Somber Vacation

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"Now, let's begin."

Strong Sad goes to the beach?

Cast (in order of appearance): Homestar Runner, Bubs, Strong Bad, Strong Sad

Places: Basement of the Brothers Strong, Depressio Beach

Date: Monday, June 16, 2008

Running Time: 2:11

Page Title: Greetings From Depressio Beach!

Transcript

{Open with a panning shot of Strong Bad, Bubs and Homestar Runner sitting on the couch, making unintelligible sounds like the murmur of conversation.}

STRONG SAD: {off camera} Ahem!

{The lights turn off and Bubs and Strong Bad turn their heads to the right. Cut to a close-up of Strong Sad's head.}

STRONG SAD: Thank you all for coming to my slide show pre-sentation!

{Cut to close-up of Strong Bad}

STRONG BAD: Slide show?! You said you found a dead body!

{Cut to Bubs}

BUBS: You told me there'd be's casseroles!

{Cut to Homestar}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: You're welcome.

{Cut back to Strong Sad}

STRONG SAD: Summertime is generally a happy time, making it my least favorite time of year. So in order to make myself appropriately miserable, I decided to embrace all the hoopla and go to the beach.

{Cut to Strong Bad}

STRONG BAD: Ooh, that's where you were. We all figured you were inside that barrel again. Moistening yourself, or whatever.

{Cut back to Strong Sad}

STRONG SAD: {angrily} It's called "The Dampening" and it helps me focus! {Normal voice} Now, let's begin.

{Cut to Strong Sad in silhouette with a projection screen in the background. A slide comes down with the title written in the sand}

STRONG SAD: "My Somber Vacation".

{The slides fill the screen. First slide is Strong Sad standing on the beach.}

STRONG SAD: Since I don't have a lot of beach apparel, The King of Town's blacksmith was kind enough to let me borrow {New slide: Strong Sad is posing in The Blacksmith's black welding mask and apron. The apron has burn marks at the lower right corner and under the left arm.} this revealing little number. Even though I couldn't see anything with it on, I think it's safe to assume this really turned some heads.

{New slide: a sand sculpture of a Strong Sad headstone and grave with a single rose on top.}

STRONG SAD: Next, I went ahead and buried myself alive in the sand. {Close up of the headstone with a 3rd place ribbon and Strong Sad making a thumbs-up sign out of the sand.} I won third place in a sand sculpture competition.

{Close up of sea shells}

STRONG SAD: Instead of collecting seashells, I stalked the sandy shores looking for {Slide of a broken styrofoam cooler with green stains, with a shell and beer bottle also visible} algae-covered chunks of styrofoam coolers. {Slide of several chunks with faces drawn on them and pipe cleaner limbs} I added googly eyes and some pipe cleaner and then played beach volleyball with them. {Slide of Strong Sad with a yellow volleyball embedded in his face} They won handily.

{Strong Sad is smiling and holding a styrofoam cup with drink umbrellas and sand around the rim.}

STRONG SAD: Here I am enjoying my favorite tropical beverage: a scalding hot cup of black coffee with beach sand on the rim. The bartender kept calling it a "Sucks On The Beach".

{Strong Sad is standing alone on the beach, silhouetted against the moon}

STRONG SAD: My last night there, I went for a long midnight walk on the beach. It would've been nice and lonely, if I didn't keep tripping over teenage and European couples making out. But, of course, I forgot to put on any moonscreen—

{Cut back to the basement as the lights come on. Strong Sad is now completely pink except for an area on his chest that looks like a bikini top.}

STRONG SAD: — so I got burned to a crisp!

{Cut to a panning shot of the couch, where Strong Bad, Bubs, and Homestar are laughing.}

BUBS: {Close-up} Well, heeb my jeebies!

{Cut back to Strong Sad}

STRONG SAD: Shut up! It's a skin condition! {He pats his belly} This is just how I tan. I can't help it!

STRONG BAD: {off camera} Ha ha ha-ha ha! {close-up of Strong Bad} Lookin' good, Miss July!

{A postcard of moonburnt and smiling Strong Sad lying on the beach appears on the screen, reading "Depressio Beach" "Wish U Were Here! XOXO"}

Easter Eggs

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non disturbare!

• Click on XOXO on the postcard at the end to see Strong Sad in his Dampening barrel.

{In the Strongs' basement, lights down. Close up on a wooden barrel against the wall. A sign is taped to the barrel, written in a calligraphic style "the Dampening in progress! non disturbare!"}

STRONG SAD: {singing} Sweetness. Sweetness. I was only joking when I said.

Fun Facts

Explanations

• "Sucks On The Beach" is a play on the real cocktail Sex on the Beach.
• Heebie-jeebies is an old slang term for feeling anxious or nervous.
• "Non disturbare" means "do not disturb" in Italian.

Remarks

• When the toon was first released, the Easter egg was unfinished. There was no audio and no way to reach it without a browser addon or external Flash viewer to navigate beyond the "end" of the toon.
• When the toon was first released, the slides were in focus as they came onto the screen. The effect that makes them appear out of focus at first was added later.
• Strong Sad claims his favorite beach beverage is a scalding cup of black coffee, but he is also known to be sensitive to caffeine. However, it is possible that he was given decaffeinated coffee.
• The Cheat, who is not seen in this cartoon, is heard laughing with the others.

Goofs

• Bubs's face overlaps part of his teeth.
• Strong Sad's mouth closes too early on the letters "ach" in the word "beach".

Inside References

• Bubs says be's.
• Strong Sad first used Depressio to refer to himself in depressio.
• Strong Sad buries himself alive in his own grave.
• Strong Sad makes some googly-eyed objects.
• The style for this toon (a slideshow presented by Strong Sad) was originally presented as an unused idea in From the Vault.
• Strong Sad has previously stated that he disliked the beach in the Strong Sad's Lament entry "Dr. Scholls?".
• There are some more examples of Strong Bad and Strong Sad smiling.
• The seashells were previously seen in what i want.
• Strong Sad keeps tripping over couples making out.
• Strong Sad previously sang from inside a locked container of water in Homestar Presents: Presents with the same echoic effect.
• The bartender calls Strong Sad's drink a "Sucks on the Beach".

Real-World References

• In the Easter egg, Strong Sad is singing lyrics from the song "Bigmouth Strikes Again" by The Smiths.

External Links

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