Two Too!

It's the day of birth of Grilling It community organizer/game tester/social conscience/shirt tucker/shhhhh'er/modern dylan advocate/technocrat/embarassment victim/do'er of his damn thing: The Wiz, so this post is the kind of shit he likes to see on here.



From The Simpsons # 174. Season: 8 Episode: 21 First Aired: 4/20/1997

The Old Man and The Lisa

Grandpa: We're not allowed to read newspapers, they angry up the blood.

The recycling depot in the episode is called "Uriah's Heap."

Recycling Depot Proprietor: "Sounds like you working for your car, man...simplify!"

Uriah Heap - The Wizard



Every boy watching The Wizard, despite all their better instincts, kind of wants to be Lucas. Relaxed pad, dope shades, wicked threads and lucious curls. Lucas fuckface Barton had it better than most twentysomething's today and he represented adolescent's of 1989...the clincher being: as far as the viewer knows, all Lucas has to do is hang out with a bunch of cronies and be awesome at Nintendo. This is the sacrifice that he makes, in the world of the film for shades, pad, threads etc.

Lucas exists as an antagonist for Jimmy and a mild romantic rival for Kevin Arnold, but more than anything as a fork-in-the-road for children's rooting interest.

We get both Jimmy and Kevin Arnold, neither of whom would be anything without Jenny Lewis - a young woman who enchants boys still. Lucas of the curls and skills...or...Kevin Arnold, the Beau Bridges babysitting slightly weak "leader", or Jimmy the skilled savant yet severe social sapling in the Capcom/Konami universe.

The film iself, for kids in the know, solves this debate; when Lucas delivers the last line of the scene embedded below (there's a shorter version, but the encoding SUCKS).



This version is just the line (6 sec, save now for the future):



and the version with Kevin's comeback



Lucas is unable to handle the stature, skills and trappings of his world in a cool fashion. Thus, he is less than Jimmy or Kevin Arnold, who the viewer is left with. Viewers of The Wizard then hybridize and ego ideal from the honest flaws and super traits of the two brothers. Lucas becomes a warning for all spoiled, young gamers: never try to be too cool, otherwise, it's game over.



"I suppose on some deep and profound level, the evening would seem incomplete to
me without three minutes of howling."
-Warren Zevon



Black Sabbath - The Wizard


Black Sabbath > So many Saturdays spent napping...



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WHAT'S NEXT?



PS: As a bonus for everyone who read this far, here's a video voiced by Jenny Lewis of The Wizard fame. It's what you might call, levelled (that pyramid wants the beaver unicorn so bad)...watch the whole thing: