There are two references this week to “Simpson Tide”, one is from an American’s personal blog, the other is from an African business publication.  If that doesn’t demonstrate the truly global reach of The Simpsons nothing can.  There’s a blogger who agrees with us, lots of usage and crazy Japanese commercials.  Enjoy.

C.C. Lemon – I’m not even going to try to explain this myself:

Do you know the Japanese drink C.C. Lemon?

Supposedly it has the vitamin C equivalent between 22 to 210 lemons, depending on the size of the bottle or can.

Awhile back, the American cartoon characters “The Simpsons” were used in C.C. Lemon advertisements in Japan.

Many Japanese people don’t know that The Simpsons are a long-running cartoon show in America. They just think that those characters were drawn to promote C.C. Lemon.

(The Simpsons TV did air in Japan for a short time but was soon pulled because the humor based on English-language sarcasm didn’t translate well).

Click the link for video of one of the ads.  Here’s another one:

Are the voices in Japanese commercials always pitched that high?  Is that true of American commercials too and I just don’t notice it?

Krebs is haven for Italian cooking, other gastro goodies – Slightly misquotes Homer when talking about “lamb fries” in Oklahoma.  “Lamb fries” are “lamb testicles that have been peeled, rolled in meal and fried.”  Mmmmmm.

Right-Wing Turncoat Gives the Inside Scoop on Why Conservatives Are Rampaging Town Halls – The offspring of noted right winger Francis Schaeffer, tries to explain why there’s been such a brouhaha in conservative circles these last few months:

The last presidential election (to paraphrase Bart Simpson)  “broke their brains.” What else could explain their embrace of intimidation — rather than discourse — over the health care debate and such unsavory moments of madness as the Republicans accusing Obama and Judge Sonia Sotomayor of racism, knowing full well that they’d just destroyed their chances with the Hispanic community forever?

Good usage.

Is Starbucks falling victim to consumer resentment? – This article opens by referencing the time Bart went to the mall to get his ear pierced and the whole place was taken over by Starbucks.  I don’t quite remember this part:

As he moves from shop to shop he notices that the number of Starbucks seem to increase virtually as he watches.

Bart is not a happy camper because some of his favourite “small time” shops are being edged out of business either due to the sheer financial offer they are unable to refuse or the fact that Starbucks is able to politely rely on the market forces to drive the smaller players out of business.

But it’s still pretty good usage.

Famous Art, Simpsonized – This was making the rounds a while ago, but I don’t think we ever linked to it, so here it is.  I’m particularly fond of the Norman Rockwell one.  A thousand thank yous to The XY Cusp Blog (which I thought was about trans-gender people but isn’t) for bringing these up again.

David Flores ‘Gonz’ + ‘Bee Man’ Print Releases – Speaking of Simpsons related art, here’s some neat drawings of Bumble Bee Man.  If you go directly to the artist’s site there are also some interpretations of Nelson.  Cool.

One of those mornings – A recounting of a bicycle commute that includes an excellent Lisa quote and reference.

Reactionary Blogger Punks Himself. – This is, apparently, about some new teevee show I don’t care about.  But check this out:

I am officially and pretty much undoubtedly wrong  about the ad and it’s purpose. This is pretty much a case of Gabbo and I got caught by the clever commercial.  Okay, onward and upward.

That’s a neat formulation, can we get more of that please?  Can we stop calling things “teaser” campaigns and start calling them “Gabbo”s?  I say we can.

Old People Are Hilarious – This is just a quote from Grandpa on a person’s blog.  But it made me laugh and it is properly quoted and we here at the Dead Homer Society always salute that.  Bravo.

Over-Rated! / Under-Rated! – The over-rated list contains:

The Simpsons or any Adult Cartoons

Sir (or Madam), I’m afraid you and I disagree.  Now good day.

Perhaps Edgar Allen should be left to Homer – Vancouver Sun, do your thing (emphasis mine):

The inner dream — the part of the show not directly involving Ross and O’Callaghan–includes Tom Allen giving a rather rushed and inexpressive recitation of The Raven, with musical interjections from harpist Lori Gemmell and The Penderecki String Quartet (the evening’s permanent backup group). They just get in one another’s way.

Admittedly, nobody will ever be able to compete with Homer Simpson’s performance of this perennial party piece, but I was never able to take it seriously even before he got to it.

Quaff, oh quaff!

status – Three different classic Simpsons “technical difficulties” signs.

10 Favourite Simpsons Episodes – We finish up this week with another blogger who agrees with us.  The ten favorites is a pretty solid list, but this is what gets quoted here:

Animated television in North America is primarily aimed at children, but Simpsons was one of the exceptions with its smart writing, endearing characters and clever wit.  Unfortunately the show took a downturn at it went on and became just another silly cartoony series, like Family Guy.  At this point it’s a shadow of its former self, and I can’t bear to watch it.

Testify!