“What is this place?” – Nelson Muntz “Branson, Missouri. My Dad says it’s like Vegas, if it were run by Ned Flanders.” – Bart Simpson This episode has a lot of problems, most glaringly the heavy dependence on referencing pop culture, going so far as to have a truly dizzying array of guest voices all playing themselves. But that wackiness comes only at the end, by that point the episode has devolved into a nonsensical series of set pieces that have almost nothing to do with the fact that it slowly becomes a travel episode about Branson, Missouri. (Nevermind that…
Month: August 2010
Quote of the Day
“Homer. Give him what he wants.” – Barney Gumble “Aw Barney, leave me alone.” – Homer Simpson (door slamming) “Oops.” – Barney Gumble (gunshot) (glass breaking) (woman screaming) (police siren) “Uh oh.” – Barney Gumble
Quote of the Day
“It’s camp! The tragically ludicrous? The ludicrously tragic?” – John “Oh yeah, like when a clown dies.” – Homer Simpson “Well, sort of.” – John
DHS Editorial: Glenn Beck Is Right About Almost Everything
“Please sir, you’re destroying my establishment.” – Low Life Commoner “We just created the greatest democracy on Earth, you low life commoner!” – Founding Father The city of Washington was built on a stagnant swamp some two hundred years ago, and very little has changed. It stank then, and it stinks now. But yesterday, Glenn Lee Beck lead a rally to purify the air in that fetid cesspool. We have lots of names for Glenn Beck: bum, deadbeat, loser, scum of the Earth. We’d like to sweep him into the gutter, or to some other out of the way place. …
Quote of the Day
“Simpson, I am by most measures a successful man. I have wealth and power beyond the dreams of you and your clock punching ilk.” – C.M. Burns
Quote of the Day
“Ugh. Back to the loch with you, Nessie.” – Groundskeeper Willie
Reading Digest: Foreign Usage Edition
We’ve got excellent usage from all over the globe this week. And I mean all over, from Cambodia to Lebanon to Ireland. There’s even a wonderfully titled blog from the UK. In addition to that we have iPads for sumos, an evil talking Krusty doll, several people doing sketches, and a homemade Simpsons table I would love too much to ever put anything on. Oh, and Season 13 came out this week, but I don’t care about that. Enjoy. 40 Movie References From The Simpsons – This is Smooth Charlie Apollo’s Click of the Week. We’ve linked to these types…
Quote of the Day
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, can I help you?” – U2 Concert Security “Potato man.” – Homer Simpson “Where the hell have you been?” – Paul McGuinness
Simpsons Alumni Update: Harry Shearer (He Just Won’t Stop!)
Harry Shearer’s documentary about how Katrina and the Army Corps of Engineers fucked New Orleans will be going to theaters one night only: Monday August 30th. Trailer: Local show times all across the US can be found here. Give ’em hell, Harry.
Quote of the Day
“Uh, I changed my mind. I decided I don’t want these shoes.” – Homer Simpson “Hey, wait a minute, what happened here?” – Shoe Store Clerk “Well, my faithful dog was bringing me my shoes and they fell apart in his mouth.” – Homer Simpson “I’m sorry sir, our warranty doesn’t cover fire, theft or acts of dog.” – Shoe Store Clerk
“The Simpsons Movie” Makes Baby Jesus Cry (Part 2)
“No, make it a pie. Pies are easier to draw.” – Itchy & Scratch Animator “Okay, a pie.” – Roger Meyers Jr. After spending roughly seven weeks in the optical drive of my laptop, The Simpsons Movie is finally in the custody of the United States Postal Service and on its way back to Netflix. (Which means “Lies Make Baby Jesus Cry” should start for Season 13 in the next few days.) The second commentary was done by some of the animators and directors of the film, and while there is some interesting information in here, mostly it’s a blur…
Quote of the Day
“Hey Moe, what’ll you give me for an AA chip?” – Barney Gumble “Uh, Barney, this is a five minute chip. Eh, it’s worth a Pabst.” – Moe Szyslak
Much Better Than Average Al Jean Interview
As a nice contrast to last week’s depressingly formulaic Al Jean Season 13 promo interview, comes this much longer and much better one from Crave Online. Not only does the interviewer, Silas Lesnick, manage to not ask the “When are you quitting?” question that Jean usually has to duck, but he keeps the celebrity stuff to a minimum and even manages to tease out some actual information: CraveOnline: What’s the biggest difference between working on the show now and working on the 13th season? Al Jean: Between the 13th season and now, I would say that the biggest change is…
Quote of the Day
“Hey, they’re trying to learn for free!” – Enemy Soldier “Get ’em!” – Tour Guide “Use your phony guns as clubs!” – Member of the Ninth Bearded Infantry
Quote of the Day
“Your mother seems really upset about something. I’d better go have a talk with her. During the commercial.” – Homer Simpson
Sunday Afternoon Cartoons
“And special awards go to the two students who obviously had no help from their parents, Lisa Simpson and Ralph Wiggum.” – Principal Skinner Parental neglect is one of those things a lesser show would treat with respect, not The Simpsons. Half the plot of “$pringfield”, which would be a masterpiece for any other program but is instead just par for the course, is about Marge’s gambling induced inattention of her kids, specifically her elder daughter. In the hands of lesser storytellers, Marge would’ve had a big emotional moment with Lisa. Instead, Lisa’s worst nightmare, the thing she most dreads,…
Quote of the Day
“I won’t eat anything unless it’s shipped overnight from Vermont or Washington state.” – Evelyn “We order our steaks through the New Yorker.” – Roberta
Quote of the Day
“Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; what great men he would join. John Marshall, Charles Evans Hughes, Warren Burger… mmm, burger.” – Homer Simpson
Reading Digest: The Kids Are Alright Edition
“I used to be with it. But then they changed what it was, now what I’m with isn’t it, and what’s it seems weird and scary to me. It’ll happen to you.” – Abe Simpson Back before I turned twenty and became the mature adult I am today, I used to be amused by the goofy and illogical hysteria of press accounts about “teenagers” and the crazy things we were apparently doing. Not once did I ever ready a story about the youth or see some segment on the news and think to myself, “Wow, that could be me and…
Quote of the Day
“There’s nothing wrong with crabgrass. It just has a bad name, that’s all. Everyone would love it if it had a cute name like ‘elf grass.’” – Homer Simpson