“Now, come and get your catskins, uh, I mean sheepskins.” – Krusty the Klown
Short reading digest again this week, but we’ve got a couple of great links, including a guy who truly hates Zombie Simpsons, and an amusing YouTube video from Azaria.
Enjoy.
Hank Azaria gives graduates advice as characters from ‘The Simpsons’ during commencement speech – Azaria is a crowd pleaser, “When in doubt, always pull out the Simpsons voices”:
I don’t know if he wrote these or had one of the writers do it, but there are some pretty good ones in here. I particularly liked Apu: “Remember please, children, that in life there is nothing that is not so disgusting that it cannot be sold on a heated roller at a nearly criminal markup.”
How the weird internet is keeping The Simpsons exciting – This is an excellent summation of the ways fans have started making their own fun since Zombie Simpsons became boring. Also, this is all true:
The Simpsons has been on the air in some form or another for nearly 30 years, and it’s been terrible for twenty. The cartoon’s golden age is perfect television, my favorite TV show of all time, but in terms sheer output the bulk of The Simpsons is bad. When FXX aired a 12-day marathon of every Simpsons episode ever, a solid week of it was unwatchable. Harry Shearer was a hero for recognizing he was old, tired, and had enough money and that the only way to put the show out of its misery was for a core cast member to quit. Unfortunately, the shameless creators really believed they could recast Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, and others like it was no big deal, so Shearer relented. Not too long ago, apropos of nothing, I woke up angry The Simpsons was still on the air.
Good lad.
A look back at each act featured in The Simpsons’ ‘Homerpalooza’ – Heh:
Now: Peter is still writing, recording and touring regularly. The only thing that has really changed is going from having Frampton Comes Alive! go from every parent’s record collection to every grandparent’s record collection.
A Walk Through the Musical City of Knoxville – Knoxville will never escape The Simpsons:
Knoxville’s famed Sunsphere, a giant gold structure installed in 1982 to herald the World’s Fair, also sits near the edge of World’s Fair Park. In the decades since, the Sunsphere has become a symbol for the whole city. You can take an elevator to an observation deck on one of the Sunsphere’s lower levels, underneath a restaurant and private businesses that occupy the space—and no, none of these businesses is a wig outlet, as The Simpsons might have you believe.
Shock as Northern Ireland man solves mystery of the world’s most coveted stamp … but who is he? – Pfft, the airplane’s upside down:
Inverted Jennies are so called because they depict a US Mail biplane, erroneously printed upside down, on a 24 cent stamp.
One hundred made it into circulation in 1918 after inspectors failed to spot the mistake in a Washington DC printing works.
They have become almost mythical among stamp collectors ever since. And this particular one – No.76 – is now under tight security, having resurfaced after an astonishing 61 years at Spink auctioneers in Manhattan.
The hitherto missing stamp, which even featured in an episode of The Simpsons, was one of a block of four owned by the daughter of an executive at Dow Jones & Company, which disappeared from an exhibition in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1955.
Bart Simpson acquitted at mock trial – I am both heartened and terrified for the youths of today:
In a mock trial held May 12 at Hartley Elementary School, Bart Simpson was accused of stealing Millhouse’s Butterfinger candy bars. After much deliberation, however, a jury of fourth- and fifth-grade students found he was “not guilty.”
The educational program coincided with Justice teacher Megan Wall’s curriculum.
“The kids asked us to show them how it (the justice system) works,” Wall said. “So it’s fun and educational.”
But did anyone wear glasses with eyeballs painted on them?
The Simpsons Season Finale Review: Orange Is the New Yellow – It continues to baffle me why sites like Den of Geek even bother to review Zombie Simpsons. Look at this:
“Orange Is the New Yellow” was an okay episode. They caught a lot of the flavor of Orange is the New Black, but they didn’t skewer it. The season closer is supposed to be spectacular. I looked forward to this episode all season, which was more than a bit below par. The Simpsons may not always close with a season’s best but they are usually among the funniest. This episode doesn’t offer a single guffaw. A few chuckles and more than one smirk but nothing that really cracks me up. The plumbob song was pretty exciting, but not a highlight.
Then they give it 3/5 stars, which I guess is a 6 on the 6-9 scale, but why even bother? What would two stars look like? Would a blank screen get 1.5?
