Hugh Laurie on The Simpsons

TV Guide has the first look of Hugh Laurie's character on The Simpsons on November 7th.  They definitiely got the face right, but I think the body is a little too perfect. Might give Flanders a run for his money ;-)

Check out the pic and Laurie's friendly words about The Simpsons here.

Glee Cast on the Simpsons

As previously mentioned, some members of the cast of Glee will be on The Simpsons this season. And here is your first look at Rachel and Finn courtesy of EW.com.  Also look for details about the episode.

The Simpsons Guest Stars for this Upcoming Season

There's been a lot of news lately about the guests that will lend their voices for this upcoming season of The Simpsons.  The names include Halle Berry, Paul Rudd, Jon Hamm, Martha Stewart, some stars from Glee, Kristen Wigg, Cheech and Chong, Danielle Radcliffe (I mentioned that before), Mark Zuckerberg, Russell Brand (not too sure) and the return of Ricky Gervais. 

The news of Ricky Gervais' return is super exciting. I thought he was super funny during his appearance and I had absolutely no idea who he was. 

Looks like this will be a memorable season of the show and they The Simpsons are irrelevant....

Check out a bit of British Humor from Ricky Gervais' appearance on The Simpsons below and get some additional info from EW.com.

Avatar Spin-off! and some other Avatar News

Well the unexpected turn out for a critically panned The Last Airbender is that they will be making an Avatar: the Last Airbender spin-off.  The spin off is entitled Avatar: The Legend of Korra and will follow a teenage girl named Korra who is a waterbender avatar 100 years after Aang. I read somewhere that she will live in a town where Benders are looked down upon (kind of like the mutants in X-men). Are you excited? Check out a some interesting and in depth info from MTV.

In other news, I read in Indian Express  that Dev Patel was really disappointed by The Last Airbender and it's general reception.  Unfortunately for him, he was really trying to develop a career in the movie business and starring in a flop puts him at a disadvantage.  I feel sorry for the guy, but these things happen.  I doubt he'll get a part in a remake of the film, but hopefully he'll find work somewhere.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter had it's grand opening in Universal Orlando studio last week. I wish I was there :( but there has been a lot of great coverage from  MuggleNet (my fave Harry Potter website)and The Leaky Cauldron.  Check it out when you can :)

Update: Happy I didn't go...an 8 hour wait would be too much for me and I LOVE Harry Potter.

Futurama Premeires Tonight!

If you're a huge Futurama/Matt Groening/Simpsons style drawing fan tonight is the night you've been waiting for.  Futurama premieres on Comedy Central tonight at 10pm. I guess I'm a little late, but just in case you didn't know you can tune in now or scan for the repeats.  I'm personally not a fan of the series, but I just want to support Matt Groening and any fans out there with this post.  Enjoy having you're fave show back.

Homer Best in 20 Years

Homer is officially considered one of greatest characters of the last 20 years. I have to say I'm not surprised. Almost any character on the show could've easily made it on the list in my opinion. Check out an EW interview with Matt Groening and Dan Castellaneta at the link below. Congrats to Homer :-)
http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/06/09/simpsons-matt-groening-dan-castellaneta-greatest-character-homer-simpson/

FIFA World Cup

While the Simpsons are in repeat and the summer shows have yet to begin, the perfect distraction is Football! By football I mean soccer of course.  The World Cup started this past Friday and so far the games (especially the USA vs. England game) have been pretty good. I watched my first World Cup in 2006 and it's great for it to return with the players I still remember. The games are daily and air on ABC and ESPN. I encourage you to check at least one USA game before the cup ends on july 11th.

Also check out the Nike Football ad below.  At around 2:22 you see Ronaldo kicking the ball past Homer. Who says Ronal-doh! Gotta luv it. The Simpsons are everywhere.

Eclipse Stars on Oprah

I know I should be writing my Simpsons Recaps right now , but I just wanted to put up some pop culture news while it's sort of fresh. So the principle cast of the Twilight series was Oprah this past week. Only Oprah has the power to do this while the trio are at the height of their fame. So she spoke Robert about his crazy fame, Kristen about her shyness, and Taylor about his muscles...or at least that's how I remember it. 

Some notable things were Rob's sense of humor he used to be as shy and nervous as Kristen, but I now feel he is a lot more comfortable and is able to be really funny. It also helps that he is goodlooking and has a natural charm about him. Taylor seemed rehearsed, but was well spoken as usual. Kristen explained her general shyness/nervousness and Oprah hugged her for it, but it didn't help with her stuttering (but I get it...it is OPRAH!)

Overall though it was an awesome special. I forgot to mention Dakota Fanning, but she was forgettable. If you haven't seen it yet there's probably a video on Oprah.com.

Recap: "Moe Letter Blues"

Watching the 7:30 Simpsons because I know I'll miss the 8pm episode. Once again, I can't watch them because tonight is the Amazing Race season finale (let's go Cowboys!). I think I'll be able to catch next weeks episode though. Until next time :)

Well a quick update, the Cowboys did not win the Amazing Race. Disappointing, but it's been a while so I'm already over it. But onto the Simpsons.

This touching episode began with Moe leading the narration. He mentions something about zip code spelling boobs (80085), but we move to the Moe’s bar where all the fun is going on. As Homer rides Barney like a bull, the camera pans to Moe tells the camera to get off of him because he narrating. He then talks about how as a bartender he knows about all the problems his patrons deal with, specifically Homer, Apu and Reverend Lovejoy.

We then join the Simpsons watching Krusty a few days before Mother’s Day. During a commercial break they learn about a place called Weasel Island that is perfect for Mother’s Day. They encourage families to go to the Island and leave the mom’s at home, so they have free time to do whatever they want (sounds realistic right?). Homer, Apu and Reverend Lovejoy are all sold on the idea, so they take their families to Weasel Island. But while on the boat they receive a letter from Moe stating that while they’re gone he intends to leave town with one of their wives. Before going to commercial Moe laments that narrating is hard, but Don Pardo argues against him saying that he makes a lot is very happy doing it.

So, Homer, Apu and Reverend Lovejoy attempt to contact their wives, but they can’t get a signal with their cell phones. When they reach Weasel Island they each contemplate their marital problems in an attempt to figure out if their wife is likely to be stolen. Homer shares about the time when the in-laws visited. He remembers taking a picture of Patty and Selma and calls them “penis curling she devils.” This obviously made Marge really upset.

Meanwhile on the island Bart reenacts Civil War by putting the Apu’s octuplets in jail. Lisa notes that Bart knows his history of cruelty, but luckily the kids know how to fight back. They then go on rides. The ride operator tells Bart and Lisa “you had that scar before you got on,” Bart asks “what scar” and the operator responds “oh you’ll find out.” Eventually the ride stalls.

We then learn about Apu’s recent issues. He obviously cheated on Manjula, but he then he thinks about a time that Moe was able to witness his issues. This leads Apu into a recent issue he and Manjula encountered in their marriage. He tells Homer and Lovejoy about how his family got caught in the rain afar a cricket match and they were all extremely miserable. They stop by Moe’s in order to use the rest room, but once they leave and arrive home they discover that one of the kids was missing. Just in time they get a call from Moe letting them know that he has the kids. Although assures them that he is by no means threatening them, it would be welcome if they brought a million dollars in exchange for the kid. But he emphasizes that it is not a required ransom. Manjula decides to go back for their 8th child, but when she returned she smelled of beer and pickled eggs which now worries Apu. But Homer who happened to be there that night is able to assure Apu that all they did was play the Zii’s Dance Evolution game to Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance.” Another great song featured in the Simpsons.

Next, we get in Reverend Lovejoy’s marital problems. We learn that his wife Helen is mad because they don’t talk. His adviser tells him that Helen is mad and is about to blow. Moe shares his problems with Helen who is the town gossiper, so this in a way was Moe comforting her. Apu reveals that he saw Helen touching Moe’s knee. This new information makes everyone want to get back to town to see which wife was stolen. But before they go Lisa needs help get the carousel horse off of her.

When they arrive in town Homer finds Marge packing and he assumes the worst. Luckily it turns out that she is just painting. We then see Helen telling Rev. Lovejoy that she leaving, but it turns out that she is going to Istanbul with him, so they’re fine. This leaves Apu and he knows it and he is very sad. However, it turns out that Moe convinced Manjula to stay with Apu.

It turns out that Moe’s actions and letter were his attempt to help his friends fix their marriages and encourage them to appreciate their wives. The episode ends with a Mother’s Day tribute with pictures of mother’s accompanied by the “I’ll Always Love My Mama” song. So nice.

Overall, I really enjoyed the episode and it’s surprisingly direct message for Mother’s Day. I thought it would be an episode with some wacky attempts by Moe to steal their wives, but was surprised to find that Moe would do something good for their marriages. I think Moe is symbol for all of us to be more appreciative of what we have in life.

Recap: "To Surveil with Love" Coming Soon

Sorry that I'm running behind on Simpsons recaps, but last week was my birthday and shortly after that I got really sick and finally I lost my home internet connection (thank God for my smartphone...Droid!!!). As soon as it's back on I'll get the last recap up and I'll also get a chance to see this Sunday's episode (I reallyyy want to see that Ke$ha moment). Check back soon :)

Well, I saw the Ke$ha title moment and it was a pretty good. I'm surprised that they managed to animate that whole thing while the song was still relevant.  In the clip a lot was going on, but there were cool moments like Bart singing Diddy's lines and Otto getting a little bit tippppssy.

fsWell the episode itself started in Moe’s bar where Duffman and co come by to refill the beer. While there they gave out a ton of free swag including Duff USBs. When Homer gets home he shows off all his free stuff including his Duff earrings. Homer uses his duff bag to bring things to work and when Smithers tells Mr. Burns about excess nuclear waste, Burns tells him to put it in Homer’s bag. When Homer goes to the Union Station to try their mac and cheese, he leaves his bag unattended it causes a ruckus in the station. When the authorities, which include a look alike of Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry character, detonate it there is a massive nuclear explosion. It’s considered a terrorist attack, so the mayor hires a British anti-terrorism consultant. This consultant is qualified because he tackled the problem of overzealous flower sales people (very My Fair Lady) and also encouraged the use of surveillance in Britain.

Meanwhile at school Lisa is invited to join the debate team after showing her use of logic. It’s the perfect extracurricular it requires no funding, so it can’t be cut. But they still manage to take away Ralph and the throw up kid who were being used as podiums. During one of her first debates Lisa takes on a girl named Meghan. Initially, Lisa does well, but soon Meghan starts to degrade Lisa for being a blonde. This makes the judges take her less seriously and undervalue her arguments.

When they consider using surveillance to help secure Springfield during the town hall meeting Lisa argues that it is an infringement upon their rights. But Lisa point is dismissed because they think that she is just a dumb blonde. When the call for the vote, they ask those in favor say cheese. Most people in the auditorium say cheese. They then asks those who disagree to say I hate America. Lisa almost says it, but stops just in time to realize that she and any others who disagree were being tricked.

Marge buys Lisa a book entitled Sally the Circle when realizes that Lisa feels out of place due to her blonde hair. But the dismal ending doesn’t help Lisa feel better. Even Bart starts to feel low when Krusty decides to make blonde jokes about boys. Lisa decides to do the unthinkable and dyes her brown. Lisa competes in a debate with her new brown hair and she receives compliments like “she is as bright as her hair is dark.” Once she finds that they convinced by her hair she exposes her blonde roots and they are all scandalized. She uses this as an opportunity to denounce all stereotypes. She tells them that not all blondes are dumb, not all fat people are jolly (Comic Book Guy is mad that Comic Con may be moving to Anaheim), and that some old people can drive.

Meanwhile, the cameras are installed and the cops hire a group of Butt-in-skis (includes Ned and Marge) to surveil and reprimand the townsfolk through the use of a nagging speaker. Marge is not comfortable with the position because she feels like she is prying and she is uncomfortable with Maggie watching people in a gay bar who she thinks are a part of Sesame Street (they really did look like Bert and Ernie and Big Bird). Ned really annoys the townsfolk with all his prying and judging. While mooning Flanders Bart discovers a blind spot for the cameras behind his house. When he tells Homer they begin to charge people to access this space and do whatever they want in the blind spot. Cletus’ wife drinks some alcohol to stop the kicking of her unborn child and they even drag race for about 2 feet. They try to hide it from Marge, but she finds out tells Ned and the blind spot terrifies him. He tells Rodd to make sure that they both stay in the house, but he replies that Todd’s not in the house (he’s being fed mice in the blind spot).

When Ned sees the area for himself he describes it as compressed super evil. In the end, they reach an agreement and decide take down the cameras (they use crossbows like normal people). That ends the episode of American Oafs, which is the reality show that the consultant made out of the Springfield footage. The Queen is upset, but not more upset than her Ralph-like son Prince Charles who ends the episode with the classic line: “my cat’s breath smells like cat food.”

Recap: "The Squirt and the Whale"

"South Park- We'd Stand Behind You if We Weren't So Scared" and thus begins another high profile moment on the Simpsons. My Google Alerts have been going crazy with this homage to South Park by Simpsons writers. I'm just getting around to watching the episode now (I know I should of watched it earlier since LOST was a repeat tonight [still Ab Aeterno is an incredible episode], but I've been distracted).  Expect a recap of the whole episode soon, especially now that my internet is reconnected.

So, this episode starts with Bart and Lisa watching a trailer for a movie called Tic-Tac-Toe: X vs. O.  It is very Star Wars like, but Homer quickly puts the plug out of the TV. He does this because he their electricity bill is really high and quickly goes around the house pulling out all things that run on electricity in their house.  Lisa urges Homer to consider alternative energy and go to an expo featuring these innovations in energy.  But before they leave the house Homer turns on all the lights in order to deter criminals.  But Snake, who is waiting outside, is just annoyed that they think he is stupid enough to be tricked. So they go to the expo and they go to a booth for the Royal Danish Wind Society and learn about wind energy.  Homer decides to buy a fan although they said it would take him several lifetimes to pay it off.

When they install the enormous fan, Homer decides to cancel his electricity and declares "the Simpsons are off the grid!" (great for a Earth Week episode).  But living off of wind power alone proves to be very difficult.  They don't live in the Windy City, so when the wind stops blowing they are left with no electricity.  This leads Homer to declare that "the Simpsons are living intermittently."  When the Zii goes off Bart and Lisa fight and when the air starts to decrease in the kids' bouncy house they start to get wary.  Eventually, Homer uses regular fans powered by Ned's electricity in order to keep his fan going.  When Ned complains Bart and Lisa are forced to take turns pushing the fan, so they could watch TV.  But their luck changes when a storm comes to Springfield and they receive so much electricity that the TV lights are like X-Rays.

The next day Lisa and Bart decide to take a ride to the ocean.  There they find a beached whale that Lisa names Bluella. Lisa cares deeply for the whale, so she encourages people to keep it wet.  She even enlist the help of her dad.  He leads a group to try to push the whale into the water and a group of boats that try to pull it into the water, but all their efforts fail.  One night Lisa reads Bluella stories for Walt Whitman.  When she wakes up she finds that the military is using Black Hawks to lift the whale into the water.  Lisa is thrilled, but she when the whale jumps into the sky and floats in the stars she realizes that she is dreaming.  When she wakes up she finds that Bluella has died.  This was a really sad moment for me. I couldn't believed that it was dream sequence and that the whale actually died, but it got worse...more on that in a second.

Well Homer tries his best to comfort Lisa (Homer to Bart: "I'm trying to be a sensitive father you unwanted moron"), but she is still really hurt. Meanwhile, Bart and Milhouse head to the beach to poke the whale (it'll be the biggest dead animal we've ever poked).  But when they get there they find the police and other townsfolk attaching dynamite to the whale.  They then blow up part of Bluella and whale chunks fly everywhere.  This part of the episode really shocked me! I mean I guess it shows what they do with beached whales when they die, but it was pretty brutal and disgusting. Or maybe I'm just a sensitive person. 

The mayor then declares that they will make use of all parts of Bluella's body.  They Bluella perfume (I'm guessing it smells pretty fishy, but then whales aren't fishy, so maybe oceany) and whalebone corsets.  Homer tries to get Lisa over the loss by getting her a pet that will never die, an invisible dog, but the dogs proves to be unruly LoL.  This doesn't help Lisa though. She starts to hear whale wails (LoL whale wails). When she ventures to the ocean she hears the sounds again, but this time she isn't hallucinating. The wails were coming from Bluellas babies/calfs/whatever they're called.  But before she can even enjoy them they are surrounded by sharks.

Homer comes to the rescue using a boat that he took for a test drive.  He tries to kill the sharks with a harpoon, but an environmental duo in the Seahuggers stop him because they believe it's wrong to kill any kind of wildlife. Homer isn't convince and still tires to kill them, but Lisa sides with Seahuggers and Homer not to kill them.  As Homer declares his hate for sharks he falls into the water and the sharks surround him.  Luckily, the whales' father shows up just in time to save Homer.  As the entire Simpsons watches as the whales swim away, Lisa ponders whether they will be okay.  Homer responds yes and that the father whale is young and has two cute kids. He also says that he will probably move in with a "sexy, lady octopus," although he'll have to sell his old place - too many memories - and they will be some whale-a-puses on the way. Marge tells the family they will draw pictures of the story Homer just told.  And then they roll the credits with pictures of father whale and his new family and that Let's Go Sailing song in French.

Overall, I loved this episode. It was sweet and made you care about what was going on. I did not like the brutality of the disposal of Bluella, but like I said maybe this is what happens in real life. I also loved whole leave the lights on so robbers will think we're home bit, sounds like someone I know.  I also thought it was perfect for Earth Week.

Happy One Year Anniversary of my blog!!

Just wanted to mention that it has been exactly a year since I started my blog. And in true Simpsons fan fashion I got an awesome Simpsons surprise in the mail.

I ordered if from Kohls the other day. The original price was 29.99, but with the help of some online tips I managed to get it for exactly $5.40.  That includes shipping in handling. I don't know if it's still on sale for 5.99, but you can check.

But yeah thanks for visiting the site and I hope you find my insights interesting.  I'm going to try to stay on top my recaps and news (you know instead of the whole links thing I have been doing recently). Oh yeah and I need to include some more pop culture news (like Lost is in it's last season and I still haven't given my review of New Moon). But keep looking out for new stuff. Until next time :-)

Congrats to Taylor Lautner!

Congratulations to Taylor Lautner for winning the Kids Choice Awards for Best Movie Actor and Best Couple with Jacob and Bella!...yup thats right they beat out Edward and Bella.  That means these kids are definitely Team Jacob. A lot of people complain because they were never officially a couple, but they were definitely on the brink of a relationship. Only the whole imprinting thing would've been an issue :-) Congrats again Taylor.

New Moon DVD: Borders Special Edition DVD and Midnight Release Party Photo Post

On Saturday March 19th I attended the New Moon DVD at the Borders at Columbus Circle, NYC. I went to this location because Twilight Lexicon and Twilight Moms were hosting a live podcast. It was interesting to hear their stories about visiting the set of New Moon and the video from the stars of Twilight were also pretty great.

I went to the Borders DVD release party because I wanted their edition of the DVD.

I got their editon of the Twilight DVD as well. It was signed by Edi Gathegi. I might post pictures of that Midnight Release Party as an update on this post.

This is what you see when you open the first flap. Looks a lot like the Eclipse One Sheet right? The eclipse one sheet and sneak peek are so much of what we've seen before. But the Walmart edition did have some interesting Eclipse footage. You can check it out on youtube.

When you open it all the way you have the second DVD and then it has the necklace that comes out of the pouch in the middle.  The necklace has two sides. The side that is showing has the Cullen Crest and the other side has the wolf pack tattoo. I would wear on the Wolfpack side of course.

LoL I saw this shirt in Target the other day. Team Jacob all the way :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

photo from http://z.about.com/d/animatedtv/1/0/2/E/simp16FamilyXmas.jpg

Make sure you have a grumply, grumply christmas/ filled with grumply gru. A grumply, grumply christmas to you!!

LoL The Simpsons episode with the Grumple came on yesterday, so my song was inspired by that.

I'm still running a bit behind on news ...Simpsons arcade game and Jedward.... but I just read an small interesting story in the New York Times about the Vatican and The Simpsons. Apparently the Vatican official newspaper praised the show and its writers for its realisticness and great writing. On the other hand they also expressed their disdain for the shows language and sometimes crude topics.... umm I guess they haven't seen Family Guy... but not moments like Homer mispronouncing Jesus' name ("Save me Jebus!!!") and the renouncing his fate (can't think of a specific moment, but I remember Homer stealing cable and not wanting to go to church). But they do like that fact that Homer always "finds in God his last refuge". He does still go to church and decided not to watch the big fight on the stolen cable.

So yeah don't feel guilty if you decide to spend today having a Simpsons marathon, but I do suggest you try to stick to the Christmas episodes.

Happy 20th Birthday to The Simpsons!

It was December 17, 1989 when the first full episode of The Simpsons,"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" premiered. I don't remember when I first started watching The Simpsons, when it first premeired I was only about 2 years old. However, I do remember watching it when my brother and I matched the ages of Bart and Lisa, meaning when I was 8 years old. Since then I've watched the Simpsons on and off. It wasn't until high school that I started watching it regularly and started to pay attention to the new episodes on Sundays. Soon I started to realize how The Simpsons covers almost every aspect of life and began annoying my family and friends (and strangers) by pointing out how every situation reminded me of something "on this episode of The Simpsons." Now I am an unofficial Simpsons blogger because of my love for the show and I'm happy that I started blogging just in time to celebrate the shows 20th anniversary. Are you reliving your first memories of The Simpsons, too? Okay until next time when I get some more recaps up.

Winner of The Simpsons Character Contest

So, while I was on hiatus a winner of The Simpsons character contest was announced. According to the Associated Press, the winner is Peggy Black from Orange, CT. She created Ricardo Bomba, a casanova also known as La Bomba. Just the name makes we want to laugh so I definitely think this that this character will be a good addition to the show.

Daniel Radcliffe to Guest Star in the Simpsons Next Season

Oh wow my two obsessions are to combine in the next season of The Simpsons. Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe will being playing a character named Edmund (a play on Robert Pattinson's Edward Cullen) in next seasons Treehouse of Horror XXI. According the EW's Hollywood Insider, Edmund is a boy vampire that Lisa falls for and Homer and Edmund's father Dracula work together to squash the romance. Sounds like fun to me, especially since Radcliffe is going to have to subdue his personality to the brooding seriousness of Robert Pattinson/Edward Cullen.

By the way, my two obsessions are Harry Potter and The Simpsons, but I'm also into the whole Twilight phenomena although it is nowhere near an obsession. So yeah it is an awesomeness trifecta. I just hope they let Rupert Grint play Jacob Black and Emma Watson play Bella Swan in the future. But I can't wait to this episode.

Another Quick Update

Wow I'm running ridiculously late on these recaps and the amount of news to report keeps building up. I finally saw New Moon and all the newest episodes of the Simpsons, so I'm pretty much ready to write all the posts (although abbreviated) in the next few days. The news is also going to include:

• Jedward to be on The Simpsons


• Mr. Burns a top write in candidate for mayor in NYC (the pic of this post is a poster that I photographed on the street with my phone; it's been my phone wallpaper ever since :)

Okay, I still need to get recaps for Pranks and Greens and Rednecks and Broomsticks, but I will have The Devil Wears Nada up soon. Not tomorrow though. Tomorrow is all about the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DVD and work for me, but expect the recap up soon after that.