Funny Phrases and New Words

What started off as maybe a blog post about jumping the shark and nuking the fridge ended with me learning a new word that seemed kind of ridiculous to me.

First off, jumping the shark, if you aren't familiar with the term, talks about the moment a TV show does something ridiculous or outlandish to gain back viewers and generally comes soon after the show starts to decline. It also generally cements the fall in popularity because you can't keep doing things that ridiculous. The phrase itself refers to this scene from Happy Days when Fonzie literally jumps a shark on water skiis. My dad always used to talk about this phrase when I was a kid so I'm fairly familiar with it. After some research on its history, I ran into a similar term applied to the firm industry: "nuking the fridge."

Nuking the fridge means about the same thing in reference to a movie series. Time Magazine defines the phrase to mean: "to exhaust a Hollywood franchise with disappointing sequels." This actually comes from the fourth Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull where Han Solo I mean Indiana Jones escapes a nuclear blast by hiding in a lead-lined refrigerator. Not only would the shock from getting blown away and landing kill you, but the inch or so of lead probably wouldn't stop the radiation much less the heat from cooking you. But, here's that scene so you can see ol' Indy in action for yourself.

While researching that, I also came across this sentence in a Wikipedia article: In August 2014, the City Manager of Black Rock City, Nevada described Burning Man, an annual event at nearby Black Rock Desert, as having "jumped the shark," when the 2014 event — which had been previously noted for core values of radical self-expression and self-reliance — featured incongruously posh VIP lounges, cell phone towers, private jets, and "glamping."

What the hell is glamping, you ask? That's exactly what I thought and why I had to find out. Turns out it stands for "glamour camping" where you basically "21st century tourists seek the luxuries of hotel accommodation alongside the escapism and adventure recreation of camping." Sounds nice but to me, that tiny level of self-sufficiency that regular camping requires is half the purpose. Might as well park a full size RV somewhere and call it "camping."

Aside from my little "what has the world come to" tangent there, we appear to have a term for when a TV show goes too far and when a movie goes too far. What about videogames? They're another huge source of digital entertainment? I wonder if there's a term for when they go on too long? Call of Duty, Halo, Assassin's Creed, all big name games with many many sequels, one can only wonder when it goes too long. Most already argue that it happened with Call of Duty after Modern Warfare 1 & 2 were such huge hits that they made Modern Warfare 3, that series is often considered the "peak" of that franchise. And Halo, as much as I love it, was supposed to end and be done at Halo 3 ("Finish the Fight") but people loved it so much (and they made so much money) that they made Halo 4, 5, and soon 6. Book series as well.

Every series need a climax and resolution, it is a good book/show/game/movie that can make another climax feel just as important and the resolution to both mesh and be satisfying. Every good thing eventually comes to an end, as morbid as that sounds. Imagine if Harry Potter had to fight reincarnated mecha-Lucius Malfoy? As great as they were, the series had a great ending and left open a world for J.K. Rowling to explore separately. I was and am a huge Star Wars Extended Universe nerd. I loved the movies and got into reading the books in middle school. I loved having characters fleshed out, their children fleshed out, even grandchildren but I realized that 50 years into the hypothetical Star Wars future was a long time to extend something.

Tying this back to reality, I don't think nuclear energy is anywhere near this point. Our field had a rise and a fall but as the world pushes toward new and better energy sources, I think we're about to enter the "rising action" step of the nuclear story and it's exciting that we can have a direct influence on the field and its direction.

-Michael