Bart Simpson, meet Jay Sherman, the Critic

[vovat]

bethje and I watched some more of the Simpsons Season 6 box set last night. I'm disappointed that the commentary for "A Star Is Burns" didn't even address how Matt Groening left his name off the episode. Matt didn't participate in the commentary, and nobody else mentioned this. I was hoping they'd mention what Matt didn't like about it, and whether he'd gotten over it by now.

I saw this on lozenger8's journal, and I thought it was interesting, although I doubt anyone will reply.

Ask me for "top five" lists of pretty much anything, and I will list for you my top five of that thing or things. Copy and give your own top fives.

Please don't ask me my top five favorite movies, though, because I find that incredibly difficult, for some reason. If nobody asks me for any Top Five lists, I might just make a few myself in a later post.

This is also from lozenger8:

Look at your LJ "interests" list. If you have fewer than 50 interests, pick every fifth one. If you have between fifty and seventy-five interests, pick every seventh one. If you have over seventy-five interests, pick every tenth one. If you have fewer than ten, pick all of 'em. List them on your LJ, and tell everyone exactly what it is about these things that interests you so much.


Hmm, I have 76 interests, so I think I'm going to go with the "every seventh one," even though I'm one over the quota. Don't tell the Secret Meme Cabal. {g}

Ben Folds--Well, because he's a good musician! Actually, I didn't get into Ben until after he'd passed the height of his popularity; I didn't care much for "Brick" when they used to play it on the radio (although I've since grown to appreciate it more). I think the first song of his that got me interested was "Army," but it was only after Ben Folds Five had broken up that I really checked out the rest of his work (largely due to Beth's influence). I believe I've seen Ben live six times (counting the two when he opened for Tori Amos, and he puts on a great live show.

Cartoons--Well, I don't like ALL cartoons, obviously. But animation is a medium that I respect a lot, even if I'm not all that interested in the technical aspects. A lot of my favorite shows (The Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy) are animated.

Dragon Warrior--This is the series that got a lot of Nintendo players into the role-playing genre of video games. I was actually already interested in it, thanks to a Texas Instruments Home Computer game I had called Tunnels of Doom, but I still love the Dragon Warrior series. I got the first game free with a subscription to Nintendo Power, and the fourth is one of my all-time favorite NES games. I really hope they'll bring DW 5 and 6 to the States at some point. I think the series has been largely overshadowed by Final Fantasy, which I also enjoy a lot, but there's a certain charm that's unique to the DW games.

Frank Black--I bought Teenager of the Year used late in 1999, due largely to Frank's connection to They Might Be Giants. It took a little while for it to grow on me, but once it clicked, I loved it. This set the stage for my reaction to pretty much every Frank album. Anyway, though, the point of this exercise is supposed to be WHY I like these things, not HOW I got into them, isn't it? I like Frank because of his reference-heavy lyrics, his general songwriting ability, and his willingness to tackle a lot of different genres. And yes, I was a fan of Frank solo before I got into the Pixies, which I guess is a little unusual, but I know that some people who loved the Pixies first don't care for Frank's later work. Maybe hearing the solo stuff first made me more open to it. I don't know.

Laura Cantrell--Another artist I got into through the TMBG connection (she's the woman who sings backing vocals on "The Guitar"). I think her main appeal is that she has an excellent singing voice, but her song selection isn't too shabby either.

Minus Five--This band started out as the side project of Scott McCaughey of the Young Fresh Fellows, but I guess it's now his main band. I don't always find the Minus 5's albums to be quite as consistent as the Fellows' work, but they've done a lot of amazing stuff. Scott strikes me as one of the most underrated songwriters around.

Neko Case--Oddly enough, she's a musician I like who DOESN'T have a direct connection to TMBG. {g} (She actually DOES have a direct connection to Scott McCaughey, but I didn't know that until after I'd already been a fan for a while.) As with most female artists I like (although Laura Cantrell and Tori Amos are both exceptions), I got into her through Beth's influence. As with Laura, a lot of her appeal comes from her voice (which is quite different from Laura's, but equally good, if not better) and song selection. Neko and Laura were both significant in my coming to realize that country music can be cool.

Reading--It's a good way to expand your mind, and to occupy time when you're bored. I'm someone who likes to read the books I like over and over again, so maybe I should have actually listed "re-reading" as an interest.

Terry Pratchett--He was an author I took to very quickly. His books are really funny, and introduce a lot of interesting characters and locations.

Video Games--I actually suck at most of them, but I still enjoy them. They're fun to play, and fun to watch. I get annoyed when people act like video games cause youth violence or whatever. The ironic thing here is that a lot of where you see these anti-video-game reports is on TV, which was the much-maligned medium back in its day. I'm reminded of a quote from a video I watched back in junior high: "Have you ever thought that radical ideas that threaten institutions later become institutions, which in turn reject radical ideas that threaten institutions?" Maybe someday we'll be seeing video games about how the next big entertainment medium is warping kids' minds.


I just listened to Erin McKeown's newest album, We Shall Become Like Birds, all the way through for the first time. It didn't really thrill me. None of the songs lived up to the quality of earlier stuff like "La Petite Mort," "You Mustn't Kick It Around," or "Slung-Lo." Not on my first listen, anyway. It seems like a lot of 2005 releases by artists I like have been a little below par for those artists. Oh, well.

By the way, I recently got new razor blades, but I forgot to throw my old ones away. So now I can't tell which are the old ones and which are the new ones. I guess I'll just use all of them again. I'm dumb.

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

how about... your top five ... I don't know... well I just read the other meme and the thing that comes to mind is "Your Top 5 Favorite Terry Pratchett Books." But I'm also eating pizza, and that made me think "Your top 5 pizza topping choices."

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Okay, for the Top 5 Pratchett Books, I'm going to list them in chronological order, rather than the order of how much I like them, since some of them are difficult to compare to others. Also, they're all going to be Discworld, since the only non-Discworld Pratchett I've read was the co-written Good Omens.

1. Reaper Man--Lots of Death (the character, not the action {g}), lots of Ridcully and the other wizards, and the introduction of Reg Shoe. It's hard to go wrong with a combination like this.

2. Small Gods--There are a lot of clever jokes on religion and philosophy. I know there's a significant contingent of Pratchett fans who don't like this book, and I guess it IS a little slow in spots, but I like it a lot.

3. Interesting Times--A fair number of people on the discworld community seem to be down on the Rincewind books, but I have a soft spot for the character and for this book, probably partially because it's the second Pratchett work I read (Men at Arms was the first). Besides, I love the Silver Horde, and the accent jokes never get old.

4. Feet of Clay--I appreciate how many different plotlines are going on at once. There's the plot to poison Vetinari, the golem revolt, the attempt to make Nobby King, and probably something else I'm forgetting. Oh, yeah. Also the introduction of Cheery Littlebottom.

5. Night Watch--Maybe this book gets a leg up because I'm currently re-reading it, but I think the past of Vimes and Ankh-Morpork in general is excellently crafted.

Honorable Mention: Mort (I've only read it once, but I remember liking it a lot, and I appreciate that it's the first book to give Death something resembling his later characterization), Wyrd Sisters (best of the Witches books, and some good Shakespeare-based humor), Soul Music (Death, wizards, and numerous rock music jokes).

And as for the pizza toppings:

1. Extra cheese. Because you can never have too much cheese, right?
2. Pepperoni. Cliché, but very good, if a bit on the salty side.
3. Mushrooms. I used to hate them when I was a kid, but I gave them a chance, and now I love them.
4. Ham. Other similar deli-meat-type toppings will also suffice.
5. Sausage. I've always found sausage to be a bit hit-or-miss, but pizza sausage is usually good.

[obsessical.livejournal.com]

top five favorite phrases. top five beverages. top five things to do on a rainy day. top five things you wish you could do, but know you never will. top five things you hate being called.

that's all i can think of right now :/

[vovat.livejournal.com]

By "phrases," do you mean quotes, things I like to say, or things I like to hear other people say? (Really, I'm mostly just stalling because I can't think of any right now, but I'd still like an answer.)

Beverages:
1. Lemonade
2. Grape juice
3. Apple juice
4. Orange juice
5. Water (because it's sometimes nice to drink something that ISN'T really sweet {g})

Things to do on a rainy day:
1. Sleep
2. Read
3. Watch TV
4. Play video games
5. Internet
(Really, those are pretty close to my top five things to do ANY day. When it's raining, though, I don't like to go out anywhere if I can help it.)

Things I wish I could do, but know I never will:
1. Start a band
2. Go on a cross-country road trip (well, this isn't totally unfeasible, but I don't think it's anything I'd do anytime soon).
3. Make a living by writing (even if I could sell a few things, which is unlikely in and of itself, I doubt I'd be able to keep it up).
4. Learn magic. (Hey, you never said they had to be physically possible things. {g})
5. Shout "fire" in a crowded theater. (Okay, not really.)

Things I hate being called:
1. "Ma'am." For some reason, the people who staff drive-throughs always seem to think I'm a woman. I never THOUGHT I sounded female...
2. "Sir." Better than "ma'am," certainly, but it's a little overly formal for my tastes.
3. "Stupid." Nobody likes being called stupid, do they?
4. "Shithead." I don't think anyone has ever called me that, but I wouldn't like it if they did.
5. I don't usually like it so much when people who don't know me call me by my first name. I mean, it's not a big problem, but there are situations where it's a bit overly familiar. Isn't there some form of address that's in between "sir" and "Nathan"?

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Isn't there some form of address that's in between "sir" and "Nathan"?

Mr. D?

[obsessical.livejournal.com]

by "phrases" i meant things you say a lot. but hey, do things you like to hear other people say while you're at it :P

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think I'll just stick to the first one. It's kind of difficult, though. This would probably actually be easier for other people who listen to me talk. But anyway:

1. I don't know.
2. Sure enough.
3. You know what I'm saying? (Or sometimes just "You know?")
4. Oh, well.
5. I'm dumb.

[loz]

Reading about your interests was very informative - thanks for that.

What are your top five favourite states of the USA? :D

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Reading about your interests was very informative - thanks for that.

You're welcome.

As my my favorite states, well, I haven't been in that many. I think I've been in sixteen, but a lot of those were just brief visits. I guess I'd say something like:

1. New Jersey
2. Pennsylvania
3. Maine
4. North Carolina
5. Delaware (tax-free shopping!)

[loz]

Heh cool. New Jersey! Wooooo!

[revme.livejournal.com]

I was pretty disappointed in the A Star is Burns commentary for the same reason; it seemed a little... conspicuous in its absence. Although there were a couple others Matt wasn't on -- my guess is they recorded those ones the same day, and instead of Matt just stepping out for a half-hour, he just blew off that day or something. Still, though, that's one of the more interesting things about that episode, so it would have been neat if he were there to either go "OH GODDAMMIT I HATE THIS" or if they would have at least mentioned that whole kerfluffle.

Also, Top Five Animals.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

1. Cat
2. Dog
3. Elephant
4. Octopus
5. Um, I don't know...ostrich

Okay, that was a pretty lame list, but it's the best I could do offhand.

[slfcllednowhere.livejournal.com]

So that's the one with Jay Sherman? I've been told by some Simpsons fanatic type (richegreen probably) that Matt refused to be associated with that one cos he thought The Critic was basically a Simpsons rip-off.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "A Star Is Burns" is the Critic crossover, and I've heard the same thing about Matt not wanting to be associated with that episode. It's quite possible he's gotten over that now, though; a lot of the commentaries where he participates have him mentioning things he used to dislike, but has since become cool with. And sometimes he mentions things he still wishes hadn't happened. I wish he'd been around to say which is true about that episode, or at least that one of the other staff members had mentioned it. It was like they were just sweeping that whole incident under the carpet.