Slashdot Mirror
Strong Bad Creators Interviewed
Bill Hughes writes "The folks over at ResExcellence have posted an interview with the Brothers Chapman, the two guys who create and run the Homestar Runner/Strong Bad web site." If you have not seen homestarrunner, prepare to be baffled and amused. This site has mostly justified Flash to me :)
Good to see that the slashdot community knows about this hillarious website. I discovered it just a few months ago, and have been laughing my ass off at it ever since.
So for the past few weeks homestarrunner.com has been spottily reachable at best...
A day or two ago they were back up to full speed...
And now they are slashdotted...
Just as I was going to check the latest strongbad email...
Homestar Runner is being slashdotted? Just what we need... they just got through a month of having server trouble due to increasing traffic, and now with all the new viewers they're going to get by being mentioned here, looks like we'll be in for another month of slow page loads on Mondays.
That said, Strong Bad emails have quickly become a weekly tradition in the office. We all gather around every Monday to see the newest installment, and we're rarely disappointed. If the Brothers Chaps don't end up with a TV show before too long, I'll be surprised.
NO CARRIER
"Page can not be displayed"
Truly I am baffled, but not that amused.
I see you jocking me; trying to play like, u no me.
Everybody to the limit, the Cheat is to the limit.
I said, come on, fhwqwhgads!
Free music from Jack Merlot.
Homestarrunner.net. It's dot com!
Note: You can get to the forums from there, which seem to be up as well despite the main site being down.
Hu-woah-whoa-whoa! This interview shanked my jengaship!
--riney
I got hooked on Strongbad typing e-mails on his Compy 386 by first getting hooked on www.fark.com by seeing someone reference it in a post here on Slashdot.
TROGDOR THE BURNINATOR!!!
The majesty! The burninating!
here
and here
Homestarrunner.com is a funny online flash cartoon based off of a childrens book that these two guys made in the 80's. in the last two years they have made a good few dozen animated shorts on their characters Strong Bad, Strong Sad, Strong Mad, Homestar, and some chick who I forget her name... its 2 bad you can't see it... maybe someone will be nice enough to convert them to mpeg or avi for ya :)
The e-mail is funny. Most of the other flash there simply isn't. The flash is justified, because as a graphical platform it works great. The amount of effects that can be created with vectors in a small file size are excellent. Having a Microsoft OS installed, I see no problem with installing flash because it works like it should and isn't intrusive, unlike Real One Player.
Yeah, lemme know where I can download the Lynx plugin for Flash...
(seriously! what about AAlib? or maybe just an "external handler" that uses SDL:SVGAlib? They ought to write a Flash engine in Java---sure it's slow, but it's portable.)
--TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive
The Onion.com
The Best Page in the Universe
Something Awful
Consumption Junction
The Bastard Operator from Hell
Don't forget
*nix.org either
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I'd like to echo Chester's above comments. The last thing the Homestar Crew needed was a slashdotting. Anybody up for starting a tip jar to get them some new servers when their brand-new ones start smoking?
Oh, support for alternate operating systems justifies software's existence? Cool! Be sure to buy my clone of Pong for the DEC Alpha when I finish it.
Undoubtedly, Strong Bad's email is the best part of the site, but how can you not like "A Jumping Jack Contest" or "The Luau"? Some of the 'toons are pretty funny, and they add a lot to the appreciation of Strong Bad. Some of the menus are fantastic. Not to mention some of the incredibly stupid "music videos". And check out some of the old "Marzipan's answering machine" episodes under "games". And while you're there, try out the "Dancin' Bubs" game.
There's pleny of good stuff there. You just have to dig around for it, and there's a LOT of content to dig through.
Dear Website,
Maybe if your audience had any kind of a freakin' life they would have something better to do than all rush to the computer to watch me answer my emails. Ya' gotta admit, that is pretty sad. And I live with Strong Sad, so I know pathetic, believe me.
Sincerely,
Strong Bad
___
Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
Has anyone figured out what LEMKE means yet?
Someone actually moderated this insightful?
.00001% of the market on this website, it makes me wanna kick some ass.
There's a flash viewer in java. Use that. Every time I see another niche whiner complain about language_x not being ported to his
Further, this is the world of open source, pal. You want flash on PPC Linux? Get cracking.
Even Jesus hates listening to Creed.
I remember a few wasted hours with my friends watching the Ricky Fighters wrestle the Strong Bads.
The move names were the best part:
"N. Hang!"
"Sasori!"
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an open-standard alternative to Flash.
it is a W3C recommendation.
there is a partially-implemented SVG native plugin for mozilla.
Adobe has a fully functional SVG plugin.
there is a Call for Participation at the SVG Open 2003 (in canada this july).
sites like homestarrunner.com could really boost SVG acceptance. if anybody out there is looking at homestarrunner.com as a model by which to base their plans for a similar site, please consider SVG!
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
Slashdot has caused this:
http://www.homestarrunner.com/systemisdown.html
There is a better interview with the creators of homestar on www.centerfuse.net. Better questions, with better answers. No by much, but its still a better interview.
My favorite is when he's asked if he plays guitar.
"Jug jugga jug jugga jug jugga jug jugga JAH JAH!"
But Trogdor is a close second.
Steve
killing some time tonight, i decide to visit homestarrunner, but no go! "what could bring it down?" i wondered. "oh well, i'll check out slashdot." lo and behold, there's a link to the interview that was posted on fark yesterday that i've already seen. whooptie-doo. and slashdot users are mostly insomniacs, so homestar will be slashdotted most of the night. now i'm just f-ing bored. thanks, slashdot.
If you like the cartoons, and want to see them with more bandwidth, get yourself a T-Shirt today!h tml
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/homestarrunner/index.
I hate to be such a blatant advertisement, but bandwith can get pretty expensive, and these guys are paying for it with the profits from their online store.
Dear Slashdot,
I've noticed my website is just TOO FAST, and I'm not paying neraly enough for webhosting. Please help!
Sincerely,
Website.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
I hate to be the cause of a Slashdot Effect at Homestarrunner.com again but...
...you people DO realize that almost ALL Strong Bad Email's have easter eggs in them at the end? Try clicking around things on the screen at the end of a SB Email movie...
;)
Can you find them all?
Shameless Plug : The Brothers Chaps like http://www.robotbastard.com - could Rob Schrab and the Chaps work together someday? Who knows...?
I swear by MacOS X. Although I use to swear *at* MacOS 9...
Hey dere, you took the site down, great jerob! - Coach Z
Oddly engough I found out about this site as a result of of the Sircam virus. I got an "e-mail" from strongbad to which I replied (before knowing that it sends e-mails from your address book) to get a Virus scanner, to which Strong Bad's auto reply, replied back in the Strong Bad fashion to which I told him to go F himself. I then got a reply from the creator asking for more information about the virus. I now check the site every week. They are the only flash site that has something new every so often. Unlike oh...Joecartoon?
I'm a long-time Homestar Runner fan...some of my friends/family are downright addicts. My sister even talks like Strong Bad now. Here's a few tips for the unitiated.
/. poll on blogs, but got no reply. I'm glad the mass of geekdom has caught on to H*R at last.
Yes, Strong Bad's emails are the chief draw..only because they're so regularly (weekly, usually) updated--and Strong Bad is such a compelling character. A cross between Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Butthead, is how I like to think of him....in a Mexican wrestling outfit.
HOWEVER, if you're new, scroll to the bottom and start with the EARLIEST emails. There's a history and culture on this website. There are motifs and inside jokes (e.g. fhqwhgads, tape-leg, etc.) that are too precious and key to enjoying a lot of what follows. It's really worth it. I'd put the "anime" and "dragon" emails right up against "weird dream" or "flag day" any day.
In general, starting with older cartoons gives you a better sense of how things developed. But, the beauty of the website is that you're so richly rewarded for just exploring.
And while it's not that funny, look through the yearbook to learn the cast of characters.
There are MANY funny bits besides the emails. The holiday cartoons..esp. the Halloween ones, are some of my favorites. The characters dressed up in costume..often obscure pop culture figures..is hilarious. Sure, there's some duds...often they're just more strange than funny...but even these can be an enjoyable is surreal distraction.
AS FOR EASTER EGGS: They are there IN SPADES, and often as funny if not more so than the open material. Here's a decent, albeit geocities, website dedicated to uncovering them. They've found most..but even I've stumbled across some undocumented ones...
I'm really really happy for these guys that they've been slashdotted. I've bought stuff from their store to support their impressive creative talents. Just a few months ago, I made a reference to Strong Bad's emails in