11 Points Inbox-O-Rama, Number 4

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11 Points Inbox-O-Rama, Number 4
Posted Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 01:00:00 AM - Single-page view

Inbox-O-Rama comes a little later this week, because, well, quite frankly I dicked around all of Labor Day weekend so my entire schedule is thrown off. So let's dive into questions, comments and thoughts from 11Points readers.

As always, anyone whose message is featured in an Inbox-O-Rama gets a really cool 11Points sticker. Provided (1) you're patient, because four weeks in I'm still waiting on those bad boys to be delivered (2) you e-mail me, a total stranger, your mailing address so I have someplace to send the sticker and (3) you live in the U.S., because I can't blow my entire annual budget on mailing stickers to Micronesia.

Now, on with the show.

Is Sam in love with Lorenzo Lamas?
Sam's strange fixation on Lorenzo Lamas. I had no idea I'd developed an obsession...
You've made a lot of references to Lorenzo Lamas on this blog. [Including here, here and here.] Is he your go-to guy for 80s references? Do you have one for other decades or pop culture events?

--Zach
It's funny that Lorenzo Lamas keeps coming up in my lists, because I'm pretty sure I've never seen a single movie featuring him. And I didn't watch "Renegade" during its surprisingly long five-season run.

I think I find myself referencing Lorenzo Lamas because I'm pretty sure he's the biggest douchebag in the world. He's just got that face where you look at him and can't help but instantly hate him. How many people have that? Not many. And he's the a Totally '80s example of it.

I'm still letting my classic '90s reference work itself out. Who's it going to be? Matt LeBlanc? Arsenio? Andrew Shue? James van der Beek? Let's see who rises to the top.
Sam's first review was of Iron Man.
Where'd the movie reviews go? I haven't posted a movie review since October 13th of last year. A few people have noticed...
I was looking through the related lists yesterday, and I re-read your 11 Points movie reviews from last year, and remembered how much fun they were--are there ever going to be more? Did you stop going to the movies? Am I the only one who enjoyed them? Just curious--I would like to see some 11 Points reviews of this year's movies. Not that I would stop visiting the site or anything otherwise, just a thought.

--Jeremy (via Facebook)

and

Out of curiosity, is there any reason that you've stopped making the 11 points reviews? They seem like a good regular feature to the site...

--Yellowkirby (via the comments)
I've only done six movie reviews on this site (Iron Man, Wanted, Hancock, Dark Knight, Pineapple Express and Religulous). Really, there are two main reasons I stopped doing movie reviews:

1.) They've proven to be incredibly unpopular lists over time, with all six camping out in the bottom quartile of my lists, traffic-wise.

2.) I don't particularly enjoy writing them, and I think, with my writing style, it's very easy to tell when I'm finding my subject exciting or finding it a chore.

That's not to say I won't write more. I wrote about half of a list about "Bruno" but ended up shelving it because the list was coming out so preachy that I felt like Ziggy. (Or, at least, Homer and Mindy's opinions on Ziggy.)

So if I get inspired I may knock out a movie review from time to time. And at the end of the year I want to do some best-worst lists (from 2009 and from the entire decade), so there'll be plenty of movie talk there.
In defense of "The Simpsons" season 12. An Inbox-O-Rama wouldn't be complete without some big "Simpsons" debate...
Hello sir. I am a big fan of 11points.com and a fellow simpsons fan. In your most recent inbox-o-rama you responded to a bunch of questions from a reader about the "golden age" of the simpsons. I have always wondered when the "golden age" actually ended. I own the dvds for seasons 2-11, and i enjoy them all, but i am wondering at what point did they start to enter the "average" stage i feel they are in now? Since i shared many of the same favorite characters, episodes, etc.. from your response to the questions, i thought you would be a good person to ask. So should i buy season 12 or not?

--Shane.
I'm definitely not as much of a "Simpsons" purist as a lot of fans -- while I recognize the "Golden Age" I still think there have been tons of modern episodes that have been absolutely fantastic.

So, for you, Shane, here are 11 reasons to love season 12 of "The Simpsons".
1. Sideshow Bob hypnotizing Bart in a plan to have him blow up Krusty, in an episode featuring the lines, "Yep, getting drunk at the old flower shop" and "Ah, Kettle Chips the perfect side dish... for revenge!"
2. The fact that the boy band episode will imprint the song "Yvan eht nioj" in your head.
3. Three more screenshots to get you excited about season 12.
  Homer confusing tennis for "the sport where the chicks wail on each other ... foxy boxing" in the episode "Tennis the Menace".
4. During "Pokey Mom", as the family drives home from the apron expo, Homer says he's looking forward to going home and relaxing with a nice juice box, "because at the end of the day-- PRISON RODEO!"
5. The best episode of the season: "The Great Money Caper". Homer and Bart become con artists. The episode features a wealth of hilariously outdated carny lingo ("flim-flammin'" "now you're on the trolley" etc.)
6. The surprisingly good "Homer vs. Dignity" episode where Homer becomes Mr. Burns's prank monkey.
7. As Homer and Ned drive to save the children in "Skinner's Sense of Snow", Homer lying to Ned that he wrote the song "Feel Like Makin' Love" in memory of Princess Di... and Dodi.
8. The very cleverly done "Trilogy Of Error" episode, featuring Linguo AND 123 Fake Street.
9. A great travel episode where the Simpsons go to Africa AND a great "Simpsons retell stories" episode with tall tales.
10. "A Tale of Two Springfields" featuring a brilliant storyline about dividing the town, and a running gag with Homer misdialing the phone.
11. In "HOMR", Moe's business card reading, "That's right, I'm a surgeon."
Still not convinced? The actual Albuquerque minor league baseball team changed its name to the Isotopes based on the season 12 episode "Hungry, Hungry Homer".
Putting the Soul Man controversy to bed. So in my list of the 11 Worst Movie Posters of the 80s I wrote about the "Soul Man" poster and mentioned that I thought its tagline -- "Guess Who's Coming to College?" -- was completely irrelevant. Here's one response to that...
The Soul Man tagline isn't completely irrelevant, it's a play on "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" a play about a white girl who brings her black boyfriend home to meet her conservative family. However, the tagline alone isn't enough to convey the plot of the film.

--Smackracer
Smackracer was just one of lots of people wrote in to tell me it's not completely irrelevant, it's a reference to "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", which was also race-centric. (No one mentioned that the movie was remade with Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac, but that's probably for the best.)

I've included only Smackracer's e-mail in Inbox-O-Rama, though, because he sums up my thoughts exactly. OK, so the tagline references "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", which voids my "completely irrelevant" comment... but it's still not a good tagline for the movie.
Another new black person Photoshopped in or out!
Here's another "Photoshop out the black guy!" [The black guy was originally added for the English version of the site.]

--Kat
Once again, I am proud that my 11 Photos Where Black People Were Awkwardly Photoshopped In or Out list is starting to make me a go-to guy for these race-swappin' pictures. However, in retrospect, maybe I should've called that list guess who's coming to Photoshop.
Such an appropriate T9 switch. Sometimes I think that T9 is actually just reading what's going on in your subconscious...
I discovered another T9 word switch that I think is pretty funny. Try typing "Smirnoff" ... its first guess is "poisoned".

--Ian in Vermont
This is another great T9 switch. As much as I'm now a BlackBerry (and, therefore, fully QWERTY keyboard) guy, these are so good that I'm now fully on board for a list about the best 11 T9 switches. Please send yours in now so I can put it together!