# 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:** 123
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2441 "2016-04-01T15:19:11Z")
On _The West Wing_, the President was named Josiah Edward Bartlet or “Jeb” because of his initials. OK, he wasn’t. His nickname was “Jed.” But it should have been “Jeb,” darn it. Or even Jeb! A million jokes lost because of a letter. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2442 "2016-04-01T18:05:05Z")
I don’t know how long i was watching The Cleveland Show before it occurred to me that the main character was named after a sports team. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2443 "2016-04-01T20:40:58Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I don’t know how long i was watching The Cleveland Show before it occurred to me that the main character was named after a sports team. :smack: I had to say it out loud to myself jsut now to get it. That’s…embarassing. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2444 "2016-04-01T20:54:39Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > \*One thing I noticed about Alternate Histories is that the alternate is always _worse_ than the current day. I don’t remember whether I finished reading it, but \*The Years of Rice and Salt \*wasn’t all that worse. Not idyllic of course, but the Sino-Muslim world is actually pretty cool in many regards. They even manage to decide never to ever build nuclear bombs. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2445 "2016-04-01T21:13:58Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > \*One thing I noticed about Alternate Histories is that the alternate is always _worse_ than the current day. Well, yeah. If things were better there would be no interesting story to tell. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2446 "2016-04-01T21:34:09Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > \*One thing I noticed about Alternate Histories is that the alternate is always _worse_ than the current day. Lord Darcy’s universe is actually a better than ours, in many respects. > **[Lord Darcy (character)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Darcy_(character))** > > Lord Darcy is a detective in a fantasy alternate history, created by Randall Garrett. The first stories were asserted to take place in the same year as they were published, but in a world with an alternate history that is different from the real world and that is governed by the rules of magic rather than the rules of physics. Despite the magical trappings, the Lord Darcy stories play fair as whodunnits; magic is never used to "cheat" a solution, and indeed, the mundane explanation is often obscu... The Paratime series home timeline is nicer than ours, but some timelines are worse, yes. > **[Paratime series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paratime_series)** > > The Paratime series written by H. Beam Piper and subsequently by John F. Carr consists of several short stories, one novella, and one novel, all but one of which were originally published in Astounding Science Fiction under the editorship of John W. Campbell. The series deals with an advanced civilization that is able to travel between parallel universes with alternate histories, and uses that ability to trade for goods and services that its own, exhausted Earth cannot provide. The protagonists o... there are others, of course. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2447 "2016-04-01T22:24:00Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Well, yeah. If things were better there would be no interesting story to tell. “Hitler won…and he turned out he was right all along, and everyone was much happier!” Are you saying that wouldn’t be a best seller? ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2448 "2016-04-02T06:24:29Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > The Detroit Pistons might seem appropriate for the Motor City, but it fit better in their previous city, Fort Wayne, Indiana. At the time, a whole lot of people there worked to make pistons and piston rings at the Perfect Circle plant. Well, yes - they were originally the Fort Wayne [Zollner Pistons](http://www.nba.com/pistons/features/behindthename.html), after their owner and founder Fred Zollner, who owned a factory that made…well, I’ll bet you can guess. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2449 "2016-04-03T21:20:20Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Well, yes - they were originally the Fort Wayne [Zollner Pistons](http://www.nba.com/pistons/features/behindthename.html), after their owner and founder Fred Zollner, who owned a factory that made…well, I’ll bet you can guess. Zollners? ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2450 "2016-04-06T12:08:45Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > The Detroit Pistons might seem appropriate for the Motor City, but it fit better in their previous city, Fort Wayne, Indiana. At the time, a whole lot of people there worked to make pistons and piston rings at the Perfect Circle plant. Same deal with the Houston Rockets. The Space Center! Of Course! [Nope.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Rockets#1967.E2.80.931971:_San_Diego_Rockets) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2451 "2016-04-07T00:35:08Z")
Thanks for that. [Johnny Carson] I did not know that. [/Johnny Carson] ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2452 "2016-04-18T19:13:36Z")
Watching Beetlejuice over the weekend and noticed a joke that I never picked up on before… Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin summon Beetlejuice and then are called back to the office of the after-life case worker (with the smoke coming out of her throat) While they are there, a bunch of football players are standing around the case-worker calling her coach over and over. They then ask where the bathroom is and leave. A little later when they GD and AB are leaving the office the football players return from the bathroom and say “Coach I don’t think we survived the crash” and she replies something like “what convinced to” so…the football players don’t know they’re dead, go to the bathroom, and return knowing they died… so when the crash occurred they were all playing with themselves and the crash made them all rips their little guys off. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2453 "2016-04-18T21:00:25Z")
I… don’t think that was what was intended at all. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2454 "2016-04-18T21:31:37Z")
Thats one of the most surreal posts I’ve ever read. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2455 "2016-04-23T15:31:44Z")
Hearing the Lion Sleeps Tonight made me think of James Earl Jones and Sheldon Cooper’s duet on The Big Bang Theory. James Earl Jones, who voiced Mufasa, the Lion King. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2456 "2016-04-23T18:55:34Z")
Okay, this isn’t the millionth time but it does qualify as a belated realization. I’ve seen Margot Robbie in a few movies before but I saw _Whiskey Tango Foxtrot_ this week. And I was thinking her Australian accent was really good. I then found out she’s from Australia. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2457 "2016-04-28T02:54:41Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Okay, this isn’t the millionth time but it does qualify as a belated realization. I’ve seen Margot Robbie in a few movies before but I saw _Whiskey Tango Foxtrot_ this week. And I was thinking her Australian accent was really good. > > I then found out she’s from Australia. Had a similar experience with Murdoch Mysteries just recently. I’ve been watching all 9 seasons in fits and spurts for months now. In the episodes where they have to investigate some connection in Quebec, I’ve been thinking what a good job the actor who plays Murdoch does at learning to pronounce his handful of phrases and lines in French, much more respectable and less cringeworthy than you usually see on TV shows. Then I discovered that he’s actually a native French speaker. You’d think a name like “Yannick Bisson” would have clued me in, but you would be wrong. Well, no wonder he can pronounce French correctly, then, huh? :smack: Finding out that English is his second language blew my mind. I can’t hear any accent at all. The major characters on that show are a mishmash of English accents, affected or otherwise, so of course the only one who sounds “normal” to my Mid-Atlantic American ear is the Francophone Canadian. Go figure. ---
**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:** [April 28, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2458 "2016-04-28T22:58:34Z")
I was just watching the _ **World of Tanks** _ commercial and realized the American tanker actually cocks his .50 caliber correctly: you have to pull the bolt back twice, or the thing won’t fire. Kudos to whoever produced and/or directed that commercial, and score one for historical accuracy! I remember once reading an interview with Charles M Schulz in which he talked about his wartime experiences. On one occasion, he forgot to pull the bolt on his machine gun back twice, and the German he was going to shoot was spared! (He took advantage of the situation to surrender.) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2459 "2016-04-29T00:22:49Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Gives a whole new meaning to Man of Steel, doesn’t it? > There’s an interesting concept – what if Joseph Stalin got that name because he was really the Last Son of Krypton, come to earth? Have you ever heard of “Red Son” [Superman: Red Son - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman:_Red_Son) ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2460 "2016-04-29T01:23:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Okay, this isn’t the millionth time but it does qualify as a belated realization. I’ve seen Margot Robbie in a few movies before but I saw _Whiskey Tango Foxtrot_ this week. And I was thinking her Australian accent was really good. > > I then found out she’s from Australia. If I remember the story correctly, and I may not, [Brad Dourif](http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/lotr/images/b/b0/Grima.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080707153733) kept up his British accent all through the filming of _Lord of the Rings_, even when not on camera. At the wrap party, Bernard Hill - Theoden - wondered why Dourif was affecting a cheesy American accent. Needless to say, Dourif’s from this side of the pond. [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=122) [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=124)