New Strong Bad DVD

(Or: The Only Thing That Guarantees That This Week Won't Suck)

I'll be buying this gem from the Homestar Runner gang later this week.

If you've been visiting this blog for a while but still haven't hit my Homestar link, shame on you. Here, I'll make it easier for you. Click here, check out the "Characters" page for basic background, and then start alternating between the regular toons and the Strong Bad Emails. And hold down the tab button from time to time when they play. This helps highlight the secret "Easter Eggs" that lead to even more jokes. Yes, it's worth doing it.

Bonus (or Warning, depending on your tastes): they're very heavy in geek/eighties culture. If you were ever into Atari or karaoke, the Chapman brothers Mike and Matt will remind you with frightening accuracy why you loved this stuff as a kid and why we make fun of it today.

Emails 1-100 first helped make me a fan and also made me realize why Strong Bad at one point was more popular than the main character the site is named after. I see that changing now in the last year and a half. In emails 100-130, you can actually see Homestar fighting for his spotlight back--and succeeding, especially towards the end, and definitely with the hilarious email 130 "Do Over" (though it loses some of it's punch if you don't have knowledge of the characters or two of the first hundred emails).

In the beginning, Strong Bad had the advantage many villain figures have of being more interesting than the good guy. Homestar (the good guy only by default; Lynne loves the site but often calls HR a jerk, and it's hard to disagree) is now assuming the position of comic foil that Strong Bad kept coveted for so long. As a result, HR is often the funniest thing in most of the new emails. Whether any of this is intentional or not is beyond me, but who cares? I'm so hooked on this website, I'll be seeing Shakespeare references where none exist soon.

I should also state that even though all the emails are still accessible online for free, the DVD-exclusive extras (both visible and hidden) make them worth owning.