“Volunteering is for suckers. Do you know that so called ‘volunteers’ don’t even get paid?” – Homer Simpson
In the Spring of 2010, right after Season 21 finished up, I put out a call for guest posts. We got a couple of submissions, including the excellent “A. Gorilla”, but there wasn’t much. This spring, after Season 22, I made the same request, and the response has been terrific in both quality and quantity. So far we’ve had:
- A Simpsons Confession
- A Lisa-centric Marathon
- Ten Scary Simpsons Moments
- Growing Up with The Simpsons
These have been fantastic, up and down the line. Most of all, I love the different emphases and perspectives that have come across. These aren’t just things that Dave, Mad Jon, or I can’t say, they’re things we’d never think to say.
With that in mind, I’m going to once again put out a call for guest posts (repeat authors most definitely accepted). Since the Season 14 DVDs are (probably) not coming out until December, I’m not going to have a fresh crop of Lies Make Baby Jesus Cry for August/September. (Though I am going to revisit some of the episodes I skipped in 12 and 13 as I did yesterday.) So if you find yourself typing multi-paragraph comments in Crazy Noises threads, or you’ve got some theory your friends are tired of hearing, or even if there’s just an episode or a part of the show you think needs more love (or hate), let us know. The e-mail address is in the upper right, just drop us a line.
Miniscule internet fame and zero riches can be yours if you come and toil in our underground sugar caves. And don’t forget, on Fridays the lunchroom serves hot dogs and burgers and beer. We love German beer.
Dead Homer Society 
19 responses to “Let Us Publicize (and Exploit) Your Uncompensated Labor”
Funny you should post this, I was just thinking about e-mailing you guys about this. I’d love to be an Unpaid Guest! Specifically, I’d like to write a post analyzing the Jean era as a whole, and where its lead the show today. i’d talk about how Jean was supposedly going to be the show’s savior, and how that failed. Specifically, I’d talk about how his first four years were a noble failure, but from 17 on, it’s just gotten lazier and lazier. This might be slightly different than your view of the recent seasons (I’m probably a bit more fond of 13-16 than you are, though I agree they’re inferior to the classics), but I share your frustration at the current state of the show and I’d love to use your site as a soapbox to rant about it.
Sounds good. I look forward to the e-mail.
Just sent it. I should mention, it’s very long.
Yeah, I’ve written a little (long) rant about guest stars. I’ll email it in to see if you guys would be interested in posting it.
Did you guys know that you are the sickest bunch of analytical fucks out there, treating an old decayed and purely rotten show like some kind of cultist epiphany, attaching to things nobody even cares about to brings out arguments about side characters and shit? Why don’t you just create the Church of the Simpsons, give yourself numbers instead of names, and start calling each other “brother”? You’re very close to this, you know it?
You really should seek professional psychiatric help. Money shouldn’t be an issue. You know, most therapists can charge on a sliding scale going as low as $30 an hour…
lol why should I seek help? Because I don’t have the same conformist thought as the rest of the readers? FYI I’ve been reading this shitblog long enough to notice that all Charlie does (Charlie, whatever the fuck his real name is, because the others are non-existent, his crazy noises might as well be Charlie talking to different versions of himself. sure, there’s been Mad Jon on some occasion, he’s not smart either, and Dave… “Dave’s not there, man!”) is to write three kinds of posts: a) Zombie Simpsons suck, b) Simpsons rule and c) I drink. All over again, years after years,. I’m telling you this man has asperger’s, he’s unfit for regular social life, probably and most likely has no physical friends, and made a fetish out of this whole fucking show. And now you tell ME to seek professional help? wow, you must be as batfuck desperately ill as he is.
If he’s got Aspergers, then you’ve got Mad Cow disease.
“I’m telling you this man has asperger’s, he’s unfit for regular social life”
Better get him off the Internet then…
[Note: This comment has been deleted for racism. I don’t mind anyone who wants to disagree or call me names, but that shit won’t play. And it’s too bad, because he nailed me on a couple of points. – Charlie]
Yeah, go write another fucking quote of the day, shitpants.
U mad bro?
I may be able to come up with something. Would be some good cross-pollination to my blog as well. How shameless of me.
Also, wow, that guy above me’s pretty pissed.
Shameless cross promotion (and cross posting) has never been a problem.
Have you ever done a deconstruction of The Simpsons Movie? And not just the commentary. Search feature on wordpress sucks.
The closest I’ve come to really getting into the movie is in the introduction to the first commentary post:
https://deadhomersociety.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/the-simpsons-movie-makes-baby-jesus-cry/
Having just re-read it, I don’t think there’s much to add. The movie has a few moments that are very funny, but on the whole it’s too much of a mess to be considered a “good” movie. What it resembles most is just another forgettable computer animated movie. It came out the same year as Shrek 3, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Ratatouille. I didn’t see the chipmunks movie, and Ratatouille was clearly superior, but I’d say the Simpsons movie was about on par with Shrek 3: mostly fluff, with occasional moments of both genuine fun and real boredom. I do remember sitting in the theater and thinking that the audience at Ratatouille (which came out about a month earlier) laughed a lot more.
“Did you guys know that you are the sickest bunch of analytical fucks out there”
You know, it would have been genuinely funny if he had called you the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked. Would have been excellent usage.
It’s a thought, and just a thought, but considering that The Simpsons is the ultimate example of a show that’s gone on too long, a thought popped into my mind to compare The Simpson’s decline to one of the only other shows I watch: The Office (The US version).
I’ve noticed a few parallels that bear mentioning:
–Each show, at its peak, was (at least in my mind) was fresh, funny, and well-written. Both had well-rounded, relatable characters that complimented each other.
–Episode structure begins to crumble and the humor wanes as time went on, though good jokes remain for a few seasons.*
–The writers resort to stretching out gags and jokes to fill time. Humor continues to wane, while plots trend towards the zany/formulaic end of the spectrum as a way of compensation (which almost never works).
–Each show loses any trace of its original comedic approach and only exists as a cash cow for its network. Zombie Simpsons continues to taint the airways for merchandising reasons, while The Office^–even after losing Steve Carrell, its one defining actor–remains on the air to sell bobbleheads.
It might not be entirely accurate, but that’s what I’ve seemed to notice. Of course, that’s just me.
*Seasons 8-11 for The Simpsons; Seasons 4-5 of The Office
^Or Zombie Office?
Yes yes yes. The Office absolutely took a turn for the worse in a way that’s reminiscent of the Simpsons. I think all of your reasons are correct, and I’d even add that, much like how the Simpsons turned characters like Flanders and Ralph Wiggum into caricatures, the Office did the same with Dwight Schrute and probably others. I would also say the Office has suffered from guest-star-itis, much like the Simpsons began to during Scully’s years.