HRWiki:STUFF/Archive/Date Nite

[edit] Thank you, chef! But our reference is in another castle.

From: Date Nite
Posted on: 16:51, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Arguments for:

1. The line is very similar, with the replacement of "Mario" by "the chef-a".
2. The Brothers Chaps are notorious Nintendo fans, and the extremely popular SMB64 is very likely a game they know inside and out.
3. The line format "It's-a me, #####" is most prominently used either by or as a reference to Mario, especially the opening to SM64.
4. Why would Strong Bad say "It's Me, the Chef"? Adding -a to words is a stereotypical accent, but choosing the phrase "It's-a Me!" is a clear reference to Super Mario 64.
5. I think this is a reference. It was pretty much the first thing that came to mind when he said it.

Arguments against:

1. Strong Bad is playing the part of a stereotypical Italian; adding "-a" to the ends of his words is not specific to Mario.
   • Specifically, he's playing a stereotypical waiter at an Italian restaurant, as implied by Marzipan's line about how it's a French restaurant and Strong Bad's comment that he didn't research the part too well.
2. Possible, but not necessarily, and kind of a stretch.
3. TTATOT plain and simple. It's a stereotypical italian joke, not specific to mario.
4. Strong Bad has used the "-a" style of speaking several times before in previous toons. While this is the first time I can think of where he's specifically tried to make himself sound Italian, none of these instances have sounded enough like Mario to be worthy of a reference. Strong Bad also attached the unnecessary "-a" sound to the ends of several other words within the context of this "reference," which seems to indicate that he was only making a poor attempt to sound Italian.
5. I agree, it's TTATOT. The phrase "It's-a me" may be a slight nod to Mario (though, in honesty, how else should he introduce himself? "It is-a I-a, the chef-a?"), but not a reference.
6. An old radio program called "Life With Luigi" or similar, had an Italian immigrant who often said a very similar "It's-a Me, Luigi."

Additional comments:

• See original discussion here.
• I added in the bit about SMB64 because I believe that that's the first game it appeared in; also, this line is featured very prominently when you first turn the game on (see here). If somebody knows more than me about this, please adjust the fact accordingly.
  • Actually, Mario's voice was assigned before SMB64 by the animated cartoon series. Not an exact match, but close enough.
    • Charles Martinet developed Mario's voice around '94-'95 at trade shows.
• Some not-very-scientific statistics: Google'ing for the phrases "it'sa me" or "it's a me" returns about 79,700 hits combined. Repeating the search with the same criteria plus pages without the word "mario" gives 36,000.
• Anybody siting N64 is definitely not old to remember The Super Mario TV show from the late eighties that popularized this Mario line, way before Super Nintendo even came out!
  • Ooh, good to know. I remember the show, but I didn't remember him saying that line. Well, I removed the SMB64 part — that's not the issue at hand anyway.
• The Super Mario Bros Super Show, despite being the first to use a voiced Mario, never used the term; it's first appearence was in SMB64. Not an arg pro or con, just a statement
• I honestly think that there's a pretty evident similarity, and that anyone who watches the cartoon could easily realize that and arrive at the possibility that TBC may have intended the phrase to be a reference. While the similarity's there, it's extremely evident simply by watching the cartoon, and there's no way to assume that it's a reference. On the basis of both these facts, the alleged reference simply doesn't seem worthy of mention.
  • These two 'facts' seem to be in direct contradiction. How can something that is unprovably a reference be "extremely evident." Moreover, how is something that is "extremely evident" not a direct and viable reference.
    • Did you even read what I just said (or wrote, rather)? The similarity is evident. That it's actually a reference, however, is highly doubtful.

Proposed revision:

Arguments for:

1. Since most of the people thought that it was more related to Italian speaking than Mario, this revision should focus more on that than the fact Mario said it.

Arguments against:

1. Unremarkable.
2. Takes away any form of notability.

Additional comments:

• Hmm, I was about to say it was too obvious, but then I remembered we explained French pronounciation on narrator... So now I'm neutral.
  • I don't see any Fun Fact on narrator mentioning French pronounciation.
    • Maybe it got del-et-ed... I should find why.
• This brings to mind two recent STUFFed Fun Facts. The reference was removed from a revision, leaving "...refers to a common stereotype..." or somesuch, which isn't noteworthy. If it's a common stereotype, everyone should *know* that, which means it's just explaining the joke.
• I don't think I've heard anyone say "it's-a me" except Mario (with the obvious exception of Strong Bad). At any rate, I didn't think it was a reference in the first place, common stereotypes aren't notable, and the stereotype is more the added "-a" sound anyway, rather than the specific phrase.
• This is even less fun fact worthy than the original.
• Strong Bad states he did not research the role of a italian chef, so he added an "a" vowel to make "it's-a me", "the chef-a" and "in the face-a". Those sentences uses the "a" letter three times, so it's not the phrase that is the stereotype.

[ Back to STUFF index ]

[edit] I can do it. I can do it sixteen times.

From: Date Nite
Posted on: 22:26, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Arguments for:

1. Sixteen times is a ludicrous amount of mascara. Three or four times is normal. (Not necessarily; arg. removed by the person who added it; see comments below)
2. This is a perfect fit for the trivia section: It wouldn't really fit in the transcript, and you don't notice how many times she's doing it as you're watching the toon.
3. Re: Arg against #2: That's why it's called trivia. We note it all the time.
4. Re: Arg against #3: It's trivia, but it's not trivial. That much mascara is way too much makeup, even for a broom. (Not necessarily; arg. removed by the person who added it; see comments below)

Arguments against:

1. It's too minor to be interesting.
2. The amount of mascara Marzipan wears is irrelevant.
3. Re #3: This is TOO trivial to bother with.
4. Do we tell how many times homestar shakes his butt back and forth in bottom 10? No. I could understand if it was an outrageously absurd number, but even the person who posted this changed their mind after doing some research.

Additional comments:

• I laughed out loud the first time I read this fact. I think it's very interesting and not obvious.
• The number quoted originally was 18, but I only count 16. We first see 5, then 4, then 2, and then 5 more.
• Re: Arg against #1: Why is it too minor? Sixteen is not a small number. It is a big number. EDIT: But maybe not so big as I thought. See below.
  • Yes, it's a big number. But the number itself is not relevant to the toon, and the action itself is not too exciting (imho).
    • That's why it's called trivia. It goes in the trivia section. It should be noted there because it can't neatly be noted anywhere else (like the transcript) and because you don't really notice it when you watch the toon, but when you add it up it's an insane amount of makeup.
• So how does mascara work, actually? If she does use it 16 times because she's nervous, would her eyelashes turn out all right or would they be one big, black, clumped together thingy? Or would she be able to get away with it?
  • Here are some tips. By the way, I think we're seeing her apply only one coat. The mascara wouldn't have had time to dry in between each scene. And who said Marzipan was nervous? She seemed fine to me.
    • Okay, I asked my wife about it, and she tells me that 2-4 strokes is typically what you do. Just to check, though, we tested it out. After 16, it was a little excessive, but not nearly as much so as we imagined. Not particularly clumpy, just a little darker than normal.
      • Thanks for your research (I have calls in to several girls myself). I think I'm gonna stay in the accept group, primarily because 16 is the minimum number of strokes she could have applied, but it's strongly implied that she may have done at least 2 more as well as the fact that she was applying the makeup when we joined the scene. If you add in the time when Strong Bad is talking to The Cheat, it might be in the 20s. Speculation, yes, but enough for me to still think this is notable.
        • Speculation indeed. When I watched the toon, I was under the impression that she was nervous because she was using so much mascara. So, yes, nervousness. It's a simple and obvious explanation for the mascara overuse. It should be noted in the transcript, but not in the fun facts with n actual count.
          • I don't think she seemed nervous — she seemed confident as usual in her banter with Homestar.
      • Okay, I had my friend who is a girl count this morning as she applied her mascara, and she said she did about 40 short strokes per eye. Therefore, depending on Marzipan's technique, 16–20 isn't necessarily so outrageous after all. I'm switching to decline.
        • She didn't apply short strokes, not even close to short
• Let me just say this about that: so what?
  • It was in response to the question two posts above.
    • I didn't indent it for a reason! I wasn't referring to the above comment, I meant the whole fact.
      • Posts like these are not helpful at all. If you don't find this interesting, that's fine; you're free to vote against it. But some of us do find this interesting, and so the least we could do is have a discussion and vote on it. It's patently true, takes up one line, and evoked an emotional response from me (laughter at the sheer number), and I thought perhaps others might find it entertaining as well.
• I think the FF is too vague. So what if she puts on 16 strokes of Mascara? it would be more interesting to hear that it's WAY too much mascara/
• I'm throwing my support behind it, but I think the fact becomes funner with the inclusion of what would be considered normal for a lady type to apply.
• Think of it this way: Has Marzi ever worn mascara before? Maybe she just has no idea how to do it and so is overdoing it. Not to mention this is a cartoon. If Homsar can survive a Heavy Lourde, maybe a broom-lady's eyelashes need 20 strokes of mascara.
  • Well, if we wanted to, we could easily just say "it's a cartoon" and do away with all of our analysis. Instead, we try to imagine the H*R universe as being as close to ours as we can, and look at it from there. We only fall back on the cartoon element when we have to.
• I think that it's not the number that's important, but the fact that it's way too much. How about a revision?
  • You could write one yourself, you know.

• • I don't think it necessarily is way too much... the experiment and survey taken above seem to indicate that it's not all that out of the ordinary. So, from my perspective, a revision wouldn't improve the fact.

[ Back to STUFF index ]