Stuff for you to Buy Me....
Stuff for you to Buy Me....
I was a country kid. By that, I mean my parents bought a house way the hell back in the sticks, so far out that we couldn't get cable. That meant that there was an odd, kinda sad thrill at going to the home of a friend or relative who had ESPN or MTV. Going on vacation, or staying at a hotel for some reason, had a similar vibe to it, in its own way.
In high school, there were two minor pieces of popular culture that eluded me, if only because they weren't included on channels 3, 9, 12 or 61 out of Chattanooga...
The first was Ren & Stimpy, which held a real fascination for just about every guy in my sophomore class. I couldn't tell you why, exactly. When I did finally get to see an episode on the Nickelodeon some months after hearing everybody lose their minds over the cartoon, I found myself coming up something underwhelmed. As an aside, I often get the same when a lot of people recommend books or movies...I've taken the stance that I let myself buy the hype without even realizing it, and nowadays will generally let a measure of time pass if I feel I've received a lot of word...it tends to lessen any expectation a touch.
I've wandered.
The other thing that I kept seeming to hear about, somewhere in the neighborhood of my junior and senior year? The State.
My two friends, both named Bill, kept referencing something. Weeks and months probably went by before I finally asked what a specific reference meant--it eludes me, though I think I can discount "what does 'I wanna dip my balls in it?' mean?", since that's the sort of conversation you tend to save for your doctors and White House interns more than anything.
They brought me a tape of a State marathon one of them had taped off an MTV marathon.
Even then, I was skeptical. However, the Bills bought themselves a lifetime of gravitas with my introduction to The State. What I saw was a beautiful sketch comedy show that's stuck in my mind for the fifteen years or so since.
Just one of those things, where the humor shown hit a wavelength similar to what was in my own head. It left a mark, and I've tended to root for the writers and performers of that show ever since, in their efforts in books, TV and movies.
I've always found it something of a shame that the show hasn't popped up anywhere since it went off the air, my freshman year of college. I figured that it'd at least get a Kids-in-the-Hall like midday run on Comedy Central for years, considering MTV and Comedy Central are sister networks.
Since it went off the air, I had to make do with the Skits and Stickers VHS tape (that I seem to have lost in one move or another), and the handful of episodes that are available for download via Amazon, and the occasional episode that showed up on this Bit Torrent or another....
I say all that to say that The State is now supposed to come out on DVD come July 14 of this year. I am stoked, though a little dubious, since these rumors seem to swirl once a year for three or four years, now. David Wain & company even made a big to-do on The State's official site a couple summers ago about having recorded commentaries and worked with MTV to create a cool package for the series....only to have the whole shebang get nixed a few weeks from the DVD's release date.
So. July 14. I think I'll take the day off.
I was a country kid. By that, I mean my parents bought a house way the hell back in the sticks, so far out that we couldn't get cable. That meant that there was an odd, kinda sad thrill at going to the home of a friend or relative who had ESPN or MTV. Going on vacation, or staying at a hotel for some reason, had a similar vibe to it, in its own way.
In high school, there were two minor pieces of popular culture that eluded me, if only because they weren't included on channels 3, 9, 12 or 61 out of Chattanooga...
The first was Ren & Stimpy, which held a real fascination for just about every guy in my sophomore class. I couldn't tell you why, exactly. When I did finally get to see an episode on the Nickelodeon some months after hearing everybody lose their minds over the cartoon, I found myself coming up something underwhelmed. As an aside, I often get the same when a lot of people recommend books or movies...I've taken the stance that I let myself buy the hype without even realizing it, and nowadays will generally let a measure of time pass if I feel I've received a lot of word...it tends to lessen any expectation a touch.
I've wandered.
The other thing that I kept seeming to hear about, somewhere in the neighborhood of my junior and senior year? The State.
My two friends, both named Bill, kept referencing something. Weeks and months probably went by before I finally asked what a specific reference meant--it eludes me, though I think I can discount "what does 'I wanna dip my balls in it?' mean?", since that's the sort of conversation you tend to save for your doctors and White House interns more than anything.
They brought me a tape of a State marathon one of them had taped off an MTV marathon.
Even then, I was skeptical. However, the Bills bought themselves a lifetime of gravitas with my introduction to The State. What I saw was a beautiful sketch comedy show that's stuck in my mind for the fifteen years or so since.
Just one of those things, where the humor shown hit a wavelength similar to what was in my own head. It left a mark, and I've tended to root for the writers and performers of that show ever since, in their efforts in books, TV and movies.
I've always found it something of a shame that the show hasn't popped up anywhere since it went off the air, my freshman year of college. I figured that it'd at least get a Kids-in-the-Hall like midday run on Comedy Central for years, considering MTV and Comedy Central are sister networks.
Since it went off the air, I had to make do with the Skits and Stickers VHS tape (that I seem to have lost in one move or another), and the handful of episodes that are available for download via Amazon, and the occasional episode that showed up on this Bit Torrent or another....
I say all that to say that The State is now supposed to come out on DVD come July 14 of this year. I am stoked, though a little dubious, since these rumors seem to swirl once a year for three or four years, now. David Wain & company even made a big to-do on The State's official site a couple summers ago about having recorded commentaries and worked with MTV to create a cool package for the series....only to have the whole shebang get nixed a few weeks from the DVD's release date.
So. July 14. I think I'll take the day off.
posted by Tommy at
16:55
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