Meat asks the trivia questions.
April 16, 2024 6:02 PM Subscribe
I've always enjoyed this short (Cash Cab Ben Bailey!), but it irks me that they left out the punchline to the whole story:
"And we can marked this sector unoccupied."posted by JoeZydeco at 6:30 PM on April 16 [3 favorites]
"Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?"
"Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotation ago, wants to be friendly again."
"They always come around."
"And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the universe would be if one were all alone.
Every time somebody references this story. Every. Time.
posted by kimota at 6:33 PM on April 16 [2 favorites]
posted by kimota at 6:33 PM on April 16 [2 favorites]
Oh good. I’ve seen this short several times before but seeing it again now has finally solved a niggling question I’ve been trying to work out for months now. That is, Peter Dinklage’s face was heavily reminding me of someone and I couldn’t pick out who. But here it is, it was Tom Noonan.
Now someone please make a film where they’re brothers.
posted by dumbland at 7:13 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]
Now someone please make a film where they’re brothers.
posted by dumbland at 7:13 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]
I think the first reference to the story was 21 years ago.
RIP Terry Bisson.
posted by gwint at 8:15 PM on April 16 [5 favorites]
RIP Terry Bisson.
posted by gwint at 8:15 PM on April 16 [5 favorites]
One of those classic Omni short pieces. Like Sandkings. or Unaccompanied Sonata.
(There's also that short about an old burnout sci-fi writer trying to pass a Uni exam essay question about his own story that he wrote decades ago? Can't recall the title.)
posted by ovvl at 8:28 PM on April 16 [3 favorites]
(There's also that short about an old burnout sci-fi writer trying to pass a Uni exam essay question about his own story that he wrote decades ago? Can't recall the title.)
posted by ovvl at 8:28 PM on April 16 [3 favorites]
My father once handed me a copy of Omni with this story, chuckling, and asked me to read it. I loved it! I especially loved the tone, as the dialogue appealed to my GenX teenage soul: the casual language captured shock and incredulity and eye-rolling facepalm reactions. Like, can you believe these meat-sacks? For real!
In particular, I loved the moment where one asks "Do you know the lifespan of meat?" and gets back an exasperated "Spare me!" followed by a desperate attempt to push this reality away again and find some better explanation.
I know this video has become something of a beloved touchstone for the past decade. I don't want to come across as declaring it BadWrongFun or anything, but I've always bounced off of it for the way the lines are delivered as a languid recitation. The character who is in the know is played by someone who got his face into frame and then just proceeds to waggle his eyebrows non-stop. The character who is learning that we're made of meat is played by someone who delivers that "Spare me!" line as though he'd never heard the expression before.
I don't mind so much the way it's set: nobody was going to put on robot suits or replace themselves with CG gas clouds or something. I can understand the shift from Stanislaw Lem-type cybernetic creatures meeting about an expedition back from Earth to some sort of twilight zone diner setting. It's not a bad choice! All the other people in the diner really work, here.
RIP Terry Bisson!
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 12:07 AM on April 17 [1 favorite]
In particular, I loved the moment where one asks "Do you know the lifespan of meat?" and gets back an exasperated "Spare me!" followed by a desperate attempt to push this reality away again and find some better explanation.
I know this video has become something of a beloved touchstone for the past decade. I don't want to come across as declaring it BadWrongFun or anything, but I've always bounced off of it for the way the lines are delivered as a languid recitation. The character who is in the know is played by someone who got his face into frame and then just proceeds to waggle his eyebrows non-stop. The character who is learning that we're made of meat is played by someone who delivers that "Spare me!" line as though he'd never heard the expression before.
I don't mind so much the way it's set: nobody was going to put on robot suits or replace themselves with CG gas clouds or something. I can understand the shift from Stanislaw Lem-type cybernetic creatures meeting about an expedition back from Earth to some sort of twilight zone diner setting. It's not a bad choice! All the other people in the diner really work, here.
RIP Terry Bisson!
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 12:07 AM on April 17 [1 favorite]
I would like to say that my one good deed for the education of America's youth was introducing my wife to this story (and the video) as she was trying to find some piece to re-engage some of her kids after reading Jane Eyre. She used it as a palate cleanser in a way and her students ate it up and made stories of their own. Gave the AP kids a nice break from "serious" literature for a couple of days.
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:36 AM on April 17 [2 favorites]
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:36 AM on April 17 [2 favorites]
Tom Noonan’s beard in this video is the platonic ideal of aging white guy beard. As an aging white guy, I keep trying to reach these heights of facial-hair splendor, knowing I will never reach my goal.
Thank you for posting this!
posted by FallibleHuman at 3:56 PM on April 17
Thank you for posting this!
posted by FallibleHuman at 3:56 PM on April 17
It's also Act Two of a This American Life episode, 'Greetings from Earth,' about how [we] 'Humans encounter non-human intelligences of various kinds and try to make sense of them.' (Mostly ChatGPT / GPT-4, from the viewpoint of testers at Microsoft right before it came out)
posted by northtwilight at 6:32 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
posted by northtwilight at 6:32 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
Love this story and short film. For any fans of The Wire, you might appreciate the cameo from Gbenga Akinnagbe (Chris Partlow)!
posted by taltalim at 10:55 AM on April 18
posted by taltalim at 10:55 AM on April 18
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