modeling

Strong Bad Email #132

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"I'll pencil you in."

Strong Bad is encouraged to become a model.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, The King of Town, Pom Pom, Strong Sad, Homestar Runner

Places: Computer Room, King of Town's Castle, The Field

Computer: Lappy 486

Date: Monday, June 27, 2005

Running time: 3:10

Page Title: Lappy 486

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc Five

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {singing} Can you handle my style? No, you can't handle my styyyyyle. Email! {pulls up email, begins reading}

subject: modeling

dear STRONG BAD!!!!!
i think you're a pretty good looking guy. Have you ever
considered doing some modeling?
Yours truuly,
Meghan, Albuquerque

{Yells "STRONG BAD!!!!!" at top of lungs, says "truuly" as "troo-OO-ly", "Meghan" as "Meg-han", "Albuquerque" as "Al-bu-quay-quay"}

STRONG BAD: {typing} dear MEGHAN!!!!!! {yelled and pronounced as before} Of course I've considered modeling. Someone as pretty good looking as me gets approached on the street all the-wait. Modeling?! Hmmmm. That's a truuly {pronounced as before} great idea! {clears screen} Why did I never think of that before? Maybe I should go get me some new threads at Styles Upon Styles and get some headshots taken. Pom Pom has a camera. Maybe I'll get him to take some pictures of me. Or better yet, maybe I'll go karate chop the King of Town and THEN get Pom Pom to take some pictures of me.

{Music starts. Strong Bad approaches the King of Town, in front of his castle. Strong Bad karate chops the King.}

THE KING OF TOWN: Ow!

{Cut to Strong Bad in a makeshift modeling studio in the Field, sitting on a box, and wearing a blue shirt with a yellow shirt tied around his neck, capelike. The backdrop is a white sheet with paint in various colors randomly splattered on it, taped to two wooden posts. Photography lights seen on the left and right, and a silhouette of Pom Pom is seen in the foreground with a camera. The screen flashes as Pom Pom takes the picture, and as it fades back in, we see a closeup of Strong Bad in the same outfit, now holding a tennis racket.}

STRONG BAD: Ha haa!

{Screen flashes. Strong Bad is lying on the ground.}

STRONG BAD: Who, me?

{Another flash. He's standing on box, with right hand held out in front of him, as though he's pointing at camera}

STRONG BAD: I'm charming! {points with left hand}

{Another flash. He's standing with tennis racket.}

STRONG BAD: {off-handed tone} I'm charming.

{Yet another flash. Camera is panned back so that Pom Pom is visible again. Strong Bad is standing.}

STRONG BAD: Oh, what's the time? {looks at right wrist as though looking at a watch}

{Another flash. Another close up, Strong Bad starts out turned away from camera, turns toward it, waves, holds his chin, with afterimages following him. Another flash. Strong Bad is wearing a black suit with a purple shirt and glasses, holding a briefcase.}

STRONG BAD: I'm casually late!

{Another flash. Screen the same. Strong Bad walks toward stage right, and pauses posing. The camera flashes again, Strong Bad is seen in front of what seems to be a paneled wood wall, holding a telephone with only a frayed wire coming out of it.}

STRONG BAD: Let's-a do lunch. Ha-haaa! {puts down phone, picks up the tennis racket.}

{Another flash. Strong Bad is lying on his stomach on the ground, holding a pencil and leaning toward camera. Wall in last image was just another screen, leaning on posts.}

STRONG BAD: I'll pencil you in. {pretends to write something on the ground}

{One more flash. Strong Bad is in a frozen walking pose in front of a blue screen.}

STRONG BAD: Oh, look at the time! {kneels and looks at "watch" again}

{Another flash. Strong Bad is wearing a white turtleneck and a sailor's cap, holding a corn-cob pipe and a golf club. A map is seen in the background, in front of the false wood wall.}

STRONG BAD: I say, lads, is that Cape Cod? {uses golf club to point at map, shrugs.}

{Another flash. Camera cuts back again. Strong Bad is sitting on box.}

STRONG BAD: Oh, look, off the portboard stow.

{Another flash. He's standing with hands on hips.}

STRONG BAD: We're on a collision course with sultriness! {shakes hips}

{Last flash. Cut back to the Lappy.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} I can't wait to get those pictures back from the lab. I can totally see some of them being used in one of those glossy fashion magazines. Y'know, the kind that cost nine bucks and are 97% ads. Like maybe in an ad for those fancy leather shoes that you're supposed to wear without—

{Ad for "Homely Boy Brand HUGE Tube Socks" featuring Strong Bad is displayed.}

STRONG BAD: —socks. WITHOUT SOCKS!

{Image vanishes.}

STRONG BAD: Man! Can you imagine the luxury! Ooh! Or some kinda fancy men's cologn...ac.

{Ad for "Doctor Stankfoot's Watery Athlete's Foot Cream" featuring Strong Bad appears.}

STRONG BAD: And I can be laying next to some skinny blonde girl looking totally disinterested. You know like, "Whatever, baby.

{Ad disappears.}

STRONG BAD: You can't even approach the flava... of my colognac." {clears screen} No wait! The cover of some steamy romance novel! And my ripped—

{Book titled "Unattractive Detective Stories!! The Case of the Dame with the Hard-to-Look-at-Teeth" appears.}

STRONG BAD: —self would be on top of some cliff or lighthouse clutching a milkmaid in a flowy dress.

{It vanishes.}

STRONG BAD: And she'd be like, "No, Parson Jim, it can never be!" But I'm all like, "Look in your heart, Chezmerelda."

{Camera cuts back to show Strong Sad standing next to desk, holding pile of mail.}

STRONG SAD: Hey, Strong Bad, I was just looking through today's mail, and guess who made the cover of Husky Headed Boys Back 2 School Catalog.

STRONG BAD: WHAT?!? Back-to-school already?! It's not even July! So, who's on the cover?

STRONG SAD: Uh, you are.

STRONG BAD: What?! I ain't got no husky head!

STRONG SAD: Well, it's about the same size as my husky body... {hits stomach twice, makes dodgeball-like sound effect} Oh, and this check {holds out check} from Husky Headed Boys Catalog came—

STRONG BAD: {swiping check} Whoa-ho! My husky head commands a pretty penny! This'll bring home a few months' worth of bacon! I bet your husky body's not worth a hundred and eight dollars.

STRONG SAD: No, but poachers have offered several thousand for my feet.

{Homestar walks up.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hey guys! Guess who made this week's cover of Stupid Coincidence Magazine!

{He holds up a magazine, which features Homestar. He throws it over his shoulder and starts dancing to the same music Strong Bad posed to earlier. Camera flashes, and "Husky Headed Boys" and "Stupid Coincidence Magazine" issues appear up close. The Paper comes down.}

Easter Eggs

• At the end, click on Strong Bad's diamond to see an ad for "SB Finest Colognac."

Fun Facts

Explanations

• "Colognac" is a portmanteau word formed by combining "cognac", a distilled liquor, and "cologne", a fragrance.
• "Portboard Stow" is a double portmanteau. "Portboard" combines "Port", the left side, and "Starboard", the right side of a ship. "Stow" combines both "Stern", the rear end, and "Bow", the front end of a ship. The portboard stow could be the dead center of the boat, based on this.
• Cape Cod is a peninsula forming the south-easternmost part of Massachusetts.

Trivia

• The ads and magazines read, in order:

HOMELY BOY BRAND
HUGE TUBE SOCKS

"YOU MIGHT COULD SLEEP IN ONE!"

GOT STINKFOOT?
GET STANKFOOT!
DOCTOR
STANKFOOT'S
WATERY
ATHLETE'S
FOOT CREAM

Unattractive
Detective Stories!!
The Case of the Dame
with the
Hard-to-Look-at-Teeth

• Stupid Coincidence Magazine:

Stupid                     $9
Coincidence
MAGAZINE

              Why Some People
Our              Think Saying
Least Likely    Ka-Winky-Dink
Issue Yet!!          Is Funny
                      pg. 143

• Husky Headed Boys Back 2 School Catalog:

HUSKY Headed Boys
BACK 2 SCHOOL!!
          Catalog

              Giant Headed
SUMMER 2005    Kids Need
                Clothes
                 Too!!

SB

FINEST COLOGNAC.

drink it. or wear it. we don't really give a care.

• The map that Strong Bad stands in front of while posing marks "Land", "Haggleston", "Place", and "Nautical Ocean".
  • "Place" and "Land" are nondescript nouns.
• The label on the disk in the floppy disk container reads "the news room".
• There is a commune in France called Colognac, though this is most likely a coincidence.
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad dons the latest styles for a high-fashion photo shoot."
• This is the first time Strong Bad references his husky head.
• This is the first mention of tube socks.
• In the end Easter egg, the "SB" on the red box uses the font Commodore 64.

Remarks

• Strong Bad's written signature can be seen in the Tube Socks ad, but it is different from his signature in the Yearbook Character Page.
• Stupid Coincidence Magazine costs $9, the same price as one of those glossy fashion magazines that Strong Bad mentions.
• Homestar was considering breaking into male modeling in crying.
• Just like in the emails time capsule and dreamail, Homestar's eyes are placed closer together than normal.
• The email song mentions that you can't handle Strong Bad's style. The email is about modeling.

Goofs

"dear MASKING GOOF!!!!!"

• When Strong Bad yells "dear STRONG BAD!!!!!" and "dear MEGHAN!!!!!", the reflection of his head appears slightly above the Lappy due to a masking goof.
• When Homestar holds up the magazine, his image on the cover blinks (this does not happen at the end of the email).
• In the email screen when the "romance novel" comes up, the Lappy can no longer be clicked on to see the "ripple" effect.
• Right after Strong Bad says "let's-a do lunch," he holds up the tennis racket, and even though he is in a suit, the arm is bare.
• Strong Bad commits a common usage error, substituting "disinterested" for "uninterested". "Disinterested" means impartial or unbiased, as in a "disinterested" jury or judge. "Uninterested", by contrast, means showing no interest in something, as Strong Bad would be in the situation he describes.
• When Homestar holds the magazine before the end of the email, there is no text other than "Stupid Coincidence Magazine".
• When Strong Bad says "Oh, what's the time?" the first time, Pom Pom's camera seems to be slightly obscuring his head.

Inside References

• Pom Pom's camera was also in the email part-time job.
• "Styles Upon Styles" is a retailer previously mentioned in animal.
• Strong Bad dressed up as a ship's captain in pizzaz, minus the turtleneck.
  • The turtleneck was the one Strong Bad wore as Archibald in A Decemberween Pageant.
• The screen with the wooden panels is the Balding Man's room from Senorial Day.
• Strong Bad was seen with a tennis racket with no explanation in a caricature Easter egg in vacation, as he also was here.
• "Skinny blonde girls" were first mentioned in theme party.
• Place first appeared in different town.
• When Strong Sad hits his "husky body", it makes the same sound as when he was pegged by kickballs in 1 step ahead.
• Strong Bad originally tried to sell Strong Sad's feet to poachers in 50 emails. However, he was promised $50 for them.
• Strong Bad uses a yellow disconnected telephone for one of his business shots.

Real-World References

• "Got stinkfoot" is a reference to the SNES game Parodius, in which gaining a power-up will sometimes result in the main character saying "GOT A STINKFOOT?!" out of a megaphone.
  • "Stink-Foot" is also the title of a song by Frank Zappa.
• Strong Bad's "oh, look at the time/what's the time" poses during the photo shoot are a reference to the episode "The Prettiest Week of My Life" from the television show Get A Life. In the episode, "Gee, I wonder what time it is" is one of the poses Chris is taught at "Handsome Boy Modeling School".

Fast Forward

• Strong Bad is later seen writing to and apparently showing affection for tube socks in Decemberween Short Shorts.
• The music from the photoshoot and some of Strong Bad's quotes are used in the photo booth in Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People.
  • The music would also be used during Peasant's Quest Outtakes.
• Strong Bad's intro is later used as the basis for Handle My Style.

DVD Version

• The DVD version features hidden creators' commentary. To access it, switch the DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

Commentary Transcript

Commentary By: Mike Chapman, Matt Chapman

MIKE: I'm joined by my brother Matt for this commentary.

MATT: Oh yeah—

MIKE: Yeah. Have you ever done any modeling, Matt?

MATT: I have not, Mike.

MIKE: Any hand modeling?

MATT: No. No hand modeling.

MIKE: Any voice modeling?

MATT: I guess.

MIKE: Let's see, let's— Do a pose. A voice pose.

MATT: {falsetto indistinguishable}

MIKE: Yeah, that was good.

MATT: {simultaneously} {falsetto} Runned.

MIKE: That was good.

MATT: R-U-N-N-E-D.

MIKE: {laughs} Uh...

MATT: I sing that "Can you handle my style no you can't handle my style" song a lot. {Mike starts to say something} I think maybe I sang it before it was a Strong Bad Email song even.

MIKE: Probably.

MATT: {laughs}

MIKE: You tend to sing songs with lyrics that have "style" {laughs} in them.

MATT: Styles upon styles, Mike.

MIKE: {laughs}

{pause}

MATT: Sounds like he says Bushido, that game.

MIKE: I like that background.

MATT: Yeah, that's very nice. It looks like he's in that Teen Steam, Alyssa Milano workout video.

MIKE: {laughs} {singing} Teen Steam—

MATT AND MIKE: {singing} gotta let it out.

{pause}

MATT: That's a disconnected phone, Mike.

{pause}

MIKE: Uh, he penciled you in, just like he said he would.

MATT: That, Strong Bad needs to—

MIKE: {simultaneously} I like the sailing—

MATT: Yeah, have that cable knit sweater. He looks so warm. He looks like the Gorton's fisherman.

MIKE: Was he wearing that in the, uh, play, in the Christmas pageant— where he was— where he and Bubs were going down by the wharfs?

MATT: The docks?

MIKE: Yeah, down by the docks?

MATT: Yeah, I don't think so. {quietly} Oh, oh, I think— I think we drew it for this one. {pause} So this has a unique thing. {voice cracks slightly, and he makes a yodeling noise} This has a unique thing where—

MIKE: Yeah, people thought that these were the Easter eggs. {unintelligible}

MATT: Yeah, it's kinda— it seemed like— they— kinda should be, I feel like.

MIKE: Yeah, in retrospect, maybe we should have {unintelligible}.

MATT: Some of this, you're not really paying attention to all this funny stuff he's writing, because stuff keeps popping up over it.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: Even though the things that pop up are— are equally funny. ...I think.

MIKE: I think it was, there was just so much talking, we were afraid it would get boring visually—

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: —because he just sits there and talks for like two minutes at the end of the email.

MATT: He's checkin' emails like it's 2002. {pause, Mike laughs} That is a distr— that is a hard to look at— dame. With some hard to look at teeth.

{pause}

MATT: 'Cause yeah, you know, if he's a parson, right, he— isn't a parson a— a clergyman?

MIKE: Of some kind. I would assume so. He married Frosty. {laughs}

MATT: Oh yeah.

MIKE: {unintelligible}

MATT: Err, no, Parson Brown will— will— uhh, ye— no. A snowman, it's in, uh, Let it Snow, I think, isn't it?

MIKE: Oh yeah.

MATT: "In the meadow, we can build a snowman."

MIKE: I thought you and Frosty got married by Parson Brown.

MATT: {laughing} {pause}

MATT: Uh, whoa— {Strong Bad voice} Huttah huttah.

MIKE: Uh, remember the— the diskette back there—

MATT: Uh, listen! Listen!

{they listen}

MATT: Oh, he didn't— When did he do that? Isn't there a part {Mike starts to say something} where he, uh, he pats his belly—

MIKE: It may have happened earlier... before.

MATT: {simultaenously} —and it makes the, uh... kickball sound. Oh. I like that one.

MIKE: I was— {ends abruptly}

{a crashing sound is heard}

Fun Facts

• Matt mentions Styles Upon Styles.
• Parson Brown was a character mentioned in "Winter Wonderland" by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith, from which Matt recites a line. As was mentioned by Mike, this was the basis of a character of the same name in the Rankin/Bass special Frosty's Winter Wonderland, who helped Frosty the Snowman get married.
• Bushido is a role-playing game set in Feudal Japan, in which one plays the role of a samurai warrior.
• Teen Steam is a workout video Alyssa Milano starred in when she was 15.
• The "Christmas pageant" that involves wharfs that Mike talks about refers to A Decemberween Pageant.

See Also

• Products from modeling

External Links

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