Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Josh McNeil to declare their independence, reel from the Overthinking iPhone backlash, and overthink popular culture (or rather the lack of popular culture) surrounding the 4th of July.
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One could make a case for Nathanael Greene being a suitable figure for an American Revolution film. He entered the war as a militia grunt and slowly rose to the level of general, where he did battle with Cornwallis time and again through the South. So not only do you have a sort of hero’s journey arc, but then there’s the cat and mouse game with Cornwallis. Mel Gibson played a vague approximation of him in The Patriot with little success, but I think if any Revolutionary participant warrants an honest-to-God biopic, it’s Greene.
Also, Natty Greene’s beer is quite good.
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Pretty_cool_guy
(the meme in question)
imho particularly great episode. keep up the good work.
i have noticed Mr. Fenzel using some obscure internet references during the podcasts, which seems to be a bit lost on the other podcasters and maybe even on the audience. despite that i would like to express my wish for some scrutiny for the lower levels of pop-culture, the underbelly of the internet, the imageforums, memes etc. cause there is a lot going on involving tens of thousands of people and i would say that it is often even more fascinating then it is disgusting.
Fenzel, I didn’t put two and two together about your sister until it was made explicit this time around. Best wishes to her and all of your family.
Josh, I was about to ask you about it (I always write as I listen) when you mentioned _John Adams_. Whew. Glad you saw it. McCulluough’s books (and the movies they inspire) are all great.
Anne Coulter is a crazy right-wing demagogue that is so insane she actually believes her own rhetoric. Whereas I sometimes think Limbaugh doesn’t always buy into what he says, I think she’s 100% serious and sincere when she opens that mouth of hers.
Well, ACTUALLY, the First Lady in _ID4_ was in Los Angeles, NOT D.C. Ahem. That’s how Vivica A. Fox was able to find her.
Didn’t Lincoln and Washington’s b-days get combined for President’s Day?
Poe was crazy.
Thinking of War of Independence related pop culture, the BBC produced a comic radio series set in Baltimore in 1770 called Revolting People http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolting_People which is quite hilarious.
Also, the latest from Zachary Quinto’s sketch troupe: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ec288d05f5/zachary-quinto-presents-forefathers It’s a bit unAmerican, so of course, as a Brit, I heartily approve.
Now that was nice episode. I even got some overthinking of my persona. I’d like to refute Mark’s suggestion about me being Polish nationalist. I’m more Rohan patriot. Eowin’s hot. But I am rambling due lack of sleep.
I would like to point out that Poland wrote and put in place its constitution as first country in Europe. We where second only to you guys in US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_May_3,_1791
*flying star* The more you know!
What if the USB connector technology in Independence day is based on the alien technology from the Roswell tortilla? Then Powerbooks would be based on 1940’s alien computer hardware and the whole war of the worlds was actually alien action against interstellar copyright infringements.
Would ID4 then be an allegory on the destructive effect of the model of “free trade” that the US, IMF and WTO impose on developing countries?
It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that Overthinkingit.com is the second result returned when a search on Google is performed using the key terms “Avatar Sucks.”
The current number one is a vastly inferior website entitled avatarsucks[dot]com.
CURSE YOU SEOs!
Please don’t get me started on how historically inaccurate ‘The Patriot’ was…
@Gab- yes they did. I guess that the school system was tired of giving kids a day off within weeks of each other so they decided to give them just one day for the both. At leat that’s my guess. Although in IL we still celebrate Lincoln’s birthday.
I like how different states have different stuff they focus on for “holidays” to designate. It’s amusing, the things they’ll come up with. Nevada celebrates “Nevada Day” to commemorate the day it became a state on the 31st of October, usually resulting in at least a three-day, if not four-day weekend for Halloween for the kiddoes.
Is the livestream thing still on hiatus?
@Gab- I didn’t know that! And I find it interesting as well, esp the controversy around South Carolina highlighting the Confederacy with the “Confederacy Month” (not the exact name but close enough).
re Paul Revere: It’s actually a common minconception that he warned the town of Concord. While Revere *did* warn the patriots on the way that the British were coming technically he didn’t warn Concord. He was riding with two other men (Dawes and Prescott) when they were stopped by British troops. Prescott managed to escape by jumping his horse over a wall and was the one who told the town. Revere and Dawes were detained by the troops and escorted back to Lexington.
It’s only Longfellow’s peom that gives Revere the credit.