“Oh, these Renaissance Fairs are so boring.” – Bart Simpson
“Oh, really?  Did you see the loom?  I took loom in high school.” – Marge Simpson
“Meh.” – Bart Simpson

It’s a very short Reading Digest this week because two old problems reared their heads at the same time.  First, the signal-to-noise ratio plummeted because smaller media outlets (local TV stations, newspapers, magazines) finally got wind of the official opening of the Simpsons area down in America’s wang.  That blotted out most of the interesting Simpsons related content on Google.  Second, the WordPress tag for “The Simpsons” crashed again.  It’s only displaying a single page of links, which is annoying as hell and means I missed about five days worth of Simpsons related blogging.  Oh well. 

We do have some good stuff, however.  There’s an unusual fan drawing of Homer, another clueless FOX executive, a guide to playing Tapped Out without actually getting tapped out, a Simpsons bowtie, and the uncertain history of “meh”. 

Enjoy.

The Unshaved Mouse’s Top 10 One Shot Simpsons Characters – Here’s a great idea for a list:

What’s a One Shot? Well, here are the rules. A One Shot character:

a) Appears in only one episode.

b) May only appear in one scene for the purpose of one joke (with possibly a second for a call back).

c) Is not integral to the plot.

d) Is not voiced by a celebrity (or at least, not a celebrity who is a regular cast member.)

So, here we go.

Needless to say, there is no Zombie Simpsons.  Excellent. 

Meh etymology: Tracing the Yiddish word from Leo Rosten to Auden to the Simpsons. – The curious history of apathy’s greatest word. 

Get Got – Death Grips – Exit Through The Empty Subway – A little street art after some youthful experimentation with the Simpsons:

Ever since I was young I had doodled, even creating my own cartoon series when I was little. I was never very good at drawing, but continued to do so out of misplaced enjoyment. I tried to invent my own characters to craft stories with. They were essentially very poorly drawn Simpsons models, with bulbous eyes, skinny legs that went on too long, and awkward arms. I even had a dog character who followed round the lead character (who was always on a skateboard), and together they had adventures killing aliens (who looked exactly like the aliens out of the Simpsons).

7 tips to hosting a throwdown Hoppy 30th Bierday bash – Now this is a good party idea:

Creating custom cup wraps are a simple way to wow your guest of honor and the guests at the same time. I was able to hit the beer theme and Brett’s love for the Simpsons with the Duff Beer solo cup wraps.

Scroll down about halfway for the picture. 

Best. Episode. Ever. (Round 65) – “Homer’s Enemy” vs. “Lisa’s Sax” is a tough one. 

Homer – Cool fan drawing of a giant blob Homer who appears to have consumed a city. 

Fox Plans ‘Simpsons’ Cable Syndication Push – Only a FOX executive could say something this clueless:

“We figured out that a cable channel could play the series for 52 weeks without having to repeat. The series has only been on broadcast stations. It hasn’t been on Netflix, it hasn’t been on cable. It isn’t as exploited as one would think.”

Jebus.  I’m all for the show coming to cable, but holy shit, the lack of self awareness needed to think it is in any way under exploited is staggering. 

Q&A: Cult X The Simpsons – Case in point, there is now a Duffman brand bicycle (via).

Riddick…In 10 Words – If you don’t watch the violence, you’ll never get desensitized to it.  (Incidentally, I thought Riddick 3 was a lot of fun.) 

Spell-Mageddon…In 10 Words – You can’t spell obsequious without I.O.U..

The Million Second Quiz…In 10 Words – No, after twelve. 

Beverly…In 10 Words – Our old friend Galileo often finds things I’ve never heard of, but this one takes the cake.  Not only do I have no idea, I’m not even sure why it’s here. 

Cartoonish… – Scroll down for a picture of a cool Simpsons bowtie. 

Tunes Tuesday #29: Alright – Nothing wrong with this:

Hey, that might become a future relationship test! Ha ha ha ha. That and “have you seen at the very very least seasons 1-6 of The Simpsons?”.

Dating sites should have a filter for that. 

Simpsons Wrestling – Rustlemania 27 – Three guys play and make fun of a terrible Simpsons wrestling video game, and at the 6:30 mark (which that link should take you to) they very kindly mention Zombie Simpsons:

This dude was able to write like a forty page essay about why the Simpsons got bad around Season 9, and I read the whole thing.  It made me sad.

To which one of them replies “I can’t believe you read the whole thing”.  Thanks, fellas!  It made me sad too.  (And thanks to reader Connor for sending this in.) 

The Shining: The Abridged Script – Via an anonymous commenter yesterday is a parody script for that movie they based part of “Treehouse of Horror V” on.  A massive movie geek fight breaks out in the comments, and it all gets started because someone likes The Simpsons parody better than this one. 

Ode To: Futurama’s Leela, From Another Leila – Here’s a comparison I can get behind:

Now, I’m going to say something that may be downright blasphemy. The Simpsons has higher highs, but Futurama might be the better show.

I’m not gonna try to do the math or anything, but proportional to the whole run, there are a lot more good episodes of Futurama than there are of The Simpsons. 

Eat my shorts! Is it time to study ‘The Simpsons’ and Basil Fawlty in schools? – Why shouldn’t kids in Ireland study the show in school.  It’s smart and full of interesting words, many of which aren’t even made up!

The Simpsons: Tapped Out Guide: Spend the Least Money – A guide to playing the game without losing your wallet. 

BARTmania – A bunch of pictures of various women wearing various combinations of that fashion Bart line. 

TV Review: Futurama Series Finale (2013) – A thorough review of the end of Futurama that agrees with us:

See, when I was a kid, I grew up as a diehard fan of The Simpsons.  Long before I decided to study and work in communications and media, I knew I was hopelessly in love with pop culture, clever dialogue, creative storytelling, and comedy…especially if it was on a screen.  And, for me, The Simpsons embodied everything I loved about that kind of media.  My dad even took me to see Hank Azaria, one of the voice actors, perform in the Broadway production of Spamalot, and, on that windy winter’s night, Dad waited outside the backstage door with me, just so Hank could sign my print-out picture of Moe the bartender.  And even though I’m not the Simpsons fan I used to be (the recent seasons are lookin’ a little rough), it’s a night I’ll probably remember for the rest of my life. 

Looking a little rough is being kind, but yeah.