environment

Strong Bad Email #186

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"Are you guys picketing my computer?"

Strong Bad explains how he is helping the environment.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Strong Sad, Marzipan, Homestar Runner, Coach Z, The Cheat

Places: Computer Room, Marzipan's House, The Field, Homestar's House, Coach Z's Locker Room

Computer: Lappy 486

Date: Sunday, January 6, 2008

Running Time: 3:28

Page Title: Lappy 486

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc Six

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {singing} I'm chicky-checkin' emails in 2008! Stricky-stricky-Strong Bad fit to regulate! {brings up the email}

subject: high time

Dear Strong Bad,
We realize that you are a busy fellow, but my friend and
I cannot help but think that you could be doing more to
help the environment. This is your planet too, you know.
Lyd and Jules,
ID and MO, respectively

{reads ID as "idiot" and MO as "moron"}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Well...ladies? I do plenty to help the environment. Nobody ever gives me credit for my most significant contribution. {clears the screen} Every day I wake up and the first thing I do is NOT drop a piano on Marzipan's head. Who knows how many greenhouse gases I've rescued as a result of not mortally wounding ol' Marzipole. And don't forget my New Year's resolution to stop watering her plants with bleach. Now I water them strictly with {cut to Marzipan's house and a close up on her flowers} recycled cigarette butts.

{Cigarette butts are dumped on one of the flowers.}

FLOWER: {coughing} Oh, that's good stuff.

{cut back to the Lappy}

STRONG BAD: {typing} So, there ya go possibly ladies. My boat take—
STRONG SAD AND MARZIPAN: {faintly, chanting} Scrappy the Lappy! We think it's really crappy! Scrappy the Lappy!

{cut to the computer room's window where the silhouette of two picket signs are seen. Strong Sad and Marzipan continue underneath}

STRONG BAD: What the—?

{cut to the Field. Strong Sad holds up a sign that says "Scrap the Lappy". Marzipan holds a sign saying "Lappy, Take the Dirt Nappy!". Strong Bad enters from the right.}

STRONG SAD AND MARZIPAN: We think it's really crappy!

STRONG BAD: Are you guys picketing my computer?

{medium shot of Marzipan}

MARZIPAN: Yes we are! That Lappy is energy sappy!

{close up of Strong Bad}

STRONG BAD: {stares flatly} That's very clever. How long did it take you to think up—

{cut back to shot of all three}

STRONG SAD: {posing proudly} Three days.

MARZIPAN: Just look at your power bill from last month.

STRONG SAD: The bill itself uses eight trees' worth of paper.

{pan to the left to reveal a stack of paper marked "BILLS!"}

{close up of Strong Bad}

STRONG BAD: Are you trying to tell me that $70,000 power bills aren't the norm?

{medium shot of Marzipan}

MARZIPAN: Strong Bad, every time you press enter on the Lappy, the rest of us lose power.

STRONG BAD: {offscreen} For real?

{Push wipe back to the Lappy. There is a list labeled "Okay for Mom" on the screen with various euphemisms for buttocks within it.}

STRONG BAD: {typing in the list} tuckus {presses enter (each time heard with the loud clack of a circuit breaker blowing)} hinders {presses enter} bwathom {presses enter} boontockle {presses enter}

{Push wipe to Homestar Runner with an Atari 2600 joystick.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: I'm about to win! {room darkens} Awww... {lights come on} I'm about to win! {room darkens} Awww.... {reverse shot of the TV that reads "PLEASE INSERT GAME PAK, KID!"} I'm really about to win! {room darkens} Again with the awww....

{cut to close up of Strong Bad}

STRONG BAD: Fine! I'll just start using the Lappy's battery instead.

{cut back to The Field}

STRONG SAD: Uh, sorry. {medium shot of Strong Sad} Every time you use that battery, 45 acres of rain forest are burned to the ground!

STRONG BAD: Whoa! {close up of Strong Bad} I knew the Lappy was awesome, but I had no idea of her destructive power! {cut to shot of all three} I gotta get Bubs to help me to overclock it and see if we can't get that up to an even 50 acres.

{medium shot of Marzipan. Her angry brow goes away}

MARZIPAN: You really have to do something, Strong Bad. Even Coach Z does all of his cooking with hydroelectric.

{cut to a close up of Coach Z's hand in the shower, holding a soggy hot dog.}

COACH Z: Ah, the world famous Coach Z {the Sog Dog logo appears in the upper left corner} Sog Dog. {words appear on the screen as he says it} Mmmmm! Drink in that bun!

{cut back to the Field, close up of Strong Bad}

STRONG BAD: Wait. So, alls I got to do is take something I already do and word it differently so it sounds eco-friendly?

{cut back to all three}

MARZIPAN: Yeah, that's what we do mostly.

{medium shot of Strong Sad}

STRONG SAD: Check out my sustainable MP3 player.

{medium shot of Marzipan}

MARZIPAN: And my organic Thelma and Louise DVD.

{close up of Strong Bad, smiling}

STRONG BAD: Yeah, yeah, okay. And say hello to my 65 mile-per-gallon hybrid piano!

{long shot in silhouette of the Field. A piano is seen dropping and Strong Sad and Marzipan scatter}

STRONG SAD AND MARZIPAN: Al Gore's beard!

{zoom back in just before the piano is seen smashed in the field next to Strong Bad. Cut back to the Lappy.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} So there, there, THERE we go, maybe ladies. Strong Bad and the environment are now making out in the parent's basement of a solar-powered house. Take a look at the Lappy's new environmentally compliant sticker compliance sticker! {close up of the sticker next to the Lappy 486 logo} And it's got a picture of a little leaf on it, so you know it's good for the environment. {zoom out to the Lappy; resumes typing} So until next week, my boat take—

{The Cheat noises are heard and the Lappy's screen goes dark. Zoom out to see a panting The Cheat (painted green) in a hamster wheel hooked up to the Lappy}

STRONG BAD: Come on green The Cheat! {The Cheat resumes running in the wheel} That's good, that's good! Only 17 more hours and I can press send.

{New Paper comes down reading:
"Click gently to eco-mail Strong Bad.
printed on 100% post-consumer brown paper with green ink"}

{pause for a little while, as the hamster wheel sound effect fades out}

STRONG BAD: Wow. That is one whisper quiet hamster wheel.

Easter Eggs

"Idiot and Moron"

• When Strong Bad says "Idiot and Moron, respectively", click on "ID and MO" to see an image of the states Idaho and Montana dancing with goofy faces.
  • Click on Montana to change it into Missouri and "Idiot and Moron" into "Mike is a Moron!"
• At the end, click on The Cheat to see a button extolling the virtues of GreenCheat.
• At the end, after Strong Bad comments on the hamster wheel, click on the wall outlet.

STRONG BAD: {still typing his "Okay for Mom" list on the Lappy} Boat take... {hits Enter}

{Cut to behind Homestar, still trying to play his Atari 2600 game. Lights and TV come on.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: This is the easiest video game I've ever played. {the room darkens}

Fun Facts

Explanations

• Game Pak is the official name for the cartridges used on Nintendo's early video game consoles, but Homestar's console uses a joystick, resembling the ones included with the Atari 2600.
• "100% post-consumer" is used to indicate the amount and source of recycled material. In this case, all of the paper material comes from sources other than leftovers from manufacturing and is considered environmentally superior.
• Overclocking is having a computer component run faster than the designed speed, usually referring to CPUs. It almost always increases the amount of electricity used per hour, but sometimes saves energy per instruction.
• GreenCheat is a reference to environmental activist organization Greenpeace.

Trivia

• Strong Bad is listing substitutes for his common use of the word "butt". His list reads:

Okay for Mom
1. rear-end
2. back parts
3. fanny
4. tush
5. tushie
6. buns
7. booty
8. can
9. tuckus
10. hinders
11. bwathom
12. boontockle

107. hiney
108. patootie
109. bum
110. rump
111. trunk
112. sit-part
113. boat take

• Strong Bad claims that his monthly power bill is $70,000. Assuming that he pays the US national average price of 9.86¢/kWh, that would mean that he uses approximately 710 MWh/month (megawatt hours per month). Since an average US household uses 888 kWh/month, he uses enough power for about 800 of them. Assuming the Lappy consumes most of this power, and he leaves it on 16 hours a day, this would mean the Lappy draws about 1450 kW (or about 950 kW if he leaves it on 24/7). The most powerful power supplies for real PCs only draw 2 kW. (Real computers that use more than that are always on multiple rack-mounted motherboards.)
  • Strong Sad claims that Strong Bad's bill uses eight trees' worth of paper. Assuming a tree can produce 80,500 sheets of paper, this would be about 644,000 sheets of paper. This means that each page of the bill averages out to be approximately 10.87¢.
  • In addition, if a standard bill would cost about $87.56/month, there should be no more than 800 bills. Assuming each bill is distributed by a different power company, if a total of four sheets are included, the maximum paper that should be used is produced by just under one tree every two years.
• The Floppy Disk Container reads "gamma force".
• Strong Bad smiles when he announces his eco-friendly piano.
• The summary for the Podstar Runner RSS feed reads, "Strong Bad describes his green methods for helping the environment."

Remarks

• The only United States marketed hybrid car to achieve 65 miles per gallon in official tests was the Honda Insight (61/70 mpg). It was out of production at this email's release, but has been reintroduced. Currently, the most efficient hybrid car is the Toyota Prius (45/48 mpg).
• Just like Strong Sad in concert, Homestar is either playing with a left-handed Atari 2600 joystick or is playing with the joystick sideways. The standard joystick has its button in the upper left hand corner.
• Absolutely technically, a 'Thelma & Louise DVD' may in fact be described as 'organic' in the sense of being composed of organic molecules (i.e., ones that have carbon in them), as every component in the item (plastic, glue, ink, card stock) is made primarily of organic molecules. This would, however, be deeply misleading from the standpoint of its usual usage in packaging- to indicate a crop was grown without pesticides.

Fixed Goofs

• Though the email senders say they are from Idaho and Missouri (ID and MO), the Easter egg shows the states Idaho and Montana (ID and MT). The day after the email was released, an additional Easter egg was added, fixing this and poking fun at the mistake.
• When this email was originally released, while Homestar was playing the game and the power went out, every time he sighed, the wire stuck out of the top of the controller.
• Originally, after the close-up on the Lappy's "Environmentally Compliant Sticker" sticker, it disappeared and did not reappear for the rest of the email.

Inside References

• Strong Bad claims he begins each day by "NOT dropping a piano on Marzipan".
• The window above the computer desk was last seen in cheat talk and the CGI portion of Disc 1 of the Strong Bad Email DVD.
• Marzipan and Strong Sad previously behaved as a team of environmental activists, as related on Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 14.2.
• The email references smoking.
• "Marzipole" and "eco-mail" are portmanteaus.
• This email makes another reference to making out.
• The piano falls out of hammerspace.
• The word "bwathom" was previously used in isp.

Real-World References

• Strong Sad's MP3 player strongly resembles an iPhone or an iPod Touch.
• Thelma & Louise is a 1991 film starring Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise.
• The exclamation "Al Gore's beard!" is reference to 45th Vice President of the United States and noted environmental activist Al Gore, who, after losing the 2000 presidential campaign, famously grew a beard and went into seclusion for a short period of time before refocusing on the environment.
• The "Environmentally Compliant" sticker is a play on Energy Star and similar certifications used on electronics devices to rate their electricity consumption.

Fast Forward

• Strong Sad's MP3 player later appeared on the Podstar Runner background after it was updated.
• Like the flower, Homestar Runner would also chokingly say "that's good stuff" in Hremail 7.
• "GreenCheat" later became a patch and a tote bag in the store, as well as a sponsor of Characters from Yonder Website.
• The phrase "My boat take" and the subsequent interruption was later used in the Powered by the Cheat cartoon Trogdor Was A Man.

DVD Version

• The "Mike is a Moron" Easter egg is not present.
• The goof of the sticker disappearing is still present, despite having been fixed on the website prior to the DVD's release.
• The DVD version features hidden creators' commentary. To access it, switch the DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Strong Sad, Mike Chapman, Matt Chapman)

STRONG SAD: {somewhat monotone} I'd like to welcome myself to the booth.

MIKE: Great. Hi Strong Sad.

STRONG SAD: I bet Mike won't welcome me anyways.

MIKE: Um, I'll think about it. Maybe later in the email I'll welcome you.

STRONG SAD: Okay well—

MIKE: —Provided you haven't worn out your welcome.

STRONG SAD: Oh I'm— I plan on it.

MIKE: Have you ever done a commentary with me before, Strong Sad?

STRONG SAD: {simultaneously} It's called— Uh, I dunno, probably. I don't— I don't really keep track.

MIKE: Yeah?

STRONG SAD: Yeah.

MIKE: You don't run track either, doesn't look like.

{both Mike and Matt laugh}

STRONG SAD: I don't— {laughs} I don't really run track,

MIKE: {laughing} No.

STRONG SAD: Either.

MIKE: You don't go down to the track for some pickup track meets?

STRONG SAD: No.

MIKE: Mmm.

STRONG SAD: O— Once I went down to the track.

MIKE: Uh huh.

STRONG SAD: Yeah.

MIKE: That was as much exercise as you've ever gotten, isn't it?

STRONG SAD: It did not end well.

MIKE: {laughs} Well—

STRONG SAD: {simultaneously} I can tell you that right now.

MIKE: Can you tell me how it ended?

STRONG SAD: Uh, yes.

MIKE: {laughs}

STRONG SAD: I don't this is gonna work out with me doing {voice slowly turns back to regular voice of Matt} this commentary.

MIKE: All right. No, j— keep going, just switch to Matt. Eh— I was gonna say this— this email is, uh, important because we actually finished this email during the week. Do you remember that?

MATT: {surprised} No.

MIKE: Yeah. We were finished with this by the end of the day on Friday.

MATT: Oh wow.

MIKE: Which I think was the first time in probably five or six years that we had not required, {laughing} copious amounts of hours on Sunday morning to finish it.

MATT: Wow, how come we couldn't keep it going?

MIKE: I dunno. We probably took, you know, rested on our laurels.

MATT: We deserved it.

MIKE: Mmhmm.

MATT: Did you see that was the, the— a rare occurrence of, the sometimes when there's a window right next to Strong Bad's email checking desk, with a black branch outside of it, that says—

MIKE: {simultaneously} {laughing} That says Douglas?

MATT: {simultaneously} {laughing} Yeah.

MIKE: {simultaneously} {laughing} Yeah, that's right.

MATT: Ah, look. Oh, Homestar's— the, the cord on Homestar's joystick was not moving, Mike.

MIKE: Oh. {laughs}

MATT: That was a nice looking game pak icon though. I like that.

MIKE: {simultaneously} Uh huh.

{slight pause}

MIKE: So game pak. Did Ninte— did uh, Super Nintendo games call it, the game— a game pak?

MATT: I don't think they did.

MIKE: Or did they stop doing that after regular NES?

MATT: I think it was just regular NES.

MIKE: And it was P-A-K, right?

MATT: Yeah. {slight pause} Look at that uh, evil Lappy on the sign. I like that.

{toon cuts to Coach Z's "Sog Dog" scene}

MIKE: {laughs}

MATT: Oh. Do you think Coach Z should open up like a Chicago dog type place?

MIKE: Little stand maybe...

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: Cart.

MATT: I'd go buy, man.

MIKE: {simultaneously} Sog dog cart.

MATT: {simultaneously} Get a sog dog. It's not too different from the, uh, getting an Italian beef sandwich dipped in au jus.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: That gets pretty soggy.

MIKE: That au jus kinda tastes like shower water.

MATT: Ooh, Strong Sad has a new iPhone or iPod Touch.

MIKE: {simultaneously} I know. I was so disappointed that Apple didn't send us iPhones right after this email came out.

MATT: {laughs} Oh yeah?

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: You expected that to happen?

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: I remember I drew that— that was a— I was very proud of that drawing of a smashed up piano. I drew it on a notebook first, and then, kinda traced it in Flash.

{slight pause}

MATT: Um, there was a good, uh, Mike didn't wanna use any of my eco-friendly stickers that I put on the Lappy. {laughing} There was one with a bird that had a plug coming out its mouth.

MIKE: {laughs}

MATT: It looked really awful, like this poor bird was choking on an electrical plug.

MIKE: Wait. Where'd the sticker go? Is the sticker still supposed to be on there?

MATT: {simultaneously} Oh it's gone— where'd it go right now?

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: It's completely gone.

MIKE: That's a goof.

MATT: Inconsistence. {"con" pronounced with a short O}

MIKE: I like that The Paper though.

MATT: Yeah. {slight pause} I don't have anything.

{slight pause because Matt thinks the email is over}

MIKE: We're not there yet. We're not there yet.

MATT: Ohh!

MIKE: {laughs softly}

Fun Facts

• Strong Sad is correct; he and Mike previously did the commentary for radio together.
  • Strong Sad also appeared on the commentary for Experimental Film.
• Super NES cartridges actually are referred to as Game Paks, as are those of the Nintendo 64 and the Game Boy.

External Links

• watch "environment"
• watch "environment" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "environment"
• forum thread re: "environment"