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“But this isn’t about show business, this is about some kid down a hole, or something. And we’ve all got to do what we can.” – Sting
Dead Homer Society is coming at you live from my new and pointlessly overpowered PC; the laptop is dead, long live the laptop. (Windows 8 is not nearly as terrible as advertised once you install Classic Shell so it can actually work with a mouse and keyboard. Jebus, Microsoft, do you enjoy creating headaches for yourselves and everyone else?) This week we’ve got two Simpsons mainstays both being their naturally awesome selves, one by being nice to a fan, the other by cross dressing. Try to guess which, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. We’ve also got three links to long and thoughtful articles about the show. There’s one about the “Terror at 5 1/2 Feet” Halloween segment, one about “Marge Be Not Proud”, and one about how the show can’t string a story together anymore. In addition to all that, we’ve got some awesome fan made Bart shoes, a newfangled bootleg t-shirt, a fantastic rendition of the theme song, and some excellent usage.
Enjoy.
The Simpsons Theme Song – Smooth Charlie’s Link of the Week is this epically excellent one-man, multi-instrument rendition of the theme song:
He even did the elongated circus version complete with whistle! Well done.
The One Where Bart Sells His Soul – Self examination through The Simpsons:
In the past few years there has been a rekindling of the relationship I once had with my spirit. One of my treasured activities is going on long walks where I find peace in my thoughts. I also enjoy time spent with friends and family. When I caught The Simpsons re-run it was an epiphany. “That was it,” I thought, “that was exactly how it felt”.
Comic collage – Exactly what it says. There’s quite a few Simpsons characters mixed in with everything from the Smurfs and Peanuts to stuff I don’t recognize at all.
Games Go To Hollywood: The Simpsons, “Marge Be Not Proud” – An article about how “Marge Be Not Proud” showcases something new in Bart, from which I’d like to highlight two things:
Bart Simpson is the quintessential bad kid. He talks back to his teachers, picks on his sister, and (at least in early seasons of The Simpsons) he’s quick to tell any figure of authority, “Don’t have a cow, man.”
Among the many, many things Zombie Simpsons has lost is Bart’s reflexive disdain for authority. It just isn’t something they do anymore because Bart, like Homer and many others, seems to understand now that there are no consequences and that he can get away with anything. Which leads to this:
Bart realizes that he’s capable of stealing—capable of carrying out a bad act. And of all the things to take, he chooses a video game. He’s using his newfound nefarious powers to grasp desperately for an escape. The powers work, but the escape doesn’t happen. For a minute, this bad kid realizes he’s bad.
And while that’s all well and good for character development and hugging, it’s a real departure from what the show used to be. The whole thing’s worth a read.
pale division: bart simpson – More high fashion clothes with Bart on them.
In Character: Krusty the Clown – Speaking of fashion, here are the high end clothes you’d need to dress just like Krusty. Presumably the nicotine patch is sold separately.
Terror At 5 1/2 Feet – Discussing “Treehouse of Horror IV”’s middle segment:
I love the role of Principal Skinner in this Treehouse of Horror piece as well – he borders humourously on Nurse Ratched territory at times. “I’ve gotten word that a child’s using his imagination, and I’ve come to put a stop to it,” is one select quote. “Right or wrong, young man, your behaviour was disruptive. Perhaps spending the remainder of your life in a mad house will teach you some manners,” is another one that hits the spot particularly well.
And perhaps that’s the most chilling thing about this story. Firstly, that Bart’s apparent madness was in fact rational, revealing everybody else’s sane desire to remain calm as totally irrational given the circumstances. That’s ultimately what he gets sent to a mental institution for as well: disturbing the routine way of things rather than actually being mentally ill. Oh, how the mental health care sector has a chequered past in that regard which The Simpsons, as ever, satirises brilliantly.
Classic Halloween segments tend to get more disturbing the more you think about them.
Dan Castellaneta – Good dude, that Dan Castellaneta:
I mailed a drawing (with stamped return envelope and request letter) to Dan Castellaneta on December 13, 2012.
It was signed and mailed back to me on Saturday, February 2, 2013; 51 days later.
Click through for a picture of the (now signed) drawing.
February 4 – Lounge Lizard #2 – A list of great fictional bars includes Moe’s.
36/365 – Fantastic fan photo of three Homer figurines all lined up and lit well.
Universal and IOA Update for February! – More information about the construction being done around the Simpsons ride down in America’s wang (emphasis in original):
Last September, I started seeing rumor mill about The International Food and Wine Festival restaurant closing to make way for a new Simpsons themed eatery. Well rumor turned to truth and then grew to rumor…AND EXPLODED!!! Now we sit at beginning of February and all sorts of construction is going on. Rumor mill says you have this to look forward to: The Krusty Burger, Moe’s Tavern, Kentucky Fried Panda, New Simpsons Flat Ride near MIB, and Other Facades.
Springfield, here I come – Man decides to rewatch the whole series:
The Simpsons has always been one of my favorite shows, and I know I’ve missed a ton of the more recent ones. I’m especially excited because there are so many pop-culture references in the show that I’m sure I didn’t get the first time through as a kid. I really think watching through them again is going to be a blast.
Sounds fun, though my strong advice would be to quit sometime early in the double digit seasons. Nobody needs to torment themselves like that.
My Rejected Scripts #3: Deadli-er Catch – A fake show pitch ends with a related Simpsons reference to poor Pinchy the lobster.
How to draw Krusty the Clown from The S – A step by step tutorial for MS Paint (or something similar).
Album Review: Alice Russell/To Dust – Not that we needed any, but further proof that Harry Shearer is as fantastic as it is humanely possible to be:
(Check the video for the single on YOUtube. It stars long-time Russell fan Harry Shearer from The Simpsons and Spinal Tap, and is a beautifully touching little vignette/short story. Worth a watch all the way through, you ADHD kidz).
I have now seen Mr. Burns put on makeup and pad his bra. The look on his face when room service shows up is hilarious.
Broadcasters take The Simpsons short film – “The Longest Daycare” is coming to TVs in Britain, France and here in the States.
The Simpsons: Tapped Out finally available in Google Play – The Tapped Out game is now available for Android. That is all.
El Barto sneakerz – Fan made El Barto shoes. Bravo.
[News] Jung Yonghwa’s Playful Homer Simpson Impression Selca – This is a fan site for a Korean band that I’ve never heard of, but their lead singer apparently likes him some Homer.
D’oh!: Driver with parking boot apparently asks, ‘What would Homer Simpson do?’ – Yeah, there’s a reason you’re not supposed to drive with the boot on.
Play game Lisa Simpson Dress Up Flash online free games at Y8.com – I can’t entirely recommend you click on this as it is a hacktacular flash “game” where all you do is click through different outfits and accessories for a completely static image of Lisa. I just find it amusing because the background music is the piano song from the old Incredible Hulk TV show. It’s such an odd confluence of unlicensed pop culture.
Movie Review: No 74. Cinema Paradiso – Excellent reference:
To me, however, the job of the filmmaker is to effectively tell a story, and I really feel like we were let down on that one. Fundamentally, it’s a great story, but there is so much going on (much of which is irrelevant to the story) that it loses its cohesion and starts seeming less like a good film and more like an “onion on my belt” rant.
Heh.
2 meals 1 Chicken – Excellent usage:
So what do you do when you open your fridge and all you see is -
- 2 limes
- half an onion, 1 jalapeño
- and a delicious local organic chicken from Richardson Farms Rockdale, Tx (purchased at in.gredients my fav grocery store)
I’ll tell you what – you MacGyver 2 delicious paleo meals *no need for paper clip, ballpoint pen, or tweezers
[…]
“Don’t thank me. Thank the moon’s gravitational pull”
Editor’s Chair: Let’s Destroy the Sun – A Simpsons based cure for writer’s block:
A friend of mine–and one of my favorite pessimists–has said that she cures writer’s block by placing one simple sentence at the top of her page and going from there. So here goes:
Since the dawn of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun.
There. Maybe that will help…
Couldn’t hurt.
Sleaze Factor – Most of the “black Bart” bootleg t-shirts are from the dawn of the show, but this is brand new. Cool.
Super Bowl XLVII…In 10 Words – What you got riding on this game? My daughter. Whew, what a gambler.
RuPaul’s Drag Race…In 10 Words – At last, an excuse to wear makeup!
Bullet To The Head…In 10 Words – If you want results, you’ve got to go to the Schwarzeneggers, the Stallones, and, to a lesser extent, the Van Dammes.
Why being a Vegetarian DOES NOT mean you are Healthy – We’ll never know just how many real life vegetarians were influenced by “Lisa the Vegetarian”, but it’s lot:
I’m 31 years old now and I’ve been a vegetarian since I was in 6th grade or so. There were certainly different degrees of vegetarianism as I got older and as I learned more about what that really meant.
I have to admit that when I saw the episode of the Simpsons when Lisa became a vegetarian I felt her pain.
I came from a household that was strictly meat and potatoes. And that may be why I became the type of “vegetarian” that I did at an early age.
What is the Appeal of The Simpsons? – This is dead-on correct, and it’s no coincidence that all the examples she cites are Zombie Simpsons:
I mean, it’s not the inconsistencies of characters (In ‘Please Homer Don’t Hammer ‘Em’, Bart is revealed allergic to shrimp. Who knew?) or the amount of injuries sustained over the years that are never mentioned. The writers probably do this to mock one thing or another, as is often good about The Simpsons.
It’s the fact that, as writers, it promotes flimsy plotting and a ‘happy ending’ that real life cannot give. It gives watchers the wrong idea that something can be fixed like that *clicks fingers* and gives non-writers the idea that all stories must end on a high note.
When The Simpsons was still itself, they always had a way of ending that was both happy and still mean and/or cynical, like Bart and Homer taunting Nelson after the soap box derby race, Selma describing Jub Jub as a “little version of me”, and Maggie calling Homer “Daddy” when he’s out of the room and can’t hear her. These days? Not so much.
Looking Ahead To A Fourth Season Of Community – And finally, an aside about Community agrees with us:
I’ve written before about 30 Rock, Parks & Rec, and Community. For a while there, I had a real hard time distinguishing between the three which one was my favorite. Usually, it was whatever show I’d seen most recently. But, with less-than-stellar 6th and 7th seasons, I’d say 30 Rock has diminished in my eyes (much the same way the Simpsons fell from grace after season 9).
Fell from grace, I like that.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
