#EverySimpsonsEver -- Day Six

So you know how I said I've been DVRing some of the episodes during this marathon? As we get to the end of the week the DVR has a lot fewer episodes set to be recorded. That will tell you how the number of episodes in these posts should decline.

At this moment, I'm watching live (although this will actually be posted mid-day, not when I'm typing) and they're showing "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson," in which the World Trade Center figures in the plot. After the 9/11 attacks this episode disappeared from syndication for a while.

MUST-SEE!

8/26 12:30 AM ET “Mom and Pop Art” -- Homer's failure to build a barbecue pit leads to his being discovered as a hot new artist.

8/26 3:00 AM ET “Beyond Blunderdome” -- Mel Gibson (as Mel Gibson, before he went all crazy) hires Homer to help him finish his new film, a remake of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

8/26 4:30 AM ET “Treehouse of Horror X” -- One of the more consistently funny Halloween specials. In recent years they haven't been the same. I guess you can say that about the series in general...

8/26 7:30 AM ET “Little Big Mom” -- If for nothing more than the line "Stupid sexy Flanders!"

8/26 9:30 AM ET “Alone Again, Natura-Diddily” -- The death of Maude Flanders.

8/26 10:00 AM ET “Missionary: Impossible” -- Highlighted by the spoofing of PBS, a guest appearance by Betty White and Homer's first time referring to "Jebus."

8/26 1:30 PM ET "Behind the Laughter" -- Genius spoof of VH1's "Behind the Music."

8/26 4:30 PM ET “The Computer Wore Menace Shoes” -- This is really must-see only if you're a fan of "The Prisoner" (series star Patrick McGoohan appears in the episode). Otherwise you may be really put off by it.

8/26 7:00 PM ET “Worst Episode Ever” -- Comic Book Guy has a heart attack and has to stop working at his store for a while.

8/26 8:30 PM ET “New Kids on the Blecch” -- Spoof of boy bands with guest stars 'NSync.

8/26 9:00 PM ET “Hungry, Hungry Homer” -- Homer discovers a plot by the owner of the Springfield Isotopes to move the team to Albuquerque. His hunger-strike song is classic. And now there's an actual minor league baseball team called the Albuquerque Isotopes.

8/26 10:30 PM ET “Trilogy of Error” -- A clever takeoff on the film "Run, Lola, Run" featuring three interconnected tales.

8/26 11:00 PM ET “I’m Goin’ to Praiseland” -- Ned Flanders opens a religious-themed amusement park after finding his late wife's sketch book.

MEH. M-E-H, MEH.

8/26 1:30 AM ET “Monty Can’t Buy Me Love”

8/26 6:00 AM ET “Eight Misbehavin'”

8/26 6:30 AM ET “Take My Wife, Sleaze”

8/26 12:00 PM ET “Kill the Alligator and Run”

8/26 3:00 PM ET “Insane Clown Poppy”

8/26 10:00 PM ET “Simpson Safari”

A Couple Of Things...

I guess this is like a MixBlog, but shorter. (Mainly because I want to put something up without starting the posts on the four movies I got to see in the last week.)

• The (C)rapture didn't happen yesterday, so I want the fraud who claimed it would occur behind bars. Since I know the government won't do it...

• I watched last night's Saturday Night Live. The only parts of the show I enjoyed were those featuring Lady Gaga -- both her musical performances and a couple of sketches. No fault of Justin Timberlake's, but this show is unwatchable. It takes a very special reason (Betty White last year, or last night's host/musical guest combo) to get me to tune in. (Speaking of Gaga, her new album will finally be released -- after at least four single releases in advance of it -- and it's apparently going to be available on iTunes, Amazon, etc. at midnight.)

• I'm debating whether or not to play in this year's Liberty Bell Classic softball tournament. My team has a spot for me if I want to play. There are pros and cons, so I'm undecided. There's a block party on Saturday night on Camac Street as well. There's lots of stuff swirling around in my head right now...

• Chase Utley is expected to be in the Phillies' starting lineup tomorrow night. Maybe his presence will help the offense somehow. They've scored 3 runs or fewer in nine consecutive games. Of course, it could be worse: besides the fact that they're still in first place in the NL East, a year ago today they were shut out 5-0 by Boston, beginning a stretch of 12 games in a row with 3 or fewer runs (including 3 straight shutouts by the Mets).

• I posted this on Twitter/Facebook last night...just feeling the need to emphasize how much I want those (C)rapture nuts arrested. Fraud, incitement to riot, something. Child endangerment charges for any parents who quit their jobs and got rid of their possessions.

Which TV Legend Invaded My Dream?

(Note: This picture of deep-fried Oreos is a placeholder. When the Networked Blogs Facebook app posts this it displays the first picture as a preview, and I don't want it to spoil the surprise.)




Normally I don't remember my dreams after I wake up. Sometimes they linger in my mind a little, and then fade. Now and then I have a dream that is so off-the-wall that it can't help but embed itself into my brain. The best example of this is the one where I was dreaming that I was in bed and someone I used to work with...wait, I'm not ready to discuss that one.

I had two dreams a while back in which guys I've played softball with were actors, or supposed to be actors. In the first, I was walking down the street and saw George sitting in a car. He was dead...or so I thought until someone said, "Don't worry, we're just filming a scene."  I will say that George was a very convincing corpse.

In the other, I was walking around the fields at a city recreational center and in the middle of the baseball diamond there was a big-screen TV there tuned to a show. People in the dream were all talking about waiting to see Freddy on the show. Then, the scene ended and a voiceover said, "Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode." No Freddy! Sorry, dude. I'm sure you were great, though.

This morning's dream, however, may top them all. (Except that first one I mentioned that I'm not discussing, but that's for a different reason.) I was watching a baseball game. I think it was on TV at first. Then, suddenly, up to the plate stepped...

Quick Review: You Again

When I first saw the trailer for "You Again," I decided I really wanted to see it. Looking back, I think I got caught up in all the Betty White frenzy during the spring (leading up to her hosting "Saturday Night Live"), since she was featured in the trailer. The actual film left a lot to be desired, though. Not because of Betty White. The whole premise was obnoxious. The film starts in 2002, where a teenaged girl named Marni is being harassed and bullied by the more popular, prettier girls -- one in particular, JJ (Odette Yustman) is the leader of the pack. Forward to the present, where Marni (Kristen Bell) is now a successful PR exec. She goes home for the wedding of her brother and learns that he's marrying the very same girl, who tortured her in high school -- except now she's Joanna, not JJ, and she's sweet and nice and does lots of volunteer work and doesn't seem to remember Marni at all. Marni's mom Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis) counsels her to let go of the past and make nice with Joanna, but then they meet Ramona (Sigourney Weaver), the bride's aunt -- and Gail's rival in high school. Eventually things get ridiculous. There are some good things about the movie, though. Besides the aforementioned Betty White (as Marni's grandmother), I always enjoy Sigourney Weaver in a comedy. Kristin Chenoweth is loads of fun as a wedding planner. At the end Marni's grandma meets Joanna's grandma -- of course, they were also rivals in their younger days -- and there's a great cameo. And, finally, there's the groom, played by James Wolk (billed as "Jimmy" Wolk in the credits). Wolk was the star of the new Fox series "Lone Star" until it was canceled after two weeks due to dismal ratings. This is important because, well, just look at him below...we've got to keep this man working, and shirtless. My grade: C-plus.

More on the "Mikey" Blog Hoax

There's an update at the Outsports Jock Talk Blog about the "Mikey" masquerade -- the blog by someone claiming to be a 17-year-old closeted high school hockey player but turned out to be a man in his 40s. (Here's the link to my previous post about this story.)

Jim Buzinski's article is about as thorough as it can be, considering that Outsports is essentially a two-man operation. There's no team of investigators, nor are there resources to devote to in-depth detective work. Be sure to read the article because my brief summary doesn't do it justice: "Mikey" is around 48 years old, lives in a suburb of Minneapolis, may be (or may have been) married and has profiles on two sex sites, including Manhunt. Even more worrisome, he seems to have created his "Mikey" persona in part based on actual high school players in the Minneapolis area and had pictures of at least one of these kids (and the kid's brother) on the blog server.

The whole thing finally unraveled because he fell for Jimmy, a 23-year-old Canadian, and the two developed an online relationship. It was Jimmy who caught "Mikey" in the lie.

Super Bowl!

My night watching the Super Bowl had a few surprises in it. First, instead of staying home (and since no one I know threw, or invited me to, a Super Bowl party) I went to the Bike Stop to watch the Super Bowl tonight. This in itself was a surprise because I find myself increasingly disliking crowded bars, even if I'm not there by myself (my friend Kurt was there as well). I was close to leaving early on, which would have meant missing a good chunk of the game while I made the trip home. I managed to stick it out, though.

I stopped for dinner first, because I thought the bar wouldn't be putting out food until halftime. I was wrong. There was food almost as soon as the game began, including some huge buffalo wings -- large enough that they were very messy to eat with one hand (and the other holding the plate) while standing up.

Since I only got there just a minute or two before the game started I didn't see the national anthem. Because it was crowded enough that there was lots of noise and the volume of the TVs wasn't overly high, I couldn't make out most of what was being said. This means I can't really critique the broadcasters or the commercials. I was able to make out a decent amount of the halftime show by the Who. It bored me. It seemed to lack energy. I was surprised that they didn't have people on the field right near the stage acting excited and pretending to be at a real concert. To my surprise, I kinda missed them a little.

Going by visuals only, many of the commercials looked stupid. However, I need to see and hear the one featuring Betty White and Abe Vigoda to judge that one. Just seeing Betty White makes it possible that it was funny. There were two surprises regarding the ads. One was the Coke ad starring the Simpsons (I hadn't heard a thing about it beforehand). The other technically doesn't count as a Super Bowl commercial: the CBS promo for the Late Show with David Letterman, starring Dave, Oprah Winfrey and...Jay Leno! After Dave and Jay sniped back and forth during their monologues during the Conan O'Brien saga, seeing Leno was stunning! I'd love to know how this came about. I got an email from the Late Show with a link to watch it online. I have to say I almost like Jay Leno again just because he was there.

As for the game itself, Super Bowl XLIV was a major surprise. The New Orleans Saints not only won, 31-17 over the Indianapolis Colts, but they did it in style. They came out slowly, gaining little yardage in the first quarter while the Colts moved down the field rather easily. But the Saints only trailed 10-0 and from the second quarter on they played a superb game. I have to give credit to the Saints defense, who mostly held Peyton Manning and the Colts in check after the first quarter. Meanwhile, Drew Brees put together enough offense, throwing for 2 touchdown passes and putting together drives leading to three field goals.

Also give credit to Saints coach Sean Payton. With the Saints trailing 10-3 and having 4th-and-goal at the Colts' 1 with under 2 minutes left in the first half, instead of going for a field goal New Orleans went for the touchdown -- and Pierre Thomas was stacked up short of the goal. At the time I thought it was the wrong decision, but the Colts went three-and-out and had to punt, giving Brees great field position and enough time to get the ball into range for another field goal to end the half.

Then the Saints opened the second half with a shocking onside kick, and recovered the ball. That was the real turning point. Brees marched the Saints 55 yards, finishing with a 16-yard catch-and-run by Thomas to give New Orleans a 13-10 lead; the Colts struck back on the next possession to regain the lead, but from then on they couldn't score again. Garrett Hartley's third field goal got the Saints within 17-16. The Colts' Matt Stover missed a 51-yard attempt, and the Saints responded with a 59-yard drive resulting in a 2-yard TD pass from Brees to Jeremy Shockey. A two-point conversion (initially called an incompletion but reversed by a replay challenge) gave the Saints a 24-17 lead. Indianapolis' next drive ended in the only turnover by either team the entire game: a Peyton Manning pass intercepted by Tracy Porter and returned 74 yards for the clinching score.

Most observers (myself included) expected the Colts to win, and just about everyone expected a real shootout. But while both teams moved well at times (the Saints ended up with 332 net yards' offense to the Colts' 432), there were few long gains on offense -- only three or four that exceeded 20 yards. It was more of a ball-control game, and the Colts' offense, usually so efficient, was stymied tonight.

While I thought the Colts would win, I was hoping the Saints would win (as much as an Eagles fan can root for another team, that is) because one of their players, linebacker Scott Fujita, has been outspoken in favor of equal rights for gays, including marriage. So I'm happy for him, and to some extent for the city of New Orleans, still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

Betty White As Santa!

From "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" -- too funny not to share! Betty is fabulous!