Friday, July 12, 2013

The Sharknado phenomenon


I got home from work last night and turned on my computer at about 11 pm to find my twitter feed dominated by the word "Sharknado."  In fact "dominated" doesn't even really do it justice; it was the only thing people were talking about, almost like we got Bin Laden all over again.  I was shocked and confused to discover that the thing taking over the internet was a made for TV movie on the Syfy network.  I couldn't tell you the last time (if ever) that I even watched something on the Syfy network.  How was this possible?  I checked my cable guide, saw that it was going to be rerun from 1-3 am, and knew there was no chance I wasn't watching.

The combination of Tara Reid, Steve Sanders, and the dad from Home Alone as a drunk defending Los Angeles from sharks with his mighty bar stool is apparently must watch TV.  That and the fact that Sharknado is a comedy masquerading as a horror movie.  It's so intentionally fake and terrible that it's basically a parody of itself, which makes it funny.

While watching Sharknado you can't focus on stuff like it's the storm of the century with catastrophic flooding and hundreds of sharks flying around in the air eating people; yet it's also simultaneously perfectly dry and sunny and you can still get pulled over for speeding or walk into a liquor store and buy some bananas.



Dad, I'm going to pilot that helicopter into the tornado and drop these bombs on the flying sharks, and you can't stop me.  "Nobody's taught me to help others."  - Sharknado


  

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