i love you

Strong Bad Email #9

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"...can i just call you fhqwgads?"

Strong Bad receives a "love letter" from "fhqwhgadshgnsdhjsdbkhsdabkfabkveybvf".

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad

Places: Computer Room, The Field

Computer: Tandy 400

Date: Monday, January 14, 2002

Running Time: 0:56

Page Title: Tandy 400!!!

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc One, Sbemails' 50 Greatest Hits DVD

SBEmail Menu Description: Fhqwhgads becomes a thing when someone sends Strong Bad the 'i love you' virus! Also, the first appearance of the Guy With a Big Knife!

Transcript

STRONG BAD: I've carefully set aside this time for checking my email.

i love u
-fhqwhgadshgnsdhjsdbkhsdabkfabkveybvf

{Strong Bad squints and pronounces the entire line of gibberish. It approximately sounds like "fuh-qwah-gadshh-ginsnith-jith-dib-kuh-stahd-abfk-fab-kv...vey-gbf".}

STRONG BAD: {clears screen, typing} Look, fhqwgadshg...{pronounced fuh-hoo-qwah-gahds, as it is pronounced through the rest of the email} can i just call you fhqwhgads {misspelled "fhqwgads"}? Look fhqwhgads, I'm sorry to say, but the feeling's not mutual. Mainly because of your long freakin' name. I mean in the time it took me to say your name, I coulda done all kinds of stuff. Like paint a picture {brief pause to think} of a guy {another pause} with a big knife. Whoa, in fact, I'm gonna get started on that right now. {gets up}

{Fade to Strong Bad standing in front of an easel in the Field, painting it with a brush. On the easel is a partially completed painting of a Rambo-like guy with a big knife.}

STRONG BAD: Oh yeah! This is looking great. I mean, I think I could probably sell this at like the arts and crafts fair, you know... to maybe some POWs, or, like, somebody's dad...

{The Paper comes down. Strong Bad continues to repeat his painting animation.}

Fun Facts

"Oh yeah! This is looking great."

Explanations

• "POW" is an acronym meaning Prisoner of War. According to the Geneva Convention, a POW is a soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict.

Trivia

• This was the first email to end outside the computer room.
• This is the first time that Strong Bad writes or draws in an email.
• The mailer's name, "fhqwhgadshgnsdhjsdbkhsdabkfabkveybvf", has a string of multiple consonants that is sixteen letters long.
• Strong Bad types "...can i just call you fhqwgads?" (forgetting to capitalize the personal pronoun I). This may be mocking the sender's "i".
• Decompiling the Flash file reveals the rest of the painting underneath the white canvas. This was the only way to see the bottom of the painting before the release of army.
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad gets an email from Fhqwhgads."

Remarks

• Painting is not normally done by slowly filling in a white canvas with the finished painting, but by working in layers.

Goofs

• Strong Bad types "Fhqwhgads" as "Fhqwgads" (without the h after the w). The third time Strong Bad writes "Fhqwhgads" in his response, it is spelled correctly. Ironically, in sibbie, Strong Bad complains about people misspelling "fhqwhgads".
• While Strong Bad is reading the entire line of gibberish, his squinting eyes show the black polygons that the Brothers Chaps used to make him squint. This is most noticeable if the contrast on the screen is changed.

Real-World References

• The Strong Bad Email menu description refers to "the 'i love you' virus", a real-world computer worm that circulated in 2000. The virus was distributed via email, presenting as a love letter to trick users into opening it with methods such as using the subject line "ILOVEYOU" and an attachment named "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU".
  • While many variants of ILOVEYOU are known to exist, no known email containing the virus was written with a simple "i love u" like the e-mail Strong Bad reads, let alone including a string of 36 random letters such as "fhqwhgadshgnsdhjsdbkhsdabkfabkveybvf".

Fast Forward

• Fhqwhgads, the painting of a guy with a big knife, and the big knife itself all go on to appear in several other places.

DVD Version

• The DVD version features hidden creators' commentary. To access it, switch the DVD player's audio language selection while watching. This commentary is only available on the Sbemails' 50 Greatest Hits DVD.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Homestar Runner, Mike Chapman)

HOMESTAR: Hi, Mike! I'm gonna do this one!

MIKE: You...

HOMESTAR: I snuck in!

MIKE: You're not even in this email—

HOMESTAR: Nope!

MIKE: —Homestar.

HOMESTAR: I was not in emails for a long time. Except for halloweener.

MIKE: Yeah. Um... {short pause} So, uh, what—what do you think about this one?

HOMESTAR: It's very short.

MIKE: {laughing} It is pretty short, yeah. Say—say a few funny things and it will probably be over.

HOMESTAR: Okay, um... griniscule.

{Mike laughs}

MIKE: Uh, okay, that's one.

HOMESTAR: It's a really small grin—on your mouth.

MIKE: A griniscule?

HOMESTAR: Yeah.

MIKE: Okay.

HOMESTAR: If you don't smile very much, it's griniscule.

MIKE: {laughing} All right.

HOMESTAR: Um, so, this has both, foogooman, and kniferman, was started from this email.

MIKE: Uh—

HOMESTAR: Look, there's foogooman! And then the guy with the red paint, is the knife man!

MIKE: This is—

HOMESTAR: Did Craig Zobel make that panting?

{Mike laughs.}

MIKE: Painting? Yes Craig Zobel made that.

HOMESTAR: He's always panting, Craig Zo'!

Fun Facts

• Homestar Runner had a prominent role in the email halloweener.
• "Griniscule" is a portmanteau of "grin" and "miniscule".
• Craig Zobel, friend of The Brothers Chaps, co-created The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest making him the co-creator of Homestar Runner. When the Brothers made Homestar Runner into a Flash toon, he continued to contribute to the series.

External Links

• watch "i love you"
• watch "i love you" on YouTube
• watch "i love you" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "i love you"