“Ned, have you thought about one of the other major religions? They’re all pretty much the same.” – Reverend Lovejoy
Month: September 2010
Reading Digest: Truther Conspiracy Edition
“You fool! Can’t you see it’s a massive government conspiracy, or have they gotten to you too?” – Milhouse van Houten I don’t know if it’s because tomorrow is the ninth anniversary of those rather unpleasant terrorist attacks, but this week we’ve got two different links to those irrepressibly foolish Truthers. I’d say more, but the shadowy organization that directs all my actions doesn’t want me to provoke their awesome deductive and investigative powers lest they uncover the terrible truth. We’ve also got some cool costumes of Marge, Maggie and Lisa, Angela Merkel, some enjoyable, regular YouTube, and some bizarre,…
Quote of the Day
“Mom, there’s something you should know about me: I almost always spoil the moment.” – Homer Simpson “I’m sorry.” – Homer Simpson “That’s okay darling. It wasn’t your fault.” – Mona Simpson
Quote of the Day
♫ Hey there, blimpie boy, flying through the sky so fancy free! ♫ – Homer Simpson
Simpsons Alumni Update: Lovitz & Shearer Interviews
Two quick alumni updates for you: 1) Lovitz takes his show on the road – with a stop in Calgary – This is an extensive Calgary Herald interview with Jon Lovitz about three nights of standup he’s doing there this weekend. This makes me sad that we missed another season or two of The Critic: Arguably, Lovitz’s finest post-SNL moment came in 1994-95 with his animated series, The Critic, in which he voiced the lead role of movie critic Jay Sherman. The Critic got off to a shaky start on the ABC network but things were looking up for the…
Quote of the Day
“Baron von Wortzenberger, on behalf of the American people, I apologize for…” – US State Department Agent “Ja ja ja, macht schnell mit der art things, huh? I must get back to Dancezentrum in Stuttgart in time to see Kraftwerk. Hey, und dummkopf! Watch out for the CD changer in my trunk, eh? Idiot.” – Baron von Wortzenberger
Bonus Quote of the Day
“That’s not my voice!” – Marge Simpson “Oh, everybody says that when they hear themselves on tape.” – Homer Simpson Happy Birthday Julie Kavner!
“The Lastest Gun in the West” Makes Baby Jesus Cry
“Bart, stop creating a diversion and get out of here!” – Principal Skinner This is only the third of the Season 13 commentaries I’ve gotten through, but it’s not at all hard to detect some similarities. Whether they’re talking about Branson, Brazil or, in this case, westerns, they can’t stop commenting on the source material as a means of ignoring what’s going on in the episode. This actually happens in Branson! I read this in an article about Brazil! Remember when westerns were popular? It goes on like that while strange and joke free crap parades across the screen. I…
Quote of the Day
“Well, William, I’m back. So, how did you spend your summer?” – Principal Skinner “I made millions in software, and lost it at the track! Ach!” – Groundskeeper Willie
Quote of the Day
“You can’t treat the working man this way! One day we’ll form a union, and get the fair and equitable treatment we deserve. Then we’ll go too far, and get corrupt and shiftless, and the Japanese will eat us alive!” – Squeaky Voiced Working Man “The Japanese? Those sandal wearing goldfish tenders? Ta ha! Bosh! Flimshaw!” – Grampa Burns [Edited because the commenters are better at this than I am.]
Quote of the Day
“I’ll be right there. Alright people, we’ve got an escaped octopus on the roof of Springfield Elementary, let’s roll! Two cameras! . . . So, once again, I’ve been had.” – Kent Brockman
Quote of the Day
“Hello my animal friends. Peace be with you.” – Homer Simpson “Guys, please, could you give me five minutes?” – Homer Simpson
Sly Cultural Reference, Yea or Nay?
I saw this on Boing Boing just now: I’d never heard of “Hai Karate” as an aftershave, but the words instantly pinged the roughly 2/3 of my brain devoted to storing Simpsons quotes. In Season 3’s “When Flanders Failed”, Akira’s closing line in his commercial is, “High karate, at low, low prices.” A search of the episode pages on both SNPP and Wikipedia turned up nothing. Despite a long “Pop Culture References” section, Wikipedia’s Hai Karate article does not mention Simpsons. The question is: Was that an intentional reference? I’m inclined to say that it was. The rather extensive list…
Reading Digest: The Internet Loves ‘Glee’ Edition
“Hey, those girls you paid to scream are doing a great job.” – Moe “I didn’t pay any girls to scream.” – Nigel “Huh?!” – Moe Earlier this week, promotional images for Zombie Simpsons take on a two year old South Park episode hit the internet. In the aftermath, the yellow, chin-less versions of three members of the Glee cast went up on more websites than I can remember. If you want to see them (and the guys from Flight of the Conchords, but far fewer people care about that), Simpsons Channel has you covered, but there’s no point in…
Quote of the Day
“What do you think of the banners?” – Principal Seymour Skinner “Nothing but transparent toadying.” – Superintendent Chalmers “They were the children’s idea. I tried to stop them.” – Principal Seymour Skinner “It’s always the children’s fault, isn’t it Seymour?” – Superintendent Chalmers “Yes, yes it is sir.” – Principal Seymour Skinner
Compare & Contrast: Branson Sign Jokes
A while back I linked to this post by our friend Friz about how the Simpsons has fallen apart. (For another example in his series, click here to see the decline in relevance of Itchy & Scratchy.) What he did was compare background gags from “Bart’s Dog Gets an F” and some piece of shit from Season 16. Long story short, in “Bart Gets an F” a joke might be on screen for only a fraction of a second. In Season 16, things are left on screen for a long time and Homer even breaks the fourth wall by asking…
Quote of the Day
“Militants huh? Well if I were you, I’d kick their asses.” – Homer Simpson
“Blame It On Lisa” Makes Baby Jesus Cry
I had completely forgotten that this was the fake “controversy”/Brazil episode. “Blame It on Lisa” isn’t the world’s most descriptive title, and this is an awful episode to boot, so my forgetting may have been an involuntary defense mechanism. The huffy feelings of the Brazilians are about the only thing that makes this one notable, or separates it and the unwatchably bad “Simpsons Safari” from Season 12. Brazil and Rio de Janeiro are defined entities that can get mad, whereas “Africa” is a general place and nobody can speak for it authoritatively. Other than that, it’s basically the same: a…
Quote of the Day
“Homer, you’re turning the blades too fast. The golfers are complaining, slow down! . . . that’s better. Aw, beautiful, keep this up and someday you’ll be the guy who hands out the putters.” – Springfield Fun Center Manager “Yes, sir!” – Homer Simpson