There is so much more to G.I. Joe than a cartoon designed to shill action figures for Hasbro. G.I. Joe was, and still is, one of the edgiest cartoons made for children, featuring a rich and immersive character culture, adult themes such as terrorism, and a “too smart for their own good” series of plot-lines. While G.I. Joe was made for children of my generation, it still holds up today next to only a few other cartoons that can be enjoyed as much (or more so) as an adult than as a child.

G.I. Joe certainly had its fair share of generic throwaway episodes, but when it was smart, it was brilliant. The storyline that left the greatest impact on me is also the one that is singlehandedly responsible for my love of history. Way back in 1986, G.I. Joe ran a 5-part mega event in which Cobra, the coolest terrorist group of all time, combed the tombs of the greatest leaders in history, stole their DNA, and then cloned a perfect emperor. For an impressionable youth like myself, this was everything.

Serpentor was amazing. A man made of better men who had a bitchin’ air chariot and wore snake armor. Serpentor gave zero fucks. He didn’t ask, he commanded. He threw snakes at people and would backhand his followers with the precision of a pimp and the ruthlessness of Chris Brown.

An interesting little Easter Egg has been discover from the first season of HBO’s hit show Game of Thrones.

During a particular scene toward the end of the first season when Joffrey decides to show Sansa some heads on spikes as a message, one of the heads happens to look that of former president George W. Bush.

The hidden egg was somewhat confirmed by show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who said it was the head of Bush, but that it’s “…not a choice, it’s not a political statement. We just had to use whatever head we had around.”

Read more, including an explanation from the creators and an apology from HBO, below.

Funny or Die is known for their hilarious videos — many of which feature well-known actors in Saturday Night Live-like sketches.

Recently, the site released a new video directed by Ron Howard that reunited a bunch of SNL alumni and some special guests for a message about the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The hopes here is that this message will reach the eyes of President Barack Obama and help him with some majorly important decisions.

SNL is renowned for always having someone who creates a comical caricature of whomever the President is at the time for use in the many skits that will be written using that person. Currently, that job is owned by Fred Armisen, who portrays Obama whenever a skit for him is penned.

Continue on over to the other side to see the video!

W.
Directed by Oliver Stone
Starring Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn
Rated PG-13
Release Date: October 17, 2008

Any comedian will tell you the secret to a good joke is to make it accessible, have a good setup, and kill with the punch line. I don’t know that there is necessarily a golden formula but this seems like pretty sound advice on a general level. I suppose variations of the same thing can be said about making movies. Director Oliver Stone had nothing if not a golden setup. A movie about the exiting President of the United States, while he is still in office, mere days before the election that would remove him from power, and with just enough time to reflect on his last eight years in office. Stone, being no stranger to controversy or films of historical significance, seemed to be in a perfect position to move in for the kill. Instead we got what those in retail refer to as the old “˜bait and switch’.

W. does show us what we expected to see from this movie; that George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) grew up as a hard partying man of privilege who rarely had to deal with consequences for anything he did or said. He was an irresponsible, womanizing, carousing, spoiled little rich kid who wouldn’t and couldn’t hold a job. Any trouble he got into was fixed by a phone call from his father, George H.W. Bush (James Cromwell). It also told how Dubya fell ass-backwards into politics and eventually became the leader of the free world. It would almost be an inspiring “little engine that could” type story, if not for knowing the details about how everything actually turned out. The pre-release posters and trailers suggested the movie would be a caustic illustration of the rise and fall of the 43rd President of the United States. Turns out, W. shows a surprising lack of poignancy, political or otherwise.