#EverySimpsonsEver -- Day Two

Continuing with my daily summary of what to watch -- or skip -- during the twelve-day Simpsons marathon on FXX...and believe me, at this point the must-see episodes I'm leaving out are killing me!

MUST-SEE!

8/22 1:00 AM ET “Brush with Greatness” -- After seeing some old paintings by Marge (of Ringo Starr, her favorite Beatle, who provides guest vocals) in the attic, Lisa encourages her to take art classes. This leads to Marge's being commissioned to paint a portrait of Mr. Burns for the Springfield Art Gallery.

8/22 3:30 AM ET “Stark Raving Dad” -- Homer is temporarily admitted to a mental hospital because he wore a pink shirt to work. Really. There, he shares a room with a guy who thinks he's Michael Jackson. He doesn't remotely look like MJ (heavyset, white, shaved head) but he sure sounds like the real deal...which he should, since Jackson did the vocals (under an assumed name). However, it seems he used a sound-alike to sing. He only did the speaking parts.

8/22 8:00 AM ET “Flaming Moe’s” -- Moe's bar becomes a huge success after he takes credit for a drink invented by Homer. Speaking of huge, in Bart's prank call to Moe he asked for Hugh Jass. (Get it?) To Bart's shock, Hugh answers.

8/22 9:30 AM ET “Radio Bart” -- Bart plays pranks with a "Mr. Microphone"-type toy, and ends up falling down an abandoned well. A "We Are The World" parody features guest vocals by Sting.

8/22 11:00 AM ET “Bart the Lover” -- One of the best. As revenge for a month's detention, Bart answers Edna Krabappel's personal ad, at one point sending her "his" picture -- a picture of Gordie Howe from a book.

8/22 11:30 AM ET “Homer at the Bat” -- The one with all the MLB stars playing on Mr. Burns' power plant softball team so he can win a bet against Shelbyville's power plant owner. Darrrrrylllll... Darrrrrylllll... And I just read the Wikipedia entry for this episode, which states that one of their first choices for the ballplayers turned them down: one Ryne Sandberg, now Phillies manager. Fire him now.

8/22 4:00 PM ET “A Streetcar Named Marge” -- Marge and Ned Flanders starring in a musical production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

8/22 7:30 PM ET “Mr. Plow” -- "Call Mr. Plow, that's my name, that name again is Mr. Plow." Homer's simple jingle for his snowplow business. Then his competitor, Barney, calls on Linda Ronstadt for his jingle.

8/22 8:00 PM ET “Lisa’s First Word” -- One of the many episodes which flash back to the family's past; of course, that past shifts because the Simpsons never age. This went back to the 1980s. Guest starring Elizabeth Taylor, speaking one word. Wonder how much they paid her?

8/22 9:00 PM ET “Marge vs. the Monorail” -- The episode title kind of explains it all. The late Phil Hartman as Lyle Lanley is brilliant. Then again, he was always excellent. Lionel Hutz, Troy McClure...

8/22 10:30 PM ET “I Love Lisa” -- Ralph Wiggum loves Lisa after she gives him a pity card on Valentine's Day. "So...do you...like...stuff?"

MEH. M-E-H, MEH.

8/22 7:30 AM ET – “Saturdays of Thunder”
8/22 2:00 PM ET – “The Otto Show”

Again, not that these are necessarily bad. And even the worst episodes have at least some moments of humor.

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 9-17-13

Okay, so this is just another sort of placeholder to show that this blog hasn't officially died...although honestly, I'm not quite sure why I keep posting (when I actually do, that is, and don't procrastinate on things like writing about the movies I've seen recently -- five, although none in the last two weeks)...

Someday We'll Be Together - Diana Ross and the Supremes
Bullet Proof Soul - Sade
Dance, Freak & Boogie - Nitelife Unlimited
Please (You Got That) - INXS
Say Say Say - Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
Cupid Boy - Kylie Minogue
Heartbreak Hotel (Hex Hector Club Mix) - Whitney Houston
I Love To Walk - The Simpsons
If I Never See Your Face Again (Paul Oakenfold Remix) - Maroon 5 feat. Rihanna
Wide Awake - Katy Perry
Old Flame - Kimbra
Rapunzel - Dave Matthews Band
Girl Afraid - The Smiths

Mural Arts Program Bus Tour

I took this tour back in October. The city's wonderful Mural Arts Program has a number of bus/trolley tours, walking tours and even a bike tour. More info can be found here. This particular tour focused on North Philadelphia, and we ended up, among other places, seeing El Centro de Oro and the colorful storefronts on Germantown Avenue. Also, check out my photo blog for another unique self-portrait. (I made a few comments on some of the photos, so you may want to check out the main page...or I think you can click on the pics to see my comments...)

Since Flickr has increased their free space to a Terabyte, I'm using it again for my photo sets. That means, if all works properly, I can embed slideshows again!




By the way, do you think this is supposed to be Michael Jackson?

Jackson Family Horror Show

The stuff that's going on with this story over the last few days is just sad. These siblings trying to get control of Michael Jackson's estate away from his mother, trying to make a grab for money at the expense of Michael's children, clearly have no shame. These poor kids are going to have enough trouble living a relatively normal life as it is, let alone having these "adults" fighting over their future.

And what really bothers me is that Janet is involved. I can see losers like Jermaine and Randy being involved, but Janet? She used to be the one who, in her days when she sang about being in "Control," seemed to be almost normal. I wonder what her financial situation is like now? She hasn't had much of a career in quite a few years. Has she squandered her fortune? Or is she just plain greedy?

Elizabeth Taylor

Almost non-stop since I heard the news that Elizabeth Taylor passed away, Michael Jackson's song "Leave Me Alone" has been stuck in my head. Of course, that's because of the music video...



In the midst of the surreal carnival ride, there's Michael's "shrine to Liz," and there she is in all her ageless beauty.

Her most iconic movie roles took place before I really began to watch a lot of movies, so I can't really speak about her acting career. For me, she's defined by her powerful advocacy in the fight against AIDS, dating back to the days when the stigma and prejudice was so extreme.

On a less important level, she's defined by a lot of the pop culture buzz that sprang forth from her life. Her many marriages. (Richard Burton, okay, but Larry Fortensky? Really?) Her illnesses. Her treatment at the Betty Ford Clinic. Her weight. Her appearances on "The Simpsons." And, of course, her friendship with Michael Jackson.

Rest in peace, Liz.

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.

They Don't Make 'Em Like This Any More

A little while ago on Facebook, the Diana Ross page linked to YouTube for her video for "Eaten Alive," a song co-written and co-produced (and with some backing vocals) by Michael Jackson and Barry Gibb. It's the title track from her 1985 album. According to Wikipedia it was #10 on the Billboard R&B chart but only #77 on the Hot 100 in 1985. I'm sure those numbers are correct since I used to subscribe to Billboard back in the day and really hit those charts hard, and I remember the song being a pop flop.

With the discussion over whether Christina Aguilera and Lady Gaga copied from Madonna in their recent videos -- and at this point, isn't everyone just copying each other? -- it's interesting to watch this bit of 1980s work, back when the short-form music video was still a relatively new format. And it's fascinating to see someone like Diana Ross in this type of video. It used to be all about the music, and then MTV came along and songs seemed to take a backseat to visuals, and we then saw veterans like Miss Ross (I love calling her that for some reason) in sometimes over-the-top productions. Wikipedia credits this video's airplay on BET for getting the song into the R&B top ten, but the song is such an odd piece of work, as is the video.

Compare and contrast with the song and video for Ross's follow-up, "Chain Reaction," which harkens back to her classic Motown days (but still has a couple of eccentric moments when the full-color shots arrive). Both videos are after the jump.

Quick Review: Michael Jackson's This Is It

I've been on the fence as to whether or not I even wanted to see "Michael Jackson's This Is It," the documentary cobbled together from footage of rehearsals for the series of London concerts planned by Jackson prior to his June death. There's no denying his talent -- classic hit songs, trendsetting music videos, amazing stage performances. On the other hand, there's still all the freakiness, the Wacko Jacko-ness -- the plastic surgery, the transformation from black to white, the dangling of the baby over the balcony; not to mention the allegations of child molestation (which I tend to believe are true). I figured none of that would be addressed by this movie, but how much of a deification would there be? How many scenes of screaming fans, of people involved with the concert lavishing praise on Jackson? In past Jackson televised productions such scenes were overwhelming to the point of absurdity.

Fortunately, those scenes are kept to a relative minimum. The focus of the movie is truly on the planning for the comeback shows in London. There is no footage of reaction to his death at all. Everything is taken from the rehearsals and other behind-the-scenes filming. The songs are presented in the same order in which they would have been performed live, and the movie includes some of the filmed background elements that would have been part of the show (such as a 3D production featuring zombies and other creatures for "Thriller"). However, at times there's a distinct lack of energy. Whether that was due to Jackson's health issues and/or drug abuse or simply because he was saving it for the actual shows is hard to tell. There's a limited amount of personal interaction between Jackson and the other people on stage. And there's not enough of Jackson explaining his vision for the shows, song choices, how the other dancers were selected, etc., other than a general statement about taking the audience to places they've never been before. Essentially, what we have is an attempt to create a concert film for a concert that never got to take place. It's an interesting attempt, but flawed nonetheless. My grade: B-minus.

Madonna's tribute to Michael

It might have been nice if she actually sang one of his songs, but this was a nice moment anyway. Madonna took her "Sticky And Sweet" tour to the same arena where Michael Jackson would have begun his comeback tour and, with the help of an impersonator, she paid tribute to him last night:

My fave t-shirt speaks to Mets fans!

After watching the Phillies beat the Mets 4-1 (for their second win in a row; Jimmy Rollins* had another hit, a key 2-run double, and walked twice -- can he keep it going?), I headed to center city Philadelphia to get a bite to eat and hang out before the July Fourth fireworks show on the Ben Franklin Parkway.

On my way to the Parkway I passed by the Westin Philadelphia Hotel on 17th Street, and a small group of Mets fans were outside. One of them noticed my 2008 World Champions cap and said, in a snide tone, "Oooh, champions, oooh..." So I stopped and said, "Well then, you'll really like the back of my t-shirt." I then turned around to show it to them:



They were not particularly amused as I walked away. I, on the other hand, was very amused.

*Edit to add: as a tribute, Rollins is using Michael Jackson songs, including "Billie Jean" and "Smooth Criminal," as his intro music before his at-bats.

On the Michael Jackson circus

So Jermaine Jackson has moved up to second place on the list of most successful living Jackson sibling recording artists...

Yes, very snarky. I know. You may not want to congratulate him on this if you meet him in person in the near future.

If you're sick and tired of hearing about anything related to Michael Jackson, I apologize for contributing to the barrage. And a barrage it is. Between the radio stations playing his music, the TV networks' coverage, the Internet, the stories continue to pile up as the questions continue to swirl -- about his death, his family, his finances, his music, etc.

Just in the last two days (these are between 12:01 am Sunday morning and 8 pm tonight), Entertainment Weekly's various blogs contain the following Jackson-related posts:

• SMITH magazine asks readers to sum up Jackson's life in six words -- can you do it?
• Jamie Foxx does the Moonwalk at the BET Awards: Fitting tribute?
• Michael Jackson-themed 'American Idol' repeats tonight: Set your DVRs!
• Huey Lewis remembers recording 'We Are the World' alongside Michael Jackson
• Michael Jackson in 'Captain EO': A fellow dancer remembers
• TV Ratings: Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett continue to dominate with viewers
• Michael Jackson's final rehearsal: 'He was at his best,' says associate choreographer
• Michael Jackson: LAPD interviews personal physician; second autopsy reportedly completed
• Jackson's former nanny talks about singer's drug use
• Janet Jackson appears at BET Awards
• Michael Jackson: Doctor's lawyer says singer was not injected with Demerol
• Michael Jackson's mother granted temporary custody of his children
• Joe Jackson: 'We're the parents. This is where they belong.'
• Michael Jackson radio play rises an astounding 1,735 percent

And people are crawling out of the woodwork to worm their way into the spotlight. From the aforementioned ex-nanny, to the lawyer who used to work for Jackson making statements on TV shows about Michael's drug usage like "I said one day we're going to have this experience. And when Anna Nicole Smith passed away, I said we cannot have this kind of thing with Michael Jackson...The result was I warned everyone, and lo and behold, here we are," to Al Sharpton, to Flavor Flav (TMZ has shown him on two occasions, including this one, showing up outside the Jackson estate in Encino and leaving a message for Katherine Jackson through the intercom).

I think the biggest weasel, though, has to be Joe Jackson. We haven't heard anything from him in years, and why would we? But now that Michael's dead, he's all over the place making statements and doing interviews. He showed up at the BET Awards and used the occasion to promote a new record label he's starting! As if it has a chance in hell of being successful. What has he ever accomplished that wasn't done on the backs of his children? Has he ever done anything since they all left him and got real management companies?

This is the man whose abuse may be primarily responsible for all of Michael's problems. The physical abuse, the emotional abuse, the loss of anything resembling a normal childhood, all of this may have led to the behavior we saw from Michael, from the plastic surgeries to the child molestation.

And now Joe Jackson will pimp Michael out one more time, posthumously. Someone stop him, please.

One other thing: I recorded the BET Awards show last night. Later I started watching it. The show opened with New Edition performing a Jackson 5 medley. It was a bit ragged vocally but it connected emotionally. Both groups hit it big while they were kids so it was an appropriate tribute. Then host Jamie Foxx hit the stage dressed like Michael from the "Beat It" video. He said it was to be a celebration of Michael's life, then made a cheap remark about Michael's nose and felt the need to emphasize that Michael was "a black man! He belongs to us and we shared him with everybody else." After the second time he yelled at Sean "Diddy" Combs, the second time saying something that was bleeped out, I turned it off and deleted it. It was that horrendous.

A minor miracle, plus: I did NOT pee my pants

The story of my day: woke up at 6:30 to get out the door in time to make it to the fields for morning softball. Lost two softball games; tough situation with two key players not playing today, but we did our best. Went home. Showered and changed clothes. Watched the end of the Phillies game while checking e-mail, surfing the Web, etc. Switched over to one of the MTV/VH1 channels that was playing nonstop Michael Jackson videos. Fell asleep for a half-hour.

Headed downtown for the softball Bar Of The Week. BOTW sucked -- the bar was virtually empty. Where is the support for a league sponsor? The "free buffet" was bereft of food, except for a bowl of pasta salad and what looked like potato salad -- two trays sitting over those little Sterno cans were empty; presumably they decided not to put out food until people arrived, which never happened. Drank three 23-oz. glasses of beer, so equivalent to about 4.5 sixteen-ounce bottles. Had a nice buzz, which would make this my first alcohol-enhanced post on this blog, except I don't really feel it now (though it caused me to laugh hysterically at the Simpsons rerun I DVR'd and watched when I got home).

After two hours of feeling sorry for the bartender who was earning very little in tips this day, I finally left but without stopping in a restroom first. Got on the "el" train to head home and really needed to pee. Arrived at the terminal, where I transfer to a bus to get home. The terminal has restrooms but also has signs saying they are closed from 8 pm to 4 am. On this night, though, the restrooms were still open at 9:30 pm -- hence, the first part of the title of this post.

After making room in my bladder I went to the newsstand and bought a diet soda. On the bus home, bored, I was fiddling with the empty soda bottle, including opening and closing the lid. I then looked down and saw that a small amount of soda had still been in the bottle, and it spilled out, right onto the front of my pants -- hence, the second part of the title of this post.

Farrah Fawcett died too

It's not surprising that the news of Farrah Fawcett's death was quickly brushed aside in the wake of the passing of Michael Jackson. After all, he was a musical icon, a larger-than-life figure, a freak show in his later years, and his death was unexpected while her cancer had her at death's door. It's sad nonetheless.

While I can't say I was a huge fan of hers, she managed to move beyond the "jiggle TV" aspect of Charlie's Angels into more serious work such as the TV-movie The Burning Bed, and she fought valiantly against the cancer that eventually took her life, not to mention the tabloids that tried to exploit her condition.

I used to watch Charlie's Angels on TV a lot, especially that first season. I don't really know why. Looking back, I have three possible explanations:

1) I watched a lot of TV shows back then, especially ABC shows. ABC was cranking out the hits during the mid-1970s, so maybe I was just too lazy to change the channel.

2) Being part of a large family, I certainly couldn't just change the channel to whatever I might have wanted to watch if others were home and watching something else.

3) Maybe it was, to quote Patty Bouvier in The Simpsons "Treehouse Of Horror III" Halloween episode, "the last lingering thread of my heterosexuality."

Tasteless Twittering by OchoCinco

For a few weeks now I've been posting a feature to the Outsports Jock Talk Blog called "Sports Tweet Of The Week." I became fascinated by athletes' use of Twitter after a pro basketball player actually updated his Twitter page at halftime of a game. As more athletes began making news with Tweets (the strange word for a Twitter post) I began my STOTW feature, using sites like AthleteTweets.com that keep track of sports celebrities and their Twitter usage.

A short while ago I checked out AthleteTweets to see what was going on, and I came across an update by Chad OchoCinco, a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals. (He used to be Chad Johnson, but had his name legally changed to a word reflecting the Spanish names for the two numerals that comprise his uniform number, 85. There's a reason for it, but I can't really explain in full. I'm sure Wikipedia or other sites can help you with that. Suffice to say it has to do with ego and money.)

Anyway, his most recent Tweet mentioned being "sincere and apoligetic" (sic). So I went to his Twitter page. (Note: based on my looking at it yesterday as research for my next STOTW, and seeing a video he posted there, I am comfortable saying it's a legit page. Twitter's had problems with celebrity impostors and is instituting a verification system.) Here is what he's "apoligetic" about:

Okay, first Mrs. Fawcett now Mr. Jackson, please tell me that this is a mistaken rumor, if not this is just as sad as 9/11

Wow. Unbelievably stupid. His Twitter followers apparently took him to task, based on some of his next updates:

okay not as bad as 911, its sad period, both situations my goodness people, they just said he is okay in the hospital,

The 9/11 was a bit over the top, i am just in an emotional state right now, bare with me while i regroup people, be back in 10 minutes

@jahrasta311 Did you miss the part were i apoligized or you want to be an asshole just because you can be?

Sorry 85 million times, today sucks man, i still have my jacket with the zippers on it, wow

And it goes on. I have a screen capture of it...if you click on it you should see a readable version:

Michael Jackson: cardiac arrest?

Update: TMZ is now reporting that Michael Jackson has died.

TMZ is reporting that Michael Jackson was rushed by ambulance to a hospital, that he was in cardiac arrest and paramedics administered CPR on the way.

I badly want to find something snarky to say about this but I just can't. I still like his music, although it's difficult now to separate the music from the freak show his life has become. I don't think I'd ever pay to see him in concert again (I actually saw him with his brothers during the Victory Tour in 1984 -- at JFK Stadium, long ago torn down) and I might not even buy a new album, but I can't help but appreciate his brilliant work from the past.

With Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna all having turned 50 last year, it's just more proof that I'm soooo old.