An Australian man has been fined $2,000 after Simpsons “pornography” was discovered on his home computer. The central issue in the case was whether a cartoon character could depict a real person. Judge Michael Adams decided that it could, and found the man guilty of possessing child pornography.
Tag: australia
News
Simpsons Returns For Season 19 In Australia
Australia, this one’s for you. The Simpsons has been notably absent from Channel Ten in 2008, with the 6:00pm daily slot on hold for the first time in quite a while. With the writers strike, Ten held off airing new episodes in February when the season usually begins.
The good news is, new episodes resume at 7.30pm Tuesdays starting May 6. The show will resume from Season 19, with ‘He Loves To Fly And He D’oh’s’ airing in the first slot.
While this is good news for fans, the bad news is the Friday repeat slot will be dropped the same week for Big Brother Friday Night Live.
SOURCE:
News
Don’t Vote For Mr. Burns!
Things are getting ugly in the latest New Zealand election campaign. A group called “The Lisa Simpsons” has proudly taken credit for altering large numbers of billboards for candidate Don Brash overnight and says it plans to keep doing so throughout the country. The Lisa Simpsons were out last night “repackaging” Don Brash to an image that will be more familiar and also more informative for many New Zealanders: the big business, pro-nuclear face of Montgomery Burns. Mr Burns wears an election rosette, with the nuclear symbol in the centre, surrounded by ‘Business Roundtable’. A spokesperson for The Lisa Simpsons say the group’s publicity campaign is aimed at warning other young people about how ghastly New Zealand could be with Mr Brash as leader. “Lisa Simpson seems like a fitting guide this election: she stands for seeing through insincere politicians and manipulative election campaigning.”
SOURCE: Scoop
News
Gay Outing Tops Aussie Ratings
A heavily promoted ‘There’s Something About Marrying’ was postponed by half an hour in Australia last night, but that didn’t stop viewers tuning in to discover which character was gay. The first run Season 16 episode was the highest rating show on any station on Tuesday night, which had similar competition to Sunday’s season finale in America. 1.5 million viewers tuned in to Channel Ten at 8pm to watch the episode, outrating every other show that night. The finale of Survivor Palau aired on competitor Nine at 8:30pm, but was only able to record an average of 1.4 million viewers. Contrasting figures to the ones in the report below. To give you an idea of the Australian figures, the highest rated show in Australia last year had 3.3 million viewers. Ten came third overall for the night while Nine came out on top.
SOURCE:
News
Simpsons Hoax Drives Council Mad
Whittlesea council in Melbourne, Australia has been swamped by legions of Simpsons fans after a hoax spam email claimed the town had built a real-life replica of the cartoon family’s home. Since the email appeared on the net, complete with colourful inside and outside snaps, people have been trying to find it. The email suggested that the replica was in South Morang and apparently some Simpson fans have been spending hours driving around Whittlesea’s northern suburbs trying to find the double-storey house. In the TV series the family live at 742 Evergreen Tce, Springfield. South Morang has an Evergreen Drive. According to Whittlesea mayor, Lara Carli, council staff were a little bemused by the telephone calls and e-mail inquiries, yet remain sympathetic to the Simpsons fans who have to face the reality of an internet prank. According to the Herald Sun, an Evergreen Drive resident said while she hadn’t heard the rumours, she had noticed cars driving by.
News
Nancy Cartwright Vs. Australia
Despite being a star of one of the most popular TV series of all time, Nancy Cartwright can usually walk down the street virtually unrecognised. That is until she comes all the way to the other side of the world, where she can hardly walk 2m without a fan stopping her for a chat and autograph. Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, is in town for the Big Laugh Comedy Festival which gets under way at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre complex tomorrow. “Hardly anyone recognises me in America but I land in Australia and all of a sudden I have people stopping me at the airport, on the street, all over the place,” Cartwright said yesterday. “It’s the only place in the world that it happens. When I was in London no one knew who I was at all.” Read More >>>
News
The Simpsons On Vodafone
THQ Inc. and Vodafone today announced an agreement for the distribution of ‘The Simpsons’ branded mobile content exclusively to Vodafone customers throughout Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The first content scheduled for release under this agreement, including ringtones, animated picture messages, wallpapers and screen savers, will be available from November, followed by games. “I am delighted that we are able to launch The Simpsons on a global basis with Vodafone. This is one of the most exciting launches in mobile entertainment to date.” said Adam Comiskey, General Manager, EMEA at THQ Wireless. Read More >>>
News
Change The Channel, NZ!
Changes are happening in New Zealand, where in an unusual deal under TV3’s output deal with 20th Century Fox, it is being allowed to take rights from TV2. Canadian-owned TV3 has picked up rights to the upcoming 15th series of The Simpsons and a significant back catalogue that will allow TV3 to run the show daily opposite One’s “Holmes”. An announcement was expected late this week and the deal is expected to take effect in February. TV2 has held the free-to-air rights to The Simpsons since the beginning, and this will be a huge loss to the network which broadcasts new episodes before cable. We’ll keep New Zealanders informed of future developments. You can read the article here.
News
Down Under Simpsons Update
Good news comes in threes for Australians this week. First up, a specialty DVD titled “The Simpsons: Risky Business” will be released on September 24th, retailing at $32.95. The DVD, which has previously been released in the UK, contains work-related episodes ‘Realty Bites,’ ‘Homer The Smithers,’ ‘Deep Space Homer,’ and ‘Marge Gets A Job,’ as well as a Chief Wiggum Featurette. Also on the DVD front, Fox Home Entertainment has finally given an Australian release date for Season 3. The set will be released on October 22nd, retailing at $84.95. Both DVD’s are available for preorder at DVD Orchard.
News
Signed Simpsons Art Expo
The Comic Mint Australia is currently running an exclusive on-line Simpsons animation art exhibition with a superb collection of original production cels and drawings for sale, with specially signed cards by the extraordinary voice artist from The Simpsons, Harry Shearer. Harry is the voice of Mr. Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner & many others! Harry has signed a limited number of the official FOX signature cards for any Simpsons cel or drawing purchased from this on-line exhibition. This offer is only valid for a short time, so order on-line to take advantage of this unique opportunity. The offer is also open to residents outisde of Australia. Harry recently appeared at the Comic Mint to meet and sign fans Simpsons items. Visit the website for further details.
News
Homer For New Zealand PM?
“It’s said we get the politicians we deserve – but Homer J Simpson for New Zealand prime minister? Only in his dreams. A Simpsons comic has Homer coming home drunk and waking to find he’s become our PM – surrounded by Kiwis, sheep and a framed picture of Xena star Lucy Lawless. Helen Clark is in Korea and a spokesman doubted if she had ever watched The Simpsons. But, he said, “she thinks Homer would do a better job than Bill English”. Not to be outdone, English, the National Party leader, confirmed The Simpsons was a regular favourite in his home, prompting the occasional tussle over the remote at news time. Asked if Homer would make a good PM, he said: “Well he’d make a better prime minister than the present one – because he’s not politically correct and he has a sense of humour.” Read More >>>
News
Simpsons Promotion A Winner
Australia: “FOXTEL entertainment channel Fox8 received almost 100,000 entries in its Sunday night Simpsons Text Trivia competition over a four-week period. The competition was offering a prize that money can’t buy – a tour of The Simpsons animation studios, lunch with a Simpsons’ writer, a VIP tour of the Fox Studios Lot and a signed Simpsons cartoon cell. Fox8 marketing manager Suzanne Dunseath-Hamilton said she was surprised at the number of entries, which had exceeded expectations. “This result clearly demonstrates that our viewers are highly committed to the interactive aspects the channel has to offer,” Dunseath-Hamilton said. The text component of the competition operated through Legion Interactive. The success of this promotion can ensure that Australian fans will be offered similar contests in future.”