Board 8 > Your Petty Grievances in Media

(+) Yeah! (+)

Im not talking about when your fast food order is wrong or you stub your toe. I mean the stuff in games, movies, shows, etc. that irritates you to an irrational extent.

For me, its The Berenstain Bears Theme from the tv show. Theres a lyric that says

theyre kinda furry around the torso
theyre a lot like people only moreso

Oh really now?? The only difference between humans and these anthropomorphic bears, is theyre more humanlike than humans? Great, that checks out.

https://youtu.be/EakwXeJc-iQ?feature=shared

Anyone else have a petty grievance that may or may not live in your head rent free?

In one of the original Oz books, The Land of Oz, the characters encounter a container of Wishing Pills that can only be used after someone "counts to 17 by twos," posing a riddle that the characters are initially unable to solve. The solution to the riddle makes absolutely no sense, and this has infuriated me since childhood. I remember coming across the archives online of some sort of discussion group that was going through each book in order, and I was excited to figure out what the solution actually meant, and their response to the issue was just "lol, makes no sense." Ahhh!

I'll post a quote below from the scene from where they solve it, because it truly makes no sense.

Why not start counting at a half of one? asked the Saw-Horse, abruptly. Then anyone can count up to seventeen by twos very easily.
They looked at each other in surprise, for the Saw-Horse was considered the most stupid of the entire party.
You make me quite ashamed of myself, said the Scarecrow, bowing low to the Saw-Horse.
Nevertheless, the creature is right, declared the Woggle-Bug; for twice one-half is one, and if you get to one it is easy to count from one up to seventeen by twos.

...

Count! cried the Scarecrow.
One-half, one, three, five, seven, nine, eleven, counted Tip. thirteen, fifteen, seventeen.

Why are you allowed to just start at a fraction? How is going "One-half, one.." counting by twos? That's not counting by twos! That's not counting by twos!

...It feels like the obvious way to count to 17 by twos is to start at -1, right?

The song "You're So Vain" repeats in the chorus "you're so vain you probably think this song is about you"

It IS about them! It's a song about them being vain!

that's just good, paradoxical lyric writing though, imo

Berenstain Bears taught us that bears are the real humans

I havent thought about it in a long time but I also hated that Berenstain Bears line.

wallmasterz posted...

theyre kinda furry around the torso
theyre a lot like people only moreso

is the "only moreso" line not just referring back to the previous line about being furry

they're a lot like people only moreso [furry]

Johnbobb posted...

The song "You're So Vain" repeats in the chorus "you're so vain you probably think this song is about you"

It IS about them! It's a song about them being vain!

I took it to mean that, even though the song doesn't name them, they still think it means them.

The joke of "X is like Y, only more so" is that the quality being compared isn't named, but it's implied by whatever X is known for. What are humans known for? What is humanity, really?

They're furry 'round the torso
They're a lot like people but a little moreso, yeah
More human than human
More human than human

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

...It feels like the obvious way to count to 17 by twos is to start at -1, right?

yes

Lord_Bob_Bree posted...

I took it to mean that, even though the song doesn't name them, they still think it means them.

And they would be right? Because it literally means them?

i hate that our reality says berenstain bears instead of berenstein bears which it definitely was

Forceful_Dragon posted...

And they would be right? Because it literally means them?

it's ironic. That's the point. The lyrics being a contradiction is intentional

Not-so-petty grievance for me with online media is the constant hustle for more advertising, and paying to get rid of it only encourages more aggressive advertising.

...uh, I guess a minor grievance was in Scrubs title where they had an X-ray backwards. Yes, it was a joke, but having Elizabeth Banks's character correct the gag at one point wasn't cute either.

Isquen posted...

Not-so-petty grievance for me with online media is the constant hustle for more advertising, and paying to get rid of it only encourages more aggressive advertising.

...uh, I guess a minor grievance was in Scrubs title where they had an X-ray backwards. Yes, it was a joke, but having Elizabeth Banks's character correct the gag at one point wasn't cute either.

nah it was pretty cute

I can't take REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling" seriously at all, because every time I hear it, I'm reminded of my choir experience where we were taught that any time you extend a line that ends in "-er", you're always supposed to accentuate with an "ah" sound instead, otherwise it sounds silly.

So whenever I get to the part where he goes "And throw away the oars, foreeeverrrrrrrrr", I just laugh.

Recent one because memory bad. Now, of course Gladiator II like the first one is not a film you go to for historical accuracy, thats fine. But at one point, a Roman emperor is hailing Poseidon, when it should be Neptune as he isnt Greek. All the crazy wild historical divergences are fine, but THAT annoyed me lol.

I have so many of these and of course I can't think of them now that I finally have a chance to vent

One that I can remember is the line from Payphone by Maroon 5 that goes "even the sun sets in paradise"

What? What else sets in paradise? The line should be "even in paradise the sun sets" or something

changmas posted...

is the "only moreso" line not just referring back to the previous line about being furry

they're a lot like people only moreso [furry]

maybe. I dont believe it but I might just convince myself this is it so Im not slowly driven to insanity

Also the majority of people dont have a lot of visible hair on their torso so I wouldnt characterize them as furry around the torso. But its easier to take than the bears being more human than humans

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d9554fee.png

I tried

wow lee ann womack? what a pull

i hope the berenstain bairs still feel strong when they stand beside the ocean

LightningStrikes posted...

Recent one because memory bad. Now, of course Gladiator II like the first one is not a film you go to for historical accuracy, thats fine. But at one point, a Roman emperor is hailing Poseidon, when it should be Neptune as he isnt Greek. All the crazy wild historical divergences are fine, but THAT annoyed me lol.

I haven't seen it yet but that is definitely going to annoy me.

In Mamma Mia! the musical (and the movie), the lyrics to Mamma Mia! says "I've been cheated by you and I think you know when", but it was never set up that the three guys actually cheated on Donna. Or at least romantically.

wallmasterz posted...

Also the majority of people dont have a lot of visible hair on their torso

lucky you

TheRainandFire posted...

I haven't seen it yet but that is definitely going to annoy me.

I actually quite enjoyed the film and was willing to go with it as a historical fantasy but that little thing that shouldnt matter really bugged me!

I remembered another one:

In Thor: The Dark World, at one point Thor gets on the tube at Charing Cross station and asks how to get to Greenwich. The woman says to ride that train for three stops. These directions are totally wrong, its two stops, change at Waterloo then five stops. This annoys Londoners and ex-Londoners everywhere.

While filming Tom Hiddleston apparently urged them to change it and they told him nah nobody will notice. Then at the London premiere when it got to that line everybody groaned.

LightningStrikes posted...

I actually quite enjoyed the film and was willing to go with it as a historical fantasy but that little thing that shouldnt matter really bugged me!

I remembered another one:

In Thor: The Dark World, at one point Thor gets on the tube at Charing Cross station and asks how to get to Greenwich. The woman says to ride that train for three stops. These directions are totally wrong, its two stops, change at Waterloo then five stops. This annoys Londoners and ex-Londoners everywhere.

While filming Tom Hiddleston apparently urged them to change it and they told him nah nobody will notice. Then at the London premiere when it got to that line everybody groaned.

That sounds like the thing absolutely everyone from that region would notice.

The easy explanation for the Berenstain Bears line is that the more so just refers to them being bigger than humans and is being cutesy about it to make a rhyme

LightningStrikes posted...

In Thor: The Dark World, at one point Thor gets on the tube at Charing Cross station and asks how to get to Greenwich. The woman says to ride that train for three stops. These directions are totally wrong, its two stops, change at Waterloo then five stops.

Me trying to give directions in a city I've lived in for years

MZero posted...

I have so many of these and of course I can't think of them now that I finally have a chance to vent

One that I can remember is the line from Payphone by Maroon 5 that goes "even the sun sets in paradise"

What? What else sets in paradise? The line should be "even in paradise the sun sets" or something

major respect for the petty in this comment and in this sthread

i learned about 5 years ago that it's berenstain and not berenstein bears and that is a major grievance for me personally

The Berenstains left a blood "stain" when they invaded this dimension and killed the Berensteins

Heres something dumb that always bothered me.

In one of the early seasons of the American version of The Office, there is a background conversation between Roy and Daryl where they are talking about fantasy football. The conversation is something along the lines of:

Darly: I need [someone I forget] to have a big game this week or I am done.
Roy: I still cant believe you traded Shaun Alexander.
Daryl: I had to! I needed defense!
Roy: For Shaun Alexander? Hes the best back in the league!

I dont know if everyone here plays fantasy football but RB is typically one of the most important positions on your roster and defense is something a lot of people just pick up randomly week to week. If Shaun Alexander was the best back in the league that year it was likely the year he got 2k yards and would be winning a lot of these games by himself.

Trading the RB1 for a defense is not just a bad trade, it is a trade so egregiously bad that Daryl wouldve been immediately kicked out of the league and permanently banned because everyone would assume he was in cahoots to rig it for whoever he did the trade with.

Okay I finally thought of one that fits this topic.

In Empire Strikes Back, Han tells someone "I'll see you in Hell" and it always bothered me even as a kid. Like you're telling me Hell exists as a concept in Star Wars? Do they have Christianity too?? I'm sure there's a dumb EU explanation for this but to me it'll always be a bad line.

The concept of Hell didn't originate in Christianity.

I don't know that they've explained what "hell" is in Star Wars but I do know that any earth animal that gets mentioned in dialogue has some EU alien creature equivalent, sometimes it looks like the earth creature and sometimes it doesn't. Like after C-3PO said "Die Jedi dogs!" in Attack of the Clones, they had to invent these things
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d32adeb9.jpg

Kenri posted...

In Empire Strikes Back, Han tells someone "I'll see you in Hell" and it always bothered me even as a kid. Like you're telling me Hell exists as a concept in Star Wars?

Logically, they shouldn't be speaking English at all in Star Wars. Presumably when Han says "Hell" there he actually refers to a similar punitive afterlife that Star Wars humans do have a concept of, which is then translated to "Hell" for our convenience.

This is so egregious that I love it, but in "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" the plot twist hinges on the audience not knowing what the actual capital of Brazil is. I mean, I guess it still kind of worked, because when I saw the movie, knowing the real capital didn't make me figure things out, I just went "Wow, the filmmakers are really lazy. They didn't even bother checking this."

I might be misremembering details, but what I believe happens is that the main characters think they are calling into a radio trivia contest, where in order to win a Caribbean vacation they have to name the capital of Brazil. They answer Rio de Janeiro, which is wrong, but are told but are told that they are the winners, and the killer somehow sets up the trip anyway. It turns out that this was all some elaborate scheme to get them trapped on a tropical island, and Jennifer Love Hewitt figures it out because she sees a globe/atlas while running from the killer and sees that Brasilia is the actual capital of Brazil. I might be making that last part up/I might have dreamed it, but I love it so much that I hope that's how it really gets revealed.

Edit: I don't want to come across like I'm saying there's anything wrong with not knowing the capital of Brazil. I just think it's silly that the filmmakers apparently thought that it was some obscure piece of trivia that no one could possibly be expected to know.

scarletspeed7 posted...

The concept of Hell didn't originate in Christianity.

Do they have Norse paganism in Star Wars??

Xeybozn posted...

Logically, they shouldn't be speaking English at all in Star Wars. Presumably when Han says "Hell" there he actually refers to a similar punitive afterlife that Star Wars humans do have a concept of, which is then translated to "Hell" for our convenience.

Sure I guess. This still feels out of place to me, like if Luke asked for a Kleenex at some point, even though it's a valid synonym of "facial tissue" and would work as a translation.

They do have Norse paganism in Star Wars

WazzupGenius00 posted...

I don't know that they've explained what "hell" is in Star Wars but I do know that any earth animal that gets mentioned in dialogue has some EU alien creature equivalent, sometimes it looks like the earth creature and sometimes it doesn't. Like after C-3PO said "Die Jedi dogs!" in Attack of the Clones, they had to invent these things
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d32adeb9.jpg

IIRC Something similar happened when someone said were sitting ducks in TPM

how do any of these fantasy worlds know English idioms or use English names

Leonhart4 posted...

how do any of these fantasy worlds know English idioms or use English names

Well, Lord of the Rings is basically written as a translation!

Kenri posted...

Do they have Norse paganism in Star Wars??

It is quite reasonable in this case to interpret Hell broadly to mean a bad place you go when you die, in which case there are examples from cultures all over the world, such as the lake of fire guarded by Ammit from the cult of Osiris in Middle Kingdom Egypt.

And even if they somehow don't have a concept of a punitive afterlife, Galactic Common(?) must have comparable expletives.

Walter white did nothing wrong.

LightningStrikes posted...

In Thor: The Dark World, at one point Thor gets on the tube at Charing Cross station and asks how to get to Greenwich. The woman says to ride that train for three stops. These directions are totally wrong, its two stops, change at Waterloo then five stops. This annoys Londoners and ex-Londoners everywhere.

This is definitely the same flavor as my movie grievance. I get very distracted when movies set in NYC don't move around the city in a realistic way, like jumping around to locations ALL over the place, or have subway routes/stations that don't make any sense.

Some recent movies that I can recall irritating me from this were Scream VI and Babes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qkgSu0aC_s

When Barney is discussing the girl he dated, the way he moves the plot point makes no sense. Losing 10 pounds makes her less crazy? Stabbing him with a fork makes her both more crazy and hotter? The boob job makes her less crazy? It's all wrong and always bugged me

Recently watched the middle.

In one episode they said: "Mike wasn't the kind of dad who'd let his kids win at anything."

Then later, in another episode, Sue states that mom and dad let her win at games, and she became addicted to winning. (This is the escape room episode)

This is contradictory! I know it's a sitcom, but there's continuity!

Inception is basically a flawless movie in every way EXCEPT for when they are all in the snow area and Leonardo forces Page to explain the level to him so he could explain it to Tom Hardy. Why didn't Page just talk to Tom directly? I get that it's convenient for the plot but I can't believe this is the best option they came up with for getting Mal involved.

This doesn't quite fit, but the ending of Big Fish frustrated me. But I probably interpreted something incorrectly.

Big spoilers, obviously

To me, the whole point of the movie was the protagonist finally accepting and loving his father's mundane life and penchant for making up stories/lies to enhance it.

This culminates in the protagonist finally making up a tall tale of his own.

Then, in the last five minutes, they do something to undercut all of that progress/the entire message.

The movie is still great, emotional, etc. That one thing just hit me wrong. Maybe I wouldn't care on a second viewing- it's been a long time.

MZero posted...

Stabbing him with a fork makes her both more crazy and hotter?

They definitely fucked up the graph in general but if you're a certain kind of person this one checks out