“And next it our Fall catalog, we love this, it is a vision in raspberry cream.” – Donut Catwalk Announcer “Oooh, pure genius.” – Dream Homer
Tag: Treehouse of Horror IV
Quote of the Day
“Mom! Dad! Mr. Burns is a vampire and he has Bart!” – Lisa Simpson “Why, Bart is right here.” – C.M. Burns “Hello, Mother. Hello, Father. I missed you during my uneventful absence.” – Bart Simpson Happy birthday Nancy Cartwright!
Quote of the Day
“Paintings, lifeless images rendered in colorful goop. But at night, they take on a life of their own. They become portals to Hell so scary and horrible and gruesome that-” – Bart Simpson “Bart, you should warn people this episode is very frightening, and maybe they’d rather listen to that old War of the Worlds broadcast on NPR.” – Marge Simpson “Yes, mother.” – Bart Simpson “Good. Now, you hold Maggie. I’m going to buy some earrings from the gift shop.” – Marge Simpson
Quote of the Day
“Hear ye, hear ye, the court of Infernal affairs is now in session.” – Skeleton Judge “Very well, but first, some ground rules. Number one, we get bathroom breaks every half hour.” – Lionel Hutz “Agreed. Number two, the jury will be chosen by me.” – The Devil “Agreed. No, wait.” – Lionel Hutz “Silence!” – The Devil
Quote of the Day
“It’s some sort of hideous monster. . . . Aww, isn’t that cute? He’s trying to claw my eyes out.” – Ned Flanders
Quote of the Day
“You must drive this stake right through his heart.” – Lisa Simpson “Take that, vile fiend!” – Homer Simpson “Uh, Dad? That’s his crotch.” – Lisa Simpson “Oh, sorry.” – Homer Simpson
Reading Digest: Real Life Soul Donut Edition
“Well, well, finishing something?” – The Devil This week, someone not only made Simpsons donuts and posted the recipe, they made the Soul Donut! Excellent. In addition to that we’ve got fan art everywhere from crosstitch and felt to statues and house paint. Plus there’s some excellent usage, more episode rundowns and reviews, and more. Enjoy. Note: Still no news on contract renewal. I continue to assume there will be a full Season 27. Homer Simpson’s Donut Recipe – Just what it says, with easy to follow instructions and this: Etsy: Marge Simpson Cross Stitch – Excellent and for sale. Works in Progress – And coming soon from the same woman as the link above, Moe! Simpson – Fan made Homer out of felt. Excellent. 5 ‘Simpsons’ Episodes That Could Have Been The Series Finale – “Behind the Laughter” still gets my vote. This website archives everything Bart Simpson has ever written on the blackboard – Metro.co.uk rediscovered that site that has all the chalkboard images on it, so it was making the rounds this week. Brighton students wake up to massive Simpsons mural being painted on their home – Neat: Renowned Brighton graffiti artist Aroe MSK was commissioned by the landlord to paint the striking artwork on the house in Hartington Road as a result of his Viaduct Road piece last month. There’s a couple of good pictures at the link. Weekend Gaming Goodness – Awesome: The Simpsons trivia tournament was, as many predicted it would be, perfectly cromulent. The questions were tough, the players were nerds. I went into that tournament all but certain we’d win; we placed fourth. I am an early Simpsons nut and the questions were all from seasons three to ten. How could I fail? I’ll tell you how: questions like What is the name of the gun store from which Homer buys his gun? Fourth. Shameful. Really though, my friends and I had a blast. The host was dressed as Otto and the prize for winning was an inanimate carbon rod. Our team name? Worker and Parasite. PeteSnyder on Twitter – Apparently there’s now a “Bartman” sculpture in front of the FOX News headquarters: Old Money – I love that wool shawls are in “Activewear”: -“Grandma’s World” has to be real store somewhere. Brush With Greatness – Ah, for when Homer’s screams were quick and meant something: -My favorite part of the episode? Probably Homer’s reaction to seeing Burns in his house. He screams the most abrupt scream in the history of television. Round 1, Battle 6 – (S.9 Ep. 16) Dumbbell Indemnity vs (S.2 Ep. 1) Bart Gets an “F” – That’s an easy one. Round 1, Battle 7 – (S.8 Ep.14) The Twisted World of Marge Simpson vs. (S.7 Ep. 11) Scenes from a Class Struggle in Springfield – That’s close, but I gotta go with those stuck up rich snobs and their abalone sandwiches. Round 1 – Battle 8 – (S.8 Ep.16) Brother From Another Series vs (S.8 Ep. 20) The Canine Mutiny – Yeah, gotta go with the Sideshow brothers there. Round 1…
Quote of the Day
“I’m sorry, Mr. Blackbeard. We’re low on chairs, and this is the last one.” – Marge Simpson “Arghh, this chair be high, says I!” – Blackbeard
Quote of the Day
“We come now to the final and most terrifying painting of the evening. To even gaze upon it is to go mad.” – Bart Simpson “Ahh! They’re dogs and they’re playing poker!” – Homer Simpson
Quote of the Day
“Read the back, the back!” – Marge Simpson “Argh, ’tis some kind of treasure map.” – Blackbeard the Pirate “You idiot, you can’t read!” – Benedict Arnold “Aye, ’tis true. My debauchery was my way of compensating.” – Blackbeard the Pirate Happy 20th Anniversary to “Treehouse of Horror IV”! Original airdate 28 October 1993.
Animation Alley: Treehouse of Horror IV
(this edition directed by David Silverman) For our wrap-arounds in this edition, Bart steps in for Rod Serling in a Night Gallery parody, walking past a collection of famous paintings, Simpson-ized. It’s a real treat for anyone who’s taken an art history course. My favorite is probably the center, Jacques-Louis David’s “The Death of Marat,” except here, it’s Homer holding a shopping list of Duff, chips and pork. It even has David’s name on it too, and ‘Simpson’ subbing for ‘Marat’ above it. I love the deranged look of the little demon chef. Also we have Devil Flanders’ chilling alternate form, who just looks fantastic, clearing paying homage to the monstrous Chernabog from the “Night on Bald Mountain” segment of Fantasia. And excellent freeze frame moment where you see Flanders’ face from an instant before he disappears. The vortex in the kitchen floor is such a great effect. The first shot has almost like a fish eye lens, and the second, I love how Marge’s nightcap is sucked up immediately, causing her hair to sway forth as well, becoming even more elongated. This short and simple bit in Hell is fantastic. You have this wonderful contraption forcefeeding Homer donuts, and he of course couldn’t be happier. The ironic punishment demon laughs maniacally, thinking he knows the fun won’t last. Dissolve to an engorged Homer still willfully eating, and the demon is no longer so pleased. As if you needed more reason to doubt the professionalism of Lionel Hutz, he first walks into the scene combing his hair with a fork. With her husband’s soul at stake, Marge sure pulled out the big guns. I love how displeased Flanders is with the seating arrangements, as Marge pulls every object from the house to accommodate the jury of the damned. Best of all, of course, is Blackbeard stuck with an infant high chair. I love how awkward and uncomfortable he is on it (“This chair be high, says I!”) Excellent drawing of the tense bit of Homer’s sentencing. It’s just a camera push-in, and the only animation is on the fire of the cage. This is all you need to convey the emotion of the scene. Another amazing drawing from Homer and Marge’s wedding day. I love how Lovejoy’s there with the Bible open at the foot of the counter, as if he’s still officiating the marriage during Homer’s medically questionable state. Bart’s nightmare of the school bus having a head-on collision ends with repeated flashes until we’re back in reality in the bedroom, but not until we get a few glimpses of skeleton Bart over here. I absolutely love the gremlin, from the animation alone you can tell what perverse glee he takes out of wreaking such havoc. I’ve been playing through the Halloween event of the Tapped Out mobile game, and was really pleased that they included the gremlin in it. When you tap to get rid of him, he growls and does the throat cut animation. Fantastic. Upon finding…
Attention Pittsburgh Readers: Simpsons Trivia Tonight
“It sure was nice of Mr. Burns to invite us for a midnight dinner at his country house in Pennsylvania.” – Homer Simpson Classic Simpsons trivia is spreading. First there was Toronto, then New York City, then Chicago, and now Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Simpsons Trivia Makes our big debut Sunday November 25th at 8pm at Hambone’s in Lawrenceville. We’ll be showing episodes and drinking and giving out prizes to the winners. This is for true fans of CLASSIC Simpsons episodes (nothing after season 9) so bring your A-GAME and come compete against some of Pittsburgh’s finest Simpsons fans. Play by yourself or form a team of up to 4 people. It’s free to play and you might win prizes and/or the respect of others! If you’re in or around the area, the address is at the link. And, as a bonus, if you’re out doing this you won’t have to be home to watch tonight’s episode of Zombie Simpsons. Thanks to reader Tram for sending this in, and have fun!
Reading Digest: Halloween Hangover Edition
“Happy Halloween everybody!” – The Simpsons It always sucks when Halloween lands in the middle of the week. When you’re a kid it means you can’t stay up all night gorging on candy, and when you’re a grown-up it means you can’t stay up all night gorging on candy and booze. Regardless of when it falls, however, it’s still one of the best holidays of the year and this week we’ve got lots of links to prove it. There are plenty of both Simpsons costumes and Simpsons watch lists, as well as excellent usage, lots of animated .gifs, and several excellent fan made items. Enjoy. Ode to Hank Scorpio – Smooth Charlie’s Link of the Week is this excellent fan made twofer of a drawing and a poem dedicated the world’s nicest supervillain. Halloween’s Got Soul…donuts – An Oregon radio show blog puts up lots of Simpsons images and .gifs to go with some old fashioned Halloween soul music. Tree House of Horror History Lesson – A guide to the first seven Treehouse of Horror episodes, including lots of quotes, screen grabs and animated .gifs. Eat My Ten Favorite Shorts from the Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror – Our second Treehouse of Horror list, this one contains just one segment from Zombie Simpsons. Scared Silly: The 5 Best Treehouse of Horror Segments. How Many Ways Can Groundskeeper Willie Die? – This one lists “Night of the Dolphin”, which is from Season 12, but it’s pretty good so I’d still call this one free of Zombie Simpsons. The 10 Best ‘Treehouse of Horror’ Segments on ‘The Simpsons’ – Hollywood.com’s list doesn’t have anything past Season 8. Excellent. (via @dailysimpsons) The Many Faces of a Space Invader [Pic] – The Space Invaders characters redone with different colors to give them a little personality, including one labeled simply “Homer J.”. Reposez en paix – Halloween reminiscing includes a Simpsons calendar screen grab of Kang’s “Holy flurking schnit!”. The art of the quote – A list of some memorable quotes from sources as august and lauded as Joseph Heller and Oscar Wilde, also includes Homer’s home wine making fiasco. Top 5 Halloween TV episodes – The original “Treehouse of Horror” makes the list. SpeakeasyENT: When sitcoms get spooky – A tribute to some Halloween television episodes, including the ever excellent “Treehouse of Horror IV”. WOO HOO! Classic Simpsons Trivia: October 31, 2012 – Trivia night in Chicago appears to have been a rousing success. The team names are great; I’m especially partial to “Hoju”. And there were costumes: Speaking of costumes: Aww. (via @dailysimpsons) Redbox Redux – Rethinking a ban on certain movies after realizing, among other things, that CGI and time travel have made for pretty awesome Treehouse of Horror segments. Stupid Sexy Flanders – I put this up on Twitter the other day, but it is one of the best Simpsons Halloween costumes I’ve seen in a long while: The face is just perfect, and apparently Jean and Groening loved it as well.…
Quote of the Day
“Marge, look at all this great stuff I found at the marina. It was just sitting in some guy’s boat.” – Homer Simpson
Quote of the Day
“Milhouse, wake up! Quick, look out the window!” – Bart Simpson “No way, Bart. If I lean over, I leave myself open to wedgies, wet willies, or even the dreaded rear admiral.” – Milhouse van Houten
Quote of the Day
“Homer, we gotta do something. Today he’s drinking people’s blood, tomorrow he could be smoking.” – Marge Simpson
Quote of the Day
“Alright, stay calm, remember your training. ‘Dear Homer I.O.U. one emergency donut signed Homer’. Bastard! He’s always one step ahead!” – Homer Simpson
Zombi Simpsons en Espanol
“Hey, wait, if I don’t finish this last bite, you don’t get my soul, do you?” – Homer Simpson Reader Mauro sends in this fantastic graphic of the rise and fall of The Simpsons: I don’t know Spanish, but with design that good, I don’t need to. I’m especially fond of the final image. All credit goes to Eduardo Salles for making this, and Mauro for sending it in.
Reading Digest: Premier and Renewal Edition
There were two events that generated quite a bit of Simpsons related internet activity this week. The first, obviously, was the unfortunate refusal of Zombie Simpsons to die. The second was the premier of Simpsons alum Conan O’Brien’s new show on TBS. Both generated multiple links below. There’s also some excellent usage, some fan made stuff, even more Treehouse of Horror lists, and an ex-teacher who uses the show (among other things) to get kids to learn math, er, “maths”, as he is British. Before the links though, I’d like to introduce something new. (I was going to do this last week, but I got distracted by that conspiracy numbskullery.) In the comments to Reading Digest from two weeks ago, Andreas posted a link to his excellent Treehouse of Horror post: Not to self-promote, but I did a ToH piece partially talking about the ridiculously low depths to which Zombie ToH episodes have stooped: http://mendthiscrack.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/the-best-and-worst-of-the-treehouse-of-horror/ Hope the reading value outweighs the linking-to-myself sleaziness. Thanks for these links, and happy Halloween! In general, posting links to your own stuff in blog comments is frowned upon, and probably for good reason. But there’s no reason that custom should apply to Reading Digest. After all, these posts are nothing but collections of Simpsons links, and I see no harm in people using it to promote Simpsons related things they’ve done themselves or just seen elsewhere. Obviously, we still accept links via e-mail, of which we had quite a few this week, but if you’ve written, drawn, painted, crocheted or otherwise created something Simpsons related and it has a URL, go for it. Enjoy. Moe-Saic – Smooth Charlie’s Click of the Week is this sweet fan made Moe image. Not Just the Ticket — #77, Curve, November 24, 1993 – A concert story from 1993, complete with a Matt Groening encounter. The Simpsons Squeaking Pork Chop Thing. – A heartwarming tale of one man’s quest to find a squeaking pork chop, and the awesome ending when he finally does. I like the cartoon dog that represents, but is legally distinct, from Lassie. Thanks to reader Galileo for the link! Simpsons & Canada – What must be a circa Season 13 news report from Canada about Canadian references on the show: (Via Bob’s Place… Exploring Winnipeg and Beyond.) 22 years of Coco: Conan’s Best Moments – Looking at the career of Conan O’Brien from the perspective of someone who isn’t old enough to remember all of it. Huge Screen v.2 Review – This entertaining review of a terrible video game system comes courtesy of reader James: The “Simpsons” part, if you can call it that, starts at about the 2:00 minute mark. But you’ll understand it a lot better if you watch it from the beginning. It is terrible. Familiar Faces #42: Top 13 Treehouse of Horror – Before we get to the regular Treehouse of Horror lists, here’s a video one. There’s some Zombie Simpsons (as usual, largely at the bottom of the list),…
Compare & Contrast: Vampire Segments
“This cape is giving me a rash.” – Abe “Grampa” Simpson In Season 5’s Halloween special, the final segment is a vampire story. In Season 22’s Halloween special, the final segment is also a vampire story. Let’s take a look at them, shall we? The difference is apparent immediately. The Simpsons starts things off with the family quietly watching television, complete with the dogs playing poker painting in the background as a transition from the lead-in. The news report situates things firmly in the Springfield we’ve all come to know and love: the police are incompetent, Brockman is an idiot, Burns is evil. Everything necessary to set up the story has been established in one quick and joke filled scene. Zombie Simpsons begins with thirty seconds of dialogue free nothing that would be utterly irrelevant to anyone who hasn’t seen Twilight. That’s followed by a glacial setup full of painfully poor dialogue (“I should be scared, but I’m not.”) and repetitive jokes that, again, would be unfamiliar to anyone who hasn’t seen the source material. It’s not until two-and-a-half-minutes into a six-and-a-half-minute segment that one of the main characters is introduced, a warmed over vampire complete with cliched costume and accent. By contrast, two and a half minutes into “Bart Simpson’s Dracula”, the family has met Burns, dined with him, and the kids are off exploring his castle after Lisa, completely in character, figures out what’s really going on. It’s packed with jokes, some referencing Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Burns’ shadow is great) and others not (“Lisa, vampires are make believe, just like elves, gremlins and Eskimos”). It should also be noted that the fact that Season 5 is working with much stronger source material is no excuse for Season 22’s abject humor failure. If you want to make fun of Twilight, make fun of Twilight. There is no shortage of things that can be mocked: vampires that don’t drink blood, sparkle in the sun, and enjoy baseball. There are even fantastically sexy supernatural superhunks who inexplicably fall in love with a heroine that, to make her easily relatable for every member of the target demographic, has been deliberately excised of all personality. This sort of thing is a satirist’s wet dream and they don’t use any of it. Instead, they sketch up the world’s least imaginative vampire . . . and name him “Dracula”. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the culmination of hundreds of hours of work by the staff of Zombie Simpsons, as well as the first Google Image result for “Dracula Costume”: One of these is the work of cheap knockoff artists, the other is a costume. Then we get to the respective endings. The Simpsons takes the story back to the scene of the crime for its finale. We know where Burns’ hideout is, and the family is going back there to reclaim their son. Along the way the show never takes things seriously, tossing off jokes (a callback to the Super Fun Happy Slide,…