“I need a formal dress for tonight!” – Marge Simpson
“You’ve come to the right place.” – Patty Bouvier
“We’ve got classy duds up the yinyang. . . . I call this one, ‘Fantasy in Maroon’.” – Selma Bouvier
“It’s got some cigarette burns, but we can patch ‘em up with new vinyl.” – Patty Bouvier
“It’s a bit peppery for me. Why don’t we put this in the maybe pile?” – Marge Simpson
Season 25 rolled unmourned into the past this week with hardly a peep from the internet. I was sort of hoping for a few more stories about how the ratings are historically low, but Zombie Simpsons has become such a dull and ordinary thing that even that didn’t rate. But we do have the usual smattering of fun stuff, including three links to officially licensed clothing and one to a (far superior) fan made jacket. In addition to that, we’ve got two pieces of Australian usage, some love for Lisa, great Lego pictures, a couple of people who agree with us, and more sand Simpsons from England.
Enjoy.
A Hypothetical Aside and Round 113: Homer Badman vs. The Wandering Juvie - Smooth Charlie’s link of the week is our old friend Nebel asking what if the show had gone off the air after Season 9? I agree that they probably would have rebooted it by now. I wonder if that would’ve been worse or better than Zombie Simpsons?
I am the Lizard Queen - Homemade punk Lisa jacket. Yes. Ten thousand times, yes.
The Simpsons™ LEGO® Minifigure Series - Excellent series of fan photos, including such notable pairings and Nelson and Milhouse, Burns and Maggie, and, of course, Homer and Flanders.
I used to be with ‘it’… - Excellent .gif of one of Grampa’s greatest lines.
Round 111: El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer) vs. Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily - Oh, bitch, bitch, bitch.
Round 112: In the Name of the Grandfather vs. Beyond Blunderdome - Nice that “winner” is in quotes for Season 20 vs. Season 11.
How Do You Solve a Problem like Animation? - Nice catch on the Chomet couch gag:
Even the light switch is French, guys.
So it is.
Simpsons character leering over Tweed Heads motorists - An enterprising Australian graffiti artist has a mostly complete Burns-as-Dracula done on an embankment overlooking a highway. Fresh victims for his ever growing army of the undead, no doubt.
WA’s ‘Flanders’ jokes amid budget gloom - And speaking of Australia, our old friend D.N. sent this in a couple of weeks ago (and I completely forgot about it):
Western Australia’s state government has just announced the 2014-15 budget, hiking up prices, hitting families, and selling off billions of dollars’ worth of assets to regain the state’s AAA credit rating. The announcement is not going down well. What does this have to do with The Simpsons? Well… Take a look at the attached photographs. The first is of the front page of the state’s leading daily newspaper, The West Australian (Friday 9 May); the second is from the inside. Both pictures were drawn by cartoonist Dean Alston.
And:
Thanks, D.N.! (And good luck with Budget Flanders.)
Family Guy Review: Toast House - A sad, but I think accurate, observation:
Fifteen years ago – when I was a devoted Simpsons fanatic who dismissed this show as knock-off claptrap – I certainly never would have dreamed that I’d be looking forward to Family Guy each week, while I haven’t caught an episode of the Simpsons in years.
But Family Guy’s joke machinery – rather than The Simpsons’ warm character development – has better weathered the test of time. I’m shocked to hear myself say it, but I really think the Griffins are the ones doing the Simpsons a favor with this crossover.
Outside of post-football, I can’t recall the last time I saw Zombie Simpsons with higher ratings than Family Guy.
Burps Sea Doodles! - Neat fan sketch of Bart and Homer.
How To Start Planning My Creative Future While Watching The Simpsons - I’m envious:
Anywho…recently, my retail job and watching early seasons of The Simpsons have taken up most, if not all, of my time. I had never seen an episode of the Simpsons until this year and now I’m addicted. It’s like a meteor of stupid and relevant humor landed in my lap and I can’t get rid of the stains, no matter how hard I try. So far, my favorite seasons are 3, 5, 6, and 8 and I go on amazon a lot to find others.
I’d stop around 9.
I Was Mint For You - Me too:
It also reminds me of a fantastic visual gag from The Simpsons where Homer strides into his kitchen and declares to Lisa, who is lamenting her lack of power as an eight-year-old girl, that as part of the coveted 18 to 49 white male demographic, everyone listens to his ideas, upon which he promptly pulls a can out of the cupboard bearing a label for “Nuts and Gum, Together at Last!” and starts chowing down. Slays me every time.
Things we love: Drop Dead Clothing - High fashion clothing embraces Itchy & Scratchy. Never thought I’d see the day.
Cartoon Feminists - Lisa naturally headlines the list, but there’s more, including a good Bob’s Burgers .gif.
DeadstocksVA Conceptual Art Collection - I don’t think they’ve ever done a merchandising tie in with Nike, but if they did, that’s probably what it would look like.
The Top 25 Simpsons Episodes Of All Time - From Paste magazine. There’s only one pick from Zombie Simpsons, and it’s #24. You also don’t see the Poochie episode take #1 on these very often.
Beer and bacon – together at last! - Wow, that looks good. Also, there’s a .gif of Homer’s epic escape from the candy convention.
Let’s get this started - YouTube of a couple of girls taking that quiz where you call the episode based on a single screen grab. Excellent guesswork on the last one.
simpsonized game of thrones - Sure, stick Jaime with all the ladies. He’s pretty enough. (Also: well done.)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Works of Art? - Bart, Maggie and Santa’s Little Helper painted on an East German car long, long ago. Bravo. (I think that’s Homer on the roof.)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Work of Art - More beach Simpsons in England. I wonder if this was our old friend Martin Artman?
Our students met The Simpsons writers & creator! - Groening and company may not be able to turn out a decent episode anymore, but they remain comprehensively nice people.
Maureen Lipman and The Simpsons’ Harry Shearer Will Star in West End Transfer of Oliver Cotton’s Daytona - Is the title of Hardest Working Man in Show Business currently vacant? Because Shearer is making a serious run at it.
Ralph Wiggum amigurumi - Cool:
This is an amigurumi doll I made for a friend two years ago at her request. Her boyfriend’s favorite character from The Simpsons was Ralph Wiggum, and I think this was a gift for his birthday or Christmas, I cannot recall!
This is the kind of project I love, fan art. It’s always fun to re-create characters using a crochet hook and yarn, you never know what you are going to end up with, but the challenge makes it fun.
And it looks great.
ELEVENPARIS x The Simpsons x colette Capsule Collection - Officially licensed t-shirts tend to suck, but this one is pretty clever.
The Simpsons x New Era x PORTER 25th Anniversary Collection - Case in point of the above.
Good Beer Week kicks off - Excellent usage:
WHILE Homer Simpson’s beverage of choice is Duff – “the beer that makes the day fly” – Bendigo’s beer connoisseurs, it seems, prefer more sophisticated malts.
The commercial actually calls it, “the beer that makes the days fly by”, but that’s close enough. (Plus it gets bonus points for being from Season 1.)
Now they’ve apparently just stopped trying - And finally, I get to end with someone who agrees with us, this time a for real newspaper writer:
I still watch “The Simpsons.” I don’t know why. I think I’ll be relieved when I finally just stop, and then watch the highlights or check out the show when social media makes a fuss. Right now, I’m one of the people who posts on those rare instances when the show is creative or clever.
But every once in a while, “The Simpsons” pushes things with me a little too much.
He’s upset about that dumb and pointlessly gory Itchy & Scratchy cartoon from a couple of weeks ago, and justifiably so.
