vacation

Strong Bad Email #40

watch ← property of ones invisibility →

"There's nothing great about this mound, okay?"

Strong Bad takes a vacation and writes postcards from the places he visits.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Monkey D (Easter egg)

Places: Computer Room

Computer: Tandy 400

Date: Sunday, August 11, 2002

Running Time: 4:17 (all options)

Page Title: Tandy 400: Still Bloke.

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc One

SBEmail Menu Description: Strong Bad goes on vacation and sends some postcards from exotic destinations.

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {singing} Oooh, duh doo doo doo, my email left me, duh doo doo... {stops singing}

Dear Strong Bad,

You must be a very busy man. You should think
about a vacation.

Filled with crap,
BrothaCheese

{He hangs his head disappointedly and sighs after reading "filled with crap" and rolls the "r" in "BrothaCheese"}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Oh, vacation, eh? You know, I have been sittin at this computer for a long freakin' time. And Strong Mad says I've been lashing out at The Cheat more often than usual... Yeah, you know what? {stops typing, scribbles a note while muttering "a little bit of this... little bit of that..."} I'm outta here. {pause} DORKS! {He slaps a sticky note on the screen with a drawing of an angry face with sharp teeth and the word "DORKS!" on it and walks away humming. The screen fades to black, and comes back with a menu of postcards.}

• Postcard 1
• Postcard 2
• Postcard 3
• Postcard 4
• Postcard 5

Just pick one.

Postcard 1

The Great Mound (Bigger than that one in Ohio!)

Date: Sunday, August 11, 2002

Hey, you guys! Just dropping you a line here from "The Great Mound". I got two words for ya: false advertising. There's nothing great about this mound, okay? And another thing- there's nothing but old ladies hanging around this mound! You know, wearing their muumuus and their tutus and all their Dainty McDainty crap... Like... I don't like old ladies. I don't even wanna see 'em. Anyways, the mound was a big disappointment. I'll write from my next destination. Later!

Postcard 2

Fabulous Downtown Pantsburg

Date: Thursday, August 15, 2002

Hey everybody. Don't be fooled. Downtown Pantsburg isn't anywhere near as fabulous as it appears in that photograph. I mean, they don't even let you ride that bike! In fact, it was, like, welded to that little house! Anyways, I met some guys here, they were pretty cool, we hung out, y'know, made fun of this one girl... pushed some guy into some mud... We traded addresses and stuff and they say they're gonna come visit, but, you know how that ends up. I'll never see 'em again. Come to think of it, I probably should have taken some of their stuff. Oh well. That old highway's a-callin' my name, so, you'll hear from me soon. Peace!

Postcard 3

It's that CLOCK (look at it go)

Date: Monday, August 19, 2002

{singing, with acoustic guitar playing in background} It's that clooooock... come on you guuuuuuys... you need to check it on ouuuuuuuut... it's that CLOCK! I can't believe it! {stops singing} Okay, the best thing about this postcard is if you look at the clock, that's the exact same time that I first laid eyes on the clock! 2:55, man. And like, iddi—oh, wait, it still says... 2:55. Okay, well, the clock is broken, but still! It's about the best thing I've ever seen {sings} in my whole liiiiiife! {stops singing} Okay, now I got to bust a wicked solo. {starts playing a sparse acoustic guitar solo, ending with very high notes} Thank you, good night!

Postcard 4

Two Cars Tennessee

Date: Thursday, August 22, 2002 (approx.)

'Sup, everybody? Here I am in Two Cars, Tennessee, and you know what? I kinda miss you guys and your emails... I can almost hear one of them now: "Dear Stong Bad, You are crap. Crap is the best. Everybody loves crap. Crap is in the mix. Crap is to the max. How does Homestar pick stuff up if he's not wearing any Marzipants? Crapfully crap, Monkey D, Seattle, Washington." Ahh... okay! I got my fix. On to the next town! Oh, and incidentally, I highly recommend Two Cars, Tennessee. It's got a real happenin' arts and crafts scene.

Postcard 5

Visit Historic Over There

Date: Monday, August 26, 2002

Hey guys, just a quick one while I'm away. So I visited Historic Over There. Don't be fooled by the old-timey photograph— the place really looks like that. Like, everything is tan and brown. The sky? Tan. And the streets are paved with a little different shade of tan. It was nothing but antique stores down there, like I couldn't find a single restaurant! I have a sneaking suspicion the people in Over There eat antiques. Yeah. Screwed up. There was one guy out there doing caricatures, though. I stopped by and got one... of myself... he made me... a caric-ter... choor... it was great. Okay. All this old Coca-Cola memorabilia is making me thirsty. I'll talk at ya soon.

Easter Eggs

The ladies be that way!

• The Post-it note can be clicked on to hear it say different insults and comments:
  • "Hey!"
  • "Dorks!"
  • "Get offa me!"
  • "You stink!"
• On the second postcard, at the end of his spiel, click on the window to see Strong Bad being himself.

{A silhouetted Strong Bad peeks his head out from behind the dark rectangle, then runs toward the bike}

STRONG BAD: Tee hee hee! {jumps on the bike} Oh man. My legs don't even reach the pedals! This is about as fun as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride... But actually, that was pretty fun. There's that part where you think you're going to hit the badger, and—what the?

{A second light comes on in the house, and a dog starts barking}

STRONG BAD: Oh geez!

{Strong Bad jumps off the bike, and runs headlong into the mailbox, causing a flurry of mail and falling on the ground}

STRONG BAD: ...Hey, coupons!

• On the fourth postcard, at the end of his spiel, click on the rightmost headlight to see the crazy Seattle Monkey D postcard.
• On the fifth postcard, while Strong Bad is talking about his caricature, click on the postcard to see it. The caricature is labeled "LEM '02."

Fun Facts

Trivia

• Until retirement, this was the only email on the site without any links to Strong Bad's email address.
• When Strong Bad stands up, he makes The Geddup Noise with his voice, rather than the stool making it, according to the DVD commentary for army.
• This is the longest Tandy-era email.
• This is the first email to break both the three minute and four minute mark.
• This toon has nondescript nouns ("That Clock" and "Over There").
• This email was updated over a period of approximately two weeks, with Strong Bad writing a postcard every few days.
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad goes on vacation and sends some postcards from exotic destinations."

Remarks

The infamous Monkey D typo

• The Seattle skyline featured in the Easter egg for the fourth postcard is mirrored.
• Also in the Easter egg, there is a typo on Monkey D's shirt. It reads "I ♥ Stong Band" instead of "Strong Bad".

Glitches

• While the postcards play, the contrast knobs can still be selected.

Inside References

• Strong Bad expresses his displeasure at BrothaCheese for using crap in his signature.
• In Postcard #4, Strong Bad uses "Dear Stong Bad" as the greeting of his imaginary email.
• "How does Homestar Runner pick stuff up if he's not wearing any Marzipants?" is both a reference to Homestar's lack of visible arms and pants.
• "Get offa me!" is a reference to The House That Gave Sucky Treats, in which rolling over a skull at the ending produces the same message.

Real-World References

• "A little bit of this, a little bit of that" is a lyric from the song Anatevka, from the musical Fiddler on the Roof.
• Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is an attraction at Disneyland based on the Disney movie The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, which in turn was based on The Wind in the Willows. The badger refers to a character from the movie and book, appropriately named Angus MacBadger, and the part of the ride that Strong Bad is referring to is the very beginning of the ride.
• In postcard 5, Strong Bad says, "Just a quick one while I'm away", a reference to The Who's song "A Quick One While He's Away".
• In postcard 1, it says the Great Mound is "Bigger than that one in Ohio!" This is a reference to the Serpent Mound in Adams County, OH.
• "Crap is in the mix. Crap is to the max." references songwriter Wesley Willis, who would often use the lines "in the mix" and "to the max" in his songs.

Fast Forward

• The Seattle postcard is later used as the filler inside the words for the "Greetings from Place" postcard in an Easter egg in different town.

DVD Version

• The "DORKS!" sticky note Easter egg is still present, but it only says, "Hey, dorks!". To access it, click on the invisible Strong Bad logo to the right of the sticky note.
• To activate the Easter egg on the second postcard, click on the invisible Strong Bad logo on the right shed.
• To activate the Easter egg on the fourth postcard, click on the invisible Strong Bad logo on the bottom left of the postcard.
• On the fifth postcard, the Lem Sportsinterviews caricature can be seen only by hitting your DVD player's Angle button.
• When played in Play All, the postcards show in order.

YouTube Version

• The postcards are played in order, with the Pantsburg, Monkey D and caricature Easter eggs playing automatically.
• The "DORKS!" Easter egg is not present.
• The Paper comes down at the end.
• Strong Bad says "2:55" the second time at exactly 2:55 in the video.

External Links

• watch "vacation"
• watch "vacation" on YouTube
• watch "vacation" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "vacation"