Because you can't get enough of our stupid inside jokes

Emory and I recently borrowed the DVD set of Harsh Realm from Frank. If you haven't heard of it, I don't blame you. They only filmed nine episodes, and only three of them actually aired. As Frank noted, "It's the most cancelledest show ever!" Probably the only reason it made it on the air at all was because it was developed by Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files, a scrappy little show that you may not have heard of.

The premise is that a young army officer is brought into a secret virtual game world that looks just like our own world, but is, y'know, a computer program. While in this world our young hero must fight against the tyrannical military overlord of the Harsh Realm, played by Carter veteran Terry O'Quinn, who most of you know as Locke on Lost, and his army of followers. Oh, and there are murmurings that our hero may be some sort of prophesized liberator or chosen one. And D.B. Sweeney is in it, as a grizzled Harsh Realm veteran, but that's neither here nor there.

Virtual world, tyrannical overlords, chosen one... sound familiar? Anyway, this show premiered in the fall of '99, just in time for all of America to not give a damn about virtual worlds that didn't grant their protagonists awesome kung-fu powers. If I could think of a clever euphamism for "bad timing," I would use it.

So long story short, Emory and I are now going to substitue any references to The Matrix with references to Harsh Realm. Here's an example:

Me or Emory: "I think those castaways on Lost are actually in a computer program. Y'know, like the Harsh Realm."
Some dude: "Don't you mean the Matrix?"
Me or Emory: "The what-trix?"

Your sides are splitting already, I can tell.