:: Mind. Blown::

One of the best parts of the The Simpsons, for the die-hard fans anyhow, are all the little moments that make things way funnier. The words on the church sign, the sometimes-vague references to pop culture in Bart's chalkboard scribblings, or in later seasons, the self-referential comments made by the characters, referring back to old episodes.

And as something of a veteran watcher of The Simpsons (to put it mildly), I cannot believe what I'm about to tell you has escaped me all these years. I'm not surprised that I didn't figure it out, mind you, but I'm just surprised I never heard of it.

What I'm referring to is the McBain movie franchise, which stars Springfield's Swarznegger-esque Ranier Wolfcastle. Clips of the McBain franchise were especially prevalent in the show's early seasons. Maybe they showed the Simpsons family watching it for a few minutes, before going on on some zany adventure. Maybe there's 20-seconds of a throwaway of Homer watching it in a video store. You know, background stuff.

But the thing is this: if you combine all those little throwaway scenes together, which appeared on the show over the first few years, you actually get a complete story. So I present to you, McBain: The Full Movie.

McBain: The Full Movie - watch more funny videos

:: Scott the Super Villain ::

The following conversation took place via BBM last week, but first this: With his neatly trimmed beard, it has recently come to my attention that Scott bears a startling resemblance to Hank Scorpio - CEO of Globex Corporation, international/evil supergenius, and runner of Fun Runs.

Don't believe me? Well, take a look for yourself:



See? It's uncanny.

I mentioned this to Kelsey on Facebook the other day, and she in turn passed along my compliment/observation to Scott. The conversation quickly got away from us.*

(*Warning: the following is full of Simpsons and sports references. May fly over the heads of the non-obsessed.)

Scott: Nice Hank Scorpio reference.
Me: Thank you. Your resemblance is uncanny. Now just get yourself some moccasins and a business hammock and you're all set.
Scott: Will do. And I will take that as a compliment, (Hank) is a pretty cool dude.
Me: I would definitely take it as a compliment. Feel free to blow up a bridge, if people don't take you seriously at work.
Scott: I'm gonna take over the Eastern seaboard.
Me: Good for you. When you get home, there's gonna be an extra floor on your house.
(brief pause, for regular conversation)
Scott: Now Nick, I know that you wanted the Dallas Cowboys, but I hope this gets you one step closer to achieving that dream of yours.
Me: Aw! The Denver Broncos?!
Me: By the way, I love the fact that the whole team shows up on the Simpson's lawn. You think when Francesco Aquilini bought the Canucks, Hank and Daniel set up some nets in his driveway and played some street hockey?
Scott: Yes, they'd be in full gear, too.
Me: Absolutely.
Scott: Speaking of the Broncos, McDaniels fired today.
Me: Really? Wow.
Scott: Yep. Won his first six games, went 3 for 20 since.
Me: That is poor. Even the Maple Leafs think that's a bad record.
Scott: Yeah, even JaMarcus Russell has a better winning percentage.
Me: When asked to comment, Russell declined because he had his mouth full of cheeseburgers.
Scott: ..... and his hand was stuck in a bucket of KFC.
Me: KFC and performance-enhancing steroids. Steroids which - judging by his awful career - later turned out to only be Skittles.
Scott: He wanted to get in shape, so he drank nothing by milkshakes.
Me: Diet milkshakes?
Scott: Russell: "Oh, crap!"

:: Behold Frostillicus! ::

It's cold out today. Perhaps not as cold as a Kwik-e-Mart freezer (or Fort McMurray, for that matter, where I understand it recently snowed) but chilly nonetheless.