Tag: homer

Homer Simpson has been called many things — savior has rarely been one of them. But organizers of the Tulip Time Festival in Holland hope the bloated, beer-swilling patriarch of “The Simpsons” can help revive the western Michigan town’s long-running spring celebration. In Sunday’s episode, Homer plunked down his wife’s savings on an RV and later remarked to a fellow RV enthusiast, “Boy, I’d really like to take that baby to Holland, Michigan, to the tulip festival!” A throwaway line. Unless you host an event that has seen attendance fall from 1 million visitors a decade ago to about 500,000 last year. Which is why Holland, population 35,000, is abuzz about Homer’s plug. “Anytime you can get a mention like that on a national level,” said festival director Tamra Bouman, “it could pique someone’s curiosity.” Read More >>>

I can prove my point with a single word: D’oh! That’s an exclamation, to be more precise. Or a contraction. Or both. Whatever. My point is that Homer Simpson, star of the animated TV sitcom “The Simpsons,” has become one of our most pervasive pop-culture icons. You can tell by the nearly universal recognition of “D’oh!” Perhaps Homer has become our truest, most sympathetic and successful American ambassador. You must have heard of “The Simpsons” by now. Its illustrious run on Fox stretches back to the first Bush presidency, in 1989. It’s the longest-running prime-time animation series in history, as well as the longest-running sitcom currently on the tube. The main character, Homer, is the ultimate buffoon as a father figure. He’s a cross between Archie Bunker and Chris Farley on LSD. He swills Duff beer, chows down on donuts and is prone to uttering profound blurbs of homespun wisdom that not even he understands. Read More >>>

Doughnut-guzzling, beer-quaffing Homer Simpson may not be the model father but he has won the hearts of British TV fans who want the nuclear power plant worker to be the next U.S. President. Former president George Bush notoriously said American families should be “closer to the Waltons than the Simpsons” but Homer was overwhelming favourite in a Radio Times magazine poll on which U.S. TV character should take over at the White House. As Americans ponder tax and security pledges from President George W. Bush and Democratic rival John Kerry ahead of the November 2 poll, television fans have been considering Homer slogans such as “No big government, just big waist sizes”. In a manifesto compiled for the magazine by The Simpsons’ writing staff, the bumbling animated TV hero also pledges: “I promise there will be fewer nuclear disasters with me as your mayor than with me as your nuclear safety inspector.” Read More >>>

Homer Simpson, watch out. The health-nanny tendency, having achieved only partial success in changing the eating habits of three-dimensional people, is now targeting two-dimensional characters. A team of nutritionists from an American university have made a study of the dietary intake of Homer, Barney and police chief Wiggum and detected that they seem to shift an awful lot of doughnuts and beer. The researchers, led by Professor Carol Byrd-Bredbenner of Rutgers University, analysed 63 episodes of the show for health-related messages. Their conclusion? “Fats, sweets and alcohol, particularly beer, doughnuts and salty/fatty snacks accounted for 52 per cent of all foods eaten in this programme,” they say. “Homer also was portrayed eating food more often (he alone accounted for 21% of all actions showing food being eaten) and ate greater quantities than other characters.”

A minister is using the exploits of Homer Simpson to attract more people to church. The Rev George Cowie is hoping to have his congregation laughing in the aisles as he reads the gospel according to The Simpsons to help get his religious message across. Each meeting is to be based on a different episode of the popular series. Mr Cowie said: “Despite its anarchic humour, The Simpsons is one of the few shows which portrays a modern family who attend church regularly. The course will help close the gap with popular culture, and is open to anyone who wants to learn more about Christian faith. It is perhaps a bit of fun, but I hope it will make people sit up and listen.” Read More >>>

“The class came to a general agreement: Homer Simpson is incontinent. “With moments of continence,” a professor added. This is no normal college course, and not just because it sounds like the class is commenting on a popular cartoon character’s bodily functions. Don’t have a cow man, but Siena Heights University is offering a course on philosophy, theology, and The Simpsons. That’s right, the irreverent, animated television show that has aired on Fox since 1989 and made “Eat my shorts” a rallying cry for rebellious youths has taken its place in academia. “Philosophy 200: Animated Philosophy and Religion,” is making its debut here this semester at the Catholic, liberal arts university of 1,170 students.The idea is to use The Simpsons as a tool to introduce students to significant philosophical and theological figures and their ideas.” Read More >>>

“Homer Simpson looks likely to beat Abraham Lincoln to the title of the greatest ever American. The head of the Simpsons clan has taken almost a fifth of the votes in an internet poll. The 16th president of the US managed just over 16%. The poll has been held to tie in with a BBC2 debate called What The World Thinks of America to be screened on Tuesday at 9pm. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King is in third position, ahead of former presidents such as George Washington. Other quirky choices to have made the top ten include Mr T, famed for his role in TV’s The A Team, and Bob Dylan. The 90-minute debate will be presented by BBC political editor Andrew Marr and will look at opinions about the US’s position in the world. It will bring together national broadcasters from around the world in a live satellite link-up.” You can vote in the BBC poll here.