Shortpacked! by David Willis

Discussion (15) ¬

1. 
   Old_Crow

   July 11, 2010 at 9:11 am | # | Reply

   Heh. From a car with few morals to a guy with none. I better get to know Mike if I want to live.
2. 
   Ragnal

   January 28, 2011 at 4:26 pm | # | Reply

   Yeah, I never got the movie’s premise. Pusha button, win money, someone dies.

   …I just dunno.

   • 
     Valkeer

     March 4, 2011 at 3:26 pm | # | Reply

     I never saw it either, but I think if you press the button, you go on the list to die if someone else pushes the button. Also, the whole “it’s wrong to kill” thing you mortals hold so dearly to.

     • 
       RedScharron

       September 28, 2011 at 6:47 am | # | Reply

       In the original short story (by Richard Matheson as was mentioned below) the wife pushes it and her husband dies — she didn’t really know him — and the promised money takes the form of his insurance policy. The Twilight Zone changed it to having the stranger collect the box when delivering the money and promise to give it to someone they don’t know. IIRC in the movie it’s a test and conspiracy and blahblah. This is not an improvement on the story’s question of the difference between long acquaintance and personal understanding or both the story and the show highlighting the hypocrisy and callousness of considering taking a life just because it isn’t one that’s important to you.

       From the first two it should have been clear it’s one of those stories that’s largely atmospheric while setting up a surprise ending and that adapting it into a full length feature totally misses the point. Whoever came up with this genius idea was obviously never unfortunate enough to sit through the pitiful attempt to make “The Lottery” feature length, a better piece of source material that’s equally restricted to a very finite amount of stretching.

       (I have a particular love of short stories that rely on atmosphere and sometimes have incidental or completely non-existent plots and I think watching them get eviscerated and warped in shameless cash grabbing attempts to make them appeal an audience the producers seem to believe has the attention span and IQ of a houseplant is starting to break me. I have nightmares about someone convincing Ursula K. Le Guin that “Omelas” should be a movie…)
3. 
   ilvos01

   March 21, 2011 at 9:22 pm | # | Reply

   Ya’ know this was based off of an episode of The Twilight Zone, which in turn was based off of a short story by Richard Matheson.
4. 
   Kelsey

   March 22, 2011 at 8:44 pm | # | Reply

   Yes. Give the button to Mike. That could not possibly backfire.
5. 
   Houro

   May 4, 2011 at 10:43 am | # | Reply

   That’s the thing, Mike wouldn’t care. He’d push the button before the guy would be able to finish his speech.

   • 
     Despite Rage

     May 26, 2011 at 4:47 pm | # | Reply

     I disagree. Mike wouldn’t like the randomness. He’d handle it himself.
6. 
   Maycroft

   May 29, 2011 at 1:55 am | # | Reply

   That’ll be the perfect toy for mike
7. 
   Paul1963

   June 12, 2011 at 10:43 am | # | Reply

   Y’know, sometimes I think getting that Comedy Central series was the worst thing for Jeff Dunham’s fans. I mean, you see the guy live (as I did once, years ago–He just had Peanut and Walter then) and he’s really funny, and it’s over and you go on with your life. Same deal with his one-hour specials.
   And then he gets a series. And you see him coming up with a half-hour of new material every week, and you come to a realization: An awful lot of his material is really, really racist.
   Think about it: He has six characters: Walter, Peanut, the Mortimer Snerd superhero whose name I can’t remember, Sweet Daddy D, Jose Jalapeno on a Stick, and Achmed the Dead Terrorist.
   Half of his material is based on racist caricatures. HALF. And since the superhero doesn’t come out that often, it’s really more like sixty percent!
   And then suddenly you don’t feel too good about watching him anymore.

   • 
     jeschr

     July 2, 2011 at 5:22 am | # | Reply

     If no one makes racist caricatures, the terrorist wins!
     I kid
     What’s wrong with racial or homosexual or political caricatures? It’s just jokes.
     I live in Denmark. We had the whole thing with the muhammed drawings, which caused a shitload of fuss a lot of places. all the while us danes are sitting like “you mad cus you didn’t get the joke?” We have a very tolerating society. We joke about pretty much everything. Especially ourselves. Jeff Dunham’s joke match a lot of our jokes.

     • 
       Kristy

       August 5, 2011 at 3:15 pm | # | Reply

       To me, it’s the difference between laughing about something, and laughing at something – or someone.

       One can be funny. I’ve heard so many arguments about why it’s bad to joke about this topic or that topic, and I don’t buy it. You can joke about anything, you can laugh about anything, and sometimes you have to.

       Laughing at people, though, is mean-spirited and hurtful. Some people may find hurting other people to be funny, but most of us think it kinda makes you an asshole. And most racist/homophobic humor is definitely of the “laugh at” variety.
   • 
     Yoto32

     October 18, 2011 at 9:54 pm | # | Reply

     I too have noticed that a disturbing number of Jeff Dunham jokes border on racism or rely on homophobia. But I quickly get past that when Peanut or Walter come out.
8. 
   ajm5007

   December 15, 2011 at 7:56 pm | # | Reply

   Mike wouldn’t push the button. It’s no fun if you don’t know the victim.
9. 
   Dreadjaws

   November 28, 2012 at 8:23 pm | # | Reply

   What movie is this referencing?