Notes for NABF03 (Moms I'd Like to Forget)

That was pretty nice. The dodgeball opening and feud was a little silly but it had a fun combination of flashback/new history and Marge's social life. Also, more importantly, it was consistently amusing once the plot kicked in - Homer and the other dads felt like a highlight. I did notice the resemblance of the scar to a sword toothpick pretty early but I guess that was intentional. (Actually I wasn't sure it would be important - from the time Bart asked about it until he meets the other boys in the treehouse it wasn't mentioned at all, even in response to his question.)

DYN: ...none of the other boys, moms, or dads from the club seemed to be named? (Right?)

Previous episode stuff MABF14: Tic Tac Toe: X v. O poster seen in Android's Dungeon Movie: Martin on flagpole (in its opening) used in tonight's too

Meta At the start of act 2, a license plate is seen that reads NABF03 (actually it looked like 01 at a glance but I'm assuming it was this own episode's code).

Goof? The 5th grader against Bart in the dodgeball showdown catches the ball after all. Fine, so he's not out. But shouldn't that just mean the match continues, not that he automatically wins?

Various other (kind of silly as notes go):

-Homer makes a big show of the taxes in act 2, and (on Fox at least) there was an elaborate H&R block ad in the commercial break just before it. I mention this mostly because they both stuck out, and it's not really tax season yet.

-Homer makes an annoying clock-ticking sound while meeting with the dads. It's actually pretty close to the sound I like to make sometimes when waiting at a red light (mimicking a turn signal). People find that annoying too, but sometimes I just can't help it.

-Homer's book of already-solved crossword puzzles is actually not such a terrible idea. He found it a fun source of trivia/vocabulary, but of course it would also be useful for learning obscure words and techniques for puzzles of the same skill level.

No. When I played dodgeball back in Middle School, if someone threw the ball at you you catch it, that person is out. So you gotta throw it hard.

However, the ball is considered "dead" once it hits a person, so technically, the 4th graders should have won the match.

-Joe Klemm

That wasn't the way it was played back when I was a kid. The fifth graders woulda won back then.

Once Upon A Time, SparkoHeaps wrote:

The way it was played when I was a kid was that the big kids would throw the balls at the little kids and hit them repeatedly until they cried. Then the bell would ring, ending recess, and the adults would come out of the building and collect the losers and wipe the tears away.

** Captain Infinity

On Jan 10, 7:30 pm, Captain Infinity wrote:

You had teachers that wiped away tears? Lucky bastard. I had a PE coach that participated in the game and did his best to inflict great pain, deriving great joy from any tears he could elicit.

On Mon, 10 Jan 2011, SparkoHeaps wrote:

You had a PE coach? Luxury. We had three stevedores who would come to our school during their lunch breaks to conduct the game, two of them holding one student at a time against the cinderblock wall while the third would hurl the ball at him repeatedly until nasal cartilage shattered. And we were grateful, I tell you, grateful for their time. They didn't have to do this, but chose to out of the goodness of their hearts, as a way of paying forward from their own youthful dodgeball games.

You used rubber balls? In my elementary school, we used M-16s. We shot at each other! The Gunfight at the OK-Corral? We had that every day in PE class.

But our PE coach was a hot blonde chick and she would have sex with us afterwards, so it was OK.

Mr. Museum Blue Pants Altosaxophony

wrote in message news:[email]...

Let me tell you sonny, let me set you straight. You kids today ain't never had it rough, always had everything handed to you on a silver plate. You lazy brats think nothing's good enough.

Well, nobody ever drove me to school when it was ninety degrees below, we had to walk butt naked through forty miles of snow. Worked in the coal mine twenty two hours a day for just half a cent. Had to sell my internal organs just to pay the rent, when I was your age.

"Nitesbane" wrote in news:igi96q$d5u$[email]:

I think you've gone off the deep end.

On Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:57:34 -0000, Nitesbane wrote:

Weird Al Yankovitch (SP?)

"Johny B Good" wrote in message news:op.vszekxw9kd9x7s@fred...

High Plains Drifter was more subtle.

BOMBARDMENT!?

-- R Flowers