Something uplifting to start the week with!
BONUS: The Simpsons intro as a dimly-remembered VHS nightmare:
The Simpsons intro as a Russian art film
Brilliant video: Wilbur Ross dubbed over Mr. Burns
Watch the video below. As a wise man once said, "God bless America!"
(Thanks, Bob Pescovitz!) Read the restFixed it: Wilbur Ross dubbed over Mr. Burns pic.twitter.com/UQn8Hq6WrR
— ElElegante101 (@skolanach) January 24, 2019
'How Scandal Fatigue Works In The Time of Trump,' explained by The Simpsons
“Are you sure it’s not a witch hunt?” This is the best GIF adaptation of all time, as one commenter already said. Read the rest
Some Simpson jokes that go over kids' heads
Children's shows often include jokes to give a little "nudge nudge wink wink" to grown-ups. I mean, who could forget the subversive bits in Looney Tunes or, say, Pee-wee's Playhouse?
But this compilation by YouTube channel Best of Simpsons Characters is different, because The Simpsons isn't really a show for kids. It's just the Simpsons' jokes that they didn't get when they were little. Read the rest
The Simpsons overtakes Gunsmoke as America's longest-running scripted TV show
With episode 636 on Sunday, The Simpsons finally outran Gunsmoke as America's longest-running TV show, as counted by scripted episodes. It overtook it about a decade ago in terms of how many seasons it's been on TV. That said...
“Gunsmoke,” however, was an hourlong program for about half its run, while “The Simpsons” is half-hour, and so the former retains the record for most hours of television. As well, the Western series had begun on radio in 1952.
The closest other scripted prime-time series, the family drama “Lassie,” about an ingenious collie, ran on network and then in first-run syndication from 1954 to 1974, for 591 episodes.
In a welcome coda to the Apu imbroglio, Hank Azaria (who also voices other characters on the show) is planning to let a South Asian actor take over the role and help transition the character to a less stereotypical portrayal. Read the rest
The Simpsons' classic "steamed hams" gag gets the deep meme treatment
The season 7 gem starring Principal Skinner and Superintendant Chalmers has seen a massive uptick in meme activity in late 2017. Here are some highlights: Read the rest
Cluster analysis shows that the golden age of The Simpsons ended in Season 10
It's generally recognized that The Simpsons drifted from sharp comedy to cosy light entertainment as the years went by, and that a threshold was passed somewhere between seasons eight and eleven. Using data culled from IMDB and a contiguous cluster analysis, Nathan Cunn pinpoints the exact end of The Simpsons' golden age to the half-hour: episode 11 of season 10. This particular way of seeing things condemns no particular episode's sins, merely putting a statistical dividing point between Wild Barts Can't Be Broken and Sunday Cruddy Sunday. Compare to The Principal and the Pauper, the season 9 episode traditionally identified as the shark-jumper, which in this chart is a controversial blip on the road to all the disengaged meta to come.
Read the restIt’s remarkable that the show managed to go for over nine seasons, and over 200 episodes, with an average rating of 8.2. The latter seasons, in contrast, have an average rating of 6.9, with only three episodes in the latter 400+ episodes achieving a rating higher than the average golden age episode—those episodes being Trilogy of Error, Holidays of Futured Passed, and Barthood. Given that the ratings approximately follow a Gaussian distribution, we expect (and, indeed, observe) that roughly half of the golden age episodes exceeded this mean value.
Although The Simpsons isn’t quite the show it once was, the decline in the show’s latter seasons is more testament to the impossibly high standards set by the earlier seasons than it is an indictment of what the show became.
Tattoo artist makes animated 'flipbooks' by inking multiple people with individual frames
Tattoo artist Phil Berge's handiwork is old school, yes, but some of his tats more than that. They are animated!
How does he do it?
At the Tattoo Shack in Quebec where he works, he inks multiple people with one frame of an animation.
For instance, to create that Bart Simpson "tattoo flipbook" (above), he had to ink 19 different people.
This one was inspired by a 1950s Gallo wine commercial and took 11 inked people to animate:
"Bad Mickey" took 13 (naturally):
This one was inspired by a Popeye cartoon short called, "Sock-a-Bye, Baby" and took 17 individual tattoos to complete:
Pretty cool, isn't it? You can check out more of his (mostly non-animated) work at his Instagram.
New doc examines how The Simpsons' Apu character affects Indian-Americans
Comedian Hari Kondabolu's documentary The Problem with Apu dropped a trailer in advance of its debut on TruTV. The film surveys opinions on one of the most recognizable Indian-American characters in the media: Apu Nahasapeemapetilon and his outsize, often negative, role in shaping opinions on Indian depictions in the media. Read the rest
The moment this kid realizes he's hawking $2 candy bars to 'Bart Simpson'
Nancy Cartwright surprised the heck out of this 13-year old boy when she revealed she is the real voice of Bart Simpson. The look on his face, ha! Read the rest
The Simpsons inserted into real life
Artist François Dourlen has a really great Instagram series in which he cleverly lines up Simpsons images with real-life situations.
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View this post on Instagram#monday #photooftheday #photodujour #thesimpsons #instadaily #instalike #😭
View this post on Instagram#trump #photodujour #photooftheday #instagram #instadaily #simpsons #duff :😂😂😂
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View this post on InstagramBricolage... #thesimpsons #instagram #instadaily #photooftheday #photodujour #francoisdourlen #😂
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The Simpsons on Trump's first 100 days in office
Here is The Simpsons' take on Trump's 100th day in the White House, which includes Sean Spicer hanging himself with a sign that says, "I Quit!" and a strangling match between Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon. We also get to see Trump in his jammies, lying in bed with a remote in his hand. An aide comes to his side and asks him to read a bill that will lower taxes for Republicans. "Can't Fox News read it and I'll watch what they say?" the president asks.
With the 100th day hitting us this Saturday, thank god for comic relief! Read the rest
Homer Simpson fried egg portrait
Dan Cretu created this pretty fancy Homer Simpson fried egg portrait. The broken-yolk-as-smile is a nice touch. Read the rest
This Simpsons couch gag is a clever Ikea spoof
On last night's episode of The Simpsons, the couch gag was animator Michael Socha's excellent spoof of Ikea's instruction manuals. Read the rest
The Simpsons Sphere: 500 simultaneous episodes in one 360° video
Dude. 500 episodes of The Simpsons, all in one spherical, 360º video space. I'm trippin' so hard. Read the rest
Fantastic search engine for matching Simpsons quotes and screenshots!
Frinkiac allows you to type in a quote from The Simpsons and it'll find the matching stills from a database of 3 million screen caps. I expect that its creators will be acquihired soon by Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net.
(Thanks, Brad Kreit!) Read the rest
Man with massive Simpsons tattoo on back holds Guinness Record
Michael Baxter, 52, holds the Guinness World Record for the "most tattoos of characters from a single animated series." Jade Baxter Smith of Twisted By Design in Victoria, Australia did the ink.
"I wanted to get something which was unique, which nobody else had or would even think of getting...," Baxter says. "I'm a huge fan of the show. I love the tattoo, and I know lots of other people, including my grandchildren, do too.”
Interestingly, the Guinness World Record for "most tattoos of the same cartoon character tattooed on the body" was set by another Simpsons fan, Lee Weir, 27, of New Zealand. He has 41 tattoos of Homer on his arm, seen below.
