Links posted on May 31, 2007
Lunch at Kismet Cafe today was served with a steaming side of "Who did the best 'supernatural being/narrator shows you how things could have been so you appreciate how they are' bit?"
The canonical version is certainly Dickens' A Christmas Carol. But is it the earliest example? In any event, there have been many adaptations. The most well known variation of this story trope is It's a Wonderful Life. Some of our favorites from lunch are Zinc Oxide and You (from Kentucky Fried Movie) and the Simpsons "The World Without Zinc". Perhaps the funniest I have ever seen is A Case of Spring Fever (MST3K) which shows us a world without simple harmonic oscillators and features the irredeemably irritating and malevolent animated character "Coily." Commenters in the archive thread can't think of other old educational films that were being parodied...can you?
Map out your travels. Trying to decide where to take your next vacation? Why not use a personalized map of where you've already been? [more inside]