a few years back my friend dee and i had this long-running joke where we would pick a random simpsons character and pitch a three-act story about how they start running the springfield power plant, with the end goal being to have an entire season's worth of episodes all about new characters becoming the boss of the power plant. principal skinner runs the power plant. comic book guy runs the power plant. comic book guy's wife runs the power plant. i think those three were honestly as far as we got.
but, eventually, saying that someone "runs the power plant" became shorthand for any time anybody unexpectedly achieves any sort of power or status in anything. we'd watch a ninja turtles thing and go "NOW SHREDDER RUNS THE POWER PLANT" when he eats the super shredder juice, that kind of thing.
this is so esoteric but im also constantly wanting to say "NOW (x) RUNS THE POWER PLANT" all the time even though no one else will ever understand what that means.
