Yesterday was my birthday, hung one more year on the line

[vovat]

Last night's Simpsons episode was disappointing. The descriptions I'd read focused on the new comic book store, and I thought it had a lot of promise. And it turned out that that part of the show WAS really good, but it was also abandoned entirely after the first few minutes. What turned out to be the main plot, about Marge opening a gym, wasn't terrible, but shifted focus quite a bit without really resolving most of the plot points along the way. In my own amateurish critical opinion, I think this one should have been two different episodes. If the comic store plot had been expanded into an entire episode (which it easily could have been), the extra time would have allowed for them to give more of the details of the rise and fall of Marge's enterprise.

I did think the new Family Guy and American Dad episodes were good, although I have to wonder just how many hitherto unknown details of Peter's background they're going to introduce. And since the plot started at Veterans' Day and ended after Cinco de Mayo, it must have spanned a pretty long amount of time. I wonder if that was conscious on the writers' part.

Anyway, getting off the subject of television for a little while, I turned thirty yesterday. I have kind of mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, there seems to be an impression that people have to Grow Up after leaving their twenties, and I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Twenty-nine always struck me as such an awkward, transitional age, though, and thirty is a nice round number, so that's cool. Since I had work yesterday, there wasn't much time to celebrate, but I did get a few presents. bethje's mom and uncle Harry gave me what turned out to be the same shirt. Her Uncle John gave me the Game Boy version of Final Fantasy IV. I got gift certificates from my dad and Dorothea, and a Futurama T-shirt and Gertrude Hawk milk chocolate and caramel smidgens from Beth herself. She says she bought some other presents for me as well, but they haven't arrived yet. I'm probably going to use some of my gift certificate money to buy the upcoming direct-to-DVD Futurama release, and I'm also thinking I might want to get my own digital camera.

Comments

[shadarko.livejournal.com]

first off, happy belated birthday.

So at the end of the episode, comic book guy still hand no store and marge was still running a successful gym? that's kind of strange for the simpsons to actually have an episode end with things different rather than going back to how the episode started. unless for some reason it cost marge all her money to have homer's stomach unstapled? ho hum.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

first off, happy belated birthday.

Thank you!

There seems to be a growing trend in recent episodes NOT to tie up loose ends, even though we all know everything will be back to normal in the next one (with a few exceptions; I assume, for instance, that the Van Houtens' remarriage from last week's show will stick). It's kind of lazy, since I don't think it would take that much explaining. Your idea about Marge spending her money to get Homer's stomach unstapled would work, although that still wouldn't solve the Comic Book Guy's problem.

[science.livejournal.com]

Happy belated birthday. This is now surely a few days late, but I usually read all the entries the day after because I need something to do at work.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

That's okay. Better late than never. And thank you!

[yosef.livejournal.com]

Happy belated birthday! I'd send you a present, but I'm stuck to this island...

[vovat.livejournal.com]

And any present you could send would be stuck as well?

[yosef.livejournal.com]

yeah. I'm waiting for my transparent cat to come rescue me.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Well, I hope that a duck provided you with toadstools to sit on, so your wait won't be so bad.