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Brawndo, It's Got Electrolytes. It's What Plants Crave
"This week's film blogs have been left aghast as Mike Judge's grotesque fictional energy drink Brawndo from the movie Idiocracy became a reality. To recap: Fox wouldn't support a film about Brawndo, the energy drink that destroys plants, debases the human race, and makes those who drink it 'win at yelling' but they are now putting wholehearted support behind the actual drink?" And if you haven't seen Idiocracy, you are missing out. It is the smartest stupid movie I've seen. Whoever did production design on that thing deserves an Oscar.
It must be true, I saw it on the Internets....
Everything I needed to know about life, I learnt from Blake's Seven
But you know it varies from person to person.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into watching Idiocracy. I thought it would be another bland, generic comedy full of juvenile humor and low jabs at the government.
Now I tell everyone that they must go and see it. Mike Judge is a genius when it comes to social commentary (see also: Beavis and Butthead, Office Space, King of the Hill). He has really corrected (distorted?) my view of our sinking-ship society.
Soylent Green?
- AZ
That movie was an interesting look on today's society. The evolution of Fuddruckers was hilarious. Mike Judge's future was really thought out, let's hope aliens that happen by at that time just wipe us out and put us out of our misery.
The medical center scene reminds me of a joke...
Q. What's the difference between an oral probe and a rectal probe?
A. The taste.
The intro of the movie can be found here: http://www.glumbert.com/media/idiocracy It'll give you a good sense of the tone and style of humor of the movie.
It really is a must-see.
Now I'm scared.
I mean, talk about missing the point Fox. I mean, seriously, the movie is about rampant commercialism destroying society because people are gradually becoming too stupid to resist more insistent and clever marketing tactics, and now they're rolling out Brawndo?
I mean, WTF, I hope no one that saw Idiocracy goes and buys this, because it's contributing money to the very thing the movie was preaching against. Now we've only got to wait until the U.S. government endures a financial crisis (whoops) and then Fox can attempt to buoy the FCC and FDA and buy them out, and we're looking at the degradation of the world. Of society.
I always wondered if the other countries in the world had devolved as much as America had in the movie, maybe it's time to consider a change of scenery.
I think what happened here is what happens to a lot of cult movies these days. Producers (Fox) expected it to tank, so did not spend money promoting it. Instead of tanking, it garnered a big cult following. Fox now wants to cash in on that big cult profit center by promoting the DVD. Hence, Brawndo as a tie-in to the movie, basically a promotion for the DVD since it's now too late to promote it at the box office. And this exactly is the sort of movie that makes more money on DVD even in the best case scenario.
Still, I can't help thinking that all of the Fox channels and Fox News in particular would be well-served by the world as depicted in Idiocracy, a world which the fictional Brawndo helped build. Maybe they think it'll happen in reality, too.
Coming soon: "Ow! My Balls!" on your local Fox affiliate.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
Your shits all fucked up, and you talk like a fag.
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like from the toilet
Sweet. Now I have something to drink after working up a thirst watching the 'batin' channel.
I'm thinking it wouldn't last more than 6 or 7 episodes. WAY too intellectual for most of FOX's audience.
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
The crotch injury and fart jokes served to define the state of the society at that point. They weren't really meant to be laughed at in and of themselves.
Much like Beavis and Butthead, the actual targets of the humor just laugh at the stupidity, without realizing that THEY are being made fun of...
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I've seen Idiocracy 2 or 3 times and I think it's okay, but it's not some great social mirror. I have a nagging feeling that Darwinism doesn't want humanity to be intelligent, it just wants us to survive. Also since the movie assumes that we are getting less intelligent, past generations must have been MORE intelligent that what we are today. I don't believe that (though we'll never really know).
Blame the establishment.
Teachers work 12-16 hours a day... yet a "class" day is only 6 hours (after you subtract breaks, locker time, lunch etc..).
Where is that other 6-10 hours going? Consider that...
Frankly I don't think we pay teachers nearly enough. I think it is ridiculous that they guy that "taught" Computer Science will likely make a third of what a computer scientist makes.
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After the Bush administration, this guy is totally electable.
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I can't believe that all these people REALLY go for this movie.
There are so many asinine holes in the logic regarding the near sub-human intelligence that it just plain isn't interesting. Who the hell fixes the cars? How do they DRIVE the cars? They have enough trouble with menial tasks that it makes no sense that the society in the movie actually survives.
That, and the inane love story reminds me of Adam Sandler movies.
I'm with you. The movie is worthless as commentary. Give me A Clockwork Orange, or Soylent Green any day.
"Better to be vulgar than non-existent" -Bev Henson
Soylent Green came out in 1973.
The lead character's room mate, "Sol," was played by Edward G. Robinson. The author of the book on which the movie was based, Harry Harrison, was on set during the filming. (Among other things, he suggested that a character visiting a butcher bring her own plastic bag with her.) Robinson, best known for his tough-guy gangster roles, asked Harrison what the hell his character was about. Harrison told him, (paraphrasing) "You're me, as a dying old man. You remember the world before everything went to shit."
One of the things Sol rants about to Charton Heston? The greenhouse effect.
Also, the big ugly secret of the movie -- Soylent Green is People -- is just a sympton. Soylent Green is supposed to be made of krill and plankton. Heston's character finds a secret research study commissioned by the Soylent Corporation revealing that humanity has managed to kill off the ocean ecosystem.
If the Producers continue to drag out the Writer's Guild strike, you might just get your wish. After American Idol finishes its run, of course.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Maybe I wasn't being specific enough, or the mods are unfamiliar with the movie. The 'quotable' portions of the movie are composed of incredibly stupid statements (for instance, the "it's got what plants crave" quote FTS). The people who quote this part of the movie are, in effect, committing one of many atrocities that the movie rails against--repeating something they heard, just because it sounds funny.
The rest of my post, e.g. "the only redeeming quality" remark, was a statement of opinion (IMHO: in my humble opinion). Presented in a somewhat abusive manner? Yes, but certainly not a troll.
I actually think the whole thing is quite awesome. It's a fun way to commemorate a movie I enjoyed quite a bit. This isn't a sign of the imminent fall of civilization, it's a silly movie tie-in drink.
Christ, get some perspective.
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Lamarckian evolution was proved false long ago; just because a group of people isn't educated and therefore doesn't make use of their intelligence does not mean that their children will be stupid.
Individuals differ in intelligence. Intelligence is (partly) heritable. These points follow logically from a basic understanding of Darwinian evolution (not to mention being supported by reams of empirical evidence). Read this, to start (the focus here is on population differences, but heritable individual differences in IQ are even more strongly supported).
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The Scientific American weblog has the best writeup on Brawndo that I was able to find.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
ABC already has a show like that. It's called America's Funniest Home Videos.
It looks like an hoax to me.
First, is it too ironic to be moronic
Second, I have already seen spoof ads like that on youtube that seems to be made by the same guy.
Third, the video is hosted on youtube
Fourth, the website works fine on Firefox in Linux. That's not something Fox would actually be able to do.
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
"Idiocracy" is a personality/intelligence test. People have one of these reactions:
1. Think the movie was hilarious. Did not get the message. The first group does not understand the movie is about them, the truly stupid people.
2. Think the movie was hilarious because they got the message. The second group is wannabe evil overlords.
3. Did not understand the movie and found only occasional humor. The third group is normal. They need a higher class of humor but did not understand the message. Please explain the message to these people.
4. Understood the movie. Found some humor, but mostly sad. This group includes all of my friends.
My parents had two children. The welfare family across the street had eight children. Almost no adults I respect have more than two children. Having two children only retains most of your genes for one generation. If you respect yourself and your spouse, you must have at least three children.
I spend my life entertaining my brain.
It can be shown that native intelligence is heritable to some degree. There's even racial differences in average IQ - with east Asians being the smartest (oh that ought to get me a lot of flack).
But more importantly, is the idea that intelligence is self-selecting. When the stupid choose to have sex with the stupid, they'll also do stupid things during pregnancy (drink Brawndo, for instance), treat their children stupidly (i.e. without enough the proper stimuli) and the combination of genetic inferiority, developmental inferiority, and a society that glamourizes both will create a society that will ruin itself faster than lead pipes ruined Rome.
What I find amazing is that people today choose to be stupid, even as adults who are have a reasonably high IQ. There's huge social pressure to act stupidly.
I could say that humanity is on the cusp of a drastic change, but we've been in a period of drastic change for a while so that sounds a bit stale. But if we can manage to survive the great social upheaval that will accompany a change in energy sources, we will modify the DNA of every living thing. This, coupled with eventual space colonization, is one possible outcome, Idiocracy is another. I don't know which will happen, but things will NOT be as they are now in a century.
It's supposed to be sarcastic. It's social commentary.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
The "he talks faggy" bit gave me a chuckle. I actually had to learn how to talk to people in my rural home town and not use language that confused them. The scary part is that I used to do it unconsciously. I'd go to college and communicate normally, then come home and "adjust" for the locals. First time I noticed what I was doing it gave me the serious creeps.
And I can still do it if I wish, and I haven't lived there in a dozen years. One minute I can be talking about Heisenberg, the next moment I can sound like I work at a gas station. Clevon would be ok with me. He'd probably give me a Budweiser and invite me to a BBQ.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.