#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”

The 9/11 Memorial

I have a bunch of pictures from my three-night stay in New York City at the end of July. I haven't figured out how exactly I want to present them -- whether in one big album or in smaller ones devoted to each of the places I visited on this trip. But with the arrival of the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it seemed fitting to put the pictures from my visit to the 9/11 Memorial into a separate album. And since I used the Picasa photo service from Google, I'm even able to embed the slideshow.



And since this is the 1,000th post on this blog, it's nice that it's not about a more trivial subject.

September 11

I'm not going to say much about the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that claimed so many lives. There are many places for you to get every bit of commemoration, analysis, hyperbole, patriotic overkill (I"m looking at you, NFL and Fox), etc. While our nation was briefly united like it hadn't been in a long time, the feeling didn't last and so much has happened since and it's gotten much, much worse. So I'm avoiding as much of the 9/11 anniversary coverage as I can because, even if it's by accident, much of it will be tinged with politics. But I wanted to share some pictures. (Quick note: these are 10 old scans done back then by a friend, which is why they're so small. I may try and find the pictures and re-scan them and any others I took at the time.) I put them in a Flickr set.

A month after the attacks, on Columbus Day weekend, I went to New York. Since Mayor Giuliani asked people to visit and spend money, I heeded the call. That Sunday I watched NFL games at a sports bar with some friends (as it happened, the USA began the war against Afghanistan that day). Earlier that day, I was one of many pathetic gawkers people trying to get as close as allowed to the World Trade Center site. I also took a few pictures of the skyline from the Empire State Building. It's an amazing view. I wish I had gotten to see the view from the Twin Towers while they stood. There's one picture of "The Wall of Hope and Remembrance" outside the now-closed St. Vincent's Hospital, one of the American flags at Rockefeller Plaza, and these two, taken at the West Village firehouse of Squad 18 of the Fire Department of New York. (At the time the firehouse was undergoing renovations so it was closed and the squad operated out of another firehouse.)

The sight of this memorial itself was moving, but when I saw this toy figure left there, perhaps by a child, you can imagine my reaction...

But let's end this on a happier note. In July 2010 Squad 18 went Gaga!