Watching Simpsons

One of the things I love about The Simpsons is the depth of roster, over all, when it comes to the guest stars. If you step back and think about it, it’s a real cross section of society, from Tony Hawk to Stephen Hawking and Thomas Pynchon. These days, there’s always talk about The Simpson’s place in cultural history, and I’d wager that there’s been no other show that’s had this much of a diverse amount of people — even a sitting Prime Minister of the UK (At the time, Tony Blair).

Here’s a bit with Stephen Hawking. I’m not sure if it counts, because anybody can get the program that has that computer voice. Still, I’d like to think he was there in spirit…

In this day and age, it’s not when a movie will get pirated, it’s when. That’s just the nature of a world with internet access. As for The Simpsons, the first alleged pirate has already been snatched and arrested. According to the Washington Post:

Australia has the dubious distinction of being the first country in the world where “The Simpsons Movie” was pirated, with an illegal Internet copy of the worldwide hit traced to a man who allegedly used his cell phone to record the movie at a cinema.

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) said Friday that a 21-year-old man from Sydney, the country’s biggest city, was arrested the day before in relation to the unauthorized recording and uploading and charged with copyright theft. He faces up to five years jail.

TVshowsondvd.com has all the news regarding the eventual release of the The Simpsons Movie on dvd. It includes will include five deleted scenes, cast interviews, and promos from American Idol and Jay Leno. The dvd will retail for $29.98 and will be released Dec. 18th.

This is something I’m not passing judgement on, but just want to put out there, if people want to know. The Dallas News has been tracking the checks entertainment figures have been writing for political campaigns. As for where the Simpsons producers fall in, it’s thus:

No laughing matter: Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane gave $1,000 to Barack Obama, but South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have no donations on record, nor does Simpsons creator Matt Groening. D’oh! However, Simpsons executive producer James L. Brooks has the candidates shouting “Woo-hoo!” He donated $2,300 each to Mr. Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Rodham Clinton and $1,000 to Bill Richardson.

Every once in a while, the writers like to create their own show tunes. Lets be thankful its not too often. Still, it’s funny…

To readers of this blog, that might already be evident, if one looks at Paco’s comments a few weeks ago. At first I didn’t want to embed the ads here, but I have to admit that they’re good and entertaining. Well, across the pond, in the UK, it seems as if its official, the ads do work. According to Brand Republic:

Consumers are more likely to go see a movie when it is advertised within a food commercial, rather than if it is advertised alone, according to new research.

People who saw a Burger King television ad featuring ‘The Simpsons Movie’ were 40% more likely to go and see the film …

Of course, this is England we’re talking about, but I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar occured over here, too.

The sad thing about this clip is that it’s close to reality, in terms of sex ed in America.

For a show to be around for more than a decade and a half, there has to be some sort of cultural impact. Think, for a moment, about Shakespeare’s long standing success. His plays have survived centuries, and in the process, they’ve left an impact on the English language. Consider the following statements:

Every dog will have its day.
Something’s rotten in in the state of Denmark.

These two are just examples of phrases that are now common place cliches. Shakespeare has written tons more.

However, the Simpsons are starting to leave marks on English too. Consider this:

Dictionaries have found a new master of the modern quotation to challenge the best of Oscar Wilde and Groucho Marx . . . Homer Simpson’s creator Matt Groening.

Homer Simpson quotes enter new Oxford dictionary
Homer says: ‘The lesson is never try’

The brains behind the world’s favourite cartoon series has three new entries in the latest volume of quotations from the experts at Oxford University.

The latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations, published today, is a testament to the growing popularity and influence of characters from The Simpsons.

Homer Simpson phrases include: “Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is never try.”

According to some, like Game Informer Magazine, the spirit of the simpsons has been lost on video games. Most times, it’s been superficial, in terms of adapting the surface while not indulging in the substance. Case in point: Bart likes to ride a skateboard, and so, there’s a game about him skateboarding. Sad thing is this: Tony Hawk’s franchise has pretty much cornered the market on skateboard games. It’s nearly impossible to make a better action sports game. So, the two are a mismatch, much the same way martial arts fight games and Star Wars are a mismatch, but it’s been done none-the-less.

Anyhow, it seems that the latest attempt at a Simpsons game is trying to get to the satirical heart of Matt Groening’s creation:

The story finds the Simpson family zapped into a video game. They are aware of their status as characters within a game, and the development team at EA is using this as an opportunity to lampoon the major icons of the industry. Marge uses her megaphone to crusade against the violence in “Grand Theft Scratchy,” and Kratos’ “God of Wharf” seafood products are a culinary sensation. Whenever you run into a tired gaming convention, like an obvious weak point on a rampaging Lard Lad, a screen appears with Comic Book Guy calling out the cliche.

Notice how Bart hardly prank calls Moe anymore? And the other thing, if you look at the earlier episodes…like the first and second season, Moe has the tends to change hair color.

This is interesting. Apparently, voices.com is running a Simpsons contest that asks contestants to impersonate certain characters on the show:

(PRLog.Org) – Toronto, Canada (PRLog) August 17 – Voices.com, the voice over marketplace ( http://www.voices.com ), is celebrating the wave of Simpsons Love this summer by hosting “The Voices.com Simpsons Sound Alike Challenge”, a contest wherein voice actors or those who can mimic and perform voices of characters from the hit FOX series “The Simpsons” will record their voice samples and send them in for a chance to win $100 gift certificates from Amazon.com.

Prizes are available for winners in the following categories:

- Best Homer Simpson Impression
- Best Marge Simpson Impression
- Best Bart Simpson Impression
- Best Lisa Simpson Impression
- Best Krusty the Clown Impression

Voices.com Vice President of Marketing, Stephanie Ciccarelli, says, “If you can do a bang on Homer, a killer Bart, Lisa, Marge, Krusty the Clown, or any other Simpsons character, we want to hear it! This challenge is open to all Simpsons fans with a gift for voice acting.”

I must apologize to everybody for my lack of blogging activity. Computer problems.

Anyhow, over in the comments section, Brian I believe asked to see what I look like “Simpsonized.” I snapped two photos with my cell phone and uploaded them and this is what I got.

Strangely, the Burger King tech has thinned me down a bit. I’m carrying more weight than this transformation shows.

About a month ago, I posted something I found on YouTube, where a guy was mashing Star Trek with the Simpsons them. While the below YouTube clip is more straight forward, you got to respect this guy’s guitar skills. I mean, check out the fingerwork he does on two different guitars at the same time!

In keeping with the theme of the last post, it’s interesting now to look back at Simpsons history to see just how far the animated family has evolved. If one thing has always been the same, it’s a wicked sense of irony, like illustrated here…

We can easily say that with the release of the new movie, The Simpsons have trully hit a new milestone. This for a show that is close to two decades old and has forever changed the landscape of televsion (Stone and Parker have maintained that South Park wouldn’t exist, if it wasn’t for Groening’s success). At any rate, given the shows success and longevity, it’s always interesting to go back and examine the early days, the roots, just to see how The Simpsons have changed over the years.

The following clip comes from Simpons pre-history, when the cartoon was just a Tracy Ullman Show animated short. Notice a few things that are already established. Marge is fussy, and Homer can be crude. Bart is rebellious. The one different thing here is Lisa. She’s pretty much the ethical center of the show now, but in the beginning, she wasn’t defined that way. She was a bit looser and a lot more like Bart than she actually is now.

In this case, she’s just as rebellious as Bart, as she’s engaged in a burping contest.