Syracuse, NY – I went to Planet Fitness after work. It was crowded. Almost every piece of cardio equipment was occupied. I was lucky enough to get the last free elliptical. I was halfway through my workout when a big guy walked by. I adjusted my headphones, grabbed the handles and stared at the TV. Moments later, a huge whiff of fart smacked me in the face. My mouth was open.
I regained my appetite by the time I got home. I threw some chicken on the George Foreman, warmed up leftover veggies and made some couscous. For entertainment I watched Family Guy on Hulu.com. The episode was called “Dial Meg for Murder.”
In one scene, Meg has just gotten home after spending time in jail. She has tattoos and muscles. To show off her toughness, she beats up Peter. He takes some hits to the face and falls to the floor. I thought it was all over until Meg dragged him to the stairs, puts his open mouth on the corner of the last step and stomped. Even though it was a cartoon, I cringed.
The whole scene reminded me of American History X, the 1998 cult classic that defined the curb stomp. Despite the gratuitous violence, the film was excellent. I’m not going to sum up; that wouldn’t do it justice. I will say that 20-40% of the film followed Neo-Nazi Danny Vinyard, played by Edward Norton, in jail. These scenes reminded me of a New Yorker article on Mickey Mouse.
A New York Times article “After Mickey’s Makeover, Less Mr. Nice Guy,” by Brooks Barnes, was inspiration for Paul Rudnick’s “Modern Mickey,” a hilarious take on Mickey Mouse’s new look. In a satirical memo to the Disney Board of Directors, Rudnick offered “a few tweaks” to Mickey’s face lift. Here’s two of them,
—Once Mickey is in the maximum-security prison, how about if he gets a crude tattoo of Jesus wearing the white gloves?
—In the scene where Mickey tries therapy, we love it when Mickey tells his rhino shrink, “I grew up behind the walls of a one-room hellhole in the ghetto. It was infested with filth and vermin, including my cousins.” But we question the moment when Mickey breaks down sobbing and howls, “It’s true! They used my mother to test hair coloring!”
Check out the article. On the other hand, that Family Guy episode was a bit disturbing and over the top. Now that I think about it, I’m sure Seth MacFarlane used “American History X” as inspiration for the scene (aha moment).
- east coast paper boy
Tags: After Mickey’s Makeover, aha moment, american history x, Brooks Barnes, cardio equipment, comedy, couscous, cult classic, curb stomp, dial meg for murder, disney, edward norton, elliptical, family guy, farted, fox, funny, george forman, gym, hulu.com, humor, Less Mr. Nice Guy, meg, mickey mouse, modern, modern mickey, new mickey, new york, new york times, ny, ny times, paul rudnick, peter, planet fitness, seth macfarlane, syracuse, the new yorker, working out
Forever linked: I just read The New Yorker piece on Mickey. There are some hilarious one-liners, many shots people have been waiting to take at the squeaky-clean mouse.
I wanted to link the Family Guy episode on our mag class Twitter feed (Brian gets a free lance gig to write for Teen People), but the stomp scene and all the stuff with the bull dominating Peter made me think otherwise.
–VC