I guess we're going to have to Tron for this

July 16, 2009 7:24 AM

Cheech and Chong discuss the current financial times, but cannot agree on economic forces in regards to the real price of goods, and decide they'll have to "Tron for this." This video is the second of Mean Magazine's videos made in some collaboration with Microsoft, through a series of "Cinemash" shorts. The videos are streaming on MSN, though they're sharing a clip of Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Sid and Nancy. (previous Mean Mag video on the blue)
posted by filthy light thief (25 comments total)

The videos are intended to hype the Zune, as the only way you can download them is on the Zune Marketplace.

I wasn't sure how to directly link to the individual videos on MSN, so the Tron clip is viewable on io9's page, where I first saw the video.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:27 AM on July 16

Wait... that was a Zune advertisement?

SYSTEM ERROR
UNDERSTANDING TERMINATED
posted by cavalier at 7:46 AM on July 16

Wait ...

MS is using Cheech and Chong to hype the Zune?
posted by krinklyfig at 7:47 AM on July 16

Man, it's ten o'clock in the morning. I don't think I'm stoned enough for this.
posted by box at 7:49 AM on July 16 [2 favorites has favorites]

terrible.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 7:49 AM on July 16

I hate Cheech. Badmouthed Chong after they broke up, distanced himself from the "drug humor" to win-over producers in order to get mainstream gigs.

Now he's come crawling back to Chong after he realized his mainstream acting gigs had all dried up. And Chong is so fucking laid back and "whatever" that he let him slide.
posted by Zambrano at 7:55 AM on July 16 [4 favorites has favorites]

Pepsi Zune?
posted by Thorzdad at 8:02 AM on July 16

can we blame Balmer for this?
He's turned Microsoft from a scary monopoly into something you feel sorry for.
posted by bhnyc at 8:03 AM on July 16 [2 favorites has favorites]

DAVES NOT HEAR MAN!!!
posted by stevil at 8:08 AM on July 16 [2 favorites has favorites]

The way they were talking about The Economy made me think "So THAT's who Malor and Mutant are IRL..."
posted by wendell at 8:08 AM on July 16 [2 favorites has favorites]

Is there a button I can push to see Cheech and Chong as Sid & Nancy?
posted by rokusan at 8:08 AM on July 16

Cheech was in several episodes of LOST over multiple seasons. Oh, I wish I could be such a mainstream outlier, too!
posted by absalom at 8:09 AM on July 16

Pepsi Duuuuuuuuude
posted by DU at 8:13 AM on July 16

I don't care what anybody says, I love "My Name is Cheech and I am the School Bus Driver."
posted by Spatch at 8:13 AM on July 16

I love cheech and chong because they remind me of the late seventies when guys wore those cotton addidas jogging shorts, white socks with stripes , nike waffle trainers and mesh shirts without an ounce of irony. Our hair was big and messy without any gel. We had tans not because we were into tanning but because we were outside all the time. Shade trees, coca cola in glass bottles with deposits and look under the cap for a winning free bottle liner. Converted banana seat bikes with 10 speed saddles. Painted black. Older brothers buying booze for us to drink in brown paper bags. Sun setting. Streetlights coming on. Girls with feathered hair and too tight jordache jeans.

The evening air was magical back then and we were so fucking free.

However, this is not the feeling I have about microsoft.
posted by srboisvert at 8:56 AM on July 16 [10 favorites has favorites]

To be certain , Dave is NOT here.
posted by humannaire at 9:13 AM on July 16

There's nothing directly hyping the Zune, only the fact that the videos are only downloadable via the Zune Marketplace. I don't know how it works, but I'd assume it's similar to the iTunes Store. I felt I was dishing out the Pepsi Blue, so I removed the mention of the Zune in the FPP.

Anyway, I shared these because I liked the weird video of Cheech and Chong battling on light cycles, and I thought I'd disclose more about the source of the video. There's no shilling of the products in the videos themselves, so I thought it was meta-kosher.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:28 AM on July 16 [1 favorite has favorites]

Gonna go downtown, gonna see my gal, gonna sing her a song . . .

(Etc.)
posted by metagnathous at 9:38 AM on July 16

I hate Cheech.

I can forgive him a lot for creating a couple of memorable moments in Born in East L.A..

I judge all movie humor against Charlie Chaplin's "singing waiter" scene in Modern Times, at which I laughed harder than at anything in my life. That's a perfect 10. The Jesus-from-the-speakerphone scene in Born in East L.A. was an 8, and that's pretty good. This judge also gave a 7.5 to the "What's happening!" English lesson, but that may be because he used to teach ESL in San Diego.
posted by Creosote at 10:15 AM on July 16

There's no shilling of the products in the videos themselves, so I thought it was meta-kosher.

Don't you know? We only discuss platforms now. Please confine your discussion of C&C to MeTa.

Can't wait to see the Tron video
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 10:40 AM on July 16

Sam's Hof Brau, mannn...

Also, nice cue-card reading fellows.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:12 AM on July 16

what Ogre Lawless just said. Man the acting was phoned-in. Maybe the old guys are past it, but what director would settle for those takes? I also thought the editing and pacing were very poor, which detracted from the otherwise decent visuals and sound.

Just because something is meant for the very small screen doesn't also mean it has to suck. ... Or does it?
posted by Artful Codger at 11:51 AM on July 16

But no Silverlight, right?
posted by tommasz at 12:18 PM on July 16

Does that remind anyone else of the "Speed Racer" movie?
posted by Pronoiac at 1:29 PM on July 16

I think Cheech didn't want to continue doing the same old schtick with Chong mainly because it stopped being funny a long time ago and they were beating a dead horse after 3 terrible movies (not including Up In Smoke). Can you really fault him for that?
posted by cazoo at 8:56 PM on July 16