Hi all and welcome to another Simpsons On Sundays post. Well, have you watched the finale of Season 35 yet? Bart’s Brain is an interesting episode and well, it’s obvious why it wasn’t called Brain Boy.
On the death front, Original Staind drummer Jon Wysocki passed away on Saturday May 18 at the age of 53. Apparently, he had liver issues and required medical care. I had mentioned Staind last year during my post on Limp Bizkit, but what I didn’t mention was how John was actually a drummer who added more than just a simple straight beat. You could say the same for Abe Cunningham of Deftones as he had some jazz leanings and I wonder if John, also was influenced as much by jazz and jazz fusion drumming. Spoiler alert, I will be doing a post on Deftones this year, because something came up 7 years ago, in a dream and because, I want to do a post on them. Another drummer I could site as an example of what I am talking about is Limp Bizkit drummer John Otto, who is also a jazz drummer and I will save more of my drum observations for a future post. RIP John and for those who haven’t heard Staind, this is probably one of their best known songs on rock radio and other formats. https://youtu.be/araU0fZj6oQ?si=BCZS-PVRu3sAxWej
Also, IRON BUTTERFLY founding member vocalist Doug Ingle has passed away on Friday, at the age of 78. He wrote the band’s one and only widely known song In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida and as Simpsons fans, we know it from the episode Bart Sells His Soul, as Bart pulls a prank in church. Right? https://youtu.be/LffLjk96HE4?si=69CY6LXHfvsHKUzw
As much as I love that opening scene from the episode, I wanna give you a link to the real song, as I had grown up with it, long before The Simpsons were a twinkle in Matt Groening’s eye. https://youtu.be/UIVe-rZBcm4?si=O4XpB4EYoXCaxSQ3
Well, another season is now in the books and so is another 8 months, from when iOS 17 came along and Apple made a monkey out of me, but that’s further on down. As you can probably guess I am going to talk about how things have changed for me and this blog, since before Season 35 began, to today. In September I had done a post on Simpsons iTunes compilations which were available, but not anymore as of iOS 17.2. This is because the iTunes TV store has been retired and the same with movies. In it’s place, you can still view your wish list, but the options for both TV and movies are available as tabs in the iTunes Store. Seriously, this change happened way too fast and at the wrong time with Apple and if they were going to make this change, this should’ve been made and announced before iOS 17 came along and not during the current software cycle. Back in September I did the post on those particular compilations I had made mention of, which are no longer available. I had no idea that things would change so rapidly and that particular post is now out of date. However, I am going to leave it up as a reminder of how things were, before iOS 17 and what had happened with iTunes TV and movies, in the iTunes Store.
The retirement of the iTunes TV and Movie store has made a mess of the music app, when it comes to purchases and some albums are split into two or more pieces. What I mean is that if you have a massive collection in your music library and you noticed that an album seems to be there multiple times as the same version, that is because it had been split into pieces and you are not imagining it. However, if you are subscribed to Apple Music, there seems to be no such problem and the only way to correct it is to delete and redownload it from iTunes purchases and wait, until either an iOS update, or the next song drops in pre-ordered album purchases. I have a couple of albums like that which could help with this problem and I seriously hope that this does help, because seeing a couple of albums being unevenly split is rather annoying. I have no wish to create a playlist because I want to hear the albums as they are and not have to feel like songs are missing, when they are there, but hidden in another piece of the album. Even some of the Simpsons albums were not immune to the splitting, until I was able to correct the problem by the beginning of 2024, by deleting and re-downloading through the iTunes Store and my purchases.
With The Simpsons, I can only watch and listen if I have a connection to the internet, by either wi-Fi or cellular data. This is despite that everything has been downloaded and I know this because The Simpsons doesn’t even get an acknowledgment,when I find it in my purchased TV shows in the TV app. It just says “Button” and I can still tap it and watch every episode, but something is off about how everything which has changed with Apple has been done in such a ham-fisted manner and with hardly any warning. Clearly they made a mess of the iTunes Store and are not going to clean it up anytime soon. At some point, I think they are going to do to the Music app, what had been done to the TV app in the future. However, this hasn’t diminished how I feel about Apple and iOS in general. It’s just that we weren’t told everything during the September event, or even the WWDC event in June last year, in regards to the changes to the TV app and where we are now.
Okay, I am going to talk about the app I use to publish this blog and my other blogs I have been doing since 2013. Not all that much, except when publishing it takes seconds longer to do this, because you don’t just publish, but you get a second chance either to pull the trigger, or not. That’s fine, but I have to rely on using the screen more, when performing this function. Not that I don’t like to, but I prefer to publish using my keyboard or the screen and not having an option taken away. However, I’ve adapted like I have adapted to the other issue I had mentioned above with Apple. I hope that things don’t get any more screwy than they are now.
Anyway, this is just a post with me letting off steam and I have no real hard feelings for anyone. Like I said, I wasn’t given sufficient notice in that things would change, or would have a say in Weather I believe that this is the right move. With the app I publish these blog posts with, I have less issues than I do with Apple. If only those who are in charge would take a look at those of us who have amassed a collection in iTunes and could see that some albums are split into pieces, then they would have second thoughts about tearing up the iTunes TV and Movie stores. The current options for TV and movies on the TV app should have been an addition to, as opposed to being the main option. For example: I’m looking for episodes of Sesame Street which I would want to download and purchase rather than just stream. Unfortunately, I’m being teased with seasons of the show which I cannot download by being told to get certain applications. No dice, because I want to purchase in order to show my support for those who are doing all the work in writing, acting, set design, camera angles, music, animation and everything else which goes into episodes of Sesame Street. The same thing goes for The Simpsons and thankfully, we can still purchase episodes of the series, but not the short films like The Longest Daycare, or Whe Lisa Met Billie, as in Billie Eilish. I think that at some point we should be allowed to purchase them and not just stream. I have said this about music and I feel the same about TV shows and movies, as well as audiobooks. Speaking of which, next week I will be talking about Nancy Cartwright’s latest book and comparing it to her previous one, as I had learned that we have more in common than I had known befoer this year. Anyway, I digress.
On the other hand, I had found many more TV shows, albums and audiobooks with the changes which had been made with iOS 17, so it’s not all bad. It’s just that we should have been told everything, in order to prepare for what has come to stay. Again, Nancy Cartwright’s latest book is a result of this and a Queen book, which I will talk about in a post in my Queen blog called All Gord’s People, coming next week.
As for The now completed season of The Simpsons, I think it’s passable, but not great. It’s certainly darker than it has been and has gotten progressively so, ever since the Golden age has ended. However, this was balanced out by funny episodes with brilliant writing, so it’s not all doom and gloom in Springfield. I liked when Groundskeeper Willie got married and he became Bart’s Besty. I can’t see the ladder continuing, because Willy is the butt of Bart’s jokes a lot and mostly a frenemy of The Simpsons. Right? However, it is nice that Willy gets married and it would be nice to see him happy for a change. I say the same thing for Mo, as I would like to see Maya and the rather temperamental bartender get hitched and for them both to be happy. Hopefully this leads to less dark episodes and more tales like we had in the first two seasons, but with a maturity of what The Simpsons is now. What I mean is that we should get back to a more believable bunch of stories and less nonsense, to make the show relatable to everybody again and not just bitter malicious monstrosities of episodes and characters. For example: I had mentioned a few weeks ago after Night of the Living Wage had aired, I had made mention of Gil ending up on the wrong side, making him less likeable in this episode. That made me sad because I like the character and making him a villain is just plain wrong. The only thing I hope we don’t have as much is Bart getting shipped off to France for shoving a cherry bomb in a toilet. I don’t know how that’s funny, as that could hurt or kill somebody in real life, as well as make a huge mess.
The other thing is that most (if not all) guest stars seem to be villains by default. Why? Why are they made out to be the bad guy, simply because they had stopped by Springfield? Why can’t Bart be the villain, as he is supposed to be the antihero anyway. Am I right? I don’t know, but I hope we can have less dark toned episodes and more relatable comedy for a while. If this next season is either the last, or the penultimate, I would be happy with this change. Sadly, it’s not going to happen and it’s only going to get worse with even more sinister episodes and more darkness, reflecting how things are now. That’s my point, is that we’re trying to escape from all the bullshit in the world, but at the same time I recognize why they’re doing the stories like what we have had the past few seasons. They are clearly making jabs at artificial intelligence, food delivery apps like Instacart and even Zoom. All of these examples I have sited are a result of either the cOVID-19 pandemic, or have been bubbling up over the past few years before then. That’s fine, but I believe that we need more believable tales and less nonsensical ones for a while, or else people are going to continue to accuse The Simpsons of seasonal rot.
Anyway, I am looking forward to Season 36 and what will become of our favourite yellow family and the cast of characters throughout Springfield and surrounding towns. We also have to deal with these clowns who run our lives every single day in our city halls and provincial, state or national capitals. I am holding off on doing a political post because, as you know I hate politics of all kinds. I do stand for something, but I will leave that until I must speak up. Until then, no more on politics from me. To end this post here is a link to the latest video from The Simpsons Theory. https://youtu.be/BqgKcKzLmas?si=RrlcCSgVOogQQtWh
Simpsons on Sundays 