Stratovania

Last night's was the fourth Simpsons episode to take an extended look into a possible future for the characters, the first one being the sixth season "Lisa's Wedding," which took place in the year 2010. I don't think the writers had any idea that the show would still be on then. Anyway, I think this new one tried to cram too much in, and even though the underlying message was decent, I don't think it worked that well. As with some of the earlier future episodes, they did way too many jokes about improbable technology. "Lisa's Wedding" had some of those as well (and hey, it's now 2011, so where are our commercial biplanes and self-aware robots with melting heads?), but it mostly focused on the characters. With the other three, it seemed that the technology gags took precedent. Tonight's episode also had a similar characterization of Bart to the one in "Bart to the Future," which I really didn't like that much. So much of the show suggests that Bart really does have potential to turn his life around, but both of these suggest that in thirty years he's just become more of a loser. Eh, whatever. The stuff with Maggie was kind of cute. The Krusty as Andy Rooney gag was perhaps a bit ill-timed, but not especially so, and I guess that's going to happen when there's a gap between the show being made and aired. I would also imagine that the Sarah Palin bit at the end of American Dad was made before she announced she wasn't going to run in 2012. I liked the American Dad episode, by the way, largely because of how amusingly far-fetched the idea of being excommunicated from every kind of Christianity was. By the way, the service dog Stan shot was named Clancy, which is also the name of one of our dogs. I did watch the Cleveland Show, but as I've never seen Die Hard, I can't say I got most of the jokes. And Family Guy was all right, but I can't really think of anything specific to say about it.

Also, I got this meme from poisonyoulove, so I might as well go ahead with it.

Comment to this post, and I will list five things I associate with you - they might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your LJ (or just add a reply back to me). Other people (including me) can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself.

Here are my five:

1. Oz
What makes you think I would be willing to expound upon this topic? :P Seriously, I'm not entirely sure why the Oz books have been my absolute favorites for so long, but it's still the case. It helps that there's a small but active fandom that's still cranking out Oz stories. The quality varies, but some are really good. Did L. Frank Baum have any idea what he had wrought?

2. Mythology
I remember starting to cultivate my interest in mythology, particularly the Greek variety, when I was in elementary school. I recall reading through the entry on the gods in my mom's old Book of Knowledge (published back when it wasn't so much an encyclopedia as a hardcover magazine), and checking out a lot of books on the subject from the library. Obviously it's stuck with me. Many things seem to; I've noticed that I rarely totally lose interest in anything these days, but simply put some things on the back burner from time to time.

3. They Might Be Giants
My favorite band, although I knew of their existence for years before really listening to anything of theirs. It was in college that I first heard a significant amount of their stuff (I lived in an honors dorm, so there were a lot of nerds there), and started buying their albums for myself. It seems that TMBG tends to attract completists who want to hear everything they put out, unless it's just the Internet that attracts such people. And now that their fanbase seems to be averaging out to an increasingly younger crowd, I guess I'm now one of their older fans, although it certainly doesn't feel like it.

4. Politics
I'm not the most politically astute person, but I try to keep at least some tabs on what's going on in the political arena, if only to avoid becoming one of those people who think they're too good to pay attention to current events. I'm obviously on the liberal side of the spectrum, which I'd like to say is because I really care about people, but ultimately it's more or less selfish. I'm not rich, so why would I support politicians who only care about the rich? Mind you, I think that in our country that's largely the case with both major parties, but I'm still a registered Democrat. Lesser of two evils, or something, plus I wouldn't be able to vote in the primaries otherwise.

5. Twitter
I think I first heard about Twitter from 3x1minus1, who's someone with her finger on the pulse of all the new online developments. Well, at least she's much more so than I am, but that's really not saying much. I think what led me to become a pretty regular Twitter user is that it's a good place for one-liners and one-off observations, which I'm generally loath to blog because a one-sentence journal entry seems wrong to me. Yeah, I'm weirdly obsessive-compulsive in that respect. I remember overhearing someone in the break room at work a few days ago talking about how Twitter is just people posting what they had for lunch. My problem with that complaint isn't even so much that there's more to it than that as it is that people wanting to share mundane details is nothing new. It's just that, prior to the Internet, people usually just shared them with anyone who happened to be around, most of whom really didn't care.
With the Internet, it's easier to acquire an audience that might actually take an interest, and when they don't it's easy to just skip the boring parts. I guess Twitter especially, and other social networking sites to a certain extent, is a good substitute for small talk for the socially awkward among us. To me, a lot of the complaints I hear people make about online socialization don't really have anything to do with technology at all, but rather are outgoing people not understanding the rest of us.

So far, being thirty-four doesn't feel any different from being thirty-three. Really, though, that's the case with every year, isn't it? It's only when you look back that you see the change. I feel like I haven't changed much at all when compared to other people I know, though. It seems like other people have some experience that makes them feel grown up, and that's never happened with me. I don't feel exactly like I did when I was a kid, and I hope I'm not as clueless as I was in my younger days, but how I react to things and what I enjoy doing are still about the same. I wonder if that's true, or if my perspective is skewed because I'm seeing it from the inside instead of the outside.

I just got around to watching last week's Simpsons, and this week's while I was at it. The food blog one was pretty good, although the show does seem to be a bit inconsistent on what Homer will eat. Sometimes he'll eat anything, and other times will avoid anything exotic. I remember a joke in "The Last Temptation of Homer" about his having a cheeseburger at a Chinese restaurant. I guess they just go with whatever they think is funny in a particular scene. It is kind of weird that Homer doesn't want to be a food critic when he already was one in "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner," but maybe the fact that this led to his almost being killed was what turned him against the idea. I also have to give points to the video game convention scene, although the parody names they come up with have been getting a bit weak. I know we've seen the Funtendo Zii in other episodes, but really, how long did that take for the writers to come up with? Five seconds? There was some discussion of this over at Press the Buttons. Also, I give credit for Lisa ranking Weird Al as one of the sexiest vegetarians. From what I understand, Edward Cullen isn't a vegetarian, but I know that was Stephenie Meyer's fault. Apparently no one every explained to her what a vegetarian was. Last week's Family Guy, with Stewie and Brian going back in time to the very first episode, was a pretty creative idea. It also allowed for a lot of meta-humor, and we finally learn what the characters do after setting up cutaway gags. As for American Dad, Principal Lewis is pretty much always funny, so I approved. The bit about Diff'rent Strokes being based on his childhood was a good running gag.

While this week's Simpsons was another parody of a movie I haven't seen, the idea of collaborative young adult fiction writing as a criminal scheme was amusing enough in and of itself. I also think it did a better job with the multiple twist endings than other episodes have in the past. ("The Great Money Caper" comes to mind here.) A coming-of-age story about trolls is probably actually a good idea, although I have to suspect it's probably been done before. I don't know that the golem love story has, though. One joke I found a bit interesting was when Homer called Neil Gaiman "British Fonzie," because bethje told me that not_glimmer said Gaiman was the Fonzie of graphic novels. (I think it was her, anyway.) I'm kind of surprised that it took them this long to have Gaiman guest star, but I guess it's a generational thing. He's been pretty well-known for a while, but mostly with younger people, not people the age of the veteran writers. Family Guy finally found a way to bring back Joe's son Kevin, who was around in earlier episodes and then just kind of disappeared. That he was killed in Iraq was just a one-off line from an earlier episode to explain his absence, but they did incorporate that. They did apparently forget that Brian and Stewie also fought in Iraq for a little while, though.

Today, I got around to watching last night's Simpsons, and the American Dad and Family Guy from last week. Or was it two weeks ago? I can't remember. It was the AD where Roger played Snot's girlfriend, and the FG with Lois' sister (since when does she have one of those?) married Mayor West. I wonder if the marriage is going to be canonical. As for the most recent Simpsons, you'll notice that they didn't mention that the original Fat Tony had died. Since this guy presumably wasn't a widower and instead had a wife who looked to be much younger than him, I guess anyone who cares about continuity is supposed to assume this is the former Fit Tony. It was kind of weird that they referenced Koyaanisqatsi, since bethje just recently added that to our Netflix queue. They've actually made quite a few Philip Glass references on the show, though. The Bart and Lisa subplot was amusing, but I kind of wish it had tied in at least slightly with the main plot. I mean, both involved Italian-Americans, right? Also, have you noticed how, since the Simpsons Movie, every pig they've shown has had the little tuft of hair?

I don't think any of them did before that, although I guess we don't know for sure what's under Sir Oinks-A-Lot's hat.


Since I was working last night, however, I missed the television show everyone was talking about, which I believe was called We Got Bin Laden. Seriously, though, Beth texted me about it, and I came home and pretty much immediately made a joke on Twitter about how it might have been a lookalike instead, only to be admonished by at least two different people who said they'd already DNA-tested the body. I guess that'll show me to make a bad joke before getting the facts. At least I wasn't one of the approximately 20,000 people who said Donald Trump wants to see the death certificate, which was funny the first time, but not so much after that. Anyway, I've seen various opinions on the matter, and I think I agree with the people who say it's a relief, but not really a cause for celebration. I mean, there's a definite sense of closure to finally getting this guy we're supposed to have been after for years, and if anyone deserved to die it's definitely him. And while I'd like for him to have been put on trial, from what I've heard it was entirely his decision to go down fighting instead of surrendering quietly. Still, cheering about someone's death, even that of an utterly horrible person, makes me a little uneasy. I don't feel sorry or anything, just that that sort of seems to be stooping to his level. Oh, well.

Since I'm posting anyway, I might as well go ahead and include this survey that I got from SamuraiFrog.
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So, classes start again this week. Actually, it's only one class, but I want to do well at it. Doing homework is such a hassle, though. I probably sound like a little kid, but in many ways I haven't changed a lot since then. It's not just that it can be frustrating, but obligations in general just feel like roadblocks in my mind. Stupid obligations. There are so many leisure activities I still want to do! Having a sense of accomplishment is always nice, though.

I keep having the same sorts of dreams over and over again, and I often feel I should write about them, but I always wait too long and forget most of the details. I know that last night, I had yet another dream about it being my last day of high school, even though I'd already finished college. I remember being concerned about leaving the building because there were a lot of crowds outside. I understand dreams about going back to school are very common, which I guess just shows how much of an impact school has on the subconscious mind. And the night before last, I was in some kind of extracurricular program or something, but I was behind everyone else, and they kicked me out of it without even telling me. I had to hear about it through the proverbial grapevine. For some reason, this was very upsetting. One theme that constantly recurs in my dreams is that of being powerless. Come on, that's how I feel in my everyday life! Can't I have a little bit of slack when I'm asleep?

The most recent Simpsons episode felt kind of weird. Homer strangling Bart has been a running thing on the show so long that it's a little bizarre for someone to actually take a realistic attitude toward it. There were some good moments, especially near the beginning, but it wasn't one of the better episodes even for this season. And I have to suspect they purposely paired this episode with the American Dad one, which also had a father afraid of his son. Really, though I don't have a whole lot to say about any of these shows. I think I used up my reviewing capacity on my post about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and I now need a recharge.

Well, it was another weekend of working, sleeping, and trying in vain to come up with ideas for my Digital Preservation paper. I didn't even get to use the Internet all that much. I do have some thoughts on last night's cartoon lineup, though.

Since the Simpsons episode had four stories instead of the typical three, they really weren't able to develop any particular segment, but I'd say that's probably all right. Most of them really only had one joke anyway. I liked the Polar Express segment with Bart, especially for its visuals. I was amused by the depressed atmosphere at the North Pole, and some of the background sight gags. I remember seeing Bumble from Rudolph as a janitor, and I think there were a few other such references I've forgotten. I do wish they'd called attention to the fact that they had a Jewish guy playing the role of Santa. Lisa's dream was probably the most involved story, in that they actually took it beyond one basic joke, but at the same time it was the most forgettable of the four. Was the story about World War II and Christmas trees based on anything in particular? It seems like it would have been, but if so it's not a movie (or whatever) I've seen. I did like the Inglourious Basterds reference at the end, and Lisa's reaction to the dream. Incidentally, I believe Nellie McKay, whom I'll be seeing live next week, has a song against cutting down Christmas trees. She played it at the Aimee Mann show that bethje and I attended two years ago. Getting back to The Simpsons, the Martha Stewart bit went back to being one basic joke, but it was pretty funny, at least for a while. The puppet segment was probably the most heavily advertised, and with good reason, since doing an entire segment of an animated show in another fashion is kind of a big deal. It's probably good that the segment didn't last very long, but I enjoyed the riffs on the Muppets and Sesame Street. I wasn't sure why they had a laugh track, but I just looked it up and found that The Muppet Show used one, so I guess that's what they were going for. I have no idea why they chose Katy Perry for the live-action guest star, but her dating Puppet Moe actually kind of makes sense. I mean, he's the same basic type as Russell Brand, right? {g}


I found it odd that the TV listings had a block for an hour-long Cleveland Show, when it was really two separate episodes, the second one having nothing to do with the holidays at all. Also, they really played up the crossover aspect in the commercials when all we actually got was a few minutes of Peter, Joe, and Quagmire. They've done more substantial crossovers between the two casts in the past. Did they advertise the Family Guy episode with the search for the source of dirty jokes, which featured Cleveland's family and the David Lynch bartender, in the same way? I can't remember. Mind you, advertising the Cleveland Show in the first place is probably kind of pointless, since I'm sure I'm not alone in really only watching it because it's on in between two other shows I actually like. As for American Dad, I'm not sure why they didn't do a holiday episode, but I can't remember whether there's been one in every previous season or just a few of them. I do remember those episodes being quite good, though. Anyway, I did like the episode, especially Stan's excitement at being on jury duty. I did find it a little hard to believe that Stan wouldn't have known who the defendant was until AFTER the jury had been selected; I've been called up for jury duty three times, and while I was never selected, I know that's not how it works. Speaking of American Dad, I had a dream a few nights ago in which Roger appeared, wearing one of his disguises. I believe it was the same night that I dreamed about having a class at my old elementary school, and having cats in the car with me for some reason. At one point not_glimmer showed up and told me I should just leave the cats in the car, but I don't think she was in the class itself.

The Simpsons episode had a decent premise, but the ending seemed a little rushed. I guess I should give it credit for tying up the loose ends, but it was just a little too quick and obvious. Still, it did make me want to see Nelson succeed at his business, so that's something. The episode loses a few more points in that Abe giving his family their inheritance while they were still alive was already the catalyst for "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy." I guess it's possible that he earned that $200 since then, though. The Homer and Marge plot didn't really go anywhere, but the scene in the restaurant and the Chris Hansen appearance were amusing enough. So overall, I guess it was okay. Hooray for adequacy!

Family Guy was kind of weird, in that Rush Limbaugh actually playing a major part on a typically left-leaning show was unexpected and a little awkward. It seems like the writers made an effort to be careful with the dialogue, because they really didn't do much to make fun of him, and instead presented him as a nice enough guy who just happens to believe different things. I suppose that would be fine if Rush weren't all about getting people to agree with him without thinking about it beforehand, which is exactly what he came out against in the episode. But hey, I guess he should get some credit for even agreeing to do the show, even if it was just for the money. And I think it did do a good job of exposing the side of Brian that's been hinted at in other episodes, which is that while his beliefs are quite close to Seth MacFarlane's own (and mine, for that matter), he often holds those beliefs without really thinking them through. It's odd how he's developed from being the voice of reason on the show into kind of a shallow jerk who's largely a self-parody of Seth, but I guess all the characters have changed quite a bit. Well, maybe not so much Peter, although I think even he comes across as more disconnected from his family than he was in the early days of the show. He was never a good father, certainly, but with a few exceptions it seems like he now has pretty much no emotional attachment to his kids whatsoever.

I'm glad American Dad is back for another season. Only occasionally do I come across people talking about it, and I didn't like it much myself at first, but it grew on me. I appreciate that there's more of an effort to keep the style of humor distinct from FG. Sure, there are similarities, but it doesn't have the same "hey, it's the same show with some different characters" vibe that the Cleveland Show does. Hayley getting married was an interesting development, but one that I don't think will alter the show that much. Also, I was just thinking of Stan's best friend who became a Satanist, so it's weird that he would reappear, even if it was just to die. I have to wonder if they'll do anything else with the principal having gone crazy in later episodes. Probably not, but it would be interesting if they did.

Mother's Day, eh? I called my mom last night to wish her a happy one, but she never returned my call. I really should visit her at some point, since it's been a while and it's not like she lives that far away. I am bothered that bethje doesn't want to go with me, though. Today, we went out to Applebee's with Beth's mom. I think we had the same waitress we did last time we went there, but Beth denies it, even though she said she remembered us. (Beth's mom wasn't there the last time, but she, Uncle John, and I were.) Whether it was the same person or not, though, I thought she was cute. I guess it's possible that Applebee's has two cute waitresses, though, right?

As for TV, I think The Simpsons is at its best nowadays when they try something kind of different with an episode, and this one actually did a good job with an unusual arrangement. I guess the flashbacks to recent times were sort of like "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind," but adding in Moe as the omniscient narrator was a clever touch. I also enjoyed how they were able to come up with a story involving characters who don't interact all that much in most episodes. Also nice to see the Parson again, and get a brief appearance by Jessica Lovejoy. I do have to wonder whether this was originally intended as a Mother's Day episode, or they just stuck in some extra voiceover from Moe and the montage of pictures at the end upon learning that it was going to air today.

Family Guy was pretty interesting, in that we actually got a bit of character development and family history. I do kind of agree with a comment Beth made, however, about how TV characters are always so freaked out about discovering someone is gay. I think we might be the unusual ones in this case, though. And with American Dad, while I'm somewhat squeamish when it comes to poop-related humor, I thought Stan becoming a laughing stock and moving to increasingly ridiculous places made for a good plot. Of course, it turned out to be a fantasy sequence, even though he's done equally absurd things in other episodes. I did start to suspect something like that once Klaus died, however.

Finally, I know when I mentioned the possibility of switching over to a different blogging site, there were some people who didn't care for the idea. If you're one of these people, which entries do you usually read? I've been thinking I should use my WordPress blog for topic-specific posts and this for more personal matters, but would that mean some of you are missing out on stuff you might want to see?

Some time ago, bethje took advantage of some deal where you could get extra value when buying restaurant gift cards, and one of them was for an Italian restaurant called Il Mulino, located in the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. So we went there yesterday, and I don't think we have to go back. Not that it was bad, just very far from worth what we paid, even WITH the gift card. It was cool that they had sorbet for dessert, but not cool that they charged $8 for one scoop.

Not a particularly great Simpsons episode tonight, but not bad either. The parts with Bart and Lisa with the ants, while few and far between, might have actually been the best. The main plot was pretty amusing as well, although it wasn't resolved all that well. Homer and his friends break Burns out of prison, and no one goes after him? I know the cops in Springfield are lazy and corrupt, but that's going a little too far. I did like the framing story with Burns, especially when he segued into the commercials. (By the way, at least in our market, that bit was immediately followed with a trailer for a Steve Carell movie called Dinner with Schmucks, and Beth and I couldn't figure out whether it was real at first.) One joke I sort of figured out ahead of time (but not exactly) was with the book that the prisoner thought was the Bible, because I thought it looked like Charles Manson before they revealed the punchline.

As for Family Guy, it was all right, although it had the show's typical problem of dwelling too long on gags that weren't that funny to begin with. I have to wonder if it was pure coincidence that they had the pretty long run on Peter being prejudiced against ants on the same night as a Simpsons episode with a subplot involving ants. And I was glad to see American Dad back again, and with a pretty good plot at that. I appreciated how absurd Roger's corruption was.

bethje and I didn't watch the cartoon lineup last night due to being out to dinner, but we saw the tape today. Yeah, that's right, we don't have any fancy TiVo or DVR, and we're living like it's still the eighties! But anyway, I thought it was a pretty good batch. While they did a few Olympics-related bits on The Simpsons before, I think this was the first episode centered around the games, and they did a good job with it. There were a few gags that they drew out way too long, like the Curly tryouts, but most of it worked. It was also cool to see some background for Agnes Skinner, although I have to suspect that they keep changing Principal Skinner's back story on purpose. Was the baby who messed up Agnes' pole vault the Seymour Skinner we know, or the supposed real one from "The Principal and the Pauper"? And was Sheldon Skinner from the Hellfish episode Seymour's father or not? I don't think we're ever supposed to know. By the way, Lisa's pin collecting reminded me of this post on Olympic mascots that I read today. It looks like the full-body version of the mascot Bart made was at least partially inspired by the rather disturbing Neve and Gliz.

As for Family Guy, it was interesting to see bonding between Chris and Stewie, which we haven't seen too often in the past. The psychic plot was also good for a few laughs, and there were some amusing cutaway gags. American Dad had a pretty weird story this time, but I enjoyed it. For what it's worth, I don't think Hershey Park actually has a Tunnel of Love, although it DOES have a Kissing Tower. Then again, this was Hershy Park, with only one E, so I guess it would be a little different. {g}

I might as well get my Sunday night cartoon reviews out of the way. Honestly, while I'm always glad to see new episodes, last night's showings weren't that great. The idea behind the Simpsons episode, that Abe's ramblings worked as newspaper columns, wasn't a bad one, but it seems like the writers really didn't know what to do with it. Turning it into a murder plot with ridiculously over-the-top action scenes is pretty much a cliché on the show by this point. Family Guy appeared to want things both ways, making a joke about how they were doing an amnesia story, yet playing that story pretty straight. Really, I didn't see any particular innovations that they took with the idea, and even the cutaway gags were fairly weak. Okay, the Robin Williams bit was funny, but that's about it. American Dad was passable, and doing something else with the brain-switching technology that we know the CIA has within the context of the show was a good idea, but I'm not sure about Stan molesting the horse. At this point, such things are no longer shocking enough to be funny out of sheer wrongness (especially on Seth MacFarlane shows), yet that was pretty much the extent of the joke. Eh, whatever.