Humorouz

Mega Size Mega Fun

Archives for January 2023

‘It was just a joke’: Gym owner defends controversial billboard after vandals attack – Manchester Evening News

by Leave a Comment

A gym owner has defended a controversial billboard poster advertising his business after it was vandalised.

The advert – for the PT Factory in Denton – features text which states: “Tired of being fat & ugly? Now just be ugly!”

Ollie Lawrence, who owns the gym, said the poster was intended as a “light-hearted joke”. Although he has received a handful of complaints since it appeared in Stockport Road earlier this month, he said most people had reacted positively.

But on Monday morning, Mr Lawrence discovered that someone had hurled several pots of paint at the billboard.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “It was just a light-hearted joke. It wasn’t our intention to offend anybody.”

The poster, which advertises gym memberships at the PT Factory, was put up on December 5. Mr Lawrence, who set up the gym 12 years ago, said he hoped the advert would attract attention and “put a smile on people’s faces”.

“I would not have put it up otherwise,” he explained.

“We spoke to a lot of people beforehand and 99pc have seen it for what it is – a joke. We’ve had thousands of comments saying how brilliant it is.

“We have had about eight of nine complaints and unfortunately someone has done what they have done.”

Despite the backlash, Mr Lawrence said he does not regret the wording on the poster.

“There’s nothing malicious in it,” he said. “That’s not who we are as a business.

“We wanted to get a funny line out there to try and get our personality across. How do you do that on a billboard?

“We’re a really friendly gym. The eight people who have complained don’t actually know me as a person.

“I’m a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. I’ve always been in this industry to help people.”

Mr Lawrence branded the actions of those responsible as “a step too far”. Despite the damage, he said he intends to replace the billboard in the New Year.

“The billboard was quite expensive, he said. “That’s the main reason I was upset.

“It’s a step too far. There are things I might disagree with but I don’t go vandalising them. I just ignore it and think ‘that business isn’t for me’.”

READ NEXT:

A 20-Second Simpsons Joke Is Now A Fully-Fledged Game

by Leave a Comment

I doubt I need to explain what The Simpsons is to most of you reading this. Even if many of you weren’t yet born when the show started, the animated comedy (which is still on the air) is one of the most famous and critically acclaimed TV shows of all time. Many of its jokes and scenes have become internet memes, and the iconic characters are recognized the world over, so you’re likely familiar with the program.

However, you might not know about a joke that appears in the season 8 episode “The Springfield Files.” In the episode, which is an X-Files crossover (the 90s!), we briefly see Bart’s friend Millhouse loading 40 quarters into a Waterworld arcade machine. Playing as Kevin Costner’s Mariner, he takes one step. The game immediately ends, prompting him to insert another 40 quarters.

G/O Media may get a commission

While the original fake game seen in the show was basically one screen and a few animations, Macaw45 has expanded on it greatly, adding bosses, multiple areas to explore, and even some secrets to find. But before you get to play Kevin Costner’s Waterworld, you’ll need to load in 40 quarters.

In fact, every time you die the game demands more coins and keeps track of how much money you spend to finish it. Also, based on the audio that plays when putting coins into the machine, you appear to be playing as Millhouse, which is the saddest part of all of this.

Itch.io / Macaw45

Macaw45 said he’s always been “fascinated” by the fake video games that would often appear in The Simpsons. And Waterworld’s terrible arcade game stuck with Macaw45 more than the others. According to the dev, the idea of what could possibly lay beyond that one screen we see during the show was something he kept thinking about long after the episode aired.

“This project was born from that interest,” said Macaw45. “And while originally planned to only be a short game, it quickly developed further and I sunk tremendous amounts of effort into it to the point where it ended up becoming a fully fleshed-out game of much greater scope than I ever expected.”

Once you beat Waterworld (or give up a few screens in, no shame) you can try out another fake Simpsons game turned real: Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge.