The Simpsons & Fear Factory

Hi all and welcome to another Simpsons on Sundays post. On the birthday front, the voice of Lisa Simpson herself, Yeardley Smith turned a year older on Monday. She may be in her 50s but she can tell me she is 20, or maybe even in her teens and I would believe her. I am ultimately grateful to her, because she inspired me to start blogging 10 years ago this November. She had a blog for a couple of years and I wish I could find it as it was, but I can not.

I have mentioned her podcast Small Town Dicks, all about true crime which had happened mostly in the US, but other parts of the world haven’t been left out. However, Canada hasn’t had an episode that I know of, but one case has been mentioned, about a man who had been transferred from the maximum security prison to a minimum security prison, which was outrageous because of his crimes he committed with his wife in the early 90s. The guy’s name is Paul and going into what this piece of shit had done wouldn’t be worth the space on the internet. Besides, there are living people involved who have to deal with this shit.

I mention the podcast, because during the second season they did an episode, about Yeardley being stocked, sometime in 1993. I tried to listen to the episode, but I couldn’t get through it. I just can’t imagine anyone getting to the point of harassment and stocking her. She has said that she is a private person and so am I, only letting people know what I want them to know and see what I want them to see. I divulge more to some than others and that is it really.

When it comes to meeting a celebrity, I’m sure that they are happy to talk when they are in the right situation. Unfortunately, most fans react to them, as if said famous person will respond, as if they are their buddy. Some people have thought of some famous people as real jerks and some may be entitled (giving that impression), but thee people have been separated from us, by fame. I don’t have a problem as long as they have no problem meeting me, or others who want to get close to them for those brief seconds. I have met musicians and I have told the story, about finding out about a band whose guitarist used banjo tuners on a song and I have told my Corey Taylor story in past posts too, but I don’t think I have here. Fortunately, my experiences with meeting famous people have been positive.

This brings to mind that we are all mostly strangers unless we become friends and develop some relationship with them and this includes celebrities. They’re not our friends, but they can be cordial with us as we should be with them. Unfortunately, some people just can’t get it into their heads that said famous person is not your friend, but someone whom you have met for a short time, whether you meet them doing contract work for them, or at a meet and greet with other fans. I hope that nobody I know plans to stock some unsuspecting celebrity, for kicks or for fantasy reasons. I have no such fantasy wish and would only rather leave them alone, or if I am lucky, be a friend of some sort. Anyway, I digress.
Another birthday is Ringo Starr turning 83 on Friday. He is still making music and playing live and occasionally playing with his former Beatle’s band mate Paul McCartney. It would have been cool if both ex Beatles played with The Rolling Stones as a part of the band in the studio and on tour. However, that is certainly wishful thinking.

Finally, Simpsons writer and producer Ian Macstone-Graham, who turns another year older on Monday. He has written, co/written or produced countless episodes. I’m not going to even try to list them all so, I’ll just leave it at that.

This week, it is another Simpsons Sabbatical post and this time, it will be a band with two connections to the series. Fear Factory have been around since the beginning of Season 1, forming on Christmas Day 1989 with singer Burton C. Bell, guitarist Dino Cazares and drummer Raymond Herrera as original members. Actually, Dino and Raymond were the first to form the band, with Burt coming from another band called Hate Face, while Dino came from a band called The Douche Lords. The band didn’t start as Fear Factory, but rather with the name Ulceration, which was a cool name, but it wouldn’t attract attention. They would change their name to Fear The Factory and then shorten it to just Fear Factory some time in 1990. Apparently, Burt joined after singing New Year’s Day by U2, which was the first single from their 3rd album War. Apparently, Fear Factory are fans of U2, but Burt also likes other bands outside of metal, and more on that later. I know that Raymond had mentioned U2 during an interview for the 2004 album Archetype, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.

The first album they would record was Concrete, produced by a dude named Ross Robinson, who would go on to produce such bands as: Korn, Sepultura, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, The Cure, Soulfly and other bands. Working with The Cure was probably a dream come true for him, as both him and Jonathan Davis of Korn are huge fans of Robert Smith and company. Concrete sounds nothing like what Fear Factory sounds like now, except for the switch from growling to clean vocals, but in this case, the sound was more like death metal and not industrial metal like on later releases. This was the single released in 2002. https://youtu.be/3CwqOrcq7Oc

Concrete was recorded in 1991 and shelved until July 2002, with a bunch of business having to be done, in order for the wheels to turn, on getting it out there. This included Ross selling the recording to Road Runner Records and after Fear Factory had split in 2002, the label would release it in July of that year. Mean while in 1992, the band would record their debut album entitled Soul of a New Machine, which was with better production and would still retain death metal and clean vocal passages for ear candy. No singles were released off the album, but some songs had become classics regardless of this. For example: this is the song they would close each concert with for years and both this album and Concrete would also contain samples. https://youtu.be/Jkjn9lJ1_Ik

Soul of a New Machine would be released August 25, 1992, 2 days before Season 3’s surprise finale Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? and it didn’t get any support from the record label, or radio. However, some of the songs off of Soul of a New Machine would also become popular as remixes on the 1993 EP Fear Is the Mind Killer, with Scapegoat getting radio play on some radio metal shows, but not revealed by the full title of the remix as Scapegoat (Pigfuck Mix), which has more samples and more profanity. Yet, most college radio stations who dared to play it got away with it and even some main stream rock stations would play it, on their metal shows. I prefer the original album version, but this isn’t bad either and it would point to the future sound of the band.

Fear Factory have gone through many lineup changes and with Burt, Dino and Raymond in place, it is the bassists who have had a problem with staying in Fear Factory, for the first 4 years. First, there was David Gibney, then Andrew Shives and Christian Olde Wolbers as the third bassist who would stick around until being forced out. Christian was from Belgium and he just happened to be on vacation in the US, when the opportunity to join Fear Factory came up. He joined in 1993 and didn’t look back for years. His first album with the band was Demanufacture, which was released on March 3rd 1995, between Homer vs. Patty & Selma and A Star Is Burns. It would give us a bunch of classics including 2 singles off of it being Replica and Dog Day Sunrise. However, I suggest listening to the whole thing, as the first 4 tracks alone have classic FF songs which fans will tell you are probably among their favourites. Here is the entire album and you will notice that Burton’s vocals have changed, from a death metal growl to a growl which is more of a roar. His clean vocals have also improved and listen for the change in sound, as we now have the platform sound of the band from here on in. https://youtu.be/vL4deQWh1mc

On May 20th 1997, the remix album Remanufacture would be released 2 days after The Secret War of Lisa Simpson would air. Rather than play you the single off of it, I would like to draw your attention to a connection to The Simpsons through Monty Python. The track Genetic Blueprint starts of with a bunch of samples, including 2 from Monty Python, one right after the other. We hear a laugh and a voice saying “now”, then a couple of seconds of Alistair Cook Attacked By a Duck (as performed by Eric Idle and then, one of the Gumby characters crashing thrugh the door of another, in the Gumby Theatre sketch. Would you like to hear it? Of course you would so you can either prove me right or wrong. I will even give you the links to both Python sketches. First, here is the track Genetic Blueprint from Fear Factory. https://youtu.be/8-84Rfns2SE

Let’s hear a duck attacking Alistair McLean. https://youtu.be/XP5N9gz92Zw

Now, the other sample from Monty Python which got my attention. By the way, I wonder if all previous and current members of Fear Factory are huge Python fans. https://youtu.be/lFb-uO8IrK4

In 1998, the album Obsolete would be released on July 28, 1998. It had 4 singles released including a cover of Cars by Gary Numan, which also featured Gary on the track and in the music video. This version wasn’t the one played in the episode Diatribe of a Mad HouseWife and it has been refered to as Homer’s Ambulance Cleaning Song. Here is the Fear Factory version, as it is now, with Gary Numan singing a verse or two. After all, it is his song. Right? https://youtu.be/CSoKp6dRUH0

Cars was not the only single from Obsolete to be a significant achievement of sorts, with Resurrection becoming the first single aimed at radio. https://youtu.be/tTOwKYDb8mw

The other single off of this album which has become a classic is the opening track Shock, which vacillates between clean vocals and growling during the bridge, with growled versus and a clean Corus. https://youtu.be/Ryw-lEyeQmY

The band toured from the fall of 1998 through 1999 and in 2000, they had recorded the fourth album entitled Digimortal, which was released on April 24th 2001, five days before Trilogy of Error would air. It did okay, with the lead single being Linchpin and unfortunately, that was the only song to get any major radio play. The album sounded like Fear Factory, but it was clear that Road Runner was chasing nü metal and the band were pressured into writing songs in that vein. It simply did not work and the album would be less successful than hoped by all, especially the label. Anyway, here is that big single off of the album. https://youtu.be/MuDxo-fbW9c

Now, our second connection to The Simpsons with B-real of Cypress Hill guesting on a track written by him, after Dino and Christian guested on the previous Cypress Hill album Skull & Bones. Here it is and obviously, this is a departure for Fear Factory and one they would never do again. https://youtu.be/byT9LtpGsdU

In 2002, Burton left the band and they decided to break up anyway, because of arguments over personal differences and unfortunately, the contract was not fulfilled. So Concrete came out and an album of B-sides and rare tracks called Hatefiles came out in 2003.

In late 2003, Fear Factory were suddenly back without Dino and with Christian on guitar and Byron Stroud playing bass, along with Raymond still behind the kit, with Burt at the mic. The album was called Archetype and it wasn’t bad. The album would come out on April 20th 2004 between My Big Fat Gheek Wedding and Catch ‘Em If You Can. This is the title track. https://youtu.be/5kFTxo9ZvXA

They would tour in support of it, while it was released on an independent label, like the next album would be. In August 2005, Transgression would be released in August and unfortunately, the Midas touch did not work this time and it wasn’t all bad, but most of it stunk. One of the few bright moments on this album was the cover of a classic Killing Joke track called Millennium and here it is. https://youtu.be/SItPPn9Ep4I

After this album, the band would take a hiatus and return with Dino back in the band, but without Christian, or Raymond. They would be gone and the lawyers were brought in on both sides. After three more albums, Burton decided to leave in 2020, making it official in September of that year. The last 4 Fear Factory albums he sang on were: Mechanize, The Industrialist, Genexus and Aggression Continuum. I say 4, because Aggression Continuum had been mostly finished before Covid and before Burton had departed the band. To give you an example of where Fear Factory were heading musically, here is a song from all 4 albums. First, the closing track from Mechanize, entitled Final Exit. Why? Because I like the song and it’s my fucking blog. https://youtu.be/-Yuv0kMJjCM

From 2012’s The Industrialist is the first single Recharger. I chose this song because Burton’s voice sounds different from when he roars and sings, in timbre. This song actually uses both techniques and near the end, he shifts between them both. https://youtu.be/vHebPBvUdl0

From 2015’s Genexus, I have chosen another closing track, because of Burton’s alternative rock influences. In an interview he talks about that and I have it here, along with a video of the song itself. https://rreverb.com/man-vs-machine-interview-burton-c-bell-fear-factory/

Finally, we get to Aggression Continuum and the final album with Burt on lead vocals. This was certainly one too end off this era with and this was the first single, released on April 16th 2021, 2 days before Panic on the Streets of Springfield would air. The album Aggression Continuum would be released on Paul McCartney’s 79th birthday and this was the first single off of it. https://youtu.be/9eqIEfPG4wc

After nearly 3 years, Dino would find a new singer in 35 year-old Milo Silvestro, who is clearly a fan of Burton and for more on the new guy, check this out. https://www.revolvermag.com/music/fan-frontman-fear-factorys-new-singer-self-doubt-haters-burton-c-bell-more

Fear Factory are no strangers to contributing music to video games such as: The Terminator: Dawn of Fate, songs also in games such as: Demolition Racer, Test Drive 6, Test Drive 5, Carmageddon, Messiah, the latter of which has a song written for the game by Fear Factory. The song is on the digipak and now the special addition of Obsolete, along with Cars and 3 other songs which didn’t fit the concept.

Further to this, nearly every album is a concept album, with the focus sometimes being on man VS. machines and other similar concepts. Think about the rise of artificial intelligence during this year and how it could shape the rest of our lives. We have smart phones, Alexa and Siri, which all use machine learning and could this outsmart us as humans in the future? In one of the links I have inserted this is touched upon and hopefully, we don’t have some sort of dystopian future ahead of us, where we are controlled by machines, more than we already are now. The fact is, some of us allow our iPhones to think for us and we rely on Google, which is all fine and good. However, if we become too reliant on machine learning, algorithms, etc, we will eventually be phased out as a species and artificial intelligence will become a species of its own, without relying on living breathing organisms. Could this happen to animals to, or even birds? Anyway, I digress.

Besides Fear FActory, all of the current and past members have other bands on the side, with some of the more well-known bands being Brujeria. I had heard of them through a commercial for their 2000 album BrujerizmoHere is an example of what they sound like and yes, they are singing (as it were) in Spanish. https://youtu.be/cSqnjms8bKo

Another project I think should be talked about here is Ascension of the Watchers, which is Burt’s band outside of Fear Factory and it seems now, is his main band along with his other passion in life, being writing, as well as photography. Anyway, this is the one song I found in the past couple of years on Youtube Music, which I really like and there is all singing and no growling or screaming on it. You can find it on the band’s 2020 album Apochrypha and the album even has a cover of a song by Terence Trent D’Arby, now Sananda Maitreya and for the record, it is a cover of Sign Your Name. Anyway, here is an original song from the band. https://youtu.be/sirDE6Fe1lY

Something else which I and others may not have known until 2012, was that Burton was in the video for Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. He talks about that in this interview, along with other things going on with Fear Factory in 2012, when he had told the world about this. https://youtu.be/21CDhscVke0

One more thing on Burton, since he also uses the same website platform as me, I am going to include the link to his website here. I am under no illusions that he may mention me someday, even though I am a fan of what he does and did with Fear Factory. https://www.burtoncbell.com/

There are other bands and examples of members on other people’s albums, but I wanted to bring those two bands to your attention, dew to them being mentioned on the radio, or on a Fear Factory DVD. In the case of Nirvana, I thought I would mention it because the song is a classic and I had made mention of it, in September 2021, 2 days after the 30th anniversary of the release of Nevermind.

I know that there hasn’t been a lot of Simpsons in this post, but that is kinda the point of these Simpsons Sabbatical posts, to wander away from the series and talk about other things which interest me. Some may have more connections to the show than others, but I also have another reason for doing this.

I don’t kno for sure, but I have a feeling that the majority of Simpsons fans have tastes which are mostly of the mainstream variety, or they like showtunes as a part of what they listen to every day on their phone. Well, I like my rock and metal, along with some of that musical type of music, but hard rock and heavy metal are my favourite genres of music. I hope that there are others who are reading this, who are fans of the series and who also read a magazine like Loudwire on a daily basis, in order to get your news on your favourite rock, hard rock and metal bands. I do and that’s how I found out about the new Singer for Fear Factory and they even have a video on their Youtube channel, with Simpsons cameos from rock and metal bands, including Paul McCartney, Metallica and Judas Priest. I like a lot of bands who will probably never even set foot in Springfield, because of their rather striking images such a Slipknot, or even a band like Cannibal Corpse. Need I say more? I hope to hear from the metal community on this post, who are also Simpsons fans and I hope that you agree, that both fans of The Simpsons and fans of rock and metal are open to each other and of course, both sides are opinionated on either the show, or their favourite bands and that’s to be expected. If you love something that much, you are bound to be critical of what they do and that keeps everything going. You need to have criticism in order to continue to evolve and I believe that even The Simpsons writers all know this, even in the early days of the series. Why do you think we have a scenario where Ned and Edna would eventually become a couple and get married?

Anyway, that’s all for this week and next week, it’s all about Van Halen. Until then, here is Fear Factory’s Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_Factory

ps here is a version of Shock, with Milo Silvestro on vocals and o course, it is live. I am looking forward to new music with Milo on vocals and to hear what he may contribute instrumentally, if he is allowed to do so. https://youtu.be/QHBcugIvHn0

What Is Coming

Hi all and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday post. We have a number of birthdays to get to and a new album by a guest star.

Did you watch Pretty Whittle Liar? Kinda wierd to know that Springfield’s resident hillbilly couple have become smart, in particular the female and I will let you watch the episode, defined out how things go.

On the music front, we have a new album by a guest star to talk about. Unlimited Love is the twelfth studio album by the American rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on April 1. It is produced by Rick Rubin and not only that, the album reunites the band with guitarist John Frusciante, who left in 2009 and rejoined in 2019, replacing Josh Klinghoffer. The band guest starred in the episode Krusty Gets Kancelled as themselves, among other big names.
The first single, “Black Summer”, was released in February 2022; it became the Chili Peppers’ fourteenth number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. If you haven’t heard it, here you go. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OS8taasZl8k&feature=share

On the birthday front, Guest star Alec Baldwin turned another year older yesterday. I had talked about his current podcast “Here’s The Thing” and he has another one, which focuses on art fraud. It’s not my thing, but if you’re interested check it out. I will not however, talk about the accidental shooting he was involved in because it’s not my place and I don’t know all that much about it.

Also, Eric Idle, turned another year older on Tuesday. He has guest starred 4 times as Declan Desmond, the documentarian who films The citizens of Springfield, as they go about their lives. As of now, Michael Palin is the second member of Monty python to guest star as somebody, other than themselves. Eric was the film maker and Mike was the Springfield History Museum curator in the Season 32 episode I, Carumbus. I hope that one more member guest stars, before we lose another one.

Singer Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (Better known as Lady Gaga) turned 36 years old on Monday and she of course guest starred as her self in the season 23 finale Lisa Goes Gaga. A lot of fans of claimed this episode to be among the worst, because of how much the focus is on her, as a magical vocal saviour for Springfield and especially, Lisa. I get it, but I also don’t mind her as an artist because, despite the kind of music she makes she also loves heavy metal bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, among others. After all, Brian may of Queen had played guitar on one of her songs so, that’s fine with me. Oh yeah, don’t forget that she played with Metallica 5 years ago, during either the Grammys, or The American Music Awards and the band expressed an interest in working with her in the future. Again, I am interested and intrigued as to what they could do together, among her other collaborations with Tony Bennett and her usual dance Pop music.
Classic Simpsons writer George Meyer had turned 66 last Sunday and I’m very sorry about omitting him, from last weeks post. Anyway, he has had a hand in writing such classic episodes as: Mr. Lisa Goes To Washington and Bart VS Thanksgiving, among others. He left the show in 2006 but co-wrote The Simpsons Movie in 2007. He has also worked with David Letterman and on Saturday Night Live, before being hired by Sam Simon in 1989 to write for The Simpsons. Also, former Simpsons music writer Alf Clausen turned another year older on Monday.

This week is another post which is another preview post, of what is to come. I will be doing a post on where and when I went to school and how it relates to The Simpsons, I will be doing one or two posts on season three and that’s all I can tell you at this point. Today, I had a rather long post planned which was all about going to school, but I had accidentally erased it when I had tried to edit it. I’m not sure why, but I guess them’s the brakes.

As you could probably guess, not much to say this week and as for new episodes, I’m looking forward to next week, when the new episode The Sound of Bleeding Gums Will Air. Basically, Lisa meets Bleeding Gums Murphy’s Son and attempts to improve his life. I wonder how and if she will impress upon him her vegetarianism, or her love of learning and who will guest star as his son. I love the character and it was a shame when he was killed off and even worse, when the actor who voiced him died in 2002 of a heart attack. Either way, it’ll be a good flashback for those of us who know the first few seasons and a revelation for those who may be new to the series.

Bits and Bights

Hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday. This week it’s a post with me just giving you bits and bights because, I don’t have anything I wish to go on and on about this week. By the way, the title of this post was inspired by a snack we used to have at school, consisting of: pretzels, Cheerios, shred he’s and one or two other small things in a dixie cup all mixed together and dry.

Well, what did you think of the latest episode? If you think about it, it’s not that surprising that we haven’t heard all that much from chief Wiggum’s wife Sarah, now that we know that she was a master criminal back in her day before she met Clansy. I was surprised that she wasn’t voiced by her normal voice actress Pamela Hayden and buy a guest star. Well, maybe it wouldn’t of worked and so, we have what we have and for this episode, it fits. The strangest thing about the episode was the ending, as Ralph Wiggum was being babysat by Fat Tony, which is odd because of Ralph’s personality and not so much because Tony is a mob boss. Because Ralph is so dim, that is what makes it so weird.

Also, did you catch Bob Seger guest starring? If you did, did you catch all the song titles he referenced from his own catalog? There are so many and all big hits to, when he criticized homer and chief Wiggum for not being with their wives. If you really wanna know, just watch the episode and get the full story from there.

On the birthday front, Guest star Alec Baldwin turned another year older yesterday. I just found his podcast and I remember hearing it on the radio almost 10 years ago. One of my favourite episodes was when David letterman sat in and despite what he thought, I have no problem with him. Besides, I loved his show and his nightly top 10 list and of course, his musical director was Paul Schaffer, who is a Canadian and so am I. Anyway, here is the link to the podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/heres-the-thing-with-alec-baldwin/id472939437

Not much to say this week except, have a happy Easter despite any lockdowns you may be under and be safe. I was going to repost last year’s Easter post but, one thing I will not do is repost things I’ve done here, unless they relate to something else. I have done so with the Canadian connections because there has always been something to add to them, like a new guest star or an episode.

Speaking of posts, I have one coming up about The Simpsons and roommates, thanks to a friend of mine who does a podcast. Suppose we try for next week. Shall we?

Before I forget, there’s another important birthday I should mention and that is the one and only Eric Idle, who has guest starred 4 times as Declan Desmond, the documentarian who films The citizens of Springfield, as they go about their lives. As of now, Michael Palin is the second member of Monty python to guest star as somebody, other than themselves. Eric was the film maker and Mike was the Springfield History Museum curator in the Season 32 episode I, Carumbus.

The last of the bits and bights today is the fourth anniversary of the death of a friend of mine, who was also a fan of The Simpsons, among other things and she also read her bible and had feathered and furry babies. I posted about her the following Sunday after her death and I told you about how I made her laugh, when doing various Voices and especially Homer, when doing one of his many “mmm…” utterances followed by a food of some sort. I found out while having lunch at a local donut shop and somehow, I was able to get through it without crying or having any other negative feelings, both inside and outside my stomach.

As for the original post, you can find it in the archives for April 2018 and I did show it to Nancy Cartwright soon after. She seemed to be favourable to it, as she had reacted with a “love” reaction on Facebook. Sadly, my friend was only 46 years old and what had taken her life were blood clots in her heart. This makes the whole AstraZeneca issue with blood clots a lot more meaningful to me, then others outside of Europe but, I don’t think the blood clots from those individuals who have received it were necessarily in the cardiovascular area and at this point, I haven’t checked out the full story of where they could’ve occurred, for those patients who have received AstraZeneca in Europe. Either way, she has been in a better place since then and sadly, she was only 46 years old. RIP

Season 32 So Far

hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday poast. I haven’t forgotten to post in the blog, but like two weeks ago nothing had inspired anything last week. On the birthday front, writer and former executive producer Mike Reiss turns another year older on the 15th. He and Al Jean were one of the original writers and ran the show, for seasons 3 and 4 and, I like what they did together. After all, they both were present for the episode Last Exit To Springfield and probably the most poignant episode of all, Lisa’s Substitute. Check out his book entitled “Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies From A Lifetime Writing For The Simpsons” and if you get the chance, get the audiobook, which has him reading it.

Writer and former executive producer David Mirkin turned another year older on September 18th. He ran seasons 5 and 6, along with some episodes from season 7 and he had a hand in co-writing both The Simpsons Movie in 2007 and the Season 26 episode The Man Who Came To Be Dinner.

This week it is all about Season 32 and what we know so far. Besides, tonight’s the night we get to watch the premier episode, with episodes for the next 5 weeks in a row. I won’t name all of the episode titles which have been released, because they may not be finalized as episodes for this season and, the titles are subject to change. So, let’s prepare for tonight and the next few months of good old cockamamy Simpsons hilarity and stupidity, with a link to a recent post in The Springfield Shopper and we will go from there. https://news.simpsonswiki.com/2020/08/season-32-the-october-lineup-has-been-announced/

Okay, we now know that Michael Palin will guest star in the episode “I, Carumbus”, which will air on October 4th. He will be a museum curator and I wonder, if he will use his normal accent or a variation of it, like he had done for various Python characters he voiced. Maybe, he can use an American accent and he is certainly capable of that. Here is proof, courtesy of a classic Python sketch. A warning to those who may be grossed out, in that this will have some noises which may make you go eww. https://youtu.be/A6ead7f38_s

Another episode title, should be familiar to anyone who has watched the season 29 episode Homer Is Where the Art Isn’t⁩, as the words “”Now Museum, Now You Don’t” are the very same words Kent Brockman started off his news cast with, when talking about The Springfield Museum of Fine Art closing its doors and we also see protesters, including Sideshow Mel.

“Undercover Burns” sounds interesting, in that Mr. Burns is being voiced by someone other than Harry Shearer, as his undercover persona, Fred. Why Fred? Not that I mind but, I’m puzzled as to why an ordinary name like that was chosen. The same thing with Marshall Grover’s wonder horse on Sesame Street… also named Fred. Will we see a character named Wilma in a future Simpsons episode? We have Elizabeth Hoover so, all we need is Wilma and The Simpsons and Flintstones connection by first name, is more or less complete in my mind.

If you wish to know everything about this new season so far, check this link out and there is a lot more, which I haven’t mentioned here. https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Season_32
By the way, I highly recommend that you subscribe to The Springfield Shopper blog and you can do this, from any of the links I have inserted into my blog. You will receive emails and there are great people, doing the hard work for us, talking to Al Jean and asking about episodes and keeping up with the latest news in general, for both the blog and its parent website.

The Simpsons At Home

Hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday. This week it is all about The Simpsons @ Home | Comic-Con@Home 2020. Here is a link to the video, which was posted on YouTube shortly after the event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knks1yv7RaU

Okay,I didn’t want this post to be only the link to the video and not talking about some aspects of it, so we will do that. Ready?

So, let’s go over who are the main voices we hear and such. Moderating it again is Yeardley Smith and with her as a part of The Simpsons panel were: Al Jean, Matt Selman, David Silverman, Carolyn Omine and Mike B. Anderson. If you know the names I have mentioned, you are certainly a true hard-core Simpsons fan. I knew the names but, didn’t recognize all of the voices! I have wished Al Jean and Yeardley Smith each a happy birthday for the past few years and so far, that’s it.

One of the questions people have every year for the panellists is who will be guest starring this season. So far the list is: Hannibal Buress, Olivia Colman, David Harbour, Ben Platt and Sir Michael Palin of Monty Python fame are among those who will be making their voices heard in Springfield this year. There were even to sneak peeks from the upcoming Treehouse Of Horror episode, which I’m guessing will be airing in October. Some years they have held them over to November and as the season premier will air on September 27th I think that is how it will go. As for Michael, I wonder if he will use his own voice or, one of the variance of it, which are used for certain Monty Python characters. Will he be the “It’s” man, will he be a Simpsonized version of the lying shop keeper, telling Homer that there is nothing wrong with his car, or Marge that she has no need to be nervous? Will he use his ministerial voice, like he did on a 1987 Motörhead album and on a Python sketch called Martydom of St Victor? There is the other character he could be bringing out but, that might be too obvious. Or, will he be himself, as he does his travelogs?

Something else that most people who are hard-core fans may know but others don’t, is that David Silverman plays the tuba and indeed, he actually played The Simpsons Main Title Theme, on the tuba. I must admit that it was kinda weird to hear that but, I won’t be surprised if his work shows up at the end of an episode. After all, there have been many renditions of the theme in different musical capacities and different instrumentations at the end of most episodes, much like with Sesame Street. By the way, the tuba appeared in a sketch with Simon Sound man on Sesame Street, which really excited Bert, as the tuba is his favourite instrument.

Something else to know if you have yet to watch the video, is that it was done over Zoom and I have my own reservations about using zoom, because of what I’ve heard from other people. Also, I don’t like when people phone it in, as opposed to using the Zoom application. Besides, if you’re on the app you sound better. Also, please don’t have your iPhone ringing during a zoom chat. It’s fucking rude and if you’re going to chat on zoom, please put your phone on airplane mode and you can use Wi-Fi with it. I’ve done it so, you can do the same thing. This actually happened with one of the panelists and the default ringtone for the iPhone, went off. There are better ones you can purchase from iTunes, which are not the same old same old same old same old iPhone ringtones. For example: you can purchase the emergency alert which is used for severe weather alerts and ringtones for other phone manufacturers. For example: you can purchase BlackBerry, Samsung, Motorola and Nokia among others so, you don’t have to rely on the same old boring alert and ringtones. Obviously, I would recommend purchasing as many good Simpsons related ones as well. There…….. now I have that off of my chest and I feel better now.

So, will The Simpsons ever be stopped? Well, the pandemic hasn’t ended the show so, I wouldn’t think so. After all, Al Jean said so and I believe it. Then again, it’s hard to say if it will suddenly have to end, unexpectedly. I quite enjoyed The discussion and even getting questions from fans was really cool. I’m curious, how they were selected to get into the zoom call? … … I’m just curious.

Marge Vs. The Monorail, 27 Years Later

Hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday and the last one for January 2020. This week on the birthday front, is a dude named Chris Ladesma. Chris who??? Chris Ladesma, without whom we wouldn’t have such briliant music editing. In fact, he has been a part of the staff since day 1, without going off wandering to other shows or even being on hiatus.
He has his own blog, about his job and he lets us in on some of what goes into editing the music for episodes. For example: if you have watched the Season 25 episode The Kid Is Alright, you will notice the opening is all music and no dialog. It is all there in the blog itself, in a post called Music Ville, which has music and or musical instruments for various characters. If you know each character’s background, you can probably figure it out a bit easier because, there really is no dialog. In fact, here is the post for you, to take a read through, then go and watch The Kid Is Alright and listen for the opening sequence, as you read it again. https://simpsonsmusic500.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/music-ville/
Oh by the way, Chris turns another year older on Tuesday and here is a link to his blog and not just a specific blog post here. https://simpsonsmusic500.wordpress.com/author/simpsonsmusic500/

Okay, now we have to acknowledge the passing of the funny and talented Terry Jones, of Monty Python fame, who passed away this past Tuesday at the age of 77. I probably don’t need to tell you that Monty Python was a huge influence on the Simpsons writing staff but all the same, if you go on the Wikisimpsons website, look for the link to Monty Python’s Flying Circus and you will find out how much of an influence they are, beyond Eric Idle. In fact, here is the link. https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Monty_Python%27s_Flying_Circus

Obviously, the 4 surviving fellow Pythons had also responded to the news on either Twitter or through websites for news publications.Here is what I had found, from all 4 of them.

From Eric Idle:

“I loved him the moment I saw him on stage at the Edinburgh Festival in 1963. So many laughs,moments of total hilarity onstage and off we have all shared with him. It’s too sad if you knew him,but if you didn’t you will always smile at the many wonderfully funny moments he gave us.”

From Sir Michael Palin:

“You will be very missed old friend. I feel very fortunate to have shared so much of my life with Terry.”

From John Cleese:

“Just heard about Terry J.. It feels strange that a man of so many talents and such endless enthusiasm, should have faded so gently away… Of his many achievements, for me the greatest gift he gave us all was his direction of ‘Life of Brian’. Perfection. Two down, four to go.”

This last one is from Terry Gilliam, who also had a huge part, along with the rest of the pythons in shaping the style of the TV show and, the groups humour in general.

“HE WAS A VERY NAUGHTY BOY!!…and we miss you. Terry was someone totally consumed with life.. a brilliant, constantly questioning, iconoclastic, righteously argumentative and angry but outrageously funny and generous and kind human being… and very often a complete pain in the ass.
One could never hope for a better friend. Goodbye, Tel.”

If you haven’t read Eric Idle’s autobiography, check out the story at the end of Chapter 8, talking about Terry Jones almost getting them both killed, in Germany. Hint, he probably would have taken all of his clothes off, if he wasn’t dragged off stage, with two German bands at one huge table, with older men waring Nazi insignia. If you wanna hear the story, just listen to the audiobook and hear Eric tell it and I think you will laugh as much as I did, when hearing it for the first time, in October 2018.

Let us not forget that Terry Jones was also: an author, actor, playwright, screenwriter, newspaper columnist, movie director and a historian. I wish I could comment more on his books and his historical research, but I don’t really know how deep he was into it. However, people have said that if you asked him about a wide range of subjects, he could floor you with his knowledge. Just do a Google search on Terry Jones and you will probably know more about his life, outside of Python than you did before.

Back to Monty Python, on their Contractual Obligations album, he sang a number of songs on it. These include: Never Be Rude to an Arab, I’m So Worried, Here Comes Another One, Muddy Knees, Traffic Lights and A Scottish Farewell, which is a brief coda to Here Comes Another One. Of course, he also participates in some of the sketches on the album, such as: Crocodile and Bealls, in which he is the wife of the agnostic husband (Graham Chapman).

When I heard that Terry had dementia, I thought to myself that it’s only a matter of time, because of his age at which he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. Altho, I still had plenty of hope that he would be with us, for quite a while and when I heard that a member of Monty Python had died, I had a bad feeling of who it was, even before Terry Jones was revealed to be taking the dirt nap. I hope that there will be some sort of cure for all types of dementia and we can hear about people actually beating it, like cancer.

I’ll miss the loud middle aged housewives he did so well, along with everything else which will be mentioned, in the next and final paragraph on Terry Jones. Of course, one of his finest characters outside the Pepperpots is Mr. Creosote, because he was so morbidly obese, also throwing up quite ridiculously. As for my favourite sketch he and Michael Palin had written together, is Spam, because it is so funny, with all the insertions of the word “spam” as a part of the menu, as well as the interruptions from the vikings, helping to provide more laughs, there by creating some sort of weird chaos in the sketch. Of course, the Vikings were voiced (if you will) by the Fred Tomlinson singers, who had done a lot of the vocals for Monty Python’s songs, including Eric Idle’s classic “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” and they sounded great too. I have always found that sketch to be one of my favourites, outside of most sketches written by Eric Idle and the writing partnership of John Cleese and Graham Chapman.

Finally, from a friend I had gone to school with, who had posted this on Facebook on Thursday. “Goodbye to naked pianists, Goodbye to naked writers,Goodbye to cross-dressing waitresses who serve SPAM, Goodbye to two Sheds, Goodbye to unfortunate mothers who are mistaken for the mother of the Christ Child, Goodbye to fat men who explode after eating a Wafer thin mint. Goodbye Terry Jones, and thank you for the years of unexpected laughter.”

This week it will be a look back at the Season 4 episode Marge vs. the Monorail, which aired Jan 14, 1993. You know? The episode with that fast-talking con man, Lyle Lanley, who sells the people of Springfield a monorail? I know, I could have done a post on it last week but, Def Leppard gave me the creative muse and so, I thought I would do my look back at this Conan O’Brien masterpiece and we’re going to talk about the whole thing, as we watch it on either the Disney plus app or (in my own case) from my TV library on my iPod touch from iTunes. Along the way, I will stop and talk a bit about a couple of things in here, that either I had learned, or found funny or cliche. Are you ready? All right, here we go so strap in.

The episode begins with a parody of the opening of The Flintstones, complete with the same music. However, Homer sings his own lyrics in a slightly lower key. If you have read earlier posts of this blog, you know how much I like both The Simpsons and The Flintstones, as I had done a post, comparing the two shows back in July 2016.

After we see Lenny and Carl wonder where the nuclear waste goes at night, Mr. Burns and Smithers are out playing their game of hide the ooze and decide not to do their dumping, at a playground because those bold children are arousing suspicion. So, they go to the city park and are caught dumping nuclear waste there,. Mr. Burns is fined three million dollars and, he pays it off, with obvious intentions of getting it back. However, we are getting ahead of ourselves.

A town meeting is immediately held so the citizens can decide how to spend the money. Mr. Snrub (who comes from somewhere far away) proposes that the money be invested in the nuclear plant and of course, Smithers unilaterally agrees with Mr. Burns in his disguise. Nice one Burnsy!

Marge suggests using the money to fix up Main Street, which is in extremely poor condition. The town shows enthusiasm for this idea and is about to vote for it when suddenly a smooth-talking stranger named Lyle Lanley suggests the town buy a new monorail, making his pitch in a song which convinces the town to buy the monorail. For those of us who may not know by now, this premise of a con man getting a town excited about something he sells but hardly knows anything about is borrowed from the musical The Music Man. To tell the truth, I didn’t know that before reading about this episode and even before hearing the song by itself, or as a part of the episode.
Marge is unhappy with the town’s purchase, believing they should have fixed Main Street and the monorail is unsafe. While watching TV, Homer sees an advertisement suggesting he become a monorail conductor, claiming it to be a lifelong dream. Okay, how many of these lifelong dreams has Homer had? Also, Homer was probably on his third beer and for the sake of this episode, why not?

Homer signs up for the monorail conductor training course and after a decidedly unintensive three weeks of training, Homer is named the monorail conductor. Of course, Homer doesn’t really have a clew about what the job intails, besides saying “all aboard” and that’s that. I don’t know that much about how trains work (from the inside either) and I would be just as unqualified to operate a monothingy as Homer is.
Meanwhile, Marge is still feeling uneasy about the monorail and is haunted by what she had heard, either in the song or from her husband. We hear Apu asking “is there a chance the track could bend?” during the song and Homer remark “I call the big one Bitey,” in reference to a Family of possums she had discovered, both from her brain, because of the vocal affects on their voices (similar to Homer having converrsations with his own brain). She decides to visit Lyle Lanley and discovers a notebook revealing Lanley’s true intentions: to have the monorail break down while he gets away with the town’s money. Lanley catches her, and Marge quickly says she was just browsing around. Believing her story, Lanley allows her to leave, not knowing she has read the notebook and is aware of his plans. My guess is that he takes the notebook with him too, as he says “I don’t know why I leave this lying around”, in reference to it.
Marge immediately drives to North Haverbrook, which Lanley mentioned was a previous purchaser of one of his monorails during his pitch. She finds the town to be run-down and nearly deserted. Marge asks around about the monorail, but no one is willing to talk about it. A woman working at a drive-in diner says there’s no monorail in North Haverbrook and never was, but then closes the doors, revealing the diner is called “MONORAIL CAFE”. Finally, Marge meets Sebastian Cobb, who explain Lanley cut costs everywhere while building North Haverbrook’s monorail, and the entire thing is a scam. Cobb shows her the remnants of the town’s monorail, which is now broken and in disrepair.
At the monorail’s maiden voyage, the entire town turns out, including celebrities such as: Krusty the clown, Lurleen Lumpkin and Leonard Nimoy. Lanley grabs his money and jumps in a taxi taking him to the airport, even after Lisa asks if he is going to ride the monorail. The monorail takes off just before Marge and Cobb arrive in Springfield. At first the monorail runs smoothly, but the controls malfunction, causing the monorail to speed up and travel at dangerous speeds. One of the most obviously audible signs of the malfunction is when Homer tries to get the breaks working and, they obviously don’t. We hear a female voice platform say “The lever you have pulled–brakes– Is not in service. Please make a note of it.” My guess is that it was supporting cast member Maggie Roswell, who provided the voice and she did a damn good job. Anyway, nobody can figure out how to stop the monorail (since it’s solar-powered) and although a solar eclipse briefly halts it, the eclipse ends and the monorail takes off again.

During Lyle Lanley’s flight, an announcement is made about making a brief unscheduled stop in North Haverbrook, where Lanley realizes he is in for it. He is immediately attacked by a group of angry pitchfork laden locals , who have been tipped off about his arrival. My guess is that perhaps it was Marge who tipped them off. Hmm!

Back in Springfield, Cobb tells Homer in order to stop the train, he needs to find an anchor. Homer grabs the giant “M” from the side of the monorail, ties it to a rope, and throws it out the window (just barely remembering at the last second he needs to also tie the rope to something inside the monorail). Eventually, the M latches onto a giant doughnut, stopping the monorail and saving its passengers. As the train stops, Homer: [says to himself] Donuts. Is there anything they can’t do?” As the passengers get off of the monorail, Leonard Nimoy says his work is done. Barney tells Nimoy he didn’t do anything. Nimoy asks, “Didn’t I?” and teleports out of Springfield.
The episode ends with Marge explaining the monorail was the last folly Springfield ever had … except for the popsicle-stick skyscraper … and the giant magnifying glass … and the escalator to nowhere.

Okay, even after all of that, I still can’t do the episode justice, because there’s so much happening and in some cases, not enough audio to give clues for me as to what is going on. For example: Dr. Hibbert and the Siamese twins speech? What is going on and how does this relate to the episode and where it is heard?

Something I had recently learned, while doing extra research on the episode, beyond the plot is that there was a reverse reference to this premise, which had occurred in 2002 when Seattle residents opposed to a proposed monorail project held a protest event called “Coming Out With Marge Simpson.” The event organizers planned to show the episode as part of the protest, but were ordered not to show it, because of copyright laws. Could you imagine if they were allowed to show the episode, as part of the protest?

Of course, we can’t talk about the episode, without acknowledging Phil Hartman voicing Lyle Lanley, that Smoove talking ConMan and being so wrapped up in his scheme, that he believes Marge. When she says that she saw nothing incriminating in his notebook. You couldn’t use the character in any other episode as he is, except for this one and of course, any episode with Phil Hartman voicing a character is a classic, 99.99999999 percent of the time. Right?One more thing about the episode and a repeated plot point, is that Homer is given a high demanding job, despite not being qualified to be at the helm. The only thing he does even passibly well at the helm is, behind the wheel of the family car and even that, he has neglected it on occasions. For example: a leaking exhaust pipe or banging the heater, to get it to work are not recommended things to have in a car.

I love the episode and of course, the Monorail song isn’t bad either. I wonder if at one point, Lyle Lanley was going to slip up and actually tell Lisa the truth about what his real intentions were, dew to her question and just because she is an 8-year-old girl. If he did, it would be interesting, to find out if Lisa and Marge team up to stop the monorail, before Marge would even think of going to Lyle’s house. Either way, the episode is fine as it is and nothing needs to be changed.

Bart The Genius, almost 30 Years Later

Hi all and welcome to the first Simpsons Sunday post for 2020 and, the first post of the new decade. I hadn’t thought of it until I read it on Twitter a few days ago but, as of 2020 The Simpsons will have aired in 5 different decades. The only other show I can think of, which has been on the air longer than that is Sesame Street, which started 20 years earlier. Remember, Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire had aired on December 17th 1989 and the latest episode Hail to the Teeth airs tonight, in the series’s 31st season. Will The Simpsons overtake Sesame Street in 20 years? It’s hard to say but, time will tell.

Unfortunately, we have a notable death to talk about, in the form of Neil Innes. No, he didn’t guest star on The Simpsons but, he worked with Monty Python and Eric Idle, on The Rutles, as well as being one of the original members of Bonzo Dog Band, then known as Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band and Paul McCartney, along with the rest of The Beatles took inspiration from them, with the song You Know My Name (Look Up the Number), which was the B-side to the Let It Be single.

On the birthday front, Harry Shearer turned 76 on December 23rd. I think we all know about his many voices on The Simpsons, as well as his other work outside the series. Am I right? If not, just use our friend Google and you will find out all you need to know about him. Also, you can follow him on Twitter @theharryshearer and, his radio show. Again, you can find information about that and the podcast on Google.

Also, Tracey Ullman turned 60 years old on December 30th. As Simpsons fans, we know how the family got its start, as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show and obviously, what had happened after that is history. She also voiced Emily Winthrop, the instructor at the obedience school, where Santa’s Little Helper is sent. Thankfully, she has also done well outside The Simpsons, as she is able to do a whole bunch of dialects outside her own and quite well, I may add.

This week, I thought I would look back on the episode Bart The Genius, which aired on January 14th 1990. I will go through it, to refresh our memories and then, we’ll talk about it. Okay?

The episode begins as the Simpson family are playing Scrabble in the living room, in order to help build Bart’s vocabulary for his aptitude test tomorrow at school. The game ends when Bart cheats and makes up an imaginary word, which he knows will get homer mad and end the game. Well, homer gets angry and chases Bart out of the room. I’ll talk about that word later on. Okay?

The next day before class, in the schoolyard, Martin Prince tattles on Bart, for spray painting graffiti defaming Principal Skinner on the school building. Skinner orders Bart to see him after school.
As the children file into class, Mrs. Krabappel hands out aptitude tests to everyone. When she instructs the class on taking the timed intelligence test, Martin raises his hand, reminding her Bart’s supposed to face the window during any test so he can’t cheat. A grumbling Bart turns his desk to face the window and the test begins. In an attempt to figure out a lengthy math word problem, Bart tries to visualize the problem so he can solve it. The visualization turns into a daydream and when Bart finally comes back to reality, Martin announces he finished his test already. Mrs. Krabappel sends Martin outside to read a book, during the remainder of the testing period. While Bart’s still taking his test, he looks out the window to see a smug Martin sticking his tongue out at him. In retaliation, Bart makes faces back at Martin; Mrs. Krabappel spots Bart making faces and looks out the window to see what Bart’s looking at. Note: we don’t hear about the two making faces at each other as a part of the dialog.

While Mrs. Krabappel’s back is turned, Bart (who is seated at the front of the class) reaches over to her desk and steals Martin’s test, replaces Martin’s name with his own and puts the test back on her desk. Bart quickly fills out random answers on his own test, writes Martin’s name at the top, and turns it in. Again, this is not heard as dialog.
Later, after school, Homer and Marge are called to Principal Skinner’s office for a meeting about Bart’s behavior at school. Skinner informs them about Bart’s graffiti from earlier. As he reaches for Bart’s rather extensive permanent record, and is about to suggest something along the lines of an extreme penalty for Bart, his secretary buzzes in and says Dr. J. Loren Pryor, the school psychiatrist, is waiting to see him. Dr. Pryor walks in on the meeting, and surprises everyone when he tells them Bart’s a “gifted child,” and according to the aptitude test from earlier, Bart has an I.Q. of 216. Dr. Pryor suggests Bart’s history of bad behavior stems from a lack of interest in his school work, due to the fact it’s too easy for him. Skinner wants Bart retested, but when Dr. Pryor suggests moving Bart to a school for “gifted children”, Skinner jumps on board with the idea, and Bart quickly agrees when he hears the school doesn’t have much structure and you get to make your own rules. Dr. Pryor hands Bart some paperwork for the “gifted children” school, and he, Homer and Marge leave the meeting stunned.

The next morning at the breakfast table, Marge and Homer hover around their new genius child. However, Lisa (Who is the actual smarty pants in the family) is not fooled by Bart and knows he’s still just a dimwit. After breakfast, Homer takes Bart to the “Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children”. Once inside the school, they find Bart’s class, and, after peeking in, they see all of the boys are wearing ties. So Homer gives Bart the tie he’s wearing, gives Bart a little pep talk about his first day at the new school, and shoves him in the classroom door. Once inside the class, Ms. Melon, the teacher, introduces herself and the new classmates to Bart and shows him around the classroom. She tells Bart about the independent learning and the only rule is for him to make his own rules. Class begins with a debate on the topic of free will and the paradoxes it creates; Bart struggles to understand the discussion. Later at lunch, Bart’s classmates realize Bart aint that bright when he accepts their ridiculously uneven trade offers. For example: 1000 Pico liters of milk for 4 gills worth. A gill’s much, much larger than a Pico liter. A dejected Bart walks away from the lunch table as the other kids laugh at him.
After school, Bart relaxes in his room, when Homer walks in to see about Bart’s first day at the new school. Homer suggests they all go out for frosty chocolate milkshakes, and Bart agrees. Just then, Marge walks by, and tells Homer and Bart she bought tickets to the opera in an effort to try to help nurture Bart’s brain. Later, during the opera, a bored and impatient Homer and Bart goof off and cut each other up, even making fart sounds to make things much more fun for them. Even though, they’re continually shushed by an upset Marge.

The next day at school sees Bart feeling even more stupid and left out when he can’t understand a calculus problem on the chalkboard. Later, as a sad Bart walks home from school, he passes by the playground of his old school, where Richard, Lewis, and Milhouse are shooting marbles. When Bart greets them and tries to talk to them, they treat him like a nerd, call him names, and tell him to get lost.

Back at home, while eating dinner, Bart is very sad and depressed. Marge reminds everyone they can’t be late for the film festival for which she bought tickets. Somehow she thinks it will help nurture Bart’s brain. Hmm! Bart is reluctant to go to the festival, and Homer tells him they don’t have to go. Just as Bart’s about to tell Homer what’s on his mind and confess about the false I.Q. test, Homer insists on going outside to play catch. After playing catch, Bart sees how much being a genius means to Homer and decides not to confess what he did, out of fear of disappointing him.
The next day at the “gifted children” school, while performing a chemistry experiment, Bart accidentally causes an explosion, which results in green goo everywhere. Cut to Dr. Pryor’s office, where he meets with a green stained Bart. They discuss the reasoning behind his recent failings at the new school, and Dr. Pryor thinks once again Bart isn’t being challenged enough, while Bart suggests that he just go back to Springfield Elementary again. When Dr. Pryor wants to know why, Bart makes up an excuse and tells Dr. Pryor he would like to go undercover and study regular kids and their school environment, “to see what makes ‘em tick”. Dr. Pryor agrees and tells Bart to write up a proposal to present to Principal Skinner while he goes to talk to him. Bart struggles to write a proposal and instead changes his mind and writes his confession. When Dr. Pryor comes back in the office and reads Bart’s confession he suddenly realizes Bart was never a genius to begin with. Later at home, a still green stained Bart greets his parents and Homer offers to give Bart a turpentine bath to wash off the green.
Out in the backyard, as Homer gives Bart a bath, Bart confesses about cheating on the aptitude test and tells Homer he loves him and he enjoyed the extra attention from being a “genius”. He tells Homer he doesn’t think something which brought them closer than they ever were before can be bad. But, Homer doesn’t see it Bart’s way, and he chases Bart out of the tub, trying to choke him. Bart is too quick for Homer, runs into his bedroom and locks the door. An angry Homer pounds on Bart’s door, and tries to coax him to come out, while Bart taunts him from inside his room. Everything is back to normal at the Simpson home and Lisa tells Marge that she thinks Bart’s stupid again, when she knew it all along.

Well, I like the episode and there are a couple of things I want to also point out, to those who may not read print. Obviously, there are some things in there, which aren’t so obvious to those of us who are blind, because of the lack of dialog, such as why Bart is told to get lost, when wishing to talk to his former school mates and even his best friend. But, the best one for me, is when Homer reads Bart’s I.Q. as 912. If you know your print letters, you know that 6 and 9 look the same, but with 9 being opposite to a six, with the tail pointing to the left and down, as apposed to 6. The same is true with two and five and I’ve always had trouble with those two numbers, when learning to read raised print in school. For some reason, 6 and 9 didn’t give me that much grief. As for the 1, it would have to be backward and now that I think of it, so would be the 6, so Homer read Bart’s I.Q. as a upside down 6 and 1, with the 2 being quite possibly the same, or a 5. I’m still confused!

As for the letters Bart uses to make his game-ending word, it’s “Kwyjibo”, defined as “A big, dumb, balding, North American ape with no chin.” I can’t comment on scrabble, as I’ve never had an interest in playing the game. However, we know that that word was meant to get Homer mad and end the game, so Bart can go to his room and do what he wants. Right?

One last thing I think is worth noting, is that Marcia Wallace voices 2 characters in this episode. She voices Mrs. Krabappel and Ms. Melon, Bart’s teacher at the “Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children”. Ms. Melon, seems to be much different from Edna and to me, she sounds like she is talking to people who are actually less intelligent, then gifted. Maybe I’m hearing things the wrong way but, that’s what she sounds like to me. Altho, she seems to be somewhat nicer than Mrs. K.

Anyway, it’s a great episode and a great start to the series, after the Christmas episode.

The Simpsons on Monty Python

hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday poast. This weeks post is Yet another Encore post, which has been expanded for this blog. This week it’s about Monty Python and their influence on The Simpsons. The main reason for this is because of their style of comedy, which has of course influenced Matt Groening, among many others including the creators of South Park. Eric Idle is the only member so far, to have guest starred on The Simpsons. His character is documentery film maker Declan Desmond. He has guested in episodes from Season 14 onwards, with The character giving insite into various characters on the show through his filming of characters (According to the episode) in their dayly lives.As for the influence of Monty Python on the series, I think that the episode Homer Goes To College is an example of it. Just listen to some of the dialog early on in the episode after Homer gets to campus and meets the nerds he gets help from. Two examples of this are in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with the nights Who Say “Ni”. Also take a listen to the Election Special routine on the Live At Drury Lane album and Silly Noises from Monty Python’s Previous record, where the word ni is also spoken as a part of the sketch.

One thing I’m curious about is the sketch Book Shop! One of the books mentioned and spoofed was Great Expectations by Charles dickens  and the reason I mention it is because, it was red in the audiobook form on cassette tape  by John Cleese. He used all sorts of voices, including his comical ones and a voice similar to the one he use as the Grim Reaper in The Meaning Of Life, for the character Provis. Imagine the juxtaposition between his comical personas and reading a serious book and doing voices, for both affable and villainess characters That are similar to his own voice. I didn’t know the name at the time but when I heard John speaking in Monty Python, I recognize the voice from the audiobook.  To give you an example of one of the voices he used, the character Handle was given a voice similar to the character John used in. Chease Shop. Now, I have his own book So, Anyway… and I have listened to some of it in audiobook form. I find it very interesting that both him and myself were both rather namby-pamby little flowers. I was protected by my mother and my dad was kind but he also loved his alcohol. I don’t know if he was an alcoholic as such but, he did let me try Brandy for the first time and warned me that as it goes down your throat, it burns and it certainly did burn, my delicate little throat. dad even taught me, (a blind person) about how to drive and I learned about putting my hands on the steering wheel, at the 10 and two positions. Although, I thought it was nine and three. My mother was protective of her little snowflake and thus, I never really had a chance to venture out on my own and was afraid of walking the streets, until I was in my 20s. so, anyway… I digress.

Of course, all 5 surviving menbers of the troop are going strong and in their 70s. Since Eric guest starred, will others do so in the future? It would be interesting if John Cleese guest starred as a character similar to Basil Fawlty from his sit com Fawlty Towers. My Dad actually was a fan and I came across it by accident back in 1992. I don’t remember all the details but I found a pack of 2 tapes with 4 episodes on 2 tapes. One had the episodes Basil The Rat and The Builders and the other had the episodes Communication Problems and The Hotel Inspectors.

Can you imagine Homer getting into an argument with a character voiced by John Cleese? Better yet, Mr. Burns getting into one. He would probably be either shaken or even more determined then ever to feed his greed after being yelled and screamed at. As for the other Python members, I’m sure they would love to be on The Simpsons, like Eric Idle has been and would probably do it in a second if asked. At least, I hope so. Although, with Terry Jones and his diagnosis of aphasia that might be a problem for him, unless he has one Brief line to learn and speak, obviously with some degree of difficulty.

Also, don’t forget that Eric Idle was actually a Simpson, before The Simpsons came along, 7 years later. Wait! What? Yes, it’s true and for proof check out the album Monthy Python’s Contractual Obligation and the sketch String, where a promoter played by John Cleese, talks with a man (played by Idle) who is trying to cell 300000 miles of string, which is in 3 inch lengths.
Something else I had recently thought about was the tune at the end of the episode Homer At The Bat, which sounds similar in style to Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life. It’s in the same key and at a similar tempo but is however, very different in musical structure. It’s something I had been going over in my head, ever since I had the episode in my iTunes collection.

Well, that’s about it for this weeks Post. In the mean time, I recommend checking out my other blog, which has older posts relating to The Simpsons, along with a lot more interesting stuff about my favourite bands and other things. http://blindgordieblog.wordpress.com
Also, check out Chris Ladesma’s blog. He is the Music Editor for The Simpsons and has been since day 1.

http://simpsonsmusic500.wordpress.com/author/simpsonsmusic500/

Also, check out Yeardley Smith’s blog at http://gobbingoff.tumblr.com

Don’t forget about Marchez Vous, which is her women’s shoe designer company, which she started earlier in the decade. You can check out their website at

http://www.marchesvous.com

Additionally, for more news on The Simpsons, you can go to http://news.simpsonswiki.com/

You can also comment here or you can email me at blindgordie@gmail.com and I will reply as soon as I can to all messages I receive. If you follow me on Twitter or are my friend on Facebook you can comment directly to me that way too.

You can follow Simpsons Executive Producer Al Jean on Twitter and his Twitter handle is @AlJean.

He has ran the show since Season 13 and has ran it during Seasons 3 and 4.

Anyway,  I’ll talk to you again next Sunday.