What’s your favorite pop culture knockoff controversy? (Explain which version is better in the comments!)

@show_the_maw Black

@show_the_maw

/image red vines and mr pibb

@2many2no Is that supposed to be James T. Skywalker or Luke Kirk?

@awk Is your to-do list on your Blackberry?

Blackberry vs iPhone. How did that one go?

@awk Check a box or cross it off when it’s done?

@awk @dave

Check a box or cross it off when it’s done?

First thought:
Nuke the list entry from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

But really…
Neither. Delete the entire file, collects all hardcopy and backups, and torch all of the media with thermite to destroy any paper and electronic trail connecting you to the event. (If it’s not important enough to merit this level of attention to detail, then it does not matter.)

@shahnm HFCS vs cane sugar

@shahnm Reminds me, I need to get my Betamax out of storage. Several years running (in the early 80’s), I used it’s great stereo capability to get some great videos from MTV back when they used to do the year end Top 100 Videos. And did my best to omit commercials. I know where the VCR is; wonder where the tapes are??? 5-hour-long tapes, several per annual recap.
In my mind, one of the best things those control freaks at SONY ever came up with. PSP and Dash also in the top 3. Not a PlayStation fan, or other game sets. [Screw their DRM & such.]

@phendrick @shahnm We date ourselves when we admit to remembering when MTV played music. Or, these days, even just knowing what MTV is.

@ircon96 @shahnm
/youtube I want my MTV.

Original, un-PC version

@phendrick @shahnm The commercials are the best part. Leave ‘em in or make a supercut, please. For the good of society, natch.

@ircon96 Or was.

@detailer Funny you say that, cuz I debated what tense to use, but technically they’re still there. They even have blocks of what they call “Epic. Awes*me. Videos,” although i don’t envision anyone actually wanting to record any of them. They’re pretty meh, and not in a good way!

@ircon96 @phendrick @shahnm

@ircon96 @shahnm @werehatrack How is it I never knew this video existed? It’s gotta be older than the dirt under Jethro’s fingernails.
Thanks.

@shahnm And if you have a player you can watch both movies as many times as you want.

@shahnm My bad. I was thinking DVHS

@shahnm Anyone remember laserdiscs?
We had a neighbor who bought the equipment and a bunch of discs when they first came out and was bragging about them. 🫤

@Kyeh @shahnm IIRC, Roger Ebert was a rabid laserdisc fan. RIP, Rog.

@ircon96 @shahnm Really! I got some that were being discarded, thinking they might be neat for some sort of art project, but of course they’re just sitting in boxes in my garage.

@shahnm HD-DVD probably was better. Microsoft fumbled that one, though I did end up buying the add-on HD-DVD player for XBox 360 and a bunch of discs on clearance about 15 years ago. I dug it out and tried it last year and it still worked.

Sony (Blu-Ray) definitely won that one, but also as mentioned they lost the Beta tape fight and yes Beta was a superior format to VHS.

Key lesson: The better technology doesn’t always win. The better marketing strategy (and corporate partners and a bit of luck) does.

@Kyeh If you ever have a problem with woodpeckers attacking your house, they could come in handy. You just hang them up in the spots they like; the idea is, anything reflective that moves in the wind freaks them out, so i bet those would work. CDs, DVDs, etc, strung together are also a popular choice, from what i gather. Nothing like a practical arts & crafts project!

@ircon96 @Kyeh Tried that in our garden - apparently the thieving birds enjoyed the lightshow as they continued to gobble our blueberries.

@ircon96 @macromeh I visited a woman in town whose garden is kind of like Wonderland - full of odd and interesting bits and pieces! She’s made a curtain of CDs that hangs on the back fence to deter birds from her garden. I don’t know if it works, though.

@Kyeh @macromeh There are a lot of clever birds that figure out stuff like that is harmless. Maybe it only works for woodpeckers; I’m guessing they might not be too bright, with all those hits to the head & all. I don’t want to jinx myself, but hanging mylar has worked like a charm with my resident woodpeckers.

@shahnm Yeah that was a doomed outcome:

2 OSs enter, no OS leaves

/youtube thunderdome two men enter

@shahnm R.I.P. Tina Turner. She was amazing in that, in addition to decades breaking new ground in the music industry.

@shahnm [razzberries]

@werehatrack Ah. A member of the small, fringe, radical, and sadly out of touch just-shut-the-fuck-up regime has arrived…

@shahnm No, I’m a member of the Disparaging Noises Made About The Contention That There Is A Controversy contingent. Battery refrigeration fetishists are all welcome to pursue their hobby as far as I am concerned, while I’ll disdain the practice myself, but the vast masses are almost certainly more accurately characterized as belonging to the IDGAFF side.

@werehatrack

Disparaging Noises Made About The Contention That There Is A Controversy contingent

My version is more concise.

https://giphy.com/clips/muppetwiki-muppets-kermit-muppet-babies-vhuSRQK9Hj6fvF7aEo

@ZeroCharisma I didn’t know about Hidden Fortress until recently (like 35 years after watching original Star Wars as a kid). I follow Criterion Collection stuff and that’s how I found out about it (highly recommend supporting Criterion Collection by the way – they sell discs but also have an online streaming service which is very good. B&N still sells them in stores, if there are still any B&M B&N left – see what I did there?). There are good 50% off sales a few times a year.

@ZeroCharisma Also, for little known ‘origin’ movies
Zero Hour vs Airplane

@tweezak I agree about Tom Baker.

@tweezak

Cheese Nips vs. Cheese Its.

Both nasty

M&Ms vs. Reese’s Pieces

Reese’s are gross, M&M boring

Tom Baker vs. all the other Doctors (yes, he’s the best)

No contest. And Tennant is a very close second.

Black licorice vs. nothing. Red vines are like eating tasteless plastic.

Neither is edible IMNSHO

Burger King vs. McDonald’s (as if I’d ever eat a Big Mac)

McD fries cardboard and calls it meat.

AR vs AK

Which one do you have ammo for at the moment, and are you in the middle of a sandstorm and/or swamp?

.45 vs 9mm

Do either of them chamber in the device in front of you?

Slug vs buck

Depends on what you need to do.

@katbyter Every Captain should be as sexy as Picard… Make it so!

@ircon96 @katbyter My wife had a very clear opinion on this, which was basically “Ewww, Kirk”

@katbyter Pike or GTFO.

@katbyter @pmarin You missed your opportunity to declare that your wife clearly has good taste in men!

@katbyter @werehatrack Assuming you’re talking about the new prequel series, I refuse to pay for yet another streaming service i don’t watch nearly enough, so until Paramount+ releases SNW in syndication or some other non-paywalled platform, i can’t give my informed opinion on that option. But, i did REALLY like Anson Mount in “Hell on Wheels” – he’s a good actor & quite easy on the eyes!

@katbyter Like which one would I make out with?

@Kyeh
What about Fritz??

@chienfou Felix is better.

@katbyter my dad was DEEPLY invested in Lotus solutions WAY past when it was reasonable. I’m nervous that he’s going to die and leave behind financial records that nobody will be able to open without a virtual PC running Windows ME or something.

(He recently told me he found a third party replacement for his Palm Pilot battery, so….)

@katbyter

Word vs Word PerfectPervert

FIFY.

To be honest, I loathe both for different reasons.

I still miss MultiMate.

@werehatrack MultiMate!! Haven’t heard that one in ages!

@werehatrack You said FIFY and my brain saw WYSIWYG

@katbyter @werehatrack

I still miss MultiMate.

I’m pretty monagomous…

@phendrick You must not live in the Bay Area

@ircon96 and 7up vs Sprite

@ircon96 @Kyeh And Fanta vs Nehi vs Shasta.

(IMO, 7Up is vile, and Sprite is too sweet; no winner, just a third- and fourth-place finish.)

@sjk3 I’d love to see a cage match of both of them vs a wood chipper.

@edsa Well there were TinkerToys. That could almost be a good fight.

@pmarin Feh. It’s a fad/fetish on top of a treasure hunt. Much that was originally issued on vinyl (or, even older, lacquer) has never been released in digital, usually because the demand for shit-quality audio is pretty low.

@pmarin Wait - they took out the cocaine?!?

@heartny True!

@macromeh Bugs beats Belle — no contest!

@werehatrack Because, ‘fonts,’ I read this as AI and not AL. But yes I might have to /showme what this would look like.

EDIT see 2 posts below. I know you can’t /showme in a reply so I had to make a new post. Looks like Weird Al wins.

@catthegreat Unhappily Ever After 1995-1999
featuring Bobcat Goldthwait as the voice of the bunny

@catthegreat, I was wondering too.

@catthegreat @macromeh Bobcat Goldthwait was great. Most amazing group of comedy artists, I saw Steven Wright, Bobcat, and Robin Williams in a small auditorium in Marin County. Will never forget the amazing talent and I feel so privileged I got to experience it literally a few feet in front of me.

@catthegreat @macromeh @pmarin Wow, what a lineup! I’m jealous.

@pmarin This Al looks like he smoked WAY to much weed.

@chienfou now you have me in a “tiff”

@chienfou @pmarin What’s the “diff” ?

@chienfou @macromeh @pmarin Some get miff-ed.