The Simpsons

I grew up on The Simpsons. My family would watch it on Sundays at 8PM or whenever it was, when we got home from Church. Even though I didn't understand all of the jokes, I would always watch the show. We even recorded episodes onto VCR tapes so I could watch the episodes over and over again. As I got older and watched the episode, I understood more and more of the jokes and related more to the storylines, and understood the literary and cultural references. Also, I developed an appreciation for how the animation was done and all the work involved to create an episode. But now I'm turning 19 years old soon, and the Simpsons are still coming out with episodes. I love the show, but am I going to be showing new episodes on Sundays to my kids some day? Come on.

The Simpsons started as shorts out on The Tracey Ullman Show with crude animation but good humor nevertheless. Three years later, the short was developed into a half-hour show for prime-time on Fox, and became an immediate hit while also being controversial (presenting a dysfunctional family). And when you look at clips from Season 1 as opposed to, like Season 10 (one of my favorites), the humor, storyline, character development, animation, and everything else has developed tremendously. Well, I guess everything developed and improved over time, or else the show would not be running.

The Simpsons have covered countless topics and conflicts and ideas over the years. With around 450 episodes, including 60 of Halloween themed shorts, they must have covered everything. The popular, more controversial show, South Park devoted an entire episode to portray that The Simpsons have done everything, rightly titled: The Simpsons Already Did It. Here's the full episode:

Click here to watch!

Despite the B-story being extremely dirty, the creators of South Park make a good point. The Simpsons have so many episodes, they really have done everything...

Personally, I haven't seen any episodes past Season 17. I think they're funny and relateable, but I wouldn't take the time out now to watch it. I think the best seasons are from 3-11, with some skewed episodes in between. I think it's amazing that they're doing so well and are the longest-running series with a full-length movie, but come on. When is it going to end? And when it does, what's gonna happen? Is it going to be this big controversy, that the longest running sitcom has finally come to its end? I guess it's gotta happen sooner or later...

But here's the evolution of The Simpsons over the years with some of my favorite clips. Enjoy!

Episode 16 on the Tracey Ullman Show:


Clip from the first episode, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"


Clip from a Season 1 Episode: "There's No Disgrace Like Home":


Clip from Season 2: "Bart Gets an F"


Clip from Season 3: "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington"


Clip from Season 3: "Bart's Friend Falls in Love"


Clip from Season 4: "Lisa the Beauty Queen":


Clip from Season 5 "Boy-Scoutz 'N the Hood"


Clip from Season 6: "Lisa on Ice"


Clip from Season 7: Treehouse of Horror VI "Homer ^3"


Clip from Season 8, "The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show"


Clip from Season 9: "Homer vs. the City of New York"


Clip from Season 10: "D'oh'in in the Wind"


After that, the only seasons on Hulu that were available are seasons 19 & 20. I haven't seen those seasons yet.

Bestsellers: they’re what sells best. But is it the Best?

I have worked at Barnes and Noble Booksellers for over a year and a half now, and throughout that time I have seen the transition of bestsellers, the fiction and nonfiction stories that sell the best. These titles are important to both the store and the consumer because we sell them at a discounted price, encouraging the consumer to buy whatever titles are popular, and the consumer is presented with the titles that everyone is buying, which is helpful when gift-giving or just looking for something good to read. In the hundreds of titles that have gone on and off the shelf, I realize that some titles belong up there, while others do not.

Every single James Patterson book that was released became a bestseller. Same goes for other popular authors like David Baldacci and John Grisham. For Patterson, I remember when the second book in his series Cross came out, Double Cross right around Christmastime. We would sell tremendous amounts of it; we had to have two displays of hundreds of copies of the books set up, because apparently it was an excellent gift idea. One time, a book came out, The Dangerous Days of Daniel X, which flopped immediately. That was the only book by Patterson that I read so many negative views about. But regardless, when Patterson wrote another book next month, it was back up there on the top of the bestsellers. I guess Patterson can afford to have a less popular book, because he’ll always bounce back.

The seventh Harry Potter book was on the number one bestseller shelf for many months, while we apparently refuse to put the Twilight series up there (which I have no problem with).

During the election and campaigning, Obama’s name was on at least four titles: two of them were his biographies and at least two were criticisms about him. More books were published about Obama, more people read about Obama, and even though the criticism books sold, look who won. In my opinion, because Obama was the subject of most of the books, his name was out there much more, influencing people to see what his plans are. Now, there are still many books published praising him and many criticizing him, and they both sell.

This year also brought in a good amount of movies, but that also meant bringing about a good amount of bestsellers. The Watchmen became an instant bestseller when it was previewed in the Dark Knight

Then, a few months later it went off. Then it came back during Christmas, almost died off, and then it got back up there as the movie was about to be released. Confessions of a Shopaholic and He’s Just Not That into You never sold as well as they did when the movie came out. No one ever even heard of q&a, or Slumdog Millionaire until the movie was released, and won the tremendous amount of awards. So that just goes to show that movies and books have an intricate relationship with each other: the movies need the books to get an idea and the books need the movies to sell.

And I haven’t even started on Oprah yet. Basically every book that she makes a big to-do about becomes a bestseller. I’ll never forget one day where a customer came in asking for A New Earth. No matter how I searched, I could not find it and then when I eventually did, it came up as out of print. The customer had a fit. Oprah said the book’s name, so it has to be in print; she had to read it right away! Another customer yelled at me and said I better get this book in quick, ‘cause people were going to be asking for it.

And they did. They asked for this book a million ways: “A New World?”, “Awaken to your life’s something or other…” “That book by the Eckhart guy”, “You know, the orange book that was on Oprah”. This book was on our list for months and months and just recently was taken off. Same thing for Eat, Pray, Love, people didn’t know the name but needed to read it because Oprah said it on her show. This just goes to show how easily people are influenced, and how what’s usually popular may not be the best title.

So, I wonder what’s going to be the next trend for the bestsellers. I’ve noticed that some of the titles discussed may not have substance to them, but they still sell and become popular. So it is with life, I guess. “What’s right may not be popular, and what’s popular may not be right.”

Paley Center for Media

So this spring break was a lot of fun, but the highlight was when myself, Alex, Francesca, and Jackie went to the Paley Center for Media, formerly known as the Museum of Television and Radio. This was my fourth time going, and it will not be my last. I'm not sure why I don't have a membership there already, I always love going there.

Anyway, we get to the museum right when it opened, and were immediately bullied to go on the Visitor's Tour. We couldn't say no--only because we did not want to seem rude. But we went on the 40-minute tour which explained why they changed their name (now the Internet is becoming another source for people to get their media, not just TV and radio) and also showed a video hosted by Barbara Walters that highlighted most of the milestones in television history. After that lovely tour was over, we went to the library archive, where they have hundreds of thousands of television shows and televised sporting events that one can look up and watch. I believe our tour guide said that the most requested event was the Kennedy Funerals (which will probably turn into the 9/11 news reports when the next generation comes in and wants to see it) and the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. It's interesting to think that those are the most popular requests now, what will be in a few years?

So this library has basically every television show that you can request to watch. This was my second time doing the search. First time I did it, I watched two episodes of Rocky and Bullwinkle, a show that I haven't seen in years. It's pretty funny to see how different animation could be and how audiences were still entertained by the crude animation but humorous comedy. I also got to see some old commercials with the show; the one I remember was the Tric cereal ones, that still featured the white rabbit wanting Trix but I think the kids were nicer to him about denying him cereal. Funny to see how meaner we got as the years went by.

This time, I wanted to watch an episode of the Tracey Ullman Show, so I can see what it was about and see a Simpsons short. Unfortunately, the episodes were an hour long (and that's the time limit for non-members) and I would have rather watched two episodes of something. Then, I tried to search for Gumby, but couldn't find that either. Then I chose to watch the Muppet Show, even though I'm probably going to watch a lot of episodes on DVD with my little nephew when he gets older. But I was glad I chose that show, it was so funny. The two episodes had guest stars Alice Cooper and Brooke Shields. Just like Rocky and Bullwinkle, this show was really funny and it was interesting to see the different in entertainment.







So after that we all watched an episode of the Jack Benny show with Johnny Carson. Now THAT was interesting to see for the difference in entertainment in talk show hosts. Jack Benny basically stood there the whole time, cracking lame jokes (I think a total of three were actually funny), and then Johnny Carson came in and all they did was talk and crack lame jokes. The guest was more entertaining than the host in my opinion. But it's funny to think that today. talk show hosts need to be more engaging and entertaining in order to get viewers, and there needs to be more animation and breaks in between the host talking; something like the Jack Benny show would not be appealing to my generation.

So the day was a lot of fun and it made me realize the difference in television and what passes for entertainment these days.

Bright Spring Morning

Today's the last day of school, and I couldn't be happier. I seriously need a week off. After finishing the Rome video (which I find amazing), I need this break haha.

Anyway, I was thinking about what I was going to do on this break, and I thought of one of my favorite songs, "Bright Spring Morning" by Suburban Legends:

The time is right to begin
Let's get going once again
For once in your life just let go
I'm getting sick of everything
Tired of what the next day brings
What I need is for you to follow my lead

The sun is shinning bright outside
I think I'll go for a ride
I plan not to ever return
Let's run away from here for good
Forget this dusty neighborhood
The open road is calling and begging for us

Go, roll down the window
Go, crank up that radio
Let's drive until we hit the sky
It's not about where we go
Let's start living life before we die

If you want you can stay
But you'll regret the day
That you didn't follow your dreams
Imagine the wind in your hair
Blowing away all of your cares
So take my hand, let's plan never to look back.

The sun is shinning bright outside
I think I'll go for a ride
I plan not to ever return
Let's run away from here for good
Forget this dusty neighborhood
The open road is calling and begging for us

Go, roll down the window
Go, crank up that radio
Let's drive until we hit the sky
It's not about where we go
Let's start living life before we die

So take my hand lets plan never to look back.
True, it's all in my dreams
Yeah, you are all in my dreams
Yeah, what I need is a long holiday
What I need is to get away
What I need is a long holiday
What I need is to get away
From here for good tonight
Lets fly away tonight
On this bright spring morning
Send our spirits soaring
'Cause now is the time

Go, roll down the window
Go, crank up that radio
Let's drive until we hit the sky
It's not about where we go
Let's start living life before we die

This song reflects how I feel right now. I don't wanna just be a couch potato during this spring break and do nothing. I'm not going anywhere far away and fun like Florida or Rome or places like, that. But "it's not about where I go" and I just need to "start living life before I die". <3