# 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:** 83
**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:** [December 8, 2013, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1641 "2013-12-08T08:36:43Z")
Edit - Ooops, missed one very critical word in the post I’m replying to, so this post rendered vaguely nonsensical. \>_\> Still, an interesting bit of trivia. \>_\> > [@furryman](#): > > possibly the longest comic title of all time): “The Space Family Robinson is Lost in Space on Space Station One”. [Noooope.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LongTitle) (See, in particular, the Literature section…I think the Film section has a significant amount of vandalism…) Doesn’t even come close to, for instance, the full title of Robinson Crusoe (since we’re talking about stuff referencing it): > [@](#): > > The Life and strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, where-in all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pyrates. Written by Himself. ---
**Author:** ![Einstein\_was\_a\_Hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e99b99/32.png) [@Einstein\_was\_a\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einstein_was_a_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1642 "2013-12-09T07:33:45Z")
Reading every page of this thread has led me to join the forums… Re: The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine: …sky of blue and sea of green **in** our yellow submarine… I was a kid when Yellow Submarine came out and my parents were “Hippies”…my Dad once told me (and showed me, circa 1969) that the Yellow Submarine was a joint. Back then most rolling papers were a yellow color and everybody rolled their joints with it. He pointed out how the joint looked like a submarine, then he lit it and said “Sky of blue…” pointing to the bluish smoke rising up from the lit joint, “…and sea of green…” pointing to the pot inside the joint, took a hit and finished with “…IN our yellow, submarine.” He said the sea of green was “in” the Yellow Submarine and represented the pot, and the smoke, as it passed through the pot into the mouth was also how the “sky of blue” was “in” the Yellow Submarine. That’s how they both were “in” the Yellow Submarine. Then he said that’s why the Beatles’ music changed so drastically, because they had discovered pot and all sorts of other goodies. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1643 "2013-12-09T08:23:28Z")
How did your dad explain the rocking horse people eating marshmallow pies? ---
**Author:** ![Einstein\_was\_a\_Hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e99b99/32.png) [@Einstein\_was\_a\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einstein_was_a_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1644 "2013-12-09T10:42:04Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > How did your dad explain the rocking horse people eating marshmallow pies? Don’t recall discussing that one. But from an [interview John Lennon gave to Playboy](http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1980.jlpb.beatles.html) right before he died, he said that song was based on a picture Julian made. Don’t know if I believe him. But I think I would like to get to know those Rocking Horse People, and try some of their marshmallow pies. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1645 "2013-12-09T15:01:28Z")
> [@Einstein\_was\_a\_Hippie](#): > > Reading every page of this thread has led me to join the forums… I’m honored. Especially since I started this thread over four years ago!! ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1646 "2013-12-09T15:56:42Z")
There’s a VERY subtle moment in A Christmas Carol that I didn’t notice until someone else pointed it out. (It might have been on this very forum.) When Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present visit Fred’s Christmas party, Fred’s wife is described as not exerting herself physically–sitting out the more boisterous games like blindman’s bluff, with an afghan over her knees, but joining in the word games and the singing. Later, on the “real” Christmas Day, when Scrooge goes to visit them, the two are looking over their table to make sure it’s set right, when Scrooge calls out to them. Fred’s wife is startled, and Scrooge thinks, “he had forgotten about her sitting in the corner, or he wouldn’t have startled her on any account.” Dickens is indicating, in the most Victorian way possible, that Fred’s wife is pregnant! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1647 "2013-12-09T16:33:34Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I didn’t get the reference in Lost In Space until I saw the name of the Gold Key comic (and possibly the longest comic title of all time): “The Space Family Robinson is Lost in Space on Space Station One”. Actually, the Gold Key comic _Space Family Robinson_ preceded the TV show _Lost in Space_ by a couple of years. The comics people considered suing the makers of _Lost in Space_, but figured TV had deeper pockets, and they’d get more mileage out of the free publicit, so they settled for putting “Lost in Space” atop their logo, even though their comic had no Robot or Dr. Smith, and had the wrong number of kids (with different names). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1648 "2013-12-09T16:35:31Z")
> [@Einstein\_was\_a\_Hippie](#): > > Don’t recall discussing that one. But from an [interview John Lennon gave to Playboy](http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1980.jlpb.beatles.html) right before he died, he said that song was based on a picture Julian made. Don’t know if I believe him. But I think I would like to get to know those Rocking Horse People, and try some of their marshmallow pies. The picture is on several internet sites, like this one: > **[Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds](https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/lucy-in-the-sky-with-diamonds/)** > > Written by: Lennon-McCartney Recorded: 28 February; 1, 2 March 1967 Producer: George Martin Engineer: Geoff Emerick Released: 1 June 1967 (UK), 2 June 1967 (US) Available on: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Anthology 2 Yellow Submarine Songtrack... ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1649 "2013-12-09T18:21:05Z")
> [@Einstein\_was\_a\_Hippie](#): > > Don’t recall discussing that one. But from an [interview John Lennon gave to Playboy](http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1980.jlpb.beatles.html) right before he died, he said that song was based on a picture Julian made. Don’t know if I believe him. But I think I would like to get to know those Rocking Horse People, and **try some of their marshmallow pies**. It’s entirely possible John was in a store and saw [a box of these](http://www.taquitos.net/candy/Little_Debbie_Marshmallow_Pie)or some similar product. ---
**Author:** ![Einstein\_was\_a\_Hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e99b99/32.png) [@Einstein\_was\_a\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einstein_was_a_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1650 "2013-12-09T23:37:11Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I’m honored. Especially since I started this thread over four years ago!! It is an awesome thread idea! > [@CalMeacham](#): > > The picture is on several internet sites, like this one: > > [Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds – song facts, recording info and more! | The Beatles Bible](http://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/lucy-in-the-sky-with-diamonds/) Wow, thanks, very cool! Thanks for turning me on to the site! > [@NDP](#): > > It’s entirely possible John was in a store and saw [a box of these](http://www.taquitos.net/candy/Little_Debbie_Marshmallow_Pie)or some similar product. Oh hell yeah! Love those things 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1651 "2013-12-09T23:53:44Z")
I too love this thread, and just want to point out, that about two seconds ago, while looking at the image of Little Debbie Marshmallow Pies, I realized what “rocking horse people” means. It’s children. Children love rocking horses, and will gladly eat a marshmallow pie while rocking on their horse. OMG, I love this thread even more than I thought was possible. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1652 "2013-12-10T00:40:22Z")
I want to echo this sentiment, as I have NOT read every post. Yet. > [@cjepson](#): > > OK, I’ve decided to jump into this thread, even though I have no intention of ever reading the first 1000 posts, so I have no idea if this has been mentioned. So … many … spoilers … in … thread … > [@CaptMurdock](#): > > The Candles. Are Not. Lit. > > :smack: I just watched that for like the 100th time and STILL MISSED THAT! > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Holden Caufield has a red hunters cap that he likes to wear backwards, with the bill in the back. This was not the style in the 1950’s. In that era, the only person who would wear a cap that way would be a baseball _catcher_. OMG … this thread, it so much delivers. > [@grude](#): > > This is possibly disputed but… > > Some see the scene as a confirmation Deckard himself is a replicant. Before I even dare say anything, isn’t there a Blade Runner thread here somewhere which argues about this for a hundred pages? Or did I dream that? Gaff knew of the implanted memories that Deckard has, which is why he left the tin-foil origami of a unicorn and didn’t kill Rachael. DECKARD IS A REPLICANT! It took me twenty years to catch that. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2013, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1653 "2013-12-10T11:26:04Z")
Until the last few posts in this thread I wasn’t aware that marshmallow pies existed. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1654 "2013-12-14T15:55:07Z")
Over in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=16929185#post16929185) thread, it’s pointed out the Jingle Bell Rock’s lyric “dancin’ and prancin’” refers to Dancer and Prancer, two of Santa’s reindeers. Well, I did not make that connection. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Hamsandwich)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1655 "2013-12-14T19:22:44Z")
After reading A Clockwork Orange nth times I finally realized the protagonists name, Alex DeLarge, was roughly translated to Alexander the Great. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1656 "2013-12-14T19:24:51Z")
> [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](#): > > After reading A Clockwork Orange nth times I finally realized the protagonists name, Alex DeLarge, was roughly translated to Alexander the Great. :smack: Good one. _Really_ good one. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1657 "2013-12-14T20:18:31Z")
> [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](#): > > After reading A Clockwork Orange nth times I finally realized the protagonists name, Alex DeLarge, was roughly translated to Alexander the Great. :smack: It’s hard to see how you would get that from _reading_ ACO, since the name DeLarge appears nowhere in the book! Alex does refer to himself sardonically as “Alexander the Large” when he is having his way with the two girls from the record shop. Anthony Burgess pointed out in an essay that he had not given Alex a last name, but Stanley Kubrick gave him two: he is identified at different points in the movie as Alex DeLarge and Alex Burgess. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Hamsandwich)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1658 "2013-12-14T21:08:56Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > It’s hard to see how you would get that from _reading_ ACO, since the name DeLarge appears nowhere in the book! Alex does refer to himself sardonically as “Alexander the Large” when he is having his way with the two girls from the record shop. Anthony Burgess pointed out in an essay that he had not given Alex a last name, but Stanley Kubrick gave him two: he is identified at different points in the movie as Alex DeLarge and Alex Burgess. You’re probably right. Haven’t read the book in awhile. I just assumed that’s where I remembered it from. Going over it in my mind, I think I remember Alex stating his full name during the prison intake process. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Hamsandwich)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1659 "2013-12-14T21:16:55Z")
From Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > In the film, his surname is DeLarge, referring to Alex’s calling himself “Alexander the Large” in the novel. I stand corrected, but I still wonder if the reference Kubrick was making to Alexander the Great was intentional or not seeing as Alex was a megalomaniac, among other things. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1660 "2013-12-15T01:12:25Z")
This may be so obvious to everyone else that it’s uninteresting, but to me it was a mini-revelation: In the Christmas song [Silver Bells](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNwGVgfkcgI), the second verse begins: **“Strings of street lights, even stop lights Blink a bright red and green”** To the extent I ever thought about it I guess I thought they were saying that even the stop lights were decorated. Tonight while listening to it I realized they’re just pointing out that stop lights _literally_ blink red and green (and, nowadays, yellow), much as they do every other season of the year. Oh!! (BTW, the linked video of the song’s original incarnation is very pleasant, brief moment of outdated racial humor notwithstanding…) [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=82) [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=84)