Tag: miscellaneous

“INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey: Most people would not associate the somewhat irreverent nature of the long-running sitcom, The Simpsons, with church. However, Chaplain (Maj.) Steve Schaick, 39th Air Base Group senior Protestant chaplain here, is not most people. He not only managed to create a tie between a dysfunctional cartoon family and the Bible, but in the process walked away with a National Bible Association Award. The association hands out an award every year to the chaplain from each military branch who manages to teach Biblical truth with the most innovation and creativity. Schaick, who created the Bible study “Blessed are The Simpsons,” is this year’s Air Force winner. To honor award recipients, the association sponsors a New York City luncheon Nov. 18. The chaplain’s relationship with Bart, Homer and the rest of the clan began in 1989, shortly after the show debuted.” Read More >>>

Duffman may be a coward, but Justin Zollitsch, a recent UW-Madison graduate, certainly isn’t. Zollitsch will don a Duffman costume to pilot a Red Bull Flugtag contraption called Can in the Clouds. Flugtag is German for “flying day.” Red Bull has held more than 20 worldwide, where Aircraft must be entirely human-powered. Zollitsch and friend Eric Drazkowski designed a can of Duff Beer with a 30-foot wing span and propeller. Whether he pilots or not, Zollitsch will don spandex and play Duffman for the preflight skit. “I’m gonna do flips down the runway prior to take-off to pump up the crowd. Though I might shy away from the pelvic thrusts” that are Duffman’s hallmark. Red Bull Flugtag is being held in Chicago’s Monroe Harbour this Saturday August 9th at 11am. To read more and see their design, click here.

No matter how many laughs a television show can squeeze from an impish boy, cracking wise and bugging out his eyes at various oppressors, a sudden end to the laughter looms. The comedy often stops when puberty starts. Fox’s Sunday night hit “Malcolm in the Middle” is the latest series to confront the reality of a star hitting adolescence, with all its attendant restructuring of face and physique and vocal cords. … Only one show has succeeded in keeping a kid in the lead for a decade: “The Simpsons” with the animated Bart Simpson. Watching Bart never mature is considered a key to its enduring appeal. “Early on, I know that the powers that be decided that no one would age,” said Tim Long, the show’s current head writer. “A kid with a starter ‘stache, that would just be unpleasant,” he added. “You don’t worry about his future because in a way he has none.” Read More >>>

Independent Michigan band ‘BuFu Nation’ has shown their love for The Simpsons through song. The four-piece band who describe themselves as “Geeks with guitars” have written and released a song about the show titled ‘Simpsons Love Song’ (SLS). The song which is available to download from the mp3.com link on their Official Website was written to express the sentiment of every true Simpsons fan. And what fans they must be. The lyrics of the song involves the dilemma of a girl wanting to talk to them on the phone when their favorite television show is on. “Yeah to you, Its just a cartoon But to me its a way of life”. I found the song refreshingly funny, make sure you listen to the lyrics (which are also available on the site). Love the dedication, guys.

The Simpsons — that rowdy, sometimes raucous ensemble that has become the epitome of dysfunctional family fun — have questioned the status quo, overthrown the fashion world and secured a permanent place in pop culture. This clan has been attacked by some for a lack of family values and then heralded by others for their family values. Some go so far as to call the Simpsons theologically relevant. There have been papers as well as books published about finding the spiritual messages within the show that depicts the Simpson family foibles. It’s a phenomenon that’s even been discussed in houses of worship, and it’s currently the theme of a Sunday morning class at the First Presbyterian Church of Bonita Springs. Read More >>>

“There is nothing fictional about the Albuquerque Isotopes. They play in the Pacific Coast League and draw an average of 8,000 people a game in a revival of minor league baseball in New Mexico. In a Simpsons episode involving the baseball franchise, Homer discovers Duff Beer’s plan to move the Springfield Isotopes to Albuquerque and saves the franchise when he exposes the plan.” … “Al Jean, head writer and executive producer of the show, thought it was amusing that the Isotopes had come to life in Albuquerque and told the Albuquerque Tribune that he hoped “we got a Duff beer concession for the new team.” That’s not going to happen. Apparently, Simpsons officials draw the line at their suds. An Australian company tried making Duff beer but got the word from Fox attorneys to cease and desist. But they have not stood in the way of the Isotopes name. “They have allowed us to use the name but not anything else,” Bearman said. “They did let us use Homer and Bart mascots for Opening Day.” Read More >>>

A religious joke in the Simpsons episode “Alone Again, Natura-Diddly” may not have been far from the truth. “When the ad for a “Christian video game” crossed my desk, at first I thought it was a joke. Perhaps someone had finally decided to market “Billy Graham’s Bible Blasters,” the fictitious game featured on an episode of “The Simpsons” a few years back. Remember the episode shortly after Marge Flanders’ untimely death where Bart goes next door to visit the normally shiny-happy Christian Rod and Todd Flanders to cheer them up? He plays a religious video game titled Bible Blasters. It’s always been one of my favorite ‘Simpsons’ episodes–a clever idea and a biting bit of religious commentary–but one I thought was purely the product of the writer’s fertile imagination. Not so, apparently. With a little investigation, I discovered a whole world of “Christian” video games where Bibles, or at least the Word of God, are the weapons of choice.” Read More >>>

“Bob Socci has been the Albuquerque Isotopes’ play-by-play announcer for three months, and still he thinks the team’s nickname is funny. And why not? After all, it comes from one of television’s funniest shows. When you’re a new franchise trying to earn recognition in an established Triple-A baseball league, like the Pacific Coast League, you need a gimmick. The Albuquerque franchise took marketing to a new level when it adopted the name of Homer Simpson’s favorite baseball team. Hence, the Isotopes were born. The name comes from a March 2001 episode of the The Simpsons, the long-running Fox cartoon series. In the segment, entitled “Hungry, Hungry Homer,” Homer Simpson foils a plan to move his favorite baseball team, the Springfield Isotopes, to Albuquerque. The name also refers to New Mexico’s involvement in scientific research and the atomic bomb.” Read More >>>

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“While preparing for a night out on the town with his wife, Marge, Homer Simpson hummed a tune to himself while wiggling his rather rotund bottom around his bathroom. The tune? It was “Patricia,” an instrumental from 1958. Homer’s gyrations were actually that Spanish-influenced dance craze of the ’50’s — the Mambo. Who would have figured that Homer and his freaky family would turn out to be some of the most Hispanic-friendly characters on U.S. television? The show has included Hispanics in its humorous references almost since the day the characters first aired in 1989. Most “Simpsons” fans remember that episode as the one where Homer and Marge hire the “Baby Sitter Bandit,” but I remember it because of that throwaway moment when I first realized “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening was capable of coming up with the most obscure references.” Read More >>>

Russ Lemmon writes: “Has it come to this? We are having second thoughts about a new ‘Welcome to Toledo’ sign because of Homer Simpson? I can’t see the ‘ToledOH!’ sign being anything more than an inside joke to a relatively small percentage of the population. (Do the math: About 660,000 people live in Lucas, Wood, Ottawa, and Fulton counties; about 66,000 area residents watch The Simpsons on Sunday nights.) And even if Mayor Jack Ford decides to deep-six the sign, the joke is already ‘out there.'” Read More >>>

They are “America’s real first family”, according to the Glasgow Herald. They star in “the longest running primetime animated series” ever made, according to the Glasgow Evening Times and represent “the only unqualified good a Rupert Murdoch company ever gave the world”, according to the Guardian. They are The Simpsons, who have just celebrated their 300th episode on British television and are to star in their own movie. In fact, The Simpsons will soon “become the longest-running television comedy series ever”, said the New Statesman. The Daily Express reckoned that The Simpsons have come “about as close to world domination as it’s possible to get”. So, wondered the paper, why won’t George Bush appear on it, when Tony Blair has agreed to. “Come on, Dubya! Do you want to be remembered as a good guy who achieved something important and worthwhile or not?” Read More >>>