urge to put a live skunk in your car.
"#178"
Posted by Estee on 08-05-12 at 09:30 AM
Please note the complete and utter lack of Real Life examples on the following trope's list.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BenevolentBoss

Anyone attempting to edit in 'WalMart' will be shot.

"RE: #178"
Posted by kidflash212 on 08-05-12 at 01:25 PM
I can only think of Lou Grant.
"RE: #178"
Posted by kingfish on 08-05-12 at 04:32 PM
Marshall Dillon?
"#179"
Posted by Estee on 08-06-12 at 04:30 AM
Let's say you've got a popular TV show on the air. In fact, it's so popular that you've been wondering if you could get a quick novel or six out of it. There seem to be enough writers who enjoy the characters and could work in that format for you. So you decide to put on a quick publishing run.

Except that -- well -- writers have this tendency to, shall we say, go off the reservation. They think that just because they're telling stories, those stories have to be about how people change over time due to the events around them. And clearly that's not going to work here because if any character learned anything in a book ever, that would have to be reflected in the TV series. And you're not going to do that. So here's Rule #1: no character may change in any way whatsoever for any reason due to any cause.

Also, no new supporting characters. They might catch on and then you've have to cast them.

No new reappearing locations. You refuse to build extra sets.

In fact, you are categorically forbidding anything interesting from happening, by law. Now what kind of stories can you get your writers to tell?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RestrictedExpandedUniverse

Apparently not strongly-selling ones. Now how did that happen? Well, clearly it's the writers' fault...

"#180 (universal)"
Posted by Estee on 08-07-12 at 07:15 AM
If you want to hear your deity laugh, make plans.

If you want to be a fictional character, succeed anyway.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DespiteThePlan

"#181 (Agman -- and company.)"
Posted by Estee on 08-08-12 at 07:49 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JokeExhaustion

"RE: #181 (Agman -- and company.)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-08-12 at 09:00 AM
LAST EDITED ON 08-08-12 AT 03:59 PM (EST)

I, uh, well, I'm sure you're not fat afterall. And neither is yo' mama.

"RE: #181 (Agman -- and company.)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-08-12 at 12:30 PM
I'm kinda waiting (in dread) for you to hit the trope for the bore who thinks he/she's so naturally hilarious that he/she has to utter every thought that pops into their heads because they just know that everyone is so entertained by them.

When you do hit that trope, have mercy, and just remember that at least I can carry a tune in the shower, and am kind to little fishes.

And I am funny, dammit. The little fishes laugh.

"#182"
Posted by Estee on 08-09-12 at 07:16 AM
Former population: 8,000,000

Current population: 0.

Creep-out factor: off the scale.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GhostCity

The Ghost Cities Of China under the Real Life examples are one of the stupidest examples of corporate-bureaucracy teamup you may ever see -- until you look at virtually any headline after reading this post. It's one thing to plan for the future, and something else entirely to price that future out of everyone's purchase range...

"RE: #182"
Posted by kingfish on 08-09-12 at 09:06 AM
LAST EDITED ON 08-09-12 AT 09:24 AM (EST)

One would think that WALL-E would qualify here.

Also, I enjoyed the "Fridge Logic" discussion. Ellison was a really brilliant A'hole. Not sure which adjective should be emphasized.

"#183"
Posted by Estee on 08-10-12 at 04:24 AM
...oooh, so the only reason Big Brother stays on the air is because the Chenbot's husband wants to make sure she has a primetime job every year, which means the quality of the casting, competitions, and show itself totally don't matter to anyone at the network!

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LateToThePunchline

I just got that!

For the five thousandth time.

"RE: #183"
Posted by kingfish on 08-10-12 at 09:01 AM
LAST EDITED ON 08-10-12 AT 11:35 AM (EST)

Putting this one in my backpocket for use as a throw down excuse when all else fails. I need my throw down excuses.

Also, I see a convenient gambit when on the receiving of taunts from a bully to say "Heh heh...Wait, I don't get it". Then when he/she turns to gloat to his/her gang, to wield a baseball bat on his/her skull and say, Oh yeah, NOW I get it."

May not be the most courageous or admirable tactic, but I suspect it makes up for that in practicality and inner satisfaction.

"#184"
Posted by Estee on 08-11-12 at 07:48 AM
he holds me captive

he will kill me if i try to leave

he will hurt my family if i succeed

he feeds me

he shelters me

he keeps me safe from the horrors outside

he will protect me from anything that comes

he says he loves me

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockholmSyndrome

today i said it back

"RE: #184"
Posted by kingfish on 08-11-12 at 08:30 AM
The use of the referenced "two-way Stockholm Syndrome"has intriguing possibilities as the basis for a fiction, if not (IMO) played for schmaltz.

I mean, if it's going to be something that develops onto a love story, forget it. But if it can be the basis of a plot or plot twist of some kind, well, that would seem to offer possibilities.

"RE: #184"
Posted by Estee on 08-11-12 at 08:46 AM
The one I didn't know about before today was the flipside: Lima Syndrome, where the captor starts to feel the same kind of empathy for the hostage. Rare, but there are cases out there.

When Lima and Stockholm get together in the same incident, then it starts to go deep into weird.

"RE: #184"
Posted by kingfish on 08-11-12 at 09:00 AM
Yeah. Although what ran thru my mind before I checked out what it actually was, was a Limeaid syndrome, where the kidnap plot is complicated when the captor finds out that his victim's favorite drink is Lime Koolaid, which was what his Gammy (sob) served him as a kid. And he realizes that he just can't carry out the final stage of the plot which was to carve up the victim and grind up her (intentionally using those pronouns - potential nude scene) flesh into hamburger meat.

But that would be a lovey lovey kissey kissey gooey mess to untangle. Urpsville. We would need to get back to basics somehow, jumping out of airplanes sans parachutes, crossing scorching deserts without water, wrestling polar bears for seal meat, that kind of thing.

"RE: #184"
Posted by Estee on 08-11-12 at 09:10 AM
Unfortunately, I'm still stuck on the SWAT team crashing in through a brick wall while shouting "OH YEAH!"
"RE: #184"
Posted by kingfish on 08-11-12 at 10:34 AM
That's not so bad though. Back to basics should include lots of testosterone.

(OK, if I never see another SWAT Team on TV or in the movies, I'll die happy. Sorry Fooner. I know, they buy your stuff. Maybe you could concentrate on sales to Mooks).

"#185"
Posted by Estee on 08-12-12 at 02:21 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WordPureeTitle

When you really can't think of one, just hit any ten random keys and pray.

The prayer part is optional.

"RE: #185"
Posted by kingfish on 08-12-12 at 08:52 AM
Fun with Job aplication forms:

Country of birth: Artesistan

Ethnicity: Cromatatoid

Job applied for: Systematic Allaition Specialist

Religion: Western Biodegradable

Hobbies: Bandsacking, Wishpering, Travel Fugue, and phartsmelling.

(and now the real fun)

References:
Foonermints
Ayatollah Khomeini
Tummy
JBug
Estee
MrC
Moonie
Bravie
crabman
GreenMonster
Uncle Fester
(You get the idea)


"RE: #185"
Posted by kidflash212 on 08-12-12 at 10:41 AM
So, every merged Survivor tribe ever?
"RE: #185"
Posted by Estee on 08-12-12 at 12:03 PM
No, but you could get a really good argument going for 80% or more.

"#186 (The Tea Party -- if we're lucky.)"
Posted by Estee on 08-13-12 at 07:45 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SuckSessor

Which does in fact turn all the moderate Republicans they ousted into We Want Our Jerk Back.

"RE: #186 (The Tea Party -- if we're lucky.)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-13-12 at 08:47 AM
Amen.

Seems like there have been a quite a number of spy/mystery/sniper/western films involving this theme, with outcomes varying from the old guy kills the younger, the younger kills the older, and various "one sets the other up for a kill/prison" plots.

"#187"
Posted by Estee on 08-14-12 at 06:59 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Watershed

The point in time after which Kingfish will consider watching television.

*shrug* Well, they really can't all be gems.

"RE: #187"
Posted by kingfish on 08-14-12 at 08:56 AM
Sigh. We have come far, yet so much more is possible.

Saturday morning porn.

Anime porn.

Oprah porn.

Sunday noon porn.

Weekday soap porn.

Monday night Football porn.

Sigh.

"RE: #187"
Posted by Estee on 08-14-12 at 09:03 AM
Oh, look: we just found my line. And Oprah porn was it.

She already tried to ruin publishing, all right? Can we have one area left untouched, uncorrupted, and unWinfreyed?

"RE: #187"
Posted by byoffer on 08-14-12 at 10:44 AM
First off, ick.

Second, I found it interesting that Eric Idle got away with saying "sh!t" (well, singing it) uncensored during the closing ceremonies that aired well before the watershed time for that sort of language here in Canada. I would be disappointed (but not surprised) if some complaints were files to the broadcasters.

"RE: #187"
Posted by Estee on 08-14-12 at 11:58 AM
Never underestimate the power of people with sticks up their rears and a desire to implant them in others.
"#188 (mostly true)"
Posted by Estee on 08-15-12 at 07:51 AM
...well, animated ones, anyway. And the most recent generation only...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AllGirlsLikePonies

I've ridden a horse once. I am aware that they bite. And kick. And have bowel movements appropriate to their overall mass. Everywhere. Ponies are fun to look at from a distance and they're a joy to watch in motion, but get close up and they're no different from every other animal -- which means the group is composed of individuals and most individuals are jerks.

I like certain ponies and horses. Automatic adoration of the species as a whole? Buck it.

"RE: #188 (mostly true)"
Posted by byoffer on 08-15-12 at 09:17 AM
Especially little Polish girls.
"RE: #188 (mostly true)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-15-12 at 10:11 AM
Once? Maybe that wasn't enough for you to experience the real reason why so many girls are so enthralled with horse riding? Especially using western saddles?

They do bite, BTW. And they might kick although many other animals are more prone to do so. Like cattle. And goats. And don't, just don't, get behind a mule.

I rode horses regularly up until about age 30 or so. Then on a vacation a few years after that I took another horse trip thru the Costa Rican Jungle. You have to spread your legs pretty wide and sit on your leg split when on a horse. I had forgotten that there are certain muscles in your nether area that have to be hardened, and I was in groin pain during and for about 5 days afterward. Never again.


I thought. Then I took a ride on an elephant. In order to ride an elephant you have to spread your legs even wider. Your legs are almost straight out in a full split. And they have hairs like wires 5-6 inches long that poke you everywhere you don't have a blanket for protection. I'm glad I did it, and I still think it was a kinda cool thing to do, but it was also pretty uncomfortable.

"RE: #188 (mostly true)"
Posted by Estee on 08-15-12 at 10:37 AM
'twas bareback, and the mimsy grove outgabe.

How about the elephant's natural scent? Did that soak in for a few days? Were you able to breathe normally? I've heard different things, but it sounds like tolerance and cleanliness issues, usually on the part of the elephant...

I kicked the mule right back.

"RE: #188 (mostly true)"
Posted by byoffer on 08-15-12 at 12:32 PM
Elephants also have bowel movements appropriate to their overall mass.

Just sayin'

"RE: #188 (mostly true)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-15-12 at 01:34 PM
LAST EDITED ON 08-15-12 AT 01:41 PM (EST)

No bad odors to speak of. Very much like a farm or a ranch.

The place I visited was an elephant orphanage in Namibia where they took orphaned elephant calves from the wild, some very small, and raised them until they could be freed. Some they kept as adults and let tourists ride in order to raise money for the operation of the place. Very heart warming and scarcely anyone left there without tossing a hand full of cash in.

They brought out the baby elephants to pet, and they were the hit of the day.

So I guess the odor issue was addressed with frequent sponge baths, plus they had a watering hole where they had water gun contests with their trunks. They also had a dust pit which I'm told helps keep down parasites.

Elephants, much like cattle and other grass eating animals are shit machines, and are almost constantly evacuating. However elephant dung is a conveniently dry bundle, a turd about 6" in dia., and you can just sort of kick it aside if it's in your way. It isn't the more disgusting liquid based or sticky plop, and doesn't have a feces reek. For Poop, it's pretty pleasant, and not hard to be around.

"RE: #188 (mostly true)"
Posted by byoffer on 08-15-12 at 03:33 PM
Some people love elephant dung too much.

Not sure if you have ever seen Mario's Funny 115 (or his Funny 115 pt 2 as this link is from). Not PG13, but very very funny walk through Survivor history.

"#189"
Posted by Estee on 08-16-12 at 06:28 AM
The version I never get to see: the character slices a vein and starts bleeding into the ground while proclaiming the nature of his vow, why he's taking it up, the total number of people it's effective against, what he personally plans on doing to each one, the route he's taking to get there in order to avoid extra tolls, and several good restaurants along the way --

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BloodOath

-- before dying from excessive blood loss.

...oh, come on: it would be hilarious.

"RE: #189"
Posted by kingfish on 08-16-12 at 08:40 AM
The blood secret is, I've got HIV. And now you have it too.
"RE: #189"
Posted by Estee on 08-16-12 at 08:47 AM
Find me someone who believes a computer virus has ever worked that way.

Given that this is the Internet, it should take you no than thirty seconds.

In all of the recorded 2012 years of human history...

"What?"
Posted by kingfish on 08-17-12 at 08:48 AM
What'd you say?
"#190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by Estee on 08-17-12 at 07:39 AM
Actually, more like occupational qualifier...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DistractedByTheSexy

...which in some perspectives kind of takes this into occupational pickpocketing, but let's not get into that...

Not gonna be a good day for Kingfish on this trope.


"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by Snidget on 08-17-12 at 08:11 AM
American Idol

This more or less describes Haley Scarnato's entire run.

Pretty much.

"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by Estee on 08-17-12 at 08:20 AM
To be fair, I can think of at least one time when it turned into Distracted By The Hideous Wardrobe Assignment and stayed there for the rest of the week.

"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by kidflash212 on 08-17-12 at 08:18 AM
I seem to be immune to this particular trope.
"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by Estee on 08-17-12 at 08:22 AM
So you've never been taken out of your train of thought by spotting a good-looking guy?
"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by kidflash212 on 08-17-12 at 08:27 AM
Trope only mentions the distraction caused by gorgeous women. Gender reversal might be a different story.
"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by Estee on 08-17-12 at 08:53 AM
*scans list*

I see some females distracted by males and one woman seriously distracted by two gay males making out, but no males distracted by other males -- although this mentioned clip is supposed to do it regardless of orientation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z-V-OlJHjI&feature=youtu.be

Definitely a lack in the example list -- but I don't feel the trope itself was meant to be gender-specific.

"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by kidflash212 on 08-17-12 at 01:58 PM
That clip had the exact opposite reaction.
"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by Estee on 08-17-12 at 02:11 PM
The tag said that if you were a straight male, the clip might turn you gay. Is it my fault if I read it as 'It features a male who's just that gorgeous'?
"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by byoffer on 08-17-12 at 12:29 PM
The following one made me laugh because of the back-handed compliment of Jennifer's poker game.

Celebrity Poker: Jennifer Tilly is really good at poker. We suspect a lot of that is psychological.

and the last word links to:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BuxomIsBetter

"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by Estee on 08-17-12 at 12:41 PM
The other players are free to not look as much as they like.

Old justification for female superhero outfits: 'Aroused males can't shoot straight'. Or, apparently, play hole cards.

"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by byoffer on 08-17-12 at 01:34 PM
As poker has developed to be dominated more and more by internet players (many who appear to be a small step from computer geeks), I think Jenn's "full house" has most of them dominated.
"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by dabo on 08-17-12 at 01:07 PM

"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by cahaya on 08-17-12 at 01:10 PM
This one qualifies as... show some tail!
"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by Estee on 08-17-12 at 01:15 PM
Those are some really open-minded dogs.
"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by byoffer on 08-17-12 at 01:36 PM
I had seen that before, and figured it was photoshopped, but now I see that there are reflections of the dogs in the puddle beside the cat. Either really good photoshop, or really well trained dogs!
"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by dabo on 08-17-12 at 02:06 PM
LAST EDITED ON 08-17-12 AT 02:07 PM (EST)

It is a training exercise (but where I found it they borrowed the pic).

http://www.marksalo.com/cgc09.htm

"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by kidflash212 on 08-17-12 at 02:11 PM
The cats must really pray that the training went well.
"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by dabo on 08-17-12 at 02:26 PM
I would think the cat would be for the advanced class that already passed the jogger and other distractions tests.
"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-17-12 at 02:59 PM
Cat's have a way of looking unconcerned.

Until...

(photo-shopping that cat onto the picture with the German Shepherds would making an interesting scene. As would a photo of that soccer player's leg about 3 seconds later).

"RE: #190 (occupational hazard)"
Posted by cahaya on 08-17-12 at 03:37 PM
(crossthesd) Until the hooligans cry out at the injustice to the cats!

Oops, free kick.

"#191"
Posted by Estee on 08-18-12 at 03:07 AM
...okay, if you insist.

He's holding a fork.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ProngsOfPoseidon

A big, sharp, very pointy, very fatal fork.

"RE: #191"
Posted by kingfish on 08-18-12 at 09:16 AM
Now I believe that these are random.

I also associate tridents with pitchforks used in westerns or rural scenes to poke a hay stack to see if someone was hiding in it.

That always seemed to me to be a particularly nasty way to locate someone.

"I found him! Oopsy."

"#191 (stoopid Hollywood liberals)"
Posted by Estee on 08-19-12 at 03:53 AM
On the Movie Map Of The World, once you leave America's coastlines behind, you are generally limited to three locations.

Chicago
Detroit
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DownOnTheFarm

As the article notes, believing the movie industry generally means believing every city in the center has less than ten thousand people and is patiently waiting for someone to get past the laws banning calculators so they can actually take a census, if only the town council didn't believe a census would capture their souls. And yes, there are places and people where this is pretty much Basis In Fact -- but the entire Midwest? Not. Quite.

Maybe prairies just get really boring to film?

"RE: #191 (stoopid Hollywood liberals)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-19-12 at 09:03 AM
There was still a touch of that Prairie Life ideal in the hill country of Texas when and where I spent some of my youth. Now it's country estates and million dollar summer homes. Ptooie.
"#192"
Posted by Estee on 08-20-12 at 08:33 AM
LAST EDITED ON 08-20-12 AT 08:36 AM (EST)

This...

"The Internet Engineering Task Force often publishes spoof standards documents on April Fool's Day. One of these was "A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers", ie, a document proposing a standardized way to send Internet traffic via homing pigeon. In 2001, a group in Norway tried it out and determined that it had severe problems with latency and packet loss."

...does not contradict this.

http://tinyurl.com/fasterthanaspeedinginternet

Yeesh.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InstantMessengerPigeon

Either way, you're going to be taking custody of a lot of poop.

"RE: #192"
Posted by dabo on 08-20-12 at 09:46 AM

"RE: #192"
Posted by byoffer on 08-20-12 at 11:24 AM
Last week I watched the 1966 film A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. It had one little bit scene where Hero tries to send a love message to a the woman in the next building (about 10 feet?) by tying the message to a bird's leg. The message is a leather notepad, and upon releasing the bird out the window it goes straight to the ground, where is lands amongst a bunch of other similarly notepad-tied pigeons.

I think the key is smaller messages, unless one is going for comedy gold!

"#193 (the far right wishes)"
Posted by Estee on 08-21-12 at 06:49 AM
One puff and the world starts to take on a slight sparkle around the edges.

Two puffs and you're pleasantly mellow.

Three puffs and you grab a rifle and head out into the street where you start shooting at the demons oozing up through the cracks in the planet and they're everywhere and there's a little one in that stroller so you'd better shoot it before it can attack

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarijuanaIsLSD

Most reefer madness is in the eyes of those trying to ban it.

But not all.

"#194 (RPG)"
Posted by Estee on 08-22-12 at 06:41 AM
Because the site tropes out fictional works, the pages for those works are on the site -- and occasionally pop up via the Random button. This happened for the first time in TOTD history just now, and I decided to go with it. So if we have any old-school AD&D people in the audience, welcome back to

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/Greyhawk?from=Main.Greyhawk

Please stop screaming.

"RE: #194 (RPG)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-22-12 at 10:26 PM
LAST EDITED ON 08-22-12 AT 10:27 PM (EST)

Waiting for the trope about clichéd stairs vs the elevator chase scenes.

Not really. Just, you know, kinda bored and felt like throwing something out.

"RE: #194 (RPG)"
Posted by Snidget on 08-22-12 at 10:28 PM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StairsAreFaster
"RE: #194 (RPG)"
Posted by kingfish on 08-23-12 at 08:52 PM
Thanks.
"#195 (mostly RPGs)"
Posted by Estee on 08-23-12 at 07:28 AM
So you're a powerful spellcaster and you've decided that you don't particularly care for the whole 'death' thing. And you're pretty sure you've got a way around it. One that doesn't involve some of those petty side effects like having to go out every night and find someone's blood to drink. No, you're going to be perfectly happy and self-sufficient, continuing to study magic for all eternity without that stupid need for contact with others. Because to you, murder counts as human interaction, and humans svck. Because they die. And so you're not going to be one any more. So immortality, here you come -- with no sunlight allergies (not that you plan on going outside), no trouble with holy symbols (as if you believe in any power greater than your own), and no ultra-restrictive diet. Perfection.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurLichesAreDifferent

Which apparently somehow includes all your actual flesh falling off.

"RE: #195 (mostly RPGs)"
Posted by kidflash212 on 08-23-12 at 07:41 AM
And somehow makes your entire wardrobe tattered and torn.



Capn2patch put me in motion!

"RE: #195 (mostly RPGs)"
Posted by Estee on 08-23-12 at 07:57 AM
When you no longer have sleep and bath cycles to give you a reason for changing, a nose to tell you how bad you're starting to smell, or other people around to mention it for you or comment on your appearance, the fashion sense is the first to go.
"RE: #195 (mostly RPGs)"
Posted by newsomewayne on 08-23-12 at 08:46 AM
Well that trope was confusing as hell.

I read, Typically his soul is stored elsewhere in a Soul Jar, at times called a phylactery, which must be destroyed before he can be fully defeated., and started looking for the link Dick Cheney.

Then I read, A lich's physical appearance can range from near-normal, to zombie/corpse-like, to completely skeletal, which usually depends on the lich's age., and starting looking for the link to Nancy Pelosi.

The next closest reference I could find for her was the trope page's picture of her reading the Obamacare bill while standing on a pile of Chicago voters.


U.S. Government: Doing everything you used to do yourself for you since 2008.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." - Thomas Jefferson

"#196 (misunderstood)"
Posted by Estee on 08-24-12 at 06:46 AM
This is one of the fallback tropes for crime shows, mystery stories, and films where the villains come from outside the country. It is used, abused, kicked in the head, tossed in the dumpster, and then hauled out so the cycle can begin again. And since the only contact most people have with it is through media, very few understand how it actually works -- especially since the dramatic necessity (and lack of research) means most of the writers are going to get it wrong, frequently on purpose. As long as it serves the needs of the story, who cares about accuracy?

Which also happens to describe what the subjects do every day.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DiplomaticImpunity

This one's worth a read just to find out how the process operates in real life. Be warned, though: it will ruin a movie for you. Or twenty. Per year.

"RE: #196 (misunderstood)"
Posted by newsomewayne on 08-24-12 at 08:31 AM
Without looking, I'm guessing I'll find Burn Notice, Covert Affairs, White Collar under TV and no doubt will see Lethal Weapon 2 in film.
"RE: #196 (misunderstood)"
Posted by Estee on 08-24-12 at 08:41 AM
Two for four and one of them provides the page quote. But it's one of those tropes where citing every example could potentially overwhelm a server.
"RE: #196 (misunderstood)"
Posted by byoffer on 08-24-12 at 08:31 AM
This is why us Can'tadian peeps don't pay our RTVW user fees. We see it as a tax, and we are immune.
"#197"
Posted by Estee on 08-25-12 at 08:37 AM
Somewhere on the lower tier of standard sitcom plots -- you know the ones: tired writers, uncaring director, stupid audience, so head for the twenty stories that keep getting cross-series reruns -- is this rotten walnut. Because it's just so tragic. To think that all those people who know you so well could neglect this very basic detail. Because they're self-involved idiots who don't care about anything but themselves. And so are you. Which is why you care about this. And they don't.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForgottenBirthday

In the Whitney version, the cast kills the victim. That way, they never have to worry about forgetting their birthday again.

No, they won't remember the anniversary to show up at the gravesite either.

"RE: #197"
Posted by kingfish on 08-25-12 at 09:06 AM
The "Married with Children" example was a pretty funny version of this. And it exemplified the basic irreverence of everybody for everybody else theme of the show.
"RE: #197"
Posted by qwertypie on 08-26-12 at 10:33 AM
My friend's brother forgot his dad's birthday....which happened to be on the same day as his. Schmuck.
"#198 (generic)"
Posted by Estee on 08-26-12 at 07:13 AM
Elves.

Dwarves.

Swords.

Sorcery.

Repeat.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StandardFantasySetting

"RE: #198 (generic)"
Posted by cahaya on 08-26-12 at 07:20 AM
And dragons!

I was a hard-core GM with the original Gygax D&D starting in '75 and only quit playing when I moved to Malaysia in '86, where I later joined the Magic craze.

Oh, and The Order of the Stick gets mention in this trope!

"RE: #198 (generic)"
Posted by kidflash212 on 08-26-12 at 10:40 AM
If I ever forget my password, I am coming back with the name Squishy Wizard.
"#199 (Big Brother again)"
Posted by Estee on 08-27-12 at 07:43 AM
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TraumaSwing

Well, Trauma Hammock, anyway.

After Thursday, we may never get him out.

"#200"
Posted by Estee on 08-28-12 at 07:09 AM
LAST EDITED ON 08-28-12 AT 07:26 AM (EST)

If you want to get a student's attention on a lesson, make it involve something exploding.

If you want to find out just how little they learned anyway, give them the chance to replicate it.

And if you want to definitively prove that you're a total idiot who never should have been allowed access to a classroom in the first place, let them all do it at the same time.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EducationThroughPyrotechnics

The Real Life examples are not for the faint of heart.

New thread tomorrow.

"RE: #200"
Posted by byoffer on 08-28-12 at 12:12 PM
New thread tomorrow.

w00t! Our third century of tvtropes!!

I don't read everyday, but do check most of them. The RPG ones are of no interest to me, but most have some level of curiosity.

"RE: #200"
Posted by qwertypie on 08-28-12 at 12:54 PM
Oh the stories I could tell of my colleague and a balloon full of acetylene.......
"RE: #200"
Posted by Estee on 08-28-12 at 12:59 PM
Oh, tell, tell us do.