So It's Come To This... A List of my favorite Simpson episodes

So I came up with a plan to list my favorite Simpson episodes. Take the basis of most seasons (well Ok, the Golden Age of Seasons 4-8) and construct a perfect season. Way harder than it sounds so I have included some of the near misses at the end.

1. Treehouse of Horror: A collection of three segments that I enjoy- 1. Night of the dolphin, 2. Homer3, 3. The Shining
2. Family episode: Mother Simpson
3. Bart episode: Radio Bart "I'm Timmy O'Toole And I'm Stuck Down A well"
   
4. Lisa episode: Lisa The Iconlonist
5. Homer Episode: El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)
6. Marge Episode: Life On the Fast Lane
7. Abe Episode: Grandpa vs Sexual Inadequacy
8. Apu Episode: Homer & Apu
9. Celebrity guest star as a normal character (Albert Brooks as Hank Scorpio): You Only Move Twice "If you could kill a few people on your way that'd really help me out"
   
10. Moe/Barney episode: Flaming Moes
11. Sideshow Bob episode: Cape Feare
12. Ensemble celebrity guests: HomerPalooza
13. Clip Show: The 138th Episode Spectacular
14. Travel episode: Bart VS Australia
15. Homer in a new job episode: Homer The Smithers
16. Flash back episode: And Maggie Makes Three
17. Awesome song episode: Homer’s Barber Shop Quartet "baby on board" and lots of Beatles references
    
18. Genre bending episode: 22 Short Films About Springfield
19. Big event episode: Deep Space Homer
20. Krusty episode: Kamp Krusty
21. Personal Favorite: Two Bad Neighbours
22. Springfield Elementary episode: The Principal and the Pauper People hate this episode but it is so subversive I love it.
    

And the runner ups:
Worst Episode Ever: Take My Wife, Sleaze > I just can't stand this episode especially the stupid fight at the end.
Episodes that were close to being included: Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious, A Street Car Named Marge
How the hell did I leave out: Homer The Great, Homie The Clown, Mr Plow
Two Dozen And One Greyhounds, Lemon Of Troy, Homer’s Enemy, Bart After Dark, The Cartridge Family, Lisa The Simpson, The Last Temptation Of Krust (featuring the awesome Canyonero sequence)

Stream of GRRRR

busy hectic time of year and then people play jokes.

not funny.

listening to foo fighters. The pretender. "just another soul to sell, oh well... what if I say I'm not like the others... what if I say that I'll never surrender?"

hmmm new Josh Freese album for $7. Makes the to-do list.

Wrote a good piece for the year 11s. May post it here. Pretty flukey as there was minimal preparation, just hit the zone I spose. Came out Ok. Intimidated them a little, it was fairly good but had to tell them this has come from years of writing garbage. It gave them some ideas and felt good for a quickie.

Man that paragraph came out wrong. Must focus on positives though. Holidays are soon and can't wait.

Fell on black days?
Hopefully tomorrow is better

RIP Andrew "Test" Martin

Another wrestler with a drug problem died. This time aged 33.

Will they ever get it?

This blog is worth reading: Steel Cage

If you haven't seen The Wrestler I suggest you do, the story is one that is reality for many entertainers and Micky Rourke is just brilliant. It is a little bloody but the things these guys do for a crowd (and remember we are talking about a low income, low literacy, not exactly transferable skills sort of job. I don't think you can put "can take a steel chair shot" on your resume.)

It is becoming harder to watch. The pic below was my favourite moment when it happened but now just makes me sad and then angry...


Both are dead. One killed his wife and son and then himself. Autopsy revealed his brain condition was that of an 80 year old Alzheimer patient. The other died alone in his hotel room, tooth brush in his mouth. Autopsy revealed an enlarged heart and hardened arteries.

Something must be done.

Movie reviews (50 words each)

Slumdog Millionaire
Pretty cool, though confusing for the first two thirds. Once the action gets in order and the flashbacks cut back then it rolls with a great tension to the conclusion and the long awaited Bollywood dance. Anwar is great. Dark Knight was robbed. Recommended anyway.

Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood is a widely recognised god of cinema. This is why- he knows what people are feeling and thinking and puts it on film. The ultimate story of self-sacrifice with the Obi Wan ending. An excellent film for text study in VCE.

Watchmen
Heath Ledger won an Oscar for the Joker. Jackie Earle Hayley is better as Rorschach than Heath was as Joker. This is way dark and a thoroughly thought provoking and still action packed superhero film. The graphic novel is different and deeper, but this works fine on the big screen.

There is plenty out there at the minute so these come highly recommended for different reasons. Certainly worth a look anyway.

Example of being "in the moment"

The glare of the hardwood blinds me and I’m home. The lights prevent shadows from appearing but I play in the shadows from appearing but I play in the shadows of past triumphs and failures. The ball thumps into the floor like a bull preparing to charge. My chest heaves north in anticipation and hold my breath. I feel the leather at my fingers and launch the rocket at the moon.

Who lives for twitter anyway?

I am totally addicted to twitter. Since starting a few weeks ago it has annihilated facebook as my communication of choice. Despite appearing limited it has many more uses than the claustrophobic, ad ridden, zombie infested facebook site. Hell, there is an rss feed to my twitter to the right.

The ability to update anytime, anywhere, without the hassle that facebook brings is brilliant! Straight from my iPhone to you! And instantly the update of "what I am doing now" appears on my msn, facebook and blogs. All I have to do is bring up Twittee (an iPhone app) and the website does the rest.

And then there is the news feeds, and celebrity inclusions- including Trent Reznor, Brittany Spears, and Russel Brand - are awesome! Ok, not awesome but certainly interesting for the next month or so before something else comes along and leaves twitter users labelled the 'out' crowd, as facebook users are now.

There are educational implications too, check out this! You can create twitters for students to show knowldge of anything that involves change, opinion and time. For instance, the evolution of man in science, the rise of caesar in history and the role Lions play in aesop's fables. Deeper character study? Why not ask students to sign in and create twitter blogs for Vincent in Gattaca or Shylock in The Mechant of Venice? Imagine integrating the RSS feeds into a wiki on the subject being studied and having a list of what the characters are doing today? And what if they can do this from their mobile phones or iPod Touch? (Hence removing the need for any actual ICT equipment in the room).

As with anything software based, it does take some adjustment but the beauty of twitter is that it is actually simple (remember who got you into myspace and facebook and promised "it was easy"? Are you still on speaking terms with them?) There is little more to it than 140 characters to tell the world what you are up to. You can add mobile and quick pics that link to a seperate area but these arent essential.

So for your next social networking adventure, do consider twitter.

Totally off topic but WATCHMEN is out on Thursday! Fairly excited, review soon.