Gatorade gets Medieval

Gatorade seems to be the sport drink of choice for many athletes, and even some heavy fighters of the SCA. I've sampled the stuff myself a time or two on the fencing field, and verily, it doth quench my thirst as advertised.

Someone at the Gatorade marketing factory has decided that the recent surge of medieval pop culture must not be complete without yet ANOTHER Monty Python parody. One that includes basketball stars, talking goats and fire-breathing poodles... oh, and one 'bleep'.



Please understand that I'm contractually obligated to include as much medieval pop culture as I can on this blog, and that occasionally includes advertising ploys such as this. But there's only so far I can go without permanent brain damage. Probably won't be able to drink the stuff now without quoting "Your Mother was a polar bear and your Father was a figure skater!"

Yep. Brain damage for sure.

Star Trek + Monty Python = Awesome

Virtual Easter Egg Hunt!

It's that time of year again, to bust out our sleuthing gear and search for the latest crop of virtual Easter Eggs. But I'm not talking about the colored, dyed, painted made-by-a-hen variety. The Easter eggs I'm interested in now are the hidden goodies in games, websites and movies! One of the largest websites devoted to this craft is Eeggs.com, who have a huge archive and a very informative FAQ page. You could spend days there, finding out what treasures your favorite movies and games hold for you.

Some of my favorite DVD easter eggs are the ones hidden in all of the Tolkien Ring movies. These clips are vulgar entertainment at its best, created simply to drive sales up. But now, with the magic of the internet, one only has to search YouTube for copies of the eggs that some other enterprising geek has found.

These easter eggs are not suitable for children, and should you wish to view the Dom/Elijah interview, Gollum at the MTV awards, the Peter Jackson interview by Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn, or the Jack Black/Michelle Gellar MTV promo, I will not be held responsible for any ill effects upon your brain. Especially the Jack Black one. Not safe for work! You have been warned.

But I also love the Firefly stuff like Adam Baldwin singing "The Hero of Canton" or the "Fruity Oaty Bar" commercial from Serenity! And these are clean, safe and child-friendly.

Maybe you are a Star Wars fan. Yoda hiphop is pretty cool, and the only one I could find a video clip for online. Eeggs.com lists several Star Wars finds, but I cannot vouch for their content or entertainment value.

Lately, I've been stumbling across some NPC's in World of Warcraft whose names I thought must have some 'special meaning'. Turns out there are hundreds and hundreds of pop culture references in the game, most of which you can find on this fine list of EasterEggs by Blizzplanet. They've also got a page of Burning Crusade eggs, but since I don't have that expansion yet, I cannot claim any firsthand experience with this new area.

And now for something completely different: Monty Python has easter egged some of their material as well. Here's a funny skit about a glassblowing factory that is hidden in the BBC compilation of Flying Circus episodes:



Hooray Easter eggs! I'm going to go out to the store and see if all the chocolate bunnies aren't gone yet. Mmmmm......bunnies.

Rare Monty Python PBS footage from 1975

A re-discovered video from PBS station KERA-TV in Dallas allows us to travel back in time to 1975! This was the time of Watergate, the end of the Vietnam War, and plenty of world violence on a daily basis. No computers, cell phones, internet or cable TV, either. A simpler, but no less uncertain time.

Just as the modern people of today seek entertainment to forget their worldly troubles, the quirky Britishness of Monty Python resonated with many children and adults of the 70's. And their influence on American cinema and entertainment had such dramatic and lasting effects, it has been compared to the effect that the Beatles had on music.

Thirty years later, who doesn't recognize the opening theme song of the Flying Circus? Who has not ordered spam-spam-spam from the local diner? Who expects the Spanish Inquisition? What one of us has not said "NI"? Python humor is now so pervasive, it's almost impossible to escape.

This rescued footage, discovered on an old reel that had been saved by an engineer, contains some things that would raise eyebrows even now in these jaded modern times. In fact, it's even a bit racy.

Its.........................



A big fat thank you to the The Sound of Young America, a public radio show about things that are awesome, for providing this footage!

Thankfully they stayed independent, without the large media influences that control much of today's entertainment industry. But, there is a new breed of fans who create their own movies from Python footage. Here's one fans' view of what might have happened if The Holy Grail had come out of a modern Hollywood. Still funny, but completely different.

Spamalot

Oh my God. Why, oh why haven't I posted about this sooner?

Many of us grew up on Monty Python episodes, still more enjoy their irreverent movies. And I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've heard Python lines quoted at SCA events...how our world would be different if there were no Pythons.

Now there's even a play called Spamalot.

Even if you can't afford to go to New York city to see it, please, for the love of all that is Holy and grail-shaped, visit the website.

Hopefully, if and when it goes on tour, it will come to Denver so I can see this silliness in person. Tim Curry! Oh, would that be a day to remember...

By the way, did you know that 'shubbery' is English slang for 'prostitute'? Makes that whole Knights of Ni scene in the Holy Grail a bit different if you know that.