Comments on: Dear Meme

Dear Meme

ztdavis — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 12:26:04 -0800

(Spoilers in most links). So an SNL digital short, Dear Sister spoofs the second season finale of the OC. Now the internets just don't know when to stop, with parodies (of the parody) playing on everything from the obvious like The Departed, LOST, Snatch, The Matrix, Reservoir Dogs, and Predator to the not-so-obvious like Lord of the Rings, Raging Bull, Monty Python, Duck Hunt (my favorite), Looney Toons, LazyTown, Smash Brothers, Office Space, and Bio-Ooze Super Soakers.

By: ztdavis

ztdavis — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 12:40:22 -0800

A youtube search for Dear Sister sorted by date yields tons more. Just a few: Seinfeld Scrubs President Truman to Japan Deer Hunter Grape Stomping 300 House Pulp Fiction

By: Justinian

Justinian — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 12:43:01 -0800

I kind of like the Lord of the Rings one.

By: niles

niles — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 12:47:02 -0800

for those of us wondering: Hide and Seek, by Imogen Heap.

By: phaedon

phaedon — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 12:50:17 -0800

I fucking hate shit like this. *runs off to do own version, thank niles*

By: saraswati

saraswati — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:02:26 -0800

Thanks for providing the link to the original OC scene. I don't watch the show and the SNL Dear Sister sketch is even more funny after watching.

By: obvious

obvious — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:09:07 -0800

The SNL version gets the timing better than a lot of these. But I do like the 300 one.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:14:44 -0800

The Reservoir Dogs clip had so much potential, but it really fell flat. They totally missed the whole Super sounds of the 70's meme.

By: spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints

spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:15:02 -0800

I clicked the Lost link first (I haven't followed the OC) and was completely lost. Ok, Michael shoots two people, and then someone dubbed in music. WTF? Next time I'll RTFP/CTFL.

By: quin

quin — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:23:01 -0800

The way the Predator one deals with machine gun fire gave me a real laugh.

By: kolophon

kolophon — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:33:11 -0800

I can't stop listening to Hide And Seek since I saw that SNL skit.

By: JT

JT — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:52:37 -0800

I leave it to someone braver than me to edit a Bud Dwyer version.

By: pkingdesign

pkingdesign — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:54:32 -0800

wow. WOW. I hate the OC. The SnL skit was awesome before I saw the last 3min of the OC, can't say that it added anything to it. I did laugh at the OC a little, though.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:00:43 -0800

The Duck Hunt one is pretty funny!

By: timelord

timelord — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:15:04 -0800

This seems like an appropriate time to link to The 'BU which is another OC-styled parody done by the The Lonely Island* for Channel 101. *For those out of the loop, the three guys who make up The Lonely Island are the same people who're responsible for most for the SNL digital shorts. The only member who gets any real screen time, though, is Andy Samberg. In the "Dear Sister" clip, he's the second one to appear on screen (and the second to get shot).

By: anthill

anthill — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:33:46 -0800

Props for Raging Bull!

By: good in a vacuum

good in a vacuum — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:35:36 -0800

The Predator one is brilliant.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:39:38 -0800

huh, after hearing that song I figured imogen heap was some kind of boy band. But apparently not only is it just one person, it's a british woman.

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:54:06 -0800

Hilarious. Good song too.

By: phaedon

phaedon — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 15:25:59 -0800

This post pushed me over the Final Cut Express edge. Installing...

By: dhartung

dhartung — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 15:48:41 -0800

I decided to quit watching. I didn't want "Hide and Seek" to be ruined for me. (I guess it doesn't help that I haven't had a television for a few years now.) I'm amused by the joke, the first time, but as a meme? Meh.

By: danb

danb — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 15:54:12 -0800

For some reason, even though it's immediately obvious what the joke is 30 seconds into the SNL skit, I still watched, like, seven of the parodies.

By: phaedon

phaedon — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 16:01:36 -0800

The Truman one is pretty sick.

By: flotson

flotson — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 16:59:40 -0800

Don't watch the OC, but the Duck Hunt parody is one of those little things that keeps me sane.

By: pokermonk

pokermonk — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:13:51 -0800

so, is the music's use in the OC finale really, really, really weird or has my perception of it been altered by watching the parodies first?

By: quin

quin — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:19:00 -0800

I was wondering the same thing pokermonk, it seems to start too early in the scene, and the musical choice itself seems really odd. I'm betting we aren't the only ones who found it to be a little off, as it obviously prompted the people at SNL to parody it.

By: brookedel

brookedel — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:24:41 -0800

I did watch The OC, and I was surprised when SNL did a parody of it since that episode aired, like, 2 years ago. But yes, the entire sequence of events was worth it to bring us the Duck Hunt video. The slow zoom on the shrieking duck was brilliant. I bet The OC folks are pissed that all this parody attention is coming right after they were canceled, rather than before when it might've helped.

By: mrnutty

mrnutty — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:25:50 -0800

Hahaha! Yeah, the predator one was f'ing brilliant.

By: mrnutty

mrnutty — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:26:32 -0800

(and by "f'ing" I mean "fucking")

By: brookedel

brookedel — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:55:43 -0800

so, is the music's use in the OC finale really, really, really weird or has my perception of it been altered by watching the parodies first? I think it comes across as extremely odd and cheesy in the two-minute YouTube clip, but in the context of the full episode it was surprisingly powerful. They had used the song earlier in the episode during a funeral sequence, so the callback had some emotional resonance. Also, I think the clip seems awkward because it jumps from no-music dialogue into crazy vocoder land seemingly out of nowhere. Since an actual OC episode is essentially a 45-minute indie-rock sampler CD, it didn't seem as weird.

By: quite unimportant

quite unimportant — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:58:12 -0800

Man, I love that song. Now it's all HURFDURFSNLDEARSISTER. Damn.

By: jourman2

jourman2 — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 18:17:47 -0800

Randy Johnson

By: Hildegarde

Hildegarde — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 18:26:14 -0800

I love that song. Can't watch any more of the vids for fear of ruining it. And kafziel, wtf is that?

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 18:39:38 -0800

quin: Agreed on the Predator clip's use of machine gun fire. I was surprised that the Matrix clip didn't do the lobby scene instead, but that may have it covered.

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 18:45:18 -0800

The other obviously missing thing (to me) is slowing down the audio for the slow motion bits.

By: defenestration

defenestration — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 19:41:52 -0800

Worth it for the Duck Hunt and Wabbit Season clips alone.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 19:47:53 -0800

I don't watch OC, so I had no frame of reference for the SNL spoof. This makes it way funnier for me. Thanks for helping an old man understand a cultural reference.

By: cribcage

cribcage — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 20:10:50 -0800

it's immediately obvious what the joke is 30 seconds into the SNL skit... I've never heard of "the OC." I've got no idea what channel it's on, or what it's about. And while I can believe that the SNL short becomes funny if you get the joke, I'm amused to see people in this thread who (a) like me, didn't get the joke, yet (b) laughed at the short anyway. That phenomenon always cracks me up — people who laugh at jokes they don't get, because somehow they recognize that they're supposed to laugh even if they don't understand why. There's a great bit about that in Waiting For Guffman, where Fred Willard is doing impressions for Catherine O'Hara, who laughs and laughs and then keeps laughing while she admits that she has no idea who he's mimicking. Anyway. Kristen Wiig is saving SNL. And while I can't really stand either Seth Meyers or Amy Poehler individually, I have to admit that they've been rocking "Weekend Update." They're doing the best work I've seen since Norm.

By: wendell

wendell — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 20:49:03 -0800

Okay, this meme has now officially gone too far. I was in a store when that song came on over the Muzak speakers and somebody immediately screamed: "Oh my God! He's been shot!"

By: filmgeek

filmgeek — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 21:04:09 -0800

Will someone post (well, actually link) to the original OC one?

By: niles

niles — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 21:22:02 -0800

filmgeek: It's the second link in the post

By: thirteenkiller

thirteenkiller — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 21:58:24 -0800

Oh my God he's been shot!

By: gummi

gummi — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 22:10:23 -0800

The Randy Johnson one made me spill my wine. Thanks for that!

By: gummi

gummi — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 23:09:57 -0800

Also, now the memes appear to be inbreeding.

By: bstreep

bstreep — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 23:17:36 -0800

I, too, had never watched the O.C. so I never made the connection. But the SNL skit still works without knowing the direct source of the spoof, because I had seen similar scenes in other shows and movies. Boromir's death is a good example, as shown above. Although, having now seen the O.C. clip, the musical choice makes much more sense. Also, what cribcage said about Kristen Wiig. She's like Gold!

By: phaedon

phaedon — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 01:05:18 -0800

Well, this is apparently the original video for Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek".

By: phaedon

phaedon — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 01:05:59 -0800

And boy does it suck.

By: pineapple

pineapple — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 08:40:23 -0800

The video sure does suck, but the song is very compelling. I've never heard it before today. I'm hesitant to click on the link marked "Virginia Tech Shootings - Imogen Heap Hide and Seek." I figure I'll either be disgusted, or moved because of the song -- but then subsequently feel shallow for having been moved over footage from a truly tragic event reduced to a meme thanks to a Youtube rip-off of an SNL parody of an O.C. finale. Fortunately, at that point the universe will implode and all will go quiet again. But I still think I'll wait till after I've had some tea.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:01:19 -0800

The "Virginia Tech" clip is exactly what you'd think it would be.

By: darkripper

darkripper — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:17:10 -0800

I shot a man in Reno just to listen Imogen Heap.

By: Trochanter

Trochanter — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 11:03:21 -0800

It is a cool song. Sorta harkens way back to "Oh Superman" by Laurie Anderson.

By: phaedon

phaedon — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 11:29:41 -0800

So, I wasn't kidding about going out and buying Final Cut Express, and just as luck would have it, Amazon finally shipped me a movie that hasn't been available in a Region 1 DVD in the 12 years since it first came out in France. It also happens to be one of my favorites movies of all time. So without further ado, a shot across the bow to all one-link youtube posts: La Haine

By: Tbola

Tbola — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 11:35:51 -0800

Who's the curly haired actor in the SNL skit? (the first shooter) His "troubled" mugging for the camera was pretty well done.

By: ill3

ill3 — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:53:57 -0800

Tbola, he is Andy Samberg.

By: aftermarketradio

aftermarketradio — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 13:03:32 -0800

Would someone more skilled than I please turn this video into a "Dear..." parody?

By: straight

straight — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 13:55:07 -0800

That phenomenon always cracks me up — people who laugh at jokes they don't get, because somehow they recognize that they're supposed to laugh even if they don't understand why. Sometimes a really good joke or parody can be reverse-engineered. By your brain. In real time. Seriously. I've watched parodies where I didn't know the thing being parodied, but the parody was good enough that I could imagine the original, understand why it deserved mockery, and laugh at the joke.

By: spiderskull

spiderskull — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 13:58:22 -0800

Apparently, this song is used in quite a few TV shows, which is unsurprising considering how infectious it is.

By: c:\awesome

c:\awesome — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 14:04:01 -0800

Dear Sister: Garbage Day edition

By: ill3

ill3 — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 14:36:23 -0800

aftermarketradio, awesome idea I should have something up in a minute.

By: ill3

ill3 — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 15:01:19 -0800

I present you DEA Sister.

By: blasdelf

blasdelf — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 15:37:04 -0800

La Haine posted by phaedon at 11:29 AM on April 29 [+] [!] That scene is exactly what I thought of too!

By: kimdog

kimdog — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 18:53:15 -0800

I've had that song on my i-Pod for eons... I didn't realize that it was a freaking meme! High-larious.

By: aftermarketradio

aftermarketradio — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:09:39 -0800

aftermarketradio, awesome idea I should have something up in a minute. I thank you. /doffs hat

By: who squared

who squared — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 22:08:24 -0800

When I first saw this I didn't know it was about the OC at all. I thought it was very funny but went on a bit too long---as do most SNL skits. I took it to be a parody of certain types of movie death scenes. Looking at the original, it doesn't really work as a parody of the OC finale, for me, at all.

By: who squared

who squared — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 23:36:20 -0800

Here's another request, ill3, or anybody else. Madtv has a spoof of The Sound of Music that would work really well with this. At about the 1:52 mark, on the video, Rolf shoots the Von Tramp family.

By: who squared

who squared — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 23:43:21 -0800

Err, Von Trapp.