Hi all and welcome to another Simpsons On Sundays post. First, happy mother’s Day to all the mothers out there and if your mom is still with you, please call her and if you can, take her out to dinner, or something.
So, did you watch The Tell-Tale Pants? I have some comments about the episode which don’t relate to the episode as such, but need to be said. Harry Shearer does not sound like Mr. Burns when voicing the character in the episode and I wonder why that is. The voice quality is different too, as he may have done the lines for both Burns and Smithers while on Zoom and in another country, but any way you slice it, he sounds different. Earlier in the season, Harry sounded like Mr. Burns when he was featured in the episode, where he met his female match and now, it seems that Harry is just phoning it in. However, with other characters the voices sound more like the characters we know. I don’t know what else to say about Harry, but I hope that he gets back to sounding more like Burns and less like Harry.
Kip Lennon voicing Elton John is a complete crock of shit because he sounds nothing like him. Yes, I understand it is a parody, but this is way too damn blatantly obvious and you’d have to be stupid not to realize that Kip Lennon sounds nothing like Reginald Dwight (Elton John’s real name). I wish that Jon Bon Jovi could’ve done the parody instead, as he had covered the song Levon, for an Elton John tribute album in 1990. Besides, if John did the parody maybe folks would be doing what I am about to do for you below and maybe, it would help promote the new Bon Jovi album coming out next month. If you haven’t heard the cover by John Bon Jovi back in 1990, you should and here it is. https://youtu.be/92mRGSOjt6o?si=hqD0V4nHWIU7RXHE
Before I forget, there will be a new episode tomorrow evening entitled The Tipping Point, where Homer goes crazy. Hmm! This reminds me of Lisa in the movie saying “we have reached a tipping point” obviously having to do with the polution in Lake Springfield, but this episode is about something completely different.
On the death front, record producer STEVE ALBINI Dead At 61 Years Old. He was also a musician, recording engineer and journalist who had worked with such notable bands as : Nirvana, Bush, Page and Plant, Pixies and many others. He was among the many people who appeared in the Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways HBO documentary miniseries in 2014 and for more on the man, here you go. https://metalinjection.net/news/steve-albini-dead-at-61-years-old
This week since tonight’s episode will be the penultimate one for this season of The Simpsons, I thought I would go over my favourite penultimate episodes from seasons gone by. Why not? There are quite a few I could mention from the first season onward that I like a lot. I may even mention favourites from more recent seasons by other people so, let’s see what we come up with. The other reason why I’m doing this is because I’ve already done a post on season finales a few years ago so, I figured let’s try the penultimate episodes for a change.
Season 1 has the episode Krusty Gets Busted, with the first speaking part for Sideshow Bob and the beginning of his hatred for Bart. Like a book I had mentioned in a past post on The Simpsons bibliography, it is the most advanced plot of the season and the show up to that point. I agree with that and with Kelsey Grammer and his dulcet tones, you knew you were getting something hilarious.
Season 3 has Bart’s Friend Falls In Love, which could have ended the season, but obviously did not. It would have been nice if Milhouse ans Samantha Stanky were together now!
Season 4 and Marge In Chains is one I had done in 2020, so I don’t need to go through the plot again. With the 7th season we have Homerpalooza and again, I had done a post on the episode and my thoughts on why guest stars had appeared. I will always enjoy it for what it is and of course, for all the musicians who had come to play.
Season 8 has The Simpsons Spin-offShowcase with Troy McClure taking us through a bunch spin-offs which obviously have never come to fruition in real life. Season 9’s Lost Our Lisa shows us what happens when Lisa decides to go out on her own and misses her stop, while riding public transit. That has happened to me at least once, but at least I knew the route enough that I could cover up my blunder.
Season 19 has Mona Leaves-A where Homer’s mother returns and unfortunately passes away. The episode is dedicated to Dan Castellaneta’s mother, who had just died recently at the time the episode aired. Season Season 21’s The Bob Next Door sees Sideshow Bob moving next to The Simpsons and Bart knows it is him, while others are fooled. Season Season 22’s 500 Keys is a favourite of some from the modern era and if you haven’t watched it yet, here is a brief synopsis of the plot. “The family discovers 500 old keys in a drawer and tries to find out what they do. Marge sets a farting novelty toy loose on the town, Homer achieves a lifelong dream as he pilots the Duff blimp, Bart is dismayed to find that every prank he tries to pull turns into a good deed, and Lisa uncovers a shocking mystery in the basement of the school.”
Season Season 23’s Ned ‘n Edna’s Blend Agenda sees Ned and Edna Krabappel getting married. Season 24’s The Saga of Carl sees Carl returning to Iceland, after winning a bunch of money with his buddies from Moe’s, including Homer.
Those are mostly my favourites and like I said with one more modern episode, it is a favourite of other bloggers too. I couldn’t think of a more recent one from Season 25 onward because I had only watched them once and they were unfortunately, not as memorable for me. However, we still have plenty of penultimate episodes in there so, I’m not complaining. Don’t forget about tonight’s episode and let’s see how things go and I will check back with you next week.
Hi all and welcome to another Simpsons on Sundays post. First of all, happy belated Canada Day to all my fellow Canucks who are fans of The Simpsons and of course, happy Fourth of July tomorrow to my American friends, who are also Simpsons fans and The majority of the voices and staff on the show.
On the birthday front, Dan Aykroyd turned 70 years old on Friday and I will have more on him later on. Next, the one… The only… The incomparable… the voice of Lisa Simpson herself, Yeardley Smith turns a year older today! 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 back in November 2013. If I hadn’t read her own blog I don’t know if I would have even ever thought to even get on social media. She has given me a reason to believe that I can succeed at something significant. Thank you very very very much Yeardley for inspiring me to post. I really mean that and it came along at a time when I needed something. You could say that she did for me, what Lisa Simpson did for Meg Griffin in the Family Guy episode The Simpsons Guy, back in 2014. She showed Meg that she matters and I feel the same way, now that I have something to do which is constructive and can help me reach other people around the world. After all, I am now in my late 40s and I don’t see any way of fulfilling my dream of being a rock musician at this age. Writing is the other passion I have had throughout my life and well, I’m doing it right now. Although, it is currently not being monetized.
Finally, Simpsons writer and producer Ian Macstone-Graham, who turns another year older today. 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 the 2022 edition of revisiting Canadian content in The Simpsons. In fact it will be further expanded from the post I did last year, as we have a new guest star to talk about and a new album by one of Canada’s biggest bands in the 90s.
So, let’s review what we know so far, with, Matt Groening’s Canadian background dew to his Father Homer, being born in Main Centre Saskatchewan. Some of the writers are also from Canada such as: Joel H. Coaen (born in Calgary Alberta) and Tim Long (born in Brandon Manitoba). Oh, let’s not forget Phill Hartman who voiced: Troy McClure, Lionel Hutz and Lyle Lanley was born in Brantford Ontario.
As for others who are from Canada, Donald Sutherland voiced Hollis Hurlbut in the episode Lisa The Iconoclast. Dave Thomas voiced Rex Banner in the episode Homer VS. The Eighteenth Amendment. He was born in St Catharines Ontario and he is most famous for his character of Doug McKenzie in the Canadian comedy duo Bob and Doug McKenzie with Rick Moranis. His real brother is singer and song writer Ian Thomas who has also done well for himself and is still active in the music business.
In the episode Sideshow Bob Roberts, the voice of Fred Flintstone made a cameo and it was Canadian born Henry Corden. I wonder how many people actually knew that he was from Montreal Quebec Canada and I was one who learned that, when Henry had died in 2005. So, I have finally added him to the Canadians who have guest starred on our favourite show.
Tommy Chong who was born in Edmonton Alberta guest starred with his partner Cheech Marin in the episode Midsummers Nice Dreams. In the episode Cheech and Chong broke up and they were individually paired up with a citizen of Springfield. In the case of Cheetch it was homer Simpson and in the case of Chong it was principal Seymour Skinner. One of my favorite parts of the episode was when the song Low Rider by War was playing, Dan Castellaneta improvised lyrics for Homer, around the harmonica melody in the song. If you know the song, you know what I’m talking about.
Seth Rogan, who was born in Vancouver British Columbia guest starred in the season 21 premier episode Homer The Whopper as Lyle McCarthy, who is a celebrity fitness trainer. He co-wrote the episode with his friend and writing partner Evan Goldberg, who also wrote the movie Superbad together. Oh, I should mention that his voice had also been heard in Toronto subway stations, gushing about the TTC (aka) Toronto Transit Commission, in a recorded message (pre-COVID) and now, it’s all quiet in the subway stations, except for the return to normal, with people traveling on the buses, subways and streetcars in Toronto.
Another recent guest star is Wayne Gretzky, who made an appearance in the season 28 episode Nightmare after Krustmas as himself, in a dream sequence with Maggie. Let us not forget about The longtime host of the game show Jeopardy. The question is who was Alex Trebek? He was born in Sudbury Ontario and had died on November 8th 2020, of pancreatic cancer. He guest starred in the episode Miracle On Evergreen Terrace, which was the Christmas episode in Season 9. I wish he could have beat this, much like others had done, including Ronnie Hawkins. You know about Ronnie Hawkins right? He was the front man and leader of The Hawks, who became The Band, after a stint as backing band for Bob Dylan. Just do a search on The Band and their history has a long beginning, before they became the group we know today. Sadly, members have passed, but the music lives on. Ronnie Hawkins had passed on during the morning of May 29th of cancer, which had returned. If you haven’t heard his music, if you are into 1950s roots rock and rockabilly, you know this and if you aren’t yet, this will blow your mind. Remember, this came out in around 1958 and listen to the guitar solo. https://youtu.be/pK5mxNKI9rM
British born Toronto native Kiefer Sutherland guest starred in the season 23 episode the Falcon And The D’Ohman,as a security guard named Wayne. Homer befriends him after some difficulty and Wayne becomes a hero, after stopping a robbery and saving homers life. He also voiced Jack Bauer in the episode 24 Minutes and he was the victim of one of Barts prank calls.
Three more Canadians have guest starred as characters in the distant and very recent past. Scott Thompson voices Grady, who is the gay lover of Julio in the episode Three Gays Of The Condo from Season 14. Scott is best known to Canadians,on the Canadian TV show The Kids In The Hall and is also openly gay and was born in North Bay and grew up in Brampton, just west of Toronto.
Hamilton Ontario native Martin Short, who is also an alumnus of Saturday Night Live voiced the character Guthrie Frenel in the Season 29 episode Springfield Splendor. Like the previously mentioned Dave Thomas, he was also an alumni of SCTV, which inspired the casting of The Simpsons. If you want to learn more about how, just Google it. I’m sure you’ll find something!
As of Season 32, we have yet another SCTV and Saturday Night Live alumnus, in the shape of Dan Aykroyd who guest starred in the episode “The Dad-Feelings Limited”, as Postage Stamp Fellow. This brings me to something which does not relate to The Simpsons, but to something very Canadian, or rather a band who are quintessentially Canadian. If you live in Canada, you know where I’m going with this and if you don’t, read on. In 1995, Dan Aykroyd appeared on Saturday Night Live to introduce a performance by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. As Dan Aykroyd is a fan of the band, he had personally lobbied Lorne Michaels to book them as musical guests, in the hope that they would translate to American audiences. Unfortunately, that was not to be and 22 years after that, singer Gord Downie had passed away from glioblastoma (a type of Brain cancer) and to be honest, I had hoped that The Simpsons would do something in honour of him, at the end of the season 30 episode D’oh Canada, by playing a bit of a popular song, which sounds like something any band in the world could have written. There are lots of good riffs they could have chosen from the first 3 or 4 Hip albums but, that was not to be either. Any way, here is Dan Aykroyd introducing The Hip and the songs they played, on Saturday Night Live. https://youtu.be/FEGqbyudsyQ
On June 24 2022, The Tragically Hip have released a new live album and it is one that includes versions of songs which fans have wanted to own since the 90s. The new album Live At The Roxy includes some Hip favourites up to 1991, but two in particular have been long sought after, because of the dialogue within the songs. I’m talking about Highway Girl and New Orleans Is Sinking which have been Super rare until now. They were only available to radio and on a rare CD single of a song called Long Time Running, which is one of the big singles from the album Road Apples. Last year, I had told you what road apples are and if you want to know, just look at the June 2021 archives and last year’s addition will be the first one you will see. Anyway, here is the album and both songs are here in their uncensored glory, along with many others. By the way, the version of New Orleans Is Sinking on this album has been refered to as the “Killer Whale Tank” version and you will know why, when Gord goes off and tells a story. I don’t know if it is fictitious or not, but it certainly is entertaining and fun to listen to. That’s why fans wanted it and now, we got it. https://music.apple.com/ca/album/live-at-the-roxy/1621335855
I haven’t forgotten about Dan Aykroyd’s musical endeavors, delving into the blues. Remember The Blues Brothers? For those of you who are younger, there was a movie in 1980, 2 years after the band was formed, as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live, fronted by Akroyd and John Belushi. By the way, John’s younger brother Jim is also a fan of the blues and if you have watched the TV show According to Jim, it’s pretty obvious, from the theme song and Jim’s band. All I’m saying is that if Dan Aykroyd hadn’t done both the band and the 1980 movie and maybe the one in 2000, we may not have had According to Jim. I don’t know, but I loved the show and my favourite episode is The Race from Season 5. If you haven’t watched it, I recommend it because it’s so funny. Back to Dan for one more moment, here is a classic track from the Blues Brothers album featuring gibberish lyrics, along with a bit of dialog during the breaks in the music. https://youtu.be/gSF9QT4jmsQ
As of Season 33, we have another Canadian guest star to add to the list, who is also gay like Smithers in real life. His name is Victor Garber and he is both an actor and singer. He is from London Ontario and he voiced a Fashion mogul named Michael de Graaf in the Season 33 episode Portrait of a Lackey on Fire?. Mr. Burns approves of Waylon Smithers new boyfriend, as he could destroy Springfield with his work.
As for characters, there are Canadian versions of: Flanders, Nelson and Milhouse, along with other background characters. For example: Gordy, one of the students in Barts new school in his class is from somewhere in Canada. He appears in the episode You Only Move Twice in Season 8 and is voiced by Nancy Cartwright. Grandpa Abraham Simpson may also possibly be Canadian, if you follow his backstory. I wonder if he is? Hmmm, maybe Homer is part Canadian if Abe is too! The show has even taken the characters to parts of Canada in certain episodes. For example: Bart and Milhouse have traveled to Toronto in the episode The Bart Wants What It Wants. I think it is really cool that Toronto was used because that’s where I was born and raised. Even Take Off by Bob And Doug McKenzie is featured in the episode. Even what was formerly known as Sky Dome, now Rogers Centre is also featured. If you are a baseball fan, this is where the Toronto Blue Jays play and where most summer out door concerts have been held, since it opened in June 1989. For more on the episode check this link out. http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/The_Bart_Wants_What_It_Wants. Remember the episode D’oh Canada”? It had aired at the end of April 2019. Rather than me writing out my own version of the plot, here is the link to the synopsis and plot of the episode, according to the Simpsons Wiki website. https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/D%27oh_Canada Some people didn’t like how Canada was satirized in the episode but, I didn’t mind because, there are writers on staff who are Canadian and I’ve mentioned that earlier. The only thing I wish they could have done was to find a song by The Tragically Hip to play at the end of the episode, while the credits rolled. I had mentioned that earlier too, but I wanted to say it again, as they were and still are in the hearts of all Canadian rock music fans, including myself. I generally liked the episode but, here is another website, with a link talking about how some people didn’t appreciate how Canada was made fun of. https://www.blogto.com/film/2019/04/canadians-are-not-happy-latest-simpsons-episode/ Okay, we have someone in the cast and crew, who is almost Canadian. Current Show Runner Al Jean, who was born in Detroit Michigan. Hay, it’s just across the river from Windsor Ontario! Right? I know, I’m stretching it but I just had to throw that in there. If I had my way he would be an honorary Canadian, if he likes.
Hi all and welcome to another Simpsons on Sundays post. Well, what did you think about the season 33 finale? I will have more to say on that later and now, I have to acknowledge the passing of Ray Liotta. Ray Liotta was Moe’s father in the episode King Leer, where Moe inherits a mattress business from his pappie, then he lands in an all-out war with his siblings. I found this on Ray Liotta from a former Simpsons show runner’s Twitter account. https://www.slashfilm.com/876088/heartbreakers-lets-ray-liotta-shine-as-a-goofy-wise-guy/
This week i was going to talk about the Simpsons and politics. I hate politics because of how it divides people and some parts of the world, treat being on the left and the right like it is a sports competition.
Actually, I want to talk about The Simpsons doing episodes which are out of the ordinary or which have sometimes rubbed fans the wrong way. Yes, I have to include Metallica in this discussion, because they’ve done the same thing in order to stay active and keep developing as musicians and artists.
The Simpsons have done all sorts of episodes, from ordinary to outlandish to silly, those which have been outside of the story plot format and even making a character an imposter, before going back to normal, with the same character in their current position. Yes, I am going to start it off by talking about The Principle and the Pauper, because it is an obvious one, where both fans and staff had negative opinions on the episode and of course, Harry Shearer didn’t like what happened either. Why wouldn’t he? After all, he voices Principal Skinner and his character was the imposter (Armin Tamzarian) and the real Seymour Skinner (who was voiced by Martin Sheen) didn’t take any shit from Bart. What really bothers fans is that Skinner was made to be an imposter, after years of the character existing as he did and I get it. However, I understand that the writers wanted to experiment and see how far they could go creatively and I’m probably going to repeat this again and again when talking about episodes in this post which push the envelope, rather than do something different for the sake of change.
A Serious Flanders (Parts 1 and 2) from Season 33 was much less a Comedy and more drama than anything else. This episode had decided to throw away all character continuity, which gave the writers carte blanche and they did what ever they wanted. Do you want to kill Fat Toney? Sure, why not? How about getting rid of Mr. Burns? Sure! The point is that a lot of the characters we know and love were killed in the first part of this episode, in order to show how much this episode is kinda an Animated dramedy, rather than a straight up comedy. This was a risk and it worked, because of it being a two-part episode and quite different from anything we had seen or heard before. Again, how far could they go before The Simpsons would become a drama, without the comedy? This is probably the closest the show has come to this and again, it’s all about pushing the envelope to see how far they could go, before it breaks. The other thing I almost forgot to mention is that the two episodes are non-cannon and not a part of any of the characters back stories.
The introduction and death of Frank Grimes can be said to be a bit of a risk, or a turning point in The Simpsons history and that’s up to us as to how we see it. I view Homer’s Enemy as just another episode, except that we have a somewhat humourless human working along side Homer at The nuclear plant and the point was to show how dangerous it would be to work at the same job with the fat balled slob. The only shocker was the end, where Grimy was killed and that was cleaned up by Homer falling asleep at the funeral. Sure, it added salt to the wound of a death of a character, but it was there to restore levity, while the Reverend droned on and on about Frank. You could say that it should have prepared us for The Principle and the Pauper, in that Principal Skinner was made to be the imposter, while with Homer’s Enemy, Frank was created to provide self reflection to the series and of course, at the end he was killed and in Pauper, Skinner got his job back and everything was alright again, as if nothing had happened.
The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular is an interesting episode, in that it is not only packed full of old material, but is also hosted by Troy McClure, with crowd noises and Hank Azaria as the other voice over introducing the episode and providing the questions at the end before commercial brakes and at the beginning of the next act. No other episode does this except for Behind The Laughter, but that is also coming up in a further paragraph.
The Simpsons Spin-offShowcase was said to be based on shows with bad writing and to tell the truth, I had never considered that. I always thought it was just simply making fun of crime shows, situation comedies with an audience and variety shows and they just happened to be taking the piss out of shows which are well known. If you haven’t watched this episode from Season 8, I hope you get around to it and then, do a search on the episode with Wikipedia and of course, any of the Simpsons fan Wiki sites.
Behind The Laughter is the final episode I’m going to talk about, which deviates from the normal 3 act story plot and is an imitation and spoof of Behind The Music, complete with host Jim Forbes, narrating the whole thing and with interview clips from Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa. I happen to like Behind The Music and have no problem with this episode and of course, it is constructed as a documentary and what’s wrong with that? I love documentaries and as a real listener, I’ve heard them for years and I’ve learned about my favourite bands through various shows like Discumentary with Terry David Mulligan and The Ongoing History of New Music with Alan Cross, among others. So, how could you not like this format breaking episode?
A band like Metallica have always done things to expand themselves as musicians and that bothers most people. I don’t necessarily like everything they did outside thrash metal, but it’s not all bad and as someone who is a musician, I understand why they did that. They want to grow and push themselves as much as musicians and song writers can, to keep the band going. I believe that to most creative artists, Genres are not just about music, but about the art. That is something that I have almost come to terms with, being someone who cannot see and for me it is all down to the sound, of the voice and the instruments as to whether I like an album, along with if the tunes are listenable. Metallica did the album with Lou Reed and why not? Why can’t they just run amok for an album and have someone else front the band for a change?
When The Beatles went experimental in 1966 going forward, that must have also bugged fans who expected the same old pop tunes, or consider how Queen have also diversify their sound, from hard rock to disco, techno, to folk, to Dancehall and almost any other genre you can think of outside of death metal. Even a band like Rush had jumped into synthesizers in the 80s, which also bothered fans of the old progressive rock and hard rock trio, with the traditional guitar bass and drum format. Why did they do that? In order to grow and two get better as musicians and expand their horizons. How many other bands can you think of that have done this? The answer is many others and there are too many to list here and even a show like The Simpsons has continued to experiment from time to time and see how far they can go. Even George Carlin had gone through changes which had urned him flack from certain people, who wanted him to stay the same. Near the end of his life, his comedy had gone from blue to black and it only got uglier, until his 2008 HBO special and album “It’s Bad For Yah”, when he went goofy again, even when discussing death. Most people thought that he had grown angry, but it was only a creative exercise, to see how far he could go and if he can go any further, by finding the line and crossing it and thereby, taking the audience with him. Most people stuck around and others walked out. After all, how can you joke about something like autoerotic asphyxia, or even suicide? He did and somehow it worked. Unlike the Seven Words routine in 1972, this was meant to take a risk and go into it, with the sledgehammer and why not? These days, The Simpsons can do that because the ratings are good and money is being made and even if readings drop, they can start the show from Erin new episodes and still make money. But, the fans still love the show and therefore, the writers will continue to take risks to see how far they can get away from the Standard sitcom format, but always come back to it and still try to do something a little different every sunday evening during the season.
As for Poorhouse Rock, all I can say is what a close to a season. Actually, the singing janitor (voiced by Hugh Jackman) really provided the final touch on this episode, with a rather long song, with Lisa even getting a turn, finally telling her brother that having a job like Homer’s will be obsolete, by the time Bart can get work and so, Bart decides to burn down his Treehouse, instead of trying to burn down the whole system which basically is trapping us all into poverty, whether it is fictionalized or not. That song was a real tour de force and I wish there was a link to it, so I can show you all the lyrics because hearing that song alone inspired the original idea for this week to go on about politics, as it mentions things like QAnon and other things going on today. Even Vladimir Putin for president? Not going to happen, but with Trump the US had someone equally as fucked up and downright bad in the oval office. Oh well… hopefully someone will put a link to this song and other more recent musical numbers on the web.
Hi all and welcome to another Simpsons on Sundays post. First of all, this sad news as Spinal Tap drummer Ric Parnell had passed away. https://youtu.be/ohHoZOvD3ZM
I wonder if Rick was the drummer in The Otto Show, or if it was some uncredited dude, who only did session work. Anyway, RIP and I will include a song which I probably should have included in either of the posts in the last few weeks, relating to Tap and Queen.
Did you like this weeks episode? I thought that Shauna was typical (as a teenager), but she wasn’t at all nice to anyone except other people around her age. She didn’t temper her attitude toward Lisa, sometimes calling her a baby and unfortunately, it’s not uncommon. However, I personally wish that because she had probably babysat The Simpsons kids, she could have shown a softer side toward Lisa. Then again, because Lisa is who she is, she brings it on herself, by shich I mean Shauna’s General attitude about Lisa, her own dad and the fact that she plays drums to drive her papa crazy. As for Homer brewing beer, did you really think that would end well? In a sense it did, as any charges that were laid against all concerned were dropped and no damage to any careers, be it superintendent or job at the nuclear plant.
On the birthday front, Sir Michael Palin turned 79 years old on Thursday and he had guest starred as a museum curator in the episode I, Carumbus. Our second birthday is former Simpsons show runner Josh Weinstein and he also turned another year older on Thursday. He co-ran seasons 7 and 8 with his best friend Bill Oakley. They had also written episodes together, before becoming executive producers and they did a damn good job too.
This week, I’m going to address my school reunion. Yes, I said my school reunion as opposed to my high school reunion and I will explain that below. From the fall of 1979 to June 1994, I went to W. Ross Macdonald School, sometimes referred to as “Ontario School for the Blind” was founded in March 1872 in Brantford Ontario. Yes, this was the same town where the voice of Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz was born. Apparently, Phil Hartman lived not too far from where the school is located, before him and his family had moved to the US.
I went to the school to briefly visit early in the fall of 1979 and later on, I was going there, to start my education after kindergarten, when I was six. I had no idea what was going on and where I was in relation to where I lived at the time. I had been on long drives with my mom and dad before, so nothing really bothered me or seemed out of the ordinary about the Wednesday I was to start at the school. I remember going there with my mom, my dad and my grandma and we had peanut butter sandwiches on the way there for lunch. We must’ve stopped somewhere, in order to have lunch and some time in the afternoon, I had arrived at the school, to begin my education and began to learn that I was different from others. I knew I was blind and I had been to summer day camp at the CNIB in Toronto (with some of the same people who also lived in Toronto), but now I was in a whole new place with unfamiliar people and new experiences and… … being away from home. I was living at the school, from Sunday nights to Friday at noon, when those of us who could, went home for the weekend. Then, it would start again and on long weekends, we would go back on either Monday or Tuesdays.
So, basically we are pinballing back-and-forth between school and home every week and during those weeks we take classes (as normal) and we live in a residence. The residences are named depending on the age of the students and we are treated differently, also depending on our ages and any other disabilities we may have, besides being blind or partially sighted. As for the residences, we had: Junior, intermediate and senior. I will get into how we were divided up for classes later on!
In some cases, some students couldn’t even talk despite that they could probably hear. I don’t understand how that works and as for those of us who can talk, some of us had an unusual sound to our voices and speech. For example: some people couldn’t pronounce the letter R properly and or the letter S, with a lisp. Actually, it sounds like they have saliva in that part of the mouth, where the S sound is heard. Some can only get that sound from the back of their mouth and I don’t understand the mechanics of how that works and why we don’t all pronounce all consonants the same, such as R and S. For example: in the case of the manager of the adult learning center in the episode Secrets of a Successful Marriage, where Homer goes to learn, then gets a job. This man pronounces the letter S from his back teeth, rather than the front. The manager is voiced by Hank Azaria and Hank does not talk like that when he speaks normally, unlike the manager pronouncing S from his teeth and not from the front of his mouth. Hank makes it really obvious when he says “Mr. Simpson” and any other words with S in them, either starting or in words. Most students with learning disabilities and who had other problems besides blindness had this issue with speech. Not everyone was like that and there were some people who were smarter than they appear. We even had a student who couldn’t even produce a vocal pitch and he did well in class, even trying out for student council. However, some people who are deaf have learned to speak and I’ve talked about that before, in a previous post, so that’s that.
We also had to eat the food which was served, in a 6 week meal cycle and if you were in Junior residence, you had to eat the food. Unless, you were at the table with a nice staff member who liked you and understood that you did not like certain things on the menu, not just because you didn’t wanna eat it. Not every person likes everything and I had my issues with some foods, especially potatoes. To this day, I cannot eat any other potato besides mashed potatoes, potato chips or french fries. I tried, but it tasted awful and unfortunately, most staff try to force me to eat that stuff, except for the really nice ones who liked me enough and understood that I knew what I liked and didn’t like. So, don’t invite me to a dinner with nothing but potatoes, or else I may decline any future invitations. I never had a problem with eating broccoli, unlike Bart did in a season 26 episode about the relation ship!
We had staff who were called counselors, plus a supervisor and they were there to protect us from harm, as well as keep us in line if we needed it. Again, it depended on the staff member and some were nicer to me than others. However, one staff member (Who shall remain nameless) slapped me the first time she met me. You know how you’re told to make a good impression on the first meeting? Well, she did not and regardless of our age differences, I had little respect for her and I was scared of her, not out of respect but out of a real dislike, yes, hate is too strong a word to describe my feelings towards that person, given her position and the fact that I was a student, like the rest of the people living with me. They can apologize all they want and if they want, but it won’t change a thing. Unlike Edna Krabappel spanking Bart, this was a first meeting and she didn’t get disciplined for touching me. After all, it was the late 70s and spanking was still allowed. By the way, the reason for the slap was nothing to do with my refusal to eat food!
On the other side, we had staff who were very kind and gentle in their approach and it always brought to mind that there were two shifts of staff. One was the good shift and the other was the bad shift. The shifts depended on the supervisor, as one was male and a lot less strict, while the other was female and was more strict, than the male counterpart. Actually, it also depended on the staff who were part of the shift to and fortunately, for the mail supervisor both shifts were good for me. The only problem I had was wetting the bed and unlike Homer, I wasn’t allowed to find out why I had this problem. I did have dreams which ended badly, but they didn’t always result in waking up wet. One thing nearly all of the staff did was give us a kiss good night and this was regardless of the shift. We even had a record in Junior residence, which would be playing to put us to sleep. One of them was a Flintstones record, with two stories from Season 1: The Snorkasaurus Story and The Big Bank Robbery. They had the same vocal track, with new sounds replacing those from the episodes, to make them sound more realistic or something. I found this on Youtube and it’s not great, but it is the best I could find from this record. https://youtu.be/sRnvOAZC_zo
Could you imagine if Matt Groening had allowed a couple of Simpsons episodes to be put on CD, like that? The closest we have come to that is the soundtrack albums from 1997, 1999 and 2007, featuring soungs and some dialog from episodes. Anyway, I digress.
When we went to school, classes were divided up into: junior school, junior division, junior high and high school. Basically, junior school was from grade one to grade 4, Junior division was from grade 4 to grade 6, junior high was from 7 to 9, with high school being from grades 9 to 12 and beyond. When I first got to the school, I would start off in a regular class for a week, but was switched to something called TS or total stimulation, which was weird because I had learned brail rather quickly. I had no idea why and I never thought to ask, but I was confused as I thought we changed teachers every term. You see, I got to the school in either October or November 1979, and was in the TS class until Christmas and after that, I went back to the regular grade one class. By the way, TS was for people who were slow and I was not slow, I may have acted out in class, but I may have done so because I was away from home and I did not understand why I was being kept in this unfamiliar place, away from my parents. I never really outgrew it and understandably, I was crying a lot and I wanted to go home, as I was six back then. My parents gave me no clues as to what was going to happen and this was not my first time away from home for more than a day, but this was different. I had been to overnight camps (for a week before during the summer) but this was a whole new experience.
This is how we went to and from school and because this was a boarding school, you’ll understand why it wasn’t the normal day in the life of a student for all of us, as students who lived in Brantford would go to school and go home at night. I and others who lived farther away would be pinballing from school to home every week and home for Christmas, March break and in the summer. Our school had day students, but the majority of us came from out of town so this was a boarding school and we all went home, by different methods of transportation, depending on how far we came from. Those of us who lived in Toronto and parts of Eastern Ontario went home by coach, while some went by taxi, minibus or in some cases a type C school bus. I may get into school buses a lot more, when I do a post on what Otto does, but I will tell you that Type C buses are the most common ones you may see, taking students to school, or on Field trips. We went on quite a few charter buses, which word the types of school buses from a company in Branford called Sharp, but we did have our own mini buses, a station waggon and I believe a van, in order to take students from place to place. Some students went home by train, or they would fly home every couple of weeks. Things have changed, but that was how it was back in my day.
In Junior school, we had a playground including the usual amenities: swing, slides, tire swing, tubes to go through (in order to hide), Merry go round and various animals we could ride on. We even had tricycles located in a shed and despite being totally blind, I was pretty proficient at riding a three wheeler. There were also bicycles too and unfortunately, I was too light to ride on one by myself. However, some staff did tandembiking and I had a chance to do that a few times. We even had a play room inside, with a piano and other toys we could play with, including building blocks. It even had its own fireplace and I’m not sure, but I think one day I had been struck by lightning, or rather I felt an electric shock on my hand when touching the fireplace. It was windy, but I’m not sure if we had a thunderstorm at the time, but that could’ve happened to me back in the early 80s. Unfortunately, back then I didn’t have any access to weather forecasts or radio, unless other people brought their own playback devices from home. I wasn’t allowed to, because I would break things according to my parents and at some point, they relented, by allowing me to btring cassettes and a Walkman, in order to listen to music while at the school. I had discovered what was on the radio in Brantford in the 80s and at the same time, I tried to keep in touch with what was going on with my favourite radio station in Toronto.
We learned to read either brail or large print (depending on whether we had sight or not) and I later learned to read print using something called an optagon. It looks similar to an answering machine and it has something you take off of the machine and put on paper. You put your hand inside the machine and you will feel something buzzing and you will hear a buzz, as a sensation will be felt in your finger, which rests on a plate. As you move the other part of the machine across the page, you will feel The printed letters, in either uppercase or lowercase letters. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell depending on how small the letters are, but at least I had a chance to learn how to read raised print.
As we got older, we moved from junior, to intermediate residence and like I said, we were treated differently as more was expected of us. On the upside, we went to bed an hour later and we weren’t told to shut up and go to sleep all that much. Unfortunately, that was my first real time of running into bully culture and because I was small, I was certainly the low hanging fruit on the tree, ripe for plucking and this includes people who were a similar age and whom I thought were my friends. One person wasn’t my friend, but he was not the main villain. No, not everyone treated me like I was nothing but a punching bag, but those who were of my age did and they had sight. Of course, both Bart and Nelson have sight and in this case, Nelson is bigger than both Bart and Milhouse and Milhouse is probably treated the worst out of the two, by Nelson and the other bullies. It was thought that putting me on the wrestling team would help, but it didn’t and the bullying continued on and off, until my second last year at the school. I should clarify that it was not any staff who were involved, just students and some of them have gone on to teach at the school, which is certainly abhorrent, considering that they were a part of the clique who would pick on people who were smaller and stupider than them. Again, not everybody in that group, but some actually did participate and others did not as they knew what was going on was wrong.
The school also has a music program and unlike the students at Springfield Elementary school, we like our music teachers and the same is true of them liking us. altho, in some cases some updating had to be done because until some time in the 80s, the music program concentrated on classical music and less on contemporary sounds. I hear that they have a Music electronics course and I’m curious as to what they teach the students about. Do they touch on something like Pro tools, or autotune, or even the debate of digital Vs. analog? What about things like iTunes, streaming and how we get our music digitally, Vs. CDs, cassettes and vinyl?
We also had a gymnasium, with the usual amenities including an upstairs running track, exercise room with weights and on the main floor, was the main gymnasium. We had bleachers, mats, trampoline and many other things which the students got to play on and jump on. This included the box horse, balance beam and the pommel horse! We even had a swimming pool and a swim team, which I declined to join. Much like the wrestling team, the swim team also got to go outside the school and participate in swim meets, much like the wrestling team did with wrestling meets in both Canada and the US. The choir also traveled, but not quite as much and to fewer schools. We entered into the Kiwanis music festival every year and most years, some or all of us would travel to Toronto, or somewhere outside of Brantford, to perform for people. In 1992 the choir went to the US and over all, it was a good time had by all, including me, especially because I was into Queen and I had no problem with turning it up, so everyone could hear the great music.
Speaking of the music program, the best part for me was learning to play guitar, along with trying out drums and bass. We had what was called a lab ensemble, which had a guitar player or two, keyboards and drums. Some of us sang and I was one of them, despite that I wasn’t given voice lessons and the only time I did sing, was in the varius choirs throughout my time at the school. Sometimes we got to pick songs which we as a group would learn and I mostly brought in Queen songs and we did Dragon Attack one year, while considering Don’t Loose Your Head and we even did Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix, during my last year. I even helped another student in the group, learn their part of a lesser-known Genesis song we did and which I also grew to like. For the record, it was In That Quiet Earth and if you wish to find it on Apple Music, Spotify or wherever you stream your music, go right ahead.
In the group, I played guitar and I prefer rhythm guitar. Unwillingly, I played guitar solos and willingly, I sang a few songs. Actually, I got to sing after pleading my case that I could do more than just carry a tune in the choir. Don’t forget, I wasn’t given vocal lessons and therefore, was not thought of as a singer. I knew I was a capable vocalist from the first time I tried it when I was five or six. I had enjoyed singers like Sammy Davis Junior, who used vibrato for affect and I found it rather boring, singing with straight tone in a choir. However, I realize why choirs use straight tone and much the same is required for backing vocals on any and all rock songs. I had found ways to listen to some part of a song better than others, by playing with The headphone jack in a Walkman, so I can hear the left and right channels in mono, while voices and instruments in the centre were unheard. I enjoyed that and I still do, as I sometimes get to hear things, which are buried in the mix. There are lots of examples and there are apps which allow you to listen to music like that and YouTube videos, or you can hear isolated tracks, such as isolated vocals, drums, guitar and or base tracks. The Beatles haveallowed that to come out and probably any other band have done the same.
On most Fridays, we had assemblies in the auditorium and it had a pipe organ, a piano and a stage where drama class was taught and where plays were put on, bye the students in the drama class, along with other classes doing presentations. Assemblies were also where we would find out the candidates for the next student council president and vice president, along with something called a house League, consisting of teams of students formed by staff and quite often, friends were pitted against each other and I will have more to say about that later.
We also eventually had water fountains which turned on through a sensor, which would recognize if you were walking close enough to it and would activate the water mechanism. Before then, it was like a normal drinking fountain with a button you would press and hold and if you could find the tap, you drink the water out of it. The reason was that there were more students in wheelchairs who would be coming and so, this had to be done, in order to make it easier for them to access The water fountain. Basically, you wouldn’t have to touch anything, in order to turn it on, in order to get a drink of water.
One of my biggest beef was the house league and the fact that we had no choice in the matter, as to what team we would be on and like I said, friends were pit it against friends. The staff who made the choices had more than just a vague idea, of who hung out with whom and if this was about building team Spirit, I don’t buy that for a second. They made the choices, they separated me from my friends (Who have been my friends for years) and they say that the idea was to make things not so lopsided, it’s a bunch of bunk. They know who hangs out with Home and the idea is to separate the wheat from the chaff. Well, I’m sorry but I never liked the house league and I don’t like any school that does that. When I first came, we had four and near the end of my stay, we had to and again, I had no choice in the matter as to who would be on my team and if I sound unhappy about that, you’re right. Why should I be happy, without my friends on my team? The idea is to be on a team with people who can help you win and if you lose, you lose with your friends and not people with who you barely hang out with. I’m sorry, but I never liked the house league and I don’t believe that schools should be putting people against each other, for their own amusement. If they want us to make friends, let us work together withthe friends we have made, instead of trying to destroy friendships. I hated losing, because most of my friends were on the other team and when my team won, I was happy for me and not the rest of the team. If it was a team with friends on it, magnanimity in winning and defiance in loss would be much more lively. Yes, I’m a sore loser and frankly I don’t care, because I care about winning, as well as having fun. The point is to try to win and if team chemistry is shot because of the personalities involved, don’t blame the team for it. It was the staff who made a decision as to who would be on what team. Lopsided? Yes, it was lopsided all right towards other people and then being on a team with their friends.
Like I said, throughout my time at the school I was there from grade one, to grade 12 and when I graduated in 1994, I was happy to go. I had made some friends, tried to have some relationships, but I was happiest at home and listening to my music. I was free to write what I wanted, as I had an idea to get my music career off the ground, but I sabotaged it. Why? Because, of where I was set to be going after I graduated. I was going to a place with slow people and the friends I had made at the school, had felt sorry for me that I was going there. If you really want to know, I went to the CNIB in Hamilton, which had a history of excepting people from the school, who were blind and had other disabilities, including learning disabilities. Into this petri dish, I was cast – in January 1995 and since then, I had been back at the school 3 times. I had went in 1997,for the 125th anniversary and was in the choir. This year, I am not in the choir and to be honest, I’m not unhappy about that. Altho, it would’ve been nice to go back and sing songs with not just people I knew back in the day, but younger students as well who came after me. However, I was overlooked for any number of reasons and I could actually care less what they are right now.
Every couple of years, our school has had a reunion and the last time I was back there was in 1997, outside the regular reunion schedule. The last one was supposed to have happened in 2020, but due to the cOVID-19 pandemic it was canceled. This year, it’ll be at the end of May and I am not going, for much of the reasons which I have talked about here. Yes, I had a good time at the school (during various points of my stay there). However, like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I was not happy to be going away from home every single week and be taught at the school, which I had no relationship with other than being with people who were like me. It’s important for a child to learn about where they Live and because the school was located outside of my home town and outside of my local area, I was not taught properly about all the things around me. My parents were not teachers and I wouldn’t expect them to try and school me, on locations of the various stores, restaurants and other places around where I lived at the time. That’s the big reason why I will not go back to the school, because I didn’t belong there other than the fact that I was blind. Others have also come from outside Brantford, but I feel strongly about where I was born and the city I live in and I feel that I should have learned about that, rather than going to something related to Brantford and Brant County. Basically, it’s one thing to teach someone how to get around, but it’s another to teach someone how to get around where they live. I was being taught to navigate outdoors, such as crossing the streets to go from one place to another. However, the routes to places which are near the school and were not located in our hometowns and that is where I had trouble. I felt and still believe that I should have been to school where I live and there should be more schools for the blind, outside Brantford in every city and town in Canada, so that everyone will be able to navigate their hometown, just like those who can see. It’s one thing to learn technique, but it’s another getting somewhere and that is what most people don’t seem to get and why some of us have trouble with orientation and mobility, after we graduate from school. We are taught to get around Brantford, but what about where we live? I’m not the only one who has had this problem, but because I have a blog I can speak out about this and more people can potentially read this and maybe some day, all board of Education (in combination with the federal government) can start to build schools for the blind all across Canada, in every City, town or region. As for how many, I will leave that to the experts for now and I hope someday that this will happen.
I had mentioned how I was introduced to The Simpsons in 1990 in a previous post and well, I’ll leave it at that. However, I will repeat that it was at the school and there is another Simpsons related thing I should mention. The first record which was played on my first night at the school had the song A Spoonful of Sugar. No, I don’t have the original, but here is the song from the episode, making fun of Mary Poppins. You know? https://youtu.be/nXkBBgt5z4o
For those who are going to the reunion and you are reading this, have a good time and for those who aren’t going (like me) I hope we have a good time too. The truth is, I gained more knowledge after graduating from the school and from where I ended up next, on my own time and at my own pace. Besides, imagine having to learn everything about The Simpsons (which is known) and watching every single episode at least once? Also, trying to go through all the culture references which I’ve also contain degrees of separation. Phil Hartman lazy back to where I went to school and I know that we have Simpsons fans who went to the school, when I went there and probably after I graduated to. Back in 1990, I could’ve cared less about the show and of course, that has changed completely the opposite and I will remain a fan, until I breathe my last breath. Will I go to A future reunion? Perhaps at some point, but not now. I’ve mentally moved past the school, despite being on a couple of Facebook groups related to it and having Facebook friends, with whom I have went to the school and who have taught me at various times. Unlike others who swear they will not go to the school again, I have done and I may do so again, but when I feel the time is right for me mentally. Everything else found a place, just like I did when I got my new iPhone, just like it did when I was able to get the Simpsons episodes from every single season, just like it did when I got my Wi-Fi back in June 2020. Things have to align, for this to happen and I will show up at a reunion some day.
Before I leave today, just a reminder that we will return to middle school tonight and as I had promised, this song from Spinal Tap featuring Rick Parnell on drums. https://youtu.be/RsOxgwF9LlM
Hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday. So what did you think of Bart’s new teacher? Unlike others who have come and gone (over the last 8 years) it seems that Rayshelle Peyton, will be sticking around as she is committed to teaching good students, as well as those who are a pain in the ass, like Bart. I wonder how this relationship will mature over time and if it could become similar to Bart and Edna, or similar to Bart and Flanders. I guess, we shal see.
On the birthday front, Hank Azaria turned 58 on Monday and it would take forever to go through all of the characters he had and still does the voice for, throughout the series.
This week, let’s go back to when Milhouse fell in love and that made Bart really jealous. While riding the bus to school, Milhouse shows Bart a new fortune-telling toy, which is a magic 8 ball. Bart asks the ball whether he and Milhouse will still be friends by the end of the day; the ball predicts that the two best buds will not. This makes Bart wonder what could drive them apart and in class, they will both find out.
Springfield Elementary, welcomes a new student into Bart’s class, whose name is Samantha Stanky, who happens to be a beautiful girl. Samantha is from Phoenix Arizona and her dad owns a Home security company. He had moved to Springfield because of the high crime rate and the lacklustre police force! Actually, more like corrupt police force that doesn’t give a shit! Anyway, I digress. All of Samantha’s friends are back in Phoenix and she has to endure the pungent Springfield smell, which she will get used to in about 6 weeks, according to Mrs. Krabappel. After a sex education class (complete with a film hosted by Troy McClure) called “Fuzzy Bunny’s Guide to You-Know-What?” Milhouse falls in love with Samantha and they kiss soon after the two become an item. Bart is obviously hurt and angry that his pal is now with someone else, a girlfriend and he gets severely jealous and tells on them, to Samantha’s father. Her dad comes to get her, driving the couple apart, landing Samantha in a Catholic School and Milhouse in bed depressed. Bart comes over to see his best bud and Luann says that Milhouse could use a friend like Bart. When Bart confesses to Milhouse that he told on him, the formerly sad and depressed boy shoots out of bed and the two friends fight and break Milhouses magic 8 ball. They go and see Samantha at her new school, because Milhouse can’t stop thinking about her. Bart apologizes to Samantha and she forgives him, as she doesn’t mind the school at all, but they won’t let her outside. Milhouse and Samantha have one last kiss, despite any punishment and then, Bart and Milhouse leave.
Meanwhile, Homer tries to suppress his appetite while he sleeps but instead increases his vocabulary and this bonds him with Lisa. His weight goes up yet his command of the English language also rises. If you haven’t watched the episode, give this a read. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart%27s_Friend_Falls_in_Love
Obviously, this is all about the episode Bart’s Friend Falls in Love and the repercussions because of it, when it comes to Bart and his best friend. As for Samantha, she is voiced by American actor Kimmy Robertson, who actually sounds kinda like Milhouse’s girlfriend and to be honest, I wish it would’ve stayed that way. Kimmy Robertson is best known for the character Lucy Moran in the TV series Twin Peaks and for the movie The Last American Virgin. I wasn’t up on who acted in what, until I had discovered Wikipedia and other websites and well, I’m getting better!
Okay, what about that educational film “Fuzzy Bunny’s Guide to You-Know-What?” I like the students reaction to it and also Edna’s reaction that “she’s faking it”. It’s not just those kind of educational films which could be possibly put on, for the sake of teaching, but they may star people we may know. For example: my history teacher showed a film about John Graves Simcoe, with John Cleese as Mr. Simcoe himself. I forget exactly what it was about and the point of the film was, but I will never forget that it was a member of Monty Python as the main character, with a bunch of kids. This brings me to the fact that John used to teach at his old school, before going to Cambridge university. Anyway, I digress again. Anyway, if you are interested in learning about the British Army General I was talking about earlier, here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Graves_Simcoe
As for the sounds we hear, what about that 8 ball? I wonder what they were using to shake up, in order for it to sound like that. It sounds to me like it could have been a plastic bottle of some kind, possibly filled with water. Maybe it was gatorade? It’s hard to say, but I bet that some sort of bottle is used with some sort of liquid in it for the eight ball.
This episode coulda and shoulda ended this season, as it has a finale type of feel to it. Obviously, that was not to be and that’s all right. Besides, I’ve already done posts on that episode to and it’s fine as it is and where it is in relation to the series.
I wonder if Samantha had stayed as Milhouse’s girlfriend, would Bart eventually warm to her and become less jealous over time, or would this give Bart more of a reason to attack everyone he comes in contact with, even his best friend? In a fan fiction story about Bart actually being scared straight and confronting his family about their problems, Bart speaks to Lisa and says that Milhouse is seeing Samantha again and brings home the fact, that she has turned down Milhouse many times, even though he is so devoted to her. Besides, if Samantha was still with Milhouse, he would probably cool off to Lisa as nothing more than friends and then, Lisa can go with Nelson if she wants, like she did in Season 8. It was sad to hear Milhouse crying at the end and obviously, we know why and what became of it. Right?
Over all, this is a great episode from this season and if I had an 8 ball, I’d want to know whether I had someone in my future, or not. Also, would I be living where I am a year or 2 from now? Also, who would be leading my Canadian province on June 2nd, as Ontario has an election that day, which also happens to be my birthday. Anyway, not much else to say about the episode other than that. I have another blog post from another blog I am in charge of, which I have to have ready today. I have some finishing touches, but I have to get this done. So, let’s all enjoy tonight’s episode and maybe, I will comment on it next week. As for the main topic of next weeks post, I’m not sure yet, but I will think of something. Anyway, let us end off this post with a song called Love. https://youtu.be/PyGu5SuBn-0
Hi and welcome to another Simpsons On Sundays post. Yes, the name of the blog is now “Simpsons On Sundays” because of one of the categories I have made a part of it. In fact, it is the default category and so, the URL has also changed but everything else remains the same, except for the title of the blog and the URL I found that the original title was spelled wrong and I didn’t feel I could change it. However, I had managed to get that done, along with another blog I maintain, which also had a mis-spelled word in the url. I did that one first and then took care of this one, as it is the newest of my 3 blogs. Now you know why the url looks a little different!
On the birthday front, Jordan Nagai turned 22 years old yesterday. He is the only child actor to guest star on The Simpsons in the Season 21 episode “O Brother, Where Bart Thou?” as Charlie, a boy whom Bart thought was supposed to be his new brother, because he wanted one so bad. Jordan is the youngest guest star, at 9 years old and of course, the only child actor on The Simpsons. In 2020, I had mentioned that he has been studying judo since the age of five and currently has a black belt. As far as I know, he still attends Washington University in St. Louis, and is in the Class of 2022. Good luck with his studies and especially, during these pandemic times.
This week it’s time to go back and look at the classic episode from Season 3, Homer Alone. It’s the 30th anniversary of this episode and I will go through the basics of the episode and leave the rest for you to watch later on. After all, there is no new episode of The Simpsons until February 27th because of the Olympics going on in Beijing. So, are you ready? Okay, to get this started the title is an obvious play on the title of the Christmas movie “Home Alone” and just add the extra “R” and you have “Homer”.
After a particularly trying morning, where Marge had to deal with the demands from her husband, Bart and Lisa, along with having to drive Bart and Lisa to school because they missed the school bus, Marge has a breakdown and stops her car on a bridge. Marge is arrested after Homer finds out that it is her and convinces her (via a megaphone) to get out of the car. She is released thanks to Mayor Quimby insisting to Chief Wiggum that if Marge is put away, he can kiss the chick vote goodbye. Marge is released and she decides to go on a vacation, by herself. She takes a trip to Rancho Relaxo, a local spa. She leaves Bart and Lisa with Patty and Selma and Maggie alone with Homer.
While Marge goes on her trip, nobody is having the times of their lives, with Bart and Lisa being afraid and having to put up with The gruesome two some’s wants and needs, such as rubbing Patty’s feat and seeing the twins naked. Meanwhile, Homer isn’t exactly having a ball either. He only has Maggie and gets help from Barney, who is obviously ill-equipped to manage and almost immediately, Homer looses Maggie who goes looking for her mom… more on that later.
Speaking of Mom, Marge is having a great time at Rancho Relaxo, and probably has no clew, about how bad things are with Homer and the kids. Near the end of the trip, she calls Homer and tells him that she is coming back in an hour and Homer tries to think up a story, about why Maggie is gone. He fails in it and after calling the Department Of Missing Babies, going to see the gruesome two some if Maggie had somehow found her way there, but nothing. He goes home and Chief Wiggum thinks she is trying to commit suicide, when the police find her on the edge of an ice cream shop, where she is actually sleeping beside an ice cream cone, which looks like her mothers head. Homer has no idea and prepares to apologize to Marge for Maggie being gone and Chief Wiggum knocks on the door and brings her back. Then, he gets the call from Marge, goes with Maggie to pick up Bart and Lisa,. Then, they all go to the train station to pick up Marge. They all go home, with the promise that they will help Marge out around the house and that she will get some quiet time in the future.
All right, let’s talk about other aspects of the episode besides the main story. First of all, prank calling a guy and telling him his wife is dead, when he had just spoken to her? Why? I understand the logic of making funny phone calls like that for radio station morning shows, but that’s just plain stupid. Nobody has talked about this particular call (that I know of) and so far, I am the first and this happened during the time when Marge had her break down.
Also, the music that played on the phone, when homer called to report that Maggie was missing was Baby Come Back by Los Angeles rock group Player, from their self titled eponymous debut album. What makes me laugh is that this song plays while Homer is on hold and he had lost Maggie. If you haven’t heard the song, I got it right here. https://youtu.be/Hn-enjcgV1o
I didn’t know this until I had watched the episode and looked it up on Wikipedia, that the alternative metal band Primus had named their recording studio Rancho Relaxo, after the spa in the episode. So, that’s where a song like Big Brown Beaver was recorded? Cool! Years ago, I had found their version of The Simpsons Theme and now it’s gone. If anyone can help me with finding it on Youtube, I’d appreciate it. I recently found this as a result of a Google search and it’s in Toronto. This was from 5 years ago, but here it is anyway. https://www.blogto.com/restaurants/rancho-relaxo-toronto/
Rancho Relaxo appears in not just the episode but also in a couple of Simpson video game such as The Simpsons Road Rage and The Simpsons: Tapped Out. It also appears in books and comic stories, for Bongo Comics. I hope that the restaurant which I had mentioned earlier isn’t closed down, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On another note, Barney coming over and keeping Homer company is not there just because… and it’s all about the comedy. After all, Barney happens to be Homer’s best buddy and an alcoholic, who is a no shape to take care of an infant like Maggie. I wonder, why would Barney want to make Homer an omelette? Where is the comedy in that? Is it because Barney is probably inept at cooking to? Either way, it’s funny!
This episode ranks right up there with the rest of the classics and is interesting to both watch and listen to, for all of the scenes which cut in and cut out quickly, such as Krusty and Mr. Teeny in the car, or whe Chief Wiggum tries to talk Maggie down, or even when Fat Tony yelss at Marge to get moving, because he has a body in the trunk. Which reminds me, where does the sound of a tiger figure into the episode? I’ll leave that for you to watch it again and listen for it after Marge has her nervous breakdown.
Hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday and also, happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians this coming Thursday. It will be Canada’s birthday and unfortunately, it may not be as celebratori as it was in the past, due to pretty grizzly findings from our past. I’m not gonna get into it now, because it’s not the place to do that but, I will say that I hope that we can reconcile with indigenous people, for how they were stolen from their culture, to be put into residential schools. The other reason is also COVID, despite our efforts to vaccinate as many people across Canada as possible, to avoid another wave, dew to the Delta variant. By the way, there is a vaccination event going on today, at Scotiabank arena here in Toronto and I wanted to go. I wanted to get a spot by booking an appointment, but it didn’t work out that way for me. Apparently, all spots had been taken just after I had become Elligible, for my second dose and obviously, I’m pissed.
This week I am bringing back my annual tradition of revisiting talking about the Canadian content in The Simpsons, as best I can. In fact it will be further expanded from the post I did in 2019. To start things off, Matt Groening has some Canadian background dew to his Father Homer, being born in Main Centre Saskatchewan. Some of the writers are also from Canada such as: Joel H. Coaen (born in Calgary Alberta) and Tim Long (born in Brandon Manitoba). Oh, let’s not forget Phill Hartman who voiced: Troy McClure, Lionel Hutz and Lyle Lanley was even born in Canada in the city of Brantford Ontario.
As for others who are from Canada, Donald Sutherland voiced Hollis Hurlbut in the episode Lisa The Iconoclast. Dave Thomas voiced Rex Banner in the episode Homer VS. The Eighteenth Amendment. He was born in St Catharines Ontario and he is most famous for his character of Doug McKenzie in the Canadian comedy duo Bob and Doug McKenzie with Rick Moranis. His real brother is singer and song writer Ian Thomas who has also done well for himself and is still active in the music business.
More recently, Tommy Chong who was born in Edmonton Alberta guest starred with his partner Cheech Marin in the episode Midsummers Nice Dreams. In the episode Cheech and Chong broke up and they were individually paired up with a citizen of Springfield. In the case of Cheetch it was homer Simpson and in the case of Chong it was principal Seymour Skinner. One of my favorite parts of the episode was when the song Low Rider by War was playing, Dan Castellaneta improvised lyrics for Homer, around the harmonica melody in the song. If you know the song, you know what I’m talking about.
Seth Rogan, who was born in Vancouver British Columbia guest starred in the season 21 premier episode Homer The Whopper as Lyle McCarthy, who is a celebrity fitness trainer. He co-wrote the episode with his friend and writing partner Evan Goldberg, who also wrote the movie Superbad together. Oh, I should mention that his voice has also been heard in Toronto subway stations, gushing about the TTC (aka) Toronto Transit Commission, in a recorded message (pre-COVID) and now, it’s all quiet in the subway stations.
Another recent guest star is Wayne Gretzky, who made an appearance in the season 28 episode Nightmare after Krustmas as himself, in a dream sequence with Maggie. Let us not forget about The longtime host of the game show Jeopardy. The question is who was Alex Trebek? He was born in Sudbury Ontario and had died on November 8th last year, of pancreatic cancer. He guest starred in the episode Miracle On Evergreen Terrace, which was the Christmas episode in Season 9. I wish he could have beat this, much like others have done, including Ronnie Hawkins. You know about Ronnie Hawkins right? He was the front man and leader of The Hawks, who became The Band, after a stint as backing band for Bob Dylan. Just do a search on The Band and their history has a long beginning, before they became the group we know today. Sadly, members have passed, but the music lives on. Thankfully, Ronnie Hawkins is still alive and well and as far as I know, he is cancer free.
British born Toronto native Kiefer Sutherland guest starred in the season 23 episode the Falcon And The D’Ohman,as a security guard named Wayne. Homer befriends him after some difficulty and Wayne becomes a hero, after stopping a robbery and saving homers life. He also voiced Jack Bauer in the episode 24 Minutes and he was the victim of one of Barts prank calls. Two more Canadians have guest starred as characters in the distant and very recent past. Scott Thompson voices Grady, who is the gay lover of Julio in the episode Three Gays Of The Condo from Season 14. Scott is best known to Canadians,on the Canadian TV show The Kids In The Hall and is also openly gay and was born in North Bay and grew up in Brampton, just west of Toronto.
Hamilton Ontario native Martin Short, who is also an alumnus of Saturday Night Live voiced the character Guthrie Frenel in the Season 29 episode Springfield Splendor. Like the previously mentioned Dave Thomas, he was also an alumni of SCTV, which inspired the casting of The Simpsons. If you want to learn more about how, just Google it. I’m sure you’ll find something!
As of Season 32, we have yet another SCTV and Saturday Night Live alumnus, in the shape of Dan Aykroyd who guest starred in the episode “The Dad-Feelings Limited”, as Postage Stamp Fellow. This brings me to something which does not relate to The Simpsons, but to something very Canadian, or rather a band who are quintessentially Canadian. If you live in Canada, you know where I’m going with this and if you don’t, read on. In 1995, Dan Aykroyd appeared on Saturday Night Live to introduce a performance by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. As Dan Aykroyd is a fan of the band, he had personally lobbied Lorne Michaels to book them as musical guests, in the hope that they would translate to American audiences. Unfortunately, that was not to be and 22 years after that, singer Gord Downie had passed away from glioblastoma (a type of Brain cancer) and to be honest, I had hoped that The Simpsons would do something in honour of him, at the end of the season 30 episode D’oh Canada, by playing a bit of a popular song, which sounds like something any band in the world could have written. There are lots of good riffs they could have chosen from the first 3 or 4 Hip albums but, that was not to be either. There is a new album by the band called Saskadelphia, which was released on May 21st 2021. Saskadelphia was the original title of the 1991 album Road Apples. Road apples are basically horse shit and were probably good for hockey pucks. Any way, here is Dan Aykroyd introducing The Hip and the songs they played, on Saturday Night Live. https://youtu.be/FEGqbyudsyQ
I haven’t forgotten about Dan Aykroyd’s musical endeavors, delving into the blues. Remember The Blues Brothers? For those of you who are younger, there was a movie in 1980, 2 years after the band was formed, as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live, fronted by Akroyd and John Belushi. By the way, John’s younger brother Jim is also a fan of the blues and if you have watched the TV show According to Jim, it’s pretty obvious, from the theme song and Jim’s band. All I’m saying is that if Dan Aykroyd hadn’t done both the band and the 1980 movie and maybe the one in 2000, we may not have had According to Jim. I don’t know, but I loved the show and my favourite episode is The Race from Season 5. If you haven’t watched it, I recommend it because it’s so funny.
As for characters, there are Canadian versions of: Flanders, Nelson and Milhouse, along with other background characters. For example: Gordy, one of the students in Barts new school in his class is from somewhere in Canada. He appears in the episode You Only Move Twice in Season 8 and is voiced by Nancy Cartwright. Grandpa Abraham Simpson may also possibly be Canadian, if you follow his backstory. I wonder if he is? Hmmm, maybe Homer is part Canadian if Abe is too! The show has even taken the characters to parts of Canada in certain episodes. For example: Bart and Milhouse have traveled to Toronto in the episode The Bart Wants What It Wants. I think it is really cool that Toronto was used because that’s where I was born and raised. Even Take Off by Bob And Doug McKenzie is featured in the episode. Even what was formerly known as Sky Dome, now Rogers Centre is also featured. If you are a baseball fan, this is where the Toronto Blue Jays play and where most summer out door concerts have been held, since it opened in June 1989. For more on the episode check this link out. http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/The_Bart_Wants_What_It_Wants. Remember the episode D’oh Canada”? It had aired at the end of April 2019. Rather than me writing out my own version of the plot, here is the link to the synopsis and plot of the episode, according to the Simpsons Wiki website. https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/D%27oh_Canada
Some people didn’t like how Canada was satirized in the episode but, I didn’t mind because, there are writers on staff who are Canadian and I’ve mentioned that earlier. The only thing I wish they could have done was to find a song by The Tragically Hip to play at the end of the episode, while the credits rolled. I had mentioned that earlier too, but I wanted to say it again, as they were and still are in the hearts of all Canadian rock music fans, including myself. I generally liked the episode but, here is another website, with a link talking about how some people didn’t appreciate how Canada was made fun of. https://www.blogto.com/film/2019/04/canadians-are-not-happy-latest-simpsons-episode/ Okay, we have someone in the cast and crew, who is almost Canadian. Current Show Runner Al Jean, who was born in Detroit Michigan. Hay, it’s just across the river from Windsor Ontario! Right? I know, I’m stretching it but I just had to throw that in there. If I had my way he would be an honorary Canadian, if he likes.
Hi and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday post. Sorry to begin this post with another death but actor and director Peter Fonda passed away on Friday, at the age of 79 of respiratory failure, due to lung cancer. https://screencrush.com/peter-fonda-obituary/?ucr
He wasn’t a guest star on The Simpsons, unlike his sister whom I will talk about in a minute. Peter was one of the mentioned people, in Ned Flanders’ Book Of Faith and his List of Laudable Lefties. His older sister Jane Fonda guest starred during the Season 26 episode Opposites A-Frack as Maxine Lombard, Mr. Burns’s political opposite. Yet, they become attracted to each other.
On the birthday front, comedian Dennis Leary turns another year older today and he guest starred in the Season 20 episode Lost Verizon, where Bart had a Field day, making prank calls to bars all around the world from Hawaii to Australia, to Sweden. Denis Leary is of course best known for his Song Asshole and I think it’s funny as hell and I’m so glad he guest starred.
This week the idea of this post is to try to connect the dots between The Simpsons and Tool… the band and not anything tools related. I have always loved Tool and have all of the proper studio albums but not their 2000 compilation album/ boxed set called Salival. It is available as a playlist on Youtube, but that’s not the same thing as purchasing it on iTunes. It is currently not available on streaming or Digital services as yet, unlike the Opiate EP and the 5 studio albums: Undertow, Ænima, Lateralus, 10000 Days and Fear Inoculum If you want to get into Tool, I strongly suggest using Wikipedia or do a search on iTunes, for not just their music but any audiobooks on the band. I will have more on how Tool helped reawaken me to The Simpsons later on. Here are some connections to The Simpsons and Tool I can give you, which are a stretch to the point of 6° of separation and in fact, they are. Also, this post will have a lot of songs in it, because I simply want them to be heard. Oh, this post is especially for those who are both Tool and Simpsons fans, so you will probably figure out most of the connections already. So, are you ready?
First of all, I’m going to start the connections with a prime example of such a link, leading to the band, in that James Iha guest starred as a member of The Smashing Pumpkins during the penultimate episode of season seven Homerpalooza, along with the rest of the current lineup at the time. In July 2003, he became a member of A Perfect Circle, which is one of Maynard James Keenan’s other bands outside Tool. There is Puscifer but I will have more on them later. Anyway, James has been a member of APC ever since and he also has rejoined The Smashing Pumpkins, among other bands and collaborations.
When I had posted in May 2017 (at the time of Chris Cornell’s death) I had mentioned the Audioslave connection to The Simpsons with Cochise being played during the episode Midnight Towboy. In case you don’t know, yes there is a link to Tool with them as well. Three out of the four members are also a part of Rage Against The Machine and Prophets of Rage, with: guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford, drummer Brad Wilk. This leaves Zach de la Rocha on vocals to fill out the lineup for Rage. On the first album, there is a song called Know Your Enemy and the other voice on it is Maynard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YWOmK0IAxY
Here is something quite rare, featuring Tool and Rage Against The Machine, which I actually forgot about and found on Youtube, with the help of Wikipedia and the Wiki Quotes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lheIXO6xVTQ
There are two more connections to Rage which don’t lead to Tool, but are worth pointing out. In the Season 16 episode The Heartbroke Kid, Bart says “I raged against the machine and money poured out”, in reference to destroying the vending machines that Springfield elementary school had purchased. Remember? That was the episode where Bart had consumed so much sweets he had gained weight and had a heart attack. Thankfully, an intervention had happened and he was taken to fat camp and well… Bart is still with us.
Another connection is through Lisa, with Zack being on the list of cutest vegetarians in her, Marge and Barts food blog in the episode The Food Wife. https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Three_Mouthketeers
Another link is Dennis Leary and his once active friendship with fellow comedian Bill Hicks. They were friends until (apparently) Dennis stole large chunks or the entirety of a comedy special Bill had filmed called Same Man, which included stuff which appears on Dennis’s No Cure For Cancer album and special and after Bill heard it, their friendship had ended. I can’t comment on if Dennis had done it word for word but I do hear similarities to Bill’s albums Dangerous and Relentless and Dennis’s No Cure For Cancer, when they both talk about a dude named Jim Fixx, who had a massive heart attack and died, while jogging. I don’t care that much if it is similar to one an other and if I had known about Bill Hicks when I had heard No Cure For Cancer, I probably would have gone looking for his stuff, outside of Tool so, he would have benefited from it.
Yes, this also leads to Tool, as they loved Bill and his attitude towards right wing politics, the media, Los Angeles and drugs, among other things which make people uncomfortable. In fact, Tool sampled a couple of his routines for the Ænima album and the final track Third Eye. When I had heard the song for the first time, I had no idea who that was, until someone had read The liner notes and in spring 2001, I was reminded of Bill Hicks, while in a record store. I was talking to the guy who was helping me about comedy which mentions recreational drug use in it and I like drug humour and not just Cheech & Chong and their characters. I love the samples in the song Third Eye and here is a video of it. https://youtu.be/51fcG3sxvII
Next is Pee-wee’s Playhouse, which has a character by the name of Jambi, Who is a genie granting wishes. Also, there is a song by Tool called Jambi on their 10000 Days album. https://youtu.be/ed_UWFr13pU
There is a Simpsons connection to Pee-wee’s Playhouse, with the late Phil Hartman as the character Captain Carl during the first season. Hmmm! I’m guessing that The Simpsons Sea Captain wasn’t necesarrily created with Captain Carl in mind but, I wonder if there was any thought about him at the time Season 4 was being put together. Then again, Hank Azaria provides the voice for Captain Horatio McCallister. Anyway, the future Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz was a part of Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
The sketch comedy series Mr. Show, which ran from 1995 to 1998 starring Bob Odenkirk, among other comedic actors has a link to both Tool and The Simpsons. Mr. Show featured Singer Maynard James Keenan in a sketch with the then fictitious band named Puscifer, who have become a real project of Maynards and have released a few albums and EP’s. One song which will be of interest to my friends who are Queen fans, is a faithful cover of bohemian Rhapsody. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FQLADZsvMUE&feature=share
As connections to The Simpsons, Mr. Show had contributing writers like: Brent Forrester, who had a hand in writing the episode 22 Short Films About Springfield as one of my favourites from the 7th season. Also, Bob Odenkirk’s younger brother Bill also has had a hand in writing episodes of The Simpsons to the present day. Also, Bob Odenkirk will guest star as Springfield mob boss Fat Tony’s lawyer in the Season 31 episode The Fat Blue Line. Before I forget, how about an original song from Puscifer and their 2007 album “V” Is for Vagina. This was the first single and the opening track. https://youtu.be/_NCW7FLewso
Another connection leading from Tool to The Simpsons is a sense of humor. In case you haven’t noticed, Tool does have an affinity for comedy, with Bill Hicks and Maynard of course. Also, with various April Fools pranks they have played in the past. For example: a fake bus crash in 1997 and in 2005, Maynard leaving the band because he found Jesus. No, I did not believe that for a second because, Maynard is not a fan of organized religion. An example of this is when Tool were scheduled to play at a venue owned by The Church Of Scientology, they played the show but Maynard spent much of it baa-ing like a sheep at the audience. The Simpsons satirize religion too and at the same time, are respectful of it, with characters like Ned Flanders and Marge Simpson, who encourages her family to go to church each week. However, they won’t make fun of scientology because of Nancy Cartwright being a scientologist and of course, she is an important cast member too. Besides, nobody wants a repeat of what happened with South Park and Isaac Hayes. Right?
Back to the original connection, The Simpsons is a comedy and Tool have a wicked sense of humour all their own. They also have no problem with messing with our minds and putting out disinformation, for the sake of having fun with fans. For example: on one of the formats of the Ænima album, the liner notes list fake album titles like Gay Rodeo and Bethlehem Abortion Clinic. They even did that a few months before the Lateralus album in 2001, with a fake title Systema Encéphale and a fake track listing.
Another example of the bands sense of humour is a creation of a pseudoreligion called Lachrymology, which is the study of crying… or something to do with emotional pain, through therapy. I’m not going to get into it here but I will tell you that it is a ruse created by the band, because Lachrymology doesn’t exist. I could get more into stuff like: sacred geometry, Fibonacci sequence, or the title of the song Forty Six & 2, but you can find all of that on the internet and on iTunes. But, I will encourage you to either stream or purchase all of Tool’s albums and EP’s which are currently available. The first one I recommend is Ænima, which is probably their best and most interesting, not just for the music but also the interludes. For example: Message To Harry Manback is funny, in that a message in both English and Italian (which is vindictive in nature) plays over a piano track. https://youtu.be/l8_72NFyd-wDie Eier von Satan is simply a recipe for hash cookies, in German and made to sound at times like a militant Nazi speech. https://youtu.be/82XqhHYwB-Q
Also, the song Pushit is a combination of the words Push and Shit and is one of the real songs on the album. I mentioned Third Eye earlier and the video is there for you to watch and listen to the song.
One more example of the bands humour can be found at the end of the Undertow album and the final track Disgustipated, which is 15 minutes and 47 seconds long. Around 13 minutes and 52 seconds, an answering machine message plays, with crickets chirping. What exactly is that? lol https://youtu.be/CmJYZ1NIn1Y
Something else that both The Simpsons and Tool have in common is that a lot of care goes into episodes and album packaging, respectively. In the case of The Simpsons, it takes about 8 to 10 months to make one episode and so, multiple episodes are worked on at the same time, with writing and animation constantly happening, to create a bunch of episodes at once. Think about all of the visual gags that go by quickly and especially, with HD. Don’t you think that a lot of care goes into that, along with the voice acting and how the music and sounds are carefully selected and spaced, to go with the visual movements of the characters? https://nancycartwright.com/news/how-an-episode-of-the-simpsons-is-made/
Is it any wonder, why both Tool and Simpsons fans pick apart various: scenes, lyrics, musical passages, packaging intricacies and characters? I mean, the physical packaging of most Tool albums on CD is well put together, as the link to the article about the rather elaborate packaging explains. For example: the Ænima CD Jewel case is rather bumpily, both outside and inside the CD tray, where you open the case, with a smooth spine and the underside is also smooth, like normal. Even a light sits there in the centre of the tray and of course, this is mainly for the visual aspect but, those of us who can’t see get something out of it too, as it is something interesting to hold and touch.
Another example of a well constructed package for a CD is 10000 Days, which keeps the CD quite safe, as everything is put together like a book, but with stereoscopic lenses. Again, this is more for the visual aspect but blind fans have something interesting to hold in their hand as well. I can’t imagine all of the thought that goes into every detail, from the words and music, right down to the CD and the CD case itself. Same with every Simpsons episode, from the voice and sound tracks, right down to every animation cell, including all the math which goes into the length and precisely where audio and or visual gags come in and out. Even brief guess star cameos go by so fast, it’s hard to keep up. For example: Joyce Brothers and her few words in the episode Last Exit To Springfield are there and done, before you know it. Either way, it’s fun to go through everything and dissect everything, down to every last detail, both as a fan and as the creators. Is it any wonder that the internet had become a point of contention for some of the production and writing staff of The Simpsons? There are so many goofs and gags in there, for people to dissect and mull over, much like lyrics, music and packaging of Tool albums in all physical formats.
To continue, The Simpsons can’t really boast about CD packaging but as a TV show, they certainly allow for a lot of audio and visual treats to keep us both watching and listening. For example: think about all of the songs which have been played as recorded or by characters over the years, either as the credits roll or during the body of an episode. I’ve touched on some musical bits which are there for a few seconds and then, gone in past posts and I will do it again, as long as bits of songs continue to play, throughout episodes.
Okay, I think I’ve gone through as many connections to Tool and The Simpsons I could think of so, I should tell you how Tool helped reawaken me to The Simpsons, even before 2013 and even before 2004, when I was able to listen to episodes on a discman I had, which had TV channels on it. Simply, singer Maynard James Keenan and his singing voice, especially in the higher range and with clean vocals. Altho, with a slight growl you can hear a bit of Abe Simpson in there, even if it is unintentional. Right? I have given you examples of Maynard and his higher range in both Tool and Rage Against The Machine songs and now listen to Abe Simpson in this video, along with Mr. Burns and Bart. See if you hear what I hear, with Dan Castellaneta and the voice he gave Abe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nbx5thOZSs
I trust both Tool and The Simpsons because they both haven’t changed too much and basically, you know what you are getting, with new music and episodes. If you want to know more about Tool, go do a Google search into the history you will find a Wikipedia page. Also, there is one audiobook worth purchasing which will help and has more detail than I have given here. “The Alan Cross Guide To Alternative Rock” has a chapter on the band, which you can also purchase separately or as part of the book or the audiobook. To save space on your device, I recommend purchasing the audiobook with the standalone chapter on Tool and you will learn more about a band, who loves obvuscation, while making great musich which appeals to people of nearly all educational backgrounds. Not everyone will grasp the music or lyrics or even want to immerse themselves in the mystery but, Tool is a progressive metal band, with alternative rock leanings or an alternative metal band, with progressive rock leanings. Also, The Simpsons is a cartoon, with a lot of reality in it, or it’s a show about a typical (yet dysfunctional) family, disguised as a cartoon. Really, it’s all how you see them in your mind. No matter, I love Fear Inoculum and it will be another classic Tool album. To those who worry about the long time between albums, they are unfounded, as Fear Inoculum will likely debut at number 1, knocking off Taylor Swift and her Swifties will get all up in arms about that. We can trust that Tool will always deliver another masterpiece, like Ænima. Here is the title track.https://youtu.be/q7DfQMPmJRI
Hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday. On the birthday front, Dan Castellaneta turned another year older into his 60s and he voices Homer and many other male characters on The Simpsons. I also wrote a post on his life as the musician in 2016 and if you wish to look at it, check the archives or, look through the categories. I don’t do tags because, I don’t know how.
Secondly and thankfully, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon will be saying “thank you, come again” in the future. There wre roomers that he would be taken out of the show, because someone complained that the character accentuated negative stereotypes, about Indian culture. I don’t believe that for a second, despite that I know less than very little about their way of life, compared to ours here in North America. To me, Apu is (I will admit) a parody of the typical variety store worker behind the counter, or the guy at the gas station or, the cabdriver or, the bus driver who drives public transit vehicles. Not every person who does these jobs is from that part of the world but, the character is great because he brings that guy doing that job a bit closer to us, in a way. It’s like the guy behind the counter at the corner store is on our TV and admitedly, gouging the people of Springfield, which will be in another post. Anyway, I digress.
The fact that Apu was in danger of being removed is a sign of the times, in that political correctness is taking over comity and people with certain dialects and of certain cultures, get too easily offended if they are teased. If Apu was to be let go, who would be next? Groundskeeper Willie? Sideshow Mel? Cookie Kwan? What about The Japanese wife of Jeff Albertson (aka Comic Book Guy)? Are they offensive to?
This week I’m going to try and talk about a character from the first few seasons, who made 2 appearances in Seasons 4 and 5. Ruth Powers appeared in the episodes: New Kid On The Block and Marge On The Lam.
In the episode New Kid On The Block she and her daughter Lora moved next to the Simpsons home and Lora became Bart, Lisa and Maggie’s baby sitter. Of course, Bart also developed a crush on her and showed us that Jimbo Jones is not just a bully but a coward, when Moe burst in brandishing a dull knife after Bart’s prank call mentioning him as the perpetrator of the prank call.
Marge On The Lam was when her and Marge became fast friends and went out together, when Homer was either stuck to vending machines or just out on his own. She was driving her husbands stolen car with Marge in it and they went on a car chase with Homer and Chief Wiggum. Ruth made other appearances, such as in the episode Strong Arms Of The Ma, when she got Marge hooked on… steroids. But, those episodes from season’s 4 and 5 are the best known and loved episodes she played varying rolls in.
In some Simpsons fan fiction stories she is either: the Simpson children’s new Mother or a baby sitter to other kids in Springfield, with a slightly different personality. I wonder if she will be back to play another central roll in a future episode. Will she actually become friends with Homer, despite her ex husband being much like him? They both sat around drinking beer. Right?
Anyway, I mention Ruth because it was 25 years ago tonight when Marge On The Lam aired and I liked the entire episode, including the parody of Dragnet, complete with the great George Feneman doing the epilogue (if you will) at the end of the episode. It sure is up there with the classics and unfortunately, there may never be an episode like it because of the inclusion of phill Hartman, and both of his main character rolls. However, other TV shows have been parodied like Banacek, which I had never heard of until this year. What got me was the music they used, as it reminded me of classic 1970s TV shows and when I found out where it came from, I w to learn all about the show. Unfortunately, it isn’t on iTunes and the theme is on Youtube but, with some other things added to it. Even using the theme for M*A*S*H and other TV shows hasn’t been out of the question, but I’m getting away from the main topic of this weeks post.
Anyway, enjoy tonights episode Baby You Can’t Drive My Car. If you don’t know where that title came from, well…
Hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday post. Unfortunately, we have another death to talk about this week. Robin Leach, the entertainment reporter with his TV show Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous, passed away on Friday. I like that show because it exposed us to how the rich really live, in his own way. I can’t really recall anything that stood out for me, except the way he would speak, when reporting on his subjects and his Calmer tone of voice during interviews. I wonder if he was approached to do a guest Roll on The Simpsons. If he did the show would have to be called Lifestyles Of The Rich And Infamous or not so famous anymore. I think he would’ve done a great interview with Troy McClure, had Phil Hartman lived to do his Live action film about him. I couldn’t see him interviewing Krusty because of his treatment of people off the air, as opposed to while doing his children’s TV show. I also wonder if there is a short film out there, much like there is one with Oprah Winfrey interviewing The Simpsons family, which I posted here a few months ago. Anyway, RIP Robin Leach and thanks for everything.
On the birthday front, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford turned another year older yesterday and he guest starred on the Season 25 episode Steal This Episode. He and the rest of the current members of Priest are on tour supporting their album Fire Power and they are still sounding as good as they have ever been, from what I hear.
This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the unfortunately overlooked album by 2wo, which was a collaboration between Rob Halford, Trent Reznor and John Lowery, now known as John 5. The album is called Voyeurs and the only song to get any significant radio play was I Am A Pig, which is also the lead track off the album. I didn’t mind it that much, altho it didn’t feature Rob’s usual singing style and had him singing in an American sounding dialect on most songs. For example: previously mentioned I Am A Pig and the third song Water’s Leaking are two of the most obvious songs to showcase his singing dialect on this album. Yes, it was rather weird but, consider that Rob also came out 20 years ago too and wanted to try something different musically. He did get some radio play on alternative radio stations, as well as his usual rock stations but, it didn’t cary over to record sails. Despite this, it is regarded as an important album by a small group of fans and I am one of them. But, I’m certainly glad that Rob went back to singing like he normally does and sounding like he does on Judas Priest again. Also, reuniting with the band was also a good move to show younger fans what all the fuss was about, with Rob riding around on a Harley Davidson on stage, as well as all those classic Priest songs in his voice.
This weeks post is about the final Season 3 episode Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? which aired 26 years ago tomorrow. Basically, Mr. Burns finds that Homer is now infertile, due to all the nuclear waste he’s been around while working at the plant. So, he gives Homer $2000.00 in a contrived awards show, just for him, so he wouldn’t consider suing the plant.
Meanwhile, Homer’s half brother Herb is broke and homeless after his business was taken from him, after Homer designed the monstrosity of a car called “The Homer” which cost $82000.00 and made Herb disown Homer as his brother. Herb hitches a ride on a train to Springfield and Homer has already attempted to spend some of the money on a vibrating chair for himself and Marge and the kids had their own idea’s, as to how the moeny should be spent.
Herb arrives at the Simpsons house and after mistakingly finding the Flanders’ house he leaves and knocks on the Simpsons house door. The kids are obviously happy to see their Unky Herb and so is Marge. Homer is not quite so happy and neither is Herb, to see him. However, he proposes an idea to create a machine which translates baby gibberish into natural speech, with Maggie as the guinea pig. Herb needs $2000.00 in order to do this and the family decide to allow this, much to Homer’s chagrin. The machine is created and herb demonstrates the finished product to the family. Everyone is impressed but home or still thinks it’s a stupid idea. However, when Herb shows it off, many people in imporrtant positions ask for one and Herb proclames “I’m rich again.”
Because of his success he can now give the family all the things they wanted. Lisa gets a collection of books, Bart gets to join the NRA when he is old enough, Marge gets a new washing machine. Homer gets Herb’s forgiveness and the vibrating chair, as well as an acknowledgement from him that he is his brother.
As I said last week, this episode was written to fix the relationship between Homer and Herb and it was a well done episode. My favourite part is when Homer tries out the chair and he goes into dreamland, while sitting in it. Of course, this episode also has boxer Joe Frazier as a guest star, which was… interesting and of course, Danny DeVito repriced his role as Herbert Powell, Homer Simpson’s half brother. I am so glad the two brothers managed to mend their relationship and well, it is just a great episode over all.
Simpsons on Sundays 