After a long weekend in South Bend it is slightly difficult for me to think of a blog topic. Even my standby rant about the time change doesn’t come into play this year. I was eternally grateful for the extra hour of sleep this morning and since I immediately lost that hour when I flew from Chicago to Philadelphia my body feels pretty much exactly like it should. Though I do fully expect to be complaining about how dark it is in tomorrow’s post.
I guess what I’ll write about instead is the Simpsons Halloween Special and the Simpsons in general. Now I had heard talk that this was going to be one of the best Halloween specials ever and after watching it I really have to wonder what those people were watching. True, the opening bit of Homer trying to vote for Obama only to have the machine constantly count the votes for McCain was quite good. The problem is I had already seen the bit. They had it on YouTube and I watched it weeks ago.
The rest of the episode was really ho hum. We had a Transformers parody a year after people gave a damn about Transformers. It was another “weird stuff happening as a result of a gift purchase” but it did not have the humor of say, the evil Krusty doll. (Ok, the nacho machine crying was funny.) We then had a few minutes on Homer killing celebrities which barely caused a chuckle though the opening image was really good. The ending with the retelling of the Charlie Brown Halloween episode was awesome though and probably could have been built upon. That was actually funny.
But in all honesty for what is typically one of the funniest episodes of the year there really wasn’t much humor in it at all. This has been true of the show a lot over the past few seasons. They’ve seemed to really have run out of things to do with the characters. Given that the show first came on the air in 1990 that really isn’t surprising. Not only have the fleshed out the story of all the main characters they also have full stories for Krusty, Chief Wiggum and a host of secondary characters. We’re now at the point where maybe we’ll give Jasper or Disco Stu an episode just for something different.
This makes the fact that the cast has all signed on for another three seasons all the more amazing and worrisome. It is amazing in that it is so far and away the longest running show on television that it is astounding. And it is still some of the best stuff on the air. It is just that it has lost a lot of its punch. You can’t be the voice of the alternative when you are the longest running show in history. At some point you become the mainstream. Plus, you simply run out of stories to tell. That is why they are now rewriting the past in some episodes much to the dismay of fans like me. I’ve watched every episode the show has had and I didn’t have to rent DVDs to do so. Messing with things like continuity pisses me off. I don’t want to have the show disappear from my Sunday nights but I’m not sure that I want to be watching it a decade from now if it loses everything that made it special.
Best of 120 Minutes: Yes! Social F’ing Distortion! Screw you Sony, MTV lets me embed this now. One of my favorite bands though no one will ever believe me on this point. I’ve even gone to their shows and if you know me you will wonder exactly how much I stand out. Punk rock the way I like it to be.
The five random CDs for the week:
1) The Iguanas “Live at Wolf Trap”
2) Rhett Miller “The Instigator”
3) Old 97’s “Fight Songs”
4) Josh Ritter “In the Dark”
5) Alejandro Escovedo “Real Animal”
Showing posts with label Simpsons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Simpsons. Show all posts
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Now excuse me, I have to buy a mint condition Funzo
In something that I'm not entirely proud of, I read Parade magazine today. It's not something that I usually do and it certainly does not paint me as one of the intelligentsia but there you are. Sometimes you just need to look at a Howard Huge cartoon. Anyway, what caught my eye was an advertisement for a Simpsons holiday decoration. Essentially a Christmas tree covered with Simpsons characters.
Now this raises two simple questions. The first is "Just how much has Fox whored out the Simpsons franchise?" I mean, it's not like we are talking about high quality merchandise here. These aren't the collectible figures that, uh, take up most of my spare bedroom (oh, like you don't own every variation of Comic Book Guy). This will probably fall apart upon exiting the box it came in. I'm all for profit but this is just on this side of releasing commemorative plates.
The second part is that this is Christmas decoration. Or as they put it "seasonal" though the fact that Homer was driving a sleigh would seem to indicate a particular season. Now my question is is the target market for this people who decide to celebrate Christmas two months later? Or have we now reached the point where the Christmas season begins in January? That would probably be easier on retailers. Just don't bother taking the decorations down, it's holiday sales all year round. Sigh. Oh well, at least Love Day is coming soon.
I did watch the new Simpsons tonight as well, which seems to have created a temporal warp within the Simpsons universe. So Homer was a part of the Be Sharps, which won a Grammy over Dexy's Midnight Runners for the song "Baby On Board" about Lisa. But now we find out that Marge and Homer weren't married until the 90's with Marge going to college. A college that seemed to span the entire decade as Homer invents grunge while singing in a boy band while listening to the Verve's Bittersweet Symphony. This means Bart was born a decade after he was born. I am might confused.
Ok, the entire episode was an excuse for 90s jokes and I'm not sure if I'm fond of my college years being mined for nostalgia. It's interesting that Nirvana jokes are now considered reasonable. Apparently the end of Kurt's life is now a comedy gold mine. Though I'll admit that some of the Nirvana inspired songs were pretty darn good. They weren't obvious parodies and were subversive enough to be cool.
Plus I gained my new motto from this episode. When you're tired of Weird Al, you're tired of life.
(No random CDs this week. Last week got so screwed up I haven't finished listening to those yet. But in the words of the Infinite Improbability Drive "We have reached normality. Any problems that you still can't deal with are your own damn fault.")
Now this raises two simple questions. The first is "Just how much has Fox whored out the Simpsons franchise?" I mean, it's not like we are talking about high quality merchandise here. These aren't the collectible figures that, uh, take up most of my spare bedroom (oh, like you don't own every variation of Comic Book Guy). This will probably fall apart upon exiting the box it came in. I'm all for profit but this is just on this side of releasing commemorative plates.
The second part is that this is Christmas decoration. Or as they put it "seasonal" though the fact that Homer was driving a sleigh would seem to indicate a particular season. Now my question is is the target market for this people who decide to celebrate Christmas two months later? Or have we now reached the point where the Christmas season begins in January? That would probably be easier on retailers. Just don't bother taking the decorations down, it's holiday sales all year round. Sigh. Oh well, at least Love Day is coming soon.
I did watch the new Simpsons tonight as well, which seems to have created a temporal warp within the Simpsons universe. So Homer was a part of the Be Sharps, which won a Grammy over Dexy's Midnight Runners for the song "Baby On Board" about Lisa. But now we find out that Marge and Homer weren't married until the 90's with Marge going to college. A college that seemed to span the entire decade as Homer invents grunge while singing in a boy band while listening to the Verve's Bittersweet Symphony. This means Bart was born a decade after he was born. I am might confused.
Ok, the entire episode was an excuse for 90s jokes and I'm not sure if I'm fond of my college years being mined for nostalgia. It's interesting that Nirvana jokes are now considered reasonable. Apparently the end of Kurt's life is now a comedy gold mine. Though I'll admit that some of the Nirvana inspired songs were pretty darn good. They weren't obvious parodies and were subversive enough to be cool.
Plus I gained my new motto from this episode. When you're tired of Weird Al, you're tired of life.
(No random CDs this week. Last week got so screwed up I haven't finished listening to those yet. But in the words of the Infinite Improbability Drive "We have reached normality. Any problems that you still can't deal with are your own damn fault.")
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Best. Episodes. Ever.
Here it is, my list of the top 20 Simpsons episodes of all time. I compiled it mainly by going though the episode guides that I have available. Technically those only make it through Season 12 but to be honest, I don’t know if there is an episode after that season that deserves consideration. Well, maybe the one where Bart answers the question of whether he understands girls with “Girls are easy, state capitals are hard.” Anyway, here is the list, with my vaguely witty comments and explanations
#20: Day of the Jacknape: Just because “I too was at the flower shop. Yep, getting drunk at the good old flower shop” is part of my daily conversation. Good Sideshow Bob episode with a brainwashed Bart trying to kill Krusty.
#19: There’s No Disgrace Like Home: The best of the early episodes. It’s the one where the family goes into counseling and all they end up doing is shocking each other to the point that the electrical grid fails. The first example of this show being way different than any other cartoon.
#18: Last Exit to Springfield: Homer takes over the union at the power plant after they choose to take a keg of beer over a dental plan, which would be useful since Lisa needs braces. Not the funniest episode of the series but probably the best in terms of social satire. I’ve seen a master’s thesis written on this episode and you can’t say that about Voltron. Well, not until I get my professor to sign off on it.
#17: Brother from the Same Planet: Bart gets a Big Brother because he is sick of his dad and Homer gets a son as well. Best remembered for the end exchange
Bart: “Dad, remember when Tom had you in that headlock and you screamed “I’m a hemophiliac” and when he let you go you kicked him in the back?”
Homer: “Yeah?”
Bart: “Will you teach me how to do that?”
Homer: “Sure boy. First, you gotta shriek like a woman and keep sobbing til he turns away in disgust. That’s when it’s time to kick some back.”
Still one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.
#16: Deep Space Homer: Homer is an astronaut. Gets included only because the Inanimate Carbon Rod always gets my vote for favorite Simpsons character. “Don’t thank me. Thank this inanimate carbon rod.”
#15: Mr. Plow: Mr. Plow, that’s my name, that name again is Mr. Plow
#14: Saturdays of Thunder: The soapbox derby episode and probably my favorite Martin episode. “Deploy, damn you, deploy” has also entered my lexicon along with Martin having to warn Bart not to drive into the crowd or he’ll kill innocent bystanders and Bart replying “Yes, kill innocent bystanders.”
#13: Homer’s Barbershop Quartet: I don’t think anyone would have expected this episode to hold up as well as it has. It’s the best of the flashback episodes and has a heart as well as a shot at Dexy’s Midnight Runners.
#12: Radioactive Man: “The goggles! They do nothing!”
#11: Itchy and Scratchy Land: Sure, it’s a Jurassic Park parody. But the “land where nothing could possib-lie go wrong” has its moments. Especially the Bort license plates.
#10: Whacking Day: Homer’s ninja training to attack snakes is only topped by the appearance of Barry White.
#9: Homer at the Bat: The fabled softball team episode. One of those awesome guest star episodes where you wonder who thought up the idea of “Wade Boggs and Barney getting into a bar brawl around who was the greatest prime minister of England?”
#8: The Mysterious Voyage of Homer: The chili episode featuring the most freaked out, trippy section the series has ever had. Also the only time spirit animals have ever been discussed on television where the laughter invoked was intentional.
#7: Homer the Great: Stonecutters. Don’t have to say anything more.
#6: I Love Lisa: The best Ralph Wiggum episode and filled with great lines. The mediocre presidents song, Sideshow Raheem, “I’m married to the sea”, “I Choo-Choo-Choose You”, “My cat’s breath smells like cat food.” All of the wonder of Ralph along with some heartbreak as well.
#5: Cape Feare: Always try to watch the original version of this episode over the syndicated version. You need to see the entire Sideshow Bob versus the rake scene for it to make sense. The best example of a joke being funny, then boring, then unbearable and finally the funniest thing you’ve ever seen by just repeating the punchline.
#4: Rosebud: Mr. Burns yearns to be reunited with his childhood toy Bobo. Also famous for being the episode with the line “Have the Rolling Stones killed.”
#3: Bart the Lover: Bart creates a fictional boyfriend for Mrs. Krabappel. Somehow the use of Gordie Howe as the picture of the boyfriend makes the entire episode
#2: Marge Versus the Monorail: Perfect episode all around with the best song they ever did. Apu: “Is there any chance the track might bend?” “Not on your life my Hindu friend.” Best episode written by Conan O’Brien.
#1: You Only Move Twice: Homer moves the family to work for Globex Corporation, which is just slightly trying to take over the world. Has about three dozen of the funniest lines ever including the motivational properties of Tom Landry’s hat and where to buy a hammock. I’d honestly like to work for Globex
I could probably write twenty pages about all of this. But this is a good shot at my favorites. Which one did I miss? Other than Frank Grimes. How the hell did that not make the list?
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Sarah McLachlan “Solace
2) Jeff Buckley “Live at Sin-E”
3) Leonard Cohen “The Essential Leonard Cohen”
4) The Police “Live”
5) Peter Gabriel “Us”
#20: Day of the Jacknape: Just because “I too was at the flower shop. Yep, getting drunk at the good old flower shop” is part of my daily conversation. Good Sideshow Bob episode with a brainwashed Bart trying to kill Krusty.
#19: There’s No Disgrace Like Home: The best of the early episodes. It’s the one where the family goes into counseling and all they end up doing is shocking each other to the point that the electrical grid fails. The first example of this show being way different than any other cartoon.
#18: Last Exit to Springfield: Homer takes over the union at the power plant after they choose to take a keg of beer over a dental plan, which would be useful since Lisa needs braces. Not the funniest episode of the series but probably the best in terms of social satire. I’ve seen a master’s thesis written on this episode and you can’t say that about Voltron. Well, not until I get my professor to sign off on it.
#17: Brother from the Same Planet: Bart gets a Big Brother because he is sick of his dad and Homer gets a son as well. Best remembered for the end exchange
Bart: “Dad, remember when Tom had you in that headlock and you screamed “I’m a hemophiliac” and when he let you go you kicked him in the back?”
Homer: “Yeah?”
Bart: “Will you teach me how to do that?”
Homer: “Sure boy. First, you gotta shriek like a woman and keep sobbing til he turns away in disgust. That’s when it’s time to kick some back.”
Still one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.
#16: Deep Space Homer: Homer is an astronaut. Gets included only because the Inanimate Carbon Rod always gets my vote for favorite Simpsons character. “Don’t thank me. Thank this inanimate carbon rod.”
#15: Mr. Plow: Mr. Plow, that’s my name, that name again is Mr. Plow
#14: Saturdays of Thunder: The soapbox derby episode and probably my favorite Martin episode. “Deploy, damn you, deploy” has also entered my lexicon along with Martin having to warn Bart not to drive into the crowd or he’ll kill innocent bystanders and Bart replying “Yes, kill innocent bystanders.”
#13: Homer’s Barbershop Quartet: I don’t think anyone would have expected this episode to hold up as well as it has. It’s the best of the flashback episodes and has a heart as well as a shot at Dexy’s Midnight Runners.
#12: Radioactive Man: “The goggles! They do nothing!”
#11: Itchy and Scratchy Land: Sure, it’s a Jurassic Park parody. But the “land where nothing could possib-lie go wrong” has its moments. Especially the Bort license plates.
#10: Whacking Day: Homer’s ninja training to attack snakes is only topped by the appearance of Barry White.
#9: Homer at the Bat: The fabled softball team episode. One of those awesome guest star episodes where you wonder who thought up the idea of “Wade Boggs and Barney getting into a bar brawl around who was the greatest prime minister of England?”
#8: The Mysterious Voyage of Homer: The chili episode featuring the most freaked out, trippy section the series has ever had. Also the only time spirit animals have ever been discussed on television where the laughter invoked was intentional.
#7: Homer the Great: Stonecutters. Don’t have to say anything more.
#6: I Love Lisa: The best Ralph Wiggum episode and filled with great lines. The mediocre presidents song, Sideshow Raheem, “I’m married to the sea”, “I Choo-Choo-Choose You”, “My cat’s breath smells like cat food.” All of the wonder of Ralph along with some heartbreak as well.
#5: Cape Feare: Always try to watch the original version of this episode over the syndicated version. You need to see the entire Sideshow Bob versus the rake scene for it to make sense. The best example of a joke being funny, then boring, then unbearable and finally the funniest thing you’ve ever seen by just repeating the punchline.
#4: Rosebud: Mr. Burns yearns to be reunited with his childhood toy Bobo. Also famous for being the episode with the line “Have the Rolling Stones killed.”
#3: Bart the Lover: Bart creates a fictional boyfriend for Mrs. Krabappel. Somehow the use of Gordie Howe as the picture of the boyfriend makes the entire episode
#2: Marge Versus the Monorail: Perfect episode all around with the best song they ever did. Apu: “Is there any chance the track might bend?” “Not on your life my Hindu friend.” Best episode written by Conan O’Brien.
#1: You Only Move Twice: Homer moves the family to work for Globex Corporation, which is just slightly trying to take over the world. Has about three dozen of the funniest lines ever including the motivational properties of Tom Landry’s hat and where to buy a hammock. I’d honestly like to work for Globex
I could probably write twenty pages about all of this. But this is a good shot at my favorites. Which one did I miss? Other than Frank Grimes. How the hell did that not make the list?
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Sarah McLachlan “Solace
2) Jeff Buckley “Live at Sin-E”
3) Leonard Cohen “The Essential Leonard Cohen”
4) The Police “Live”
5) Peter Gabriel “Us”
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Could've used more Barney...
(See, that is exactly what I am talking about. Gryffendors are always going “Look at me, I’m so brave and strong.” They’re a bunch of arrogant twats, that’s what they are. As my fellow Ravenclaw (and former Princeton basketball coach) Pete Carrill once put it, “The strong take from the weak. The smart take from the strong.”)
I’m one of those people who just seems to collect nicknames. In B-School I was alternately known as either EC (short for Engineer Chris) or Red Dragon (in reference to the movie, which is not something I’m entirely proud of though the nickname is awesome.) Along with everyone else in my family, I’ve had the nickname of Nickel or some variation on that theme at numerous points in my life. And for a reason that would take me two pages to explain, I was given the nickname of Bart in high school back in those fun filled days of 1988. That last one wouldn’t be too memorable except that when Bart Simpson became an icon in 1990 I suddenly found myself well ahead of the coolness curve. I was a fan out of necessity.
So with that in mind I just came back from a sneak preview of the Simpsons movie. Got tickets thanks to my trivia knowledge as I have not yet been able to consistently claim that my blogging makes me press. Given that this event was hosted by noted Kansas City film reviewer Shawn Edwards I can’t see that being given a press pass to be all that difficult. (Seriously, ever film that Shawn sees gets a 4 out of 5). I was hyped to see the movie, concerned because I had to go north of the river to see it and completely flummoxed by the fact that I am almost certain that a girl I went out with a few times was seated about five seats down from me. So maybe this review isn’t being written from the right mindset…
But I’ll start with the good news, the movie doesn’t suck. That was a big fear going into it as the past few seasons have been rather dreadful. On terms of expansions of existing franchises it was better than Hitchhiker’s Guide but doesn’t touch the thrill of the original Spider-Man. There were a couple of just brilliant jokes that I won’t spoil but were true laugh out loud moments. It’s definitely not the best.movie.ever but far from the worst.movie.ever. Plus, it is nice to see what the Simpsons would look like if they every actually put some money into animating it.
The plot, well, that suffers the same affliction as most of the episodes of the past decade. It’s Homer as Captain Wacky dooming the town and the family. It’s Marge talking about relationships. It’s Bart joining up with the Flanderses (Flanderi?) though that goes against everything in Bart’s character. And it’s Lisa…Lisa…it’s giving Lisa a stupid sub-plot to get her off-screen for a while. At times it looks like certain plot points were added in with a staple gun.
But that’s not really the point, is it? The entire point of the movie is to see all of these characters on a huge screen. It’s to see nearly every character in the history of the show make an appearance at one point or another. There are more in jokes and references than you could ever imagine. It’s the type of movie where you should probably order the DVD now because it’s going to take viewing after viewing to get all of the jokes. If you are a fan of the show, if you use the word “cromulent” in a sentence on a weekly basis, and if, like me, you are just about to make your way to the good old flower shop, you really need to see this movie.
Just try not to sit five seats away from someone you used to date when you do. Seriously, how the hell does this always happen to me?
I’m one of those people who just seems to collect nicknames. In B-School I was alternately known as either EC (short for Engineer Chris) or Red Dragon (in reference to the movie, which is not something I’m entirely proud of though the nickname is awesome.) Along with everyone else in my family, I’ve had the nickname of Nickel or some variation on that theme at numerous points in my life. And for a reason that would take me two pages to explain, I was given the nickname of Bart in high school back in those fun filled days of 1988. That last one wouldn’t be too memorable except that when Bart Simpson became an icon in 1990 I suddenly found myself well ahead of the coolness curve. I was a fan out of necessity.
So with that in mind I just came back from a sneak preview of the Simpsons movie. Got tickets thanks to my trivia knowledge as I have not yet been able to consistently claim that my blogging makes me press. Given that this event was hosted by noted Kansas City film reviewer Shawn Edwards I can’t see that being given a press pass to be all that difficult. (Seriously, ever film that Shawn sees gets a 4 out of 5). I was hyped to see the movie, concerned because I had to go north of the river to see it and completely flummoxed by the fact that I am almost certain that a girl I went out with a few times was seated about five seats down from me. So maybe this review isn’t being written from the right mindset…
But I’ll start with the good news, the movie doesn’t suck. That was a big fear going into it as the past few seasons have been rather dreadful. On terms of expansions of existing franchises it was better than Hitchhiker’s Guide but doesn’t touch the thrill of the original Spider-Man. There were a couple of just brilliant jokes that I won’t spoil but were true laugh out loud moments. It’s definitely not the best.movie.ever but far from the worst.movie.ever. Plus, it is nice to see what the Simpsons would look like if they every actually put some money into animating it.
The plot, well, that suffers the same affliction as most of the episodes of the past decade. It’s Homer as Captain Wacky dooming the town and the family. It’s Marge talking about relationships. It’s Bart joining up with the Flanderses (Flanderi?) though that goes against everything in Bart’s character. And it’s Lisa…Lisa…it’s giving Lisa a stupid sub-plot to get her off-screen for a while. At times it looks like certain plot points were added in with a staple gun.
But that’s not really the point, is it? The entire point of the movie is to see all of these characters on a huge screen. It’s to see nearly every character in the history of the show make an appearance at one point or another. There are more in jokes and references than you could ever imagine. It’s the type of movie where you should probably order the DVD now because it’s going to take viewing after viewing to get all of the jokes. If you are a fan of the show, if you use the word “cromulent” in a sentence on a weekly basis, and if, like me, you are just about to make your way to the good old flower shop, you really need to see this movie.
Just try not to sit five seats away from someone you used to date when you do. Seriously, how the hell does this always happen to me?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)