# Obvious things about a creative work you realize after the millionth time (OPEN SPOILERS POSSIBLE) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117 "2009-07-24T13:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 100
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1981 "2014-09-16T23:33:17Z")
Something I thought about the other day, while watching _Wreck-It Ralph_ again. Turbo got into another game, and it got turned off. Presumably, Turbo escaped…somehow, and turned up in Sugar Rush some 25-30 years later. What was he doing in the meantime? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1982 "2014-09-16T23:59:12Z")
Speaking of _Animal House_ … The school they go to is Faber College, and the school mascots is The Mongols. Mongol pencils are made by the Eberhard Faber company. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1983 "2014-09-17T00:03:06Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > Something I thought about the other day, while watching _Wreck-It Ralph_ again. > Turbo got into another game, and it got turned off. Presumably, Turbo escaped…somehow, and turned up in Sugar Rush some 25-30 years later. > > What was he doing in the meantime? I figure he fled the other game before it was unplugged and sat in the power hub being homeless like the Q-Bert guys. Probably wearing the sprite of someone local to the other game, since his time as King Candy suggests he can do that. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1984 "2014-09-17T00:21:28Z")
This isn’t a work of fiction, but I have been looking at packs of Dumaurier cigarettes for years as it is the most popular brand where I am, a few days ago I stepped over a discarded pack and it hit me hey red white and black color scheme that kind looks like the flag…omg! [![](http://www.cigarettespedia.com/images/a/a8/Du_maurier_with_vertical_line_with_square_s_10_h_trinidad.jpg) ](http://www.cigarettespedia.com/images/a/a8/Du_maurier_with_vertical_line_with_square_s_10_h_trinidad.jpg) [![](http://flagartist.com/FLAGARTIST/flags/S/sodipodi_flags_trinidad_and_tobago-1969px.png) ](http://flagartist.com/FLAGARTIST/flags/S/sodipodi_flags_trinidad_and_tobago-1969px.png) That isn’t the best example as they have had some pack designs over the years where it was even more obvious. I felt very dumb lol. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1985 "2014-09-17T15:06:48Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > Something I thought about the other day, while watching _Wreck-It Ralph_ again. > Turbo got into another game, and it got turned off. Presumably, Turbo escaped…somehow, and turned up in Sugar Rush some 25-30 years later. > > What was he doing in the meantime? I don’t think it was that long, was it? I thought the idea was that Turbo’s game was way, way past its prime when it finally broke for good. He might have gone straight over to Sugar Rush, more or less. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1986 "2014-09-17T19:01:05Z")
_Portlandia_ comedy-goddess [Carrie Brownstein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Brownstein) is the same person as guitar-goddess [Carrie Brownstein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Brownstein). I’d heard it mentioned a few times and just hand-waved it away in simple “pshaw, sure it is” disregard. You’d sooner have me believe that funkmeister James Brown was also the same record-setting Cleveland Browns running back. _quickly checks wikipedia…phew_ What’s doubly embarrassing is I’ve seen Sleater-Kinney a few times in concert :smack: It took a dentist-office waiting room article (People, Entertainment, something like that) to finally make me think that I wasn’t just being trolled by my hipster friends for the last few years. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1987 "2014-09-25T22:44:39Z")
Batman The Animated Series was my favorite show as a kid in the early 90’s. Watching it again I caught something I had missed as a kid, the first Clayface episode, the guy who becomes Clayface has a “friend” and they live together and at the end of the episode when the friend thinks Clayface has died he is crying… :smack:They are a gay couple! I missed this completely as a kid, but they are clearly meant to be. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1988 "2014-09-25T23:39:12Z")
So the other day I was listening to some Beatles song and someone sang the lyric “What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?” That sounded strangely familiar and it took me a few days to figure out: Its the Wonder Years theme! All this time, I’ve thought the words to that theme was “Watch what you do with that zang attitude” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1989 "2014-09-25T23:41:35Z")
The protagonist in John Varley’s novel _Steel Beach_ is a newspaper reporter. And he/she has adopted the pseudonym Hildy Johnson in homage to the famous newspaper reporter from the movies. And the reason I referred to the character as he/she is because this is a science fiction novel set in a future where sex changes as routine and the protagonist changes sex during the course of the story. Somehow, for twenty years, I missed the significance of the character being named Hildy Johnson. It wasn’t just a fictional reporter chosen at random. The character of Hildy Johnson has been played by both men (Jack Lemmon, Pat O’Brien) and women (Rosalind Russell, Kathleen Turner) in various versions of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1990 "2014-09-26T00:00:32Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > You’d sooner have me believe that funkmeister James Brown was also the same record-setting Cleveland Browns running back. _quickly checks wikipedia…phew_ I’m embarrassed to admit it, but for years I thought [James “JB” Brown](http://images.cbssports.com/images/cbs/sports/talent/james_brown_new.jpg), the TV football commentator was the former [running back](http://www.pigskinbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/jim-brown-raiders.jpg). It seemed to make sense to me: Jim Brown was a football player and he hasn’t been acting in a while so I figured he switched over to sports coverage like a lot of other famous retired players have. His celebrity years had really been before my time so it’s not like I would have recognized him on the street. I was even thinking he’s in great shape for a guy who must be in his sixties. ---
**Author:** ![Cheerleading\_Dropout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@Cheerleading\_Dropout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheerleading_Dropout)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1991 "2014-09-26T00:45:12Z")
Didn’t read all of these so someone may have already posted this, but: New Directions, the Glee club on _Glee_, sounds _exactly_ like “nude erections” when said aloud, especially when the announcers always announce that they won sectionals/regionals/etc., and elongate the “ew” sounds, which happens a LOT on the show. Not so much an obvious or intentional thing, but hard to forget once you realize it. Also (I didn’t realize this myself, saw it was online): Lord Farquaad from Shrek is named that so he’ll be Lord F\*ck-Wad. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1992 "2014-09-26T14:11:05Z")
Was reading a Buzzfeed article about the “stupidest things ever said on facebook” and one of them I didn’t know. The rapper will.i.am is just the spelling of william with periods in it! They also mentioend raper Flo Rida is just Florida with a space in it…I knew that one, but no will.i.am ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1993 "2014-09-26T14:36:37Z")
Every year I get the new edition of Broadways Greatest Gifts: Carols for a Cure. The 2013 edition included Perez Hilton’s 2013 Broadway Holiday Dishlist, with the lyric: The Phantom won’t retire. Chicago’s still on fire. I listened to the song about a hundred times before getting the “Chicago fire” connection. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1994 "2014-09-26T15:28:51Z")
Neil Diamond’s look at the end of THE JAZZ SINGER is, y’know, “Jewish Elvis”. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize just _how_ Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1995 "2014-09-26T17:56:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The protagonist in John Varley’s novel _Steel Beach_ is a newspaper reporter. And he/she has adopted the pseudonym Hildy Johnson in homage to the famous newspaper reporter from the movies. > > And the reason I referred to the character as he/she is because this is a science fiction novel set in a future where sex changes as routine and the protagonist changes sex during the course of the story. > > Somehow, for twenty years, I missed the significance of the character being named Hildy Johnson. It wasn’t just a fictional reporter chosen at random. The character of Hildy Johnson has been played by both men (Jack Lemmon, Pat O’Brien) and women (Rosalind Russell, Kathleen Turner) in various versions of the movie. I think it was that book were I found out that there were quite a few remakes of His Girl Friday. In my defense I don’t think I’d watched any of the other movies at the time. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1996 "2014-09-26T23:13:22Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Batman The Animated Series was my favorite show as a kid in the early 90’s. > > Watching it again I caught something I had missed as a kid, the first Clayface episode, the guy who becomes Clayface has a “friend” and they live together and at the end of the episode when the friend thinks Clayface has died he is crying… > > :smack:They are a gay couple! I missed this completely as a kid, but they are clearly meant to be. They were even more blatant with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1997 "2014-09-27T02:09:11Z")
I just recently realized that I was mondegreening Godspell, specifically “On The Willows”. I am not terribly familiar with the Exile stuff from the Old Testament, so I was thinking that the lyrics were “On the willows there, we hung up our LIVES”…that the Babylonians were hanging them for not singing “the songs of Zion”. I realized, literally a few months ago, that it was “hung up our LYRES”. That is, rather than share the songs of Zion, they just voluntarily gave up all music. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1998 "2014-09-27T02:21:19Z")
I hope it hasn’t been mentioned in this 40 page thread, but I disappointed in myself that I had to see the movie _Hook_ before I realized: Hook is afraid of growing old, just as Peter is afraid of growing up. The ticking clock should have been a dead giveaway, instead I had to wait for Peter to knock of Hook’s wig – who has hair like that anyway – and have Hook ask Peter for his dignity back. “I mean, yeah, Peter, I’m trying to kill you, no need to make me feel old 'tho.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1999 "2014-10-01T04:26:10Z")
Watching the episode of _ **Batman** _ with the first appearance of The Bookworm, I noticed for the first time that (a) the supervillain was a frustrated novelist, hence his obsession with books, and (b) that Miss Limpet, after whom I lusted in fifth grade, was the quintessential slutty librarian. :o ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2000 "2014-10-01T13:18:43Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I just recently realized that I was mondegreening Godspell, specifically “On The Willows”. I am not terribly familiar with the Exile stuff from the Old Testament, so I was thinking that the lyrics were “On the willows there, we hung up our LIVES”…that the Babylonians were hanging them for not singing “the songs of Zion”. I realized, literally a few months ago, that it was “hung up our LYRES”. That is, rather than share the songs of Zion, they just voluntarily gave up all music. Wow! I loved the cast album when I was about ten, and read the lyrics on the LP dust sleeve carefully then…yet I always thought it was “lives” as well (but “lyres” does make more sense.) I know I read the lyrics at the time, because I recall wondering why they mispronounced “job” in “All For the Best” – and why there was a typo, the “j” in that word being oddly capitalized… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=99) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=101)