#EverySimpsonsEver -- Day Seven

And on the seventh day, the marathon continues. A few of the episodes I've chosen are probably not entirely must-see, but within the episodes are enough moments of greatness that I don't feel they should be missed. Your mileage may vary.

And while it's not listed below, the Season 13 finale, "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge," airing at 11:30 am, features one of my favorite all-time lines, one that is just impossible for me to quote in person. In the episode Homer opens his own security firm, leading to this remark to Marge: "You know, I've had a lot of jobs -- boxer, mascot, astronaut, imitation Krusty, baby-proofer, trucker, hippie, plow driver, food critic, conceptual artist, grease salesman, carny, mayor, grifter, bodyguard for the mayor, country/western manager, garbage commissioner, mountain climber, farmer, inventor, Smithers, Poochie, celebrity assistant, power plant worker, fortune cookie writer, beer baron, Kwik-E-Mart clerk, homophobe and missionary -- but protecting Springfield, that gives me the best feeling of all."

MUST-SEE!

8/27 2:00 AM ET “A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love” -- Mr. Burns, responding to a fortune cookie written by Homer (one of the jobs listed above), falls in love with a meter maid played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Burns wants Homer's help in winning her heart.

8/27 3:00 AM ET “She of Little Faith” -- An accident that wrecks the church leads to Burns paying for its repair in exchange for things like ads and vibrating recliners. This leads to Lisa becoming a Buddhist.

8/27 5:00 AM ET “Half-Decent Proposal” -- Artie Ziff is now wealthy but still obsessed with Marge. You can sort of guess from the title what happens. And the ending features an adaptation of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)."

8/27 5:30 AM ET “The Bart Wants What It Wants” -- The Simpsons are going to Toronto! (Marge: "It's so clean and bland...I'm home!")

8/27 7:30 AM ET “Blame It on Lisa” -- The Simpsons are going to Brazil!

8/27 9:00 AM ET “I Am Furious Yellow” -- The Simpsons are going to...oh, sorry. Bart creates Angry Dad, a comic book character (based on Homer, duh) that is turned into an Internet cartoon.

8/27 12:00 PM ET “How I Spent My Strummer Vacation” -- Would you go to a rock-and-roll fantasy camp with instructors Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Lenny Kravitz, Brian Setzer, Tom Petty and Elvis Costello? I would. And so would Homer.

8/27 2:00 PM ET “The Great Louse Detective” -- Someone is trying to kill Homer. Chief Wiggum decides that in order to catch the criminal he needs someone who thinks like a criminal. Hence, Sideshow Bob moves in with the Simpsons. Bob to Homer: "How can one man have so many enemies?" Homer: "I'm a people person!...who...drinks."

8/27 2:30 PM ET “Special Edna” -- Probably my favorite from the latter half of the series' history. Skinner's ineptness at romancing Krabappel leads to Bart nominating her for the Teacher of the Year awards in Orlando, and the Simpsons get to go along. So many good lines.

8/27 5:00 PM ET “I’m Spelling as Fast as I Can” -- Lisa wins the school spelling bee and works her way up to the Spell-lympics, a national contest. Unfortunately, she's asked to lose on purpose.

8/27 6:00 PM ET “Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington” -- Krusty runs for Congress. Not really a realistic episode but the depictions of Fox News are perfect.

8/27 7:30 PM ET “Three Gays of the Condo” -- Going gay again. After a fight with Marge, Homer moves out of the house -- and into Springfield's gayborhood.

8/27 8:00 PM ET “Dude, Where’s My Ranch?” -- More for the beginning, which features Homer trying to write a new Christmas carol (the one Usher stole), which turns into "Everybody Hates Ned Flanders," which -- with David Byrne's production -- becomes a hit so big even Flanders and his boys are singing along.

8/27 11:30 PM ET “The President Wore Pearls” -- A takeoff on "Evita," despite the closing on-screen disclaimer.

MEH. M-E-H, MEH.

8/27 3:30 AM ET “Brawl in the Family”

8/27 4:00 AM ET “Sweets and Sour Marge”

8/27 6:00 AM ET “The Lastest Gun in the West”

8/27 8:30 AM ET “Gump Roast” -- Another clip show...although it does include the song "They'll Never Stop the Simpsons."

8/27 10:30 AM ET “The Frying Game”

8/27 1:30 PM ET “Helter Shelter”

8/27 3:00 PM ET “The Dad Who Knew Too Little”

8/27 8:30 PM ET “Old Yeller-Belly”

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 7-10-13

It's been a while for one of these, soooo...

It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - R.E.M.
Simple - k.d. lang
The War Is Over - Kelly Clarkson
She's Comin' Out Swingin' - The Simpsons
Changes - David Bowie
Say Goodbye - Dave Matthews Band
You Take Some Lentils and You Take Some Rice - Eurythmics
Here You Come Again - Dolly Parton
Two Hearts - Stephanie Mills with Teddy Pendergrass
You'll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart) - Dionne Warwick
This Love (Tricky Stewart Remix) - Maroon 5
Kill The Pain - INXS
Life Can Be So Nice - Prince and the Revolution

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 1-30-12

The date is correct. These are the first songs played by my iPod in shuffle mode after I got to work on Monday morning. I sent the list to my home email and promptly neglected to post it. Yikes.

Lovers Rock - Sade

Dancing Machine - Jackson 5

U Sure Do - Strike

A Long Walk - Jill Scott

Shame (Dance Mix) - Eurythmics

Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand

Real Men - Joe Jackson

Cupid Boy - Kylie Minogue

Get On Up - Jodeci (Excerpt - from DJ Jazzy Jeff and Mick Boogie's "Summertime: The Mixtape")

Only Love Can Break Your Heart (A Mix in Two Halves) - St. Etienne

Don't Talk About Me - Tony Toni Tone

My Phone's On Vibrate For You - Rufus Wainwright

I Know What Boys Like - The Waitresses

And speaking of work, I missed the last two days, yesterday and today. It's the first time I haven't made it in since I began this job. (My perfect attendance is ruined. Ruined!) I've been struggling with a sinus infection and that, combined with a lack of sleep, compelled me to call in sick Wednesday. I was informed that I needed a doctor's note when I returned. I couldn't get a doctor's appointment until today as the office closed early yesterday, so I didn't get any prescriptions until today. I'm assuming I'll go back tomorrow.

Quick Review: Take Me Home Tonight

Some things you should know about the film "Take Me Home Tonight" whether you see it or not:

• It was filmed in 2007 and has been sitting around ever since.
• The film takes place in 1988, according to Wikipedia. I knew it was set in the 80s but not specifically which year. More on this in a moment.
• It stars Topher Grace as a college grad who can't decide what to do with his life, so he works at Suncoast Video. He lies about this when he has a chance encounter with his high school dream girl (Teresa Palmer), whom he's always regretted never asking out.
• Later, after seeing each other at a wild party and getting some quality time, she tells him that the thing she likes most about him is his honesty.
• I saw that line coming from ten miles away. The movie is that predictable.
• Grace's character's twin sister is played by Anna Faris.
• I normally love Anna Faris but this film somehow turned her into a version of Drew Barrymore.
• And not a good version of Drew Barrymore.
• An opening scene, which takes place in a record store, shows large displays of 1980s records.
• Record stores back then (maybe they do still this now, but the only chain I have access to is FYE, and their displays don't quite fit the mold) had those large displays to sell current album releases.
• Among the 1980s records displayed: "Touch" by Eurythmics and "Bad" by Michael Jackson.
• "Bad" was released in 1987. "Touch" was released in 1983.
• Perhaps the worst offense of all: of all the 1980s songs in the film, there was one in particular that was missing.
• You guessed it: no love for Eddie Money's "Take Me Home Tonight." My grade: D-plus.

For Blog Post 667...

I decided I shouldn't be stuck on 666 posts for very long. So, since that last post featured songs in my iTunes with "devil" in the title, let's reverse course. Here are all the songs (not including Christmas music) with "angel" in the title...and one video following the list...

Angel - Dave Matthews Band
Angel - Eurythmics
Angel (Choir Version) - Eurythmics
Angel (Live) - Eurythmics
Angel - Gavin Friday
Angel (7" Mix) - Gavin Friday
Angel - Luscious Jackson
Angel - Madonna
Angel (Extended Dance Mix) - Madonna
Angel - Massive Attack
Angel - Sarah McLachlan
Angel (Radio Edit) - Jam & Spoon
An Angel Cries - Aretha Franklin
Angel Eyes - Lime
Angel Of Harlem - U2
Angel of Mine - Monica
Angel On My Shoulder (EDX's Belo Horizonte at Night Remix) - Kaskade With Tamra
An Angel Went Up In Flames - Gasband
Angels - Tori Amos
Angels And Demons - The Tourists
Angels Don't Fall In Love - The Bangles
Angels On The Balcony - Blondie
Blue Angel - Roy Orbison
Desert Angel - Stevie Nicks
Evil Angel - Rufus Wainwright
Fallen Angel (Perfecto Mix) - Traci Lords
Hear The Angels / C'mon - Da Juice
I'm No Angel - Dido
I've Got An Angel - Eurythmics
If God Will Send His Angels - U2
Looking For An Angel - Kylie Minogue
Sleeping With An Angel - Real McCoy
Talking To My Angel - Melissa Etheridge
There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart) - Eurythmics
There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart) (Live) - Eurythmics
Touched By An Angel - Gloria Estefan

One of my absolute favorite songs, one of the strangest videos: Eurythmics' "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)" -- enjoy!

Quick Review - Tron: Legacy

Like remakes, sequels can be an issue if I haven't seen the prior edition. In the case of "Tron" and its sequel,  "Tron: Legacy," there was a 28-year gap between films so I figured that they would explain enough about what happened in the first one to get people up to speed -- especially since "Tron" never caught on the way a film like "Star Wars" and its sequels did. And it did explain things. I still don't quite understand it all, though. Programs and Users and ISOs and The Grid and all of that. I was amused when Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), son of the protagonist in the original (Jeff Bridges, whose younger self is digitized to appear as Clu, or "Codified Likeness Utility," as well as the now-older Kevin Flynn), went to his father's old arcade to check out something related to his disappearance (twenty years earlier), and while stumbling upon the computer lab and machinery that transported Kevin, and then Sam, onto The Grid, turned on the old jukebox. What amused me: the old music playing in the old jukebox -- Journey's "Separate Ways and especially Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)." The rest of it confused me at times, though it isn't a complete bore. It certainly looked great, though -- except when this happened. My grade: B-minus.

It Gets Better: The Miracle Of Love

My thanks to a friend who is known on the Interwebs as LCM, Centre of the Known Universe, for posting this video earlier..."The Miracle of Love" by Eurythmics:



I'm posting it because it makes me feel better to hear it after all of the stuff that follows this sentence, and perhaps it will make you feel better as well.

Last week I wrote about the It Gets Better video project started by sex-advice columnist Dan Savage in response to the news of 15-year-old Billy Lucas of Greensburg, Indiana, who committed suicide after being bullied and harassed nonstop by anti-gay bigoted thugs in his high school. It's designed to get the message out to kids who are struggling -- because of bullies, "religious" people, bigoted school officials and parents and the like -- that suicide isn't the answer, that if they hang on and get through this time in their lives, they'll one day escape their circumstances by going to college or moving to a big city with a stronger gay presence, and their lives will be so much better.

Just since then there were two more young kids who killed themselves after being bullied.