Finally saw THE SIMPSONS MOVIE

Over the weekend I got to catch The Simpsons Movie. It came out at the end of July and people who know me best had assumed that I would see this on opening day but I wound up waiting about three weeks. At one point I thought I'd just wait to see it when it came out on DVD.

I'm glad that I didn't! The Simpsons Movie was the funniest film that I've seen at the theater in quite a long time. I'm going to heartily recommend watching The Simpsons Movie during its cinematic run because the show's producers seriously play up the fact that they have a full-length motion picture to run around in (i.e. Bart writing on the blackboard "I will not illegally download this movie" on the classic opening chalkboard shot). The movie tends to "slow down" somewhat during the final third of the movie, but overall I was laughing pretty hard throughout the entire show. My biggest fear was that this would basically be one half-hour Simpsons episode strung out across 90 minutes, but gladly it doesn't feel like that at all: it's actually quite a lengthy and intricate plot for an animated comedy. And as a fan of the show who has - like many - lamented a perceived decline in quality over the past few years, I have to say: this certainly felt like vintage Simpsons from ten years or so ago. If they have been "saving the good stuff" for this movie, then I am feeling inclined to forgive the show's producers. Let's hope that The Simpsons Movie marks the beginning of the pendulum's swing back upward.

Great movie. I enjoyed it immensely. And I'm hearing that some people who don't even care that much for The Simpsons are liking it a lot too. Well worth seeing during its theatrical run.

Read More

The Burger King commercial with Krusty the Clown

"I'm behind on seven alimonies! I'm wearing paper bags for shoes!"

Read More

Chris as a SIMPSONS character, Part II

About a month ago I showed what I would look like as a character from The Simpsons. That pic was courtesy of The Simpsons Movie website.

Then Darth Larry spotted another site, this one a promotional one run by Burger King called Simpsonize Me, also a tie-in with the new movie. But with this "you as a Simpsons character" thingy, you upload an actual photograph of yourself and the website does most of the work for you. Then all you have to do is fine-tune it with a variety of mouths, noses etc.

(Is it just me or is Burger King running some of the best movie promo sites lately? Their gimmick for Revenge of the Sith a few years ago was downright ... spooky.)

So I uploaded the photo I used for the newspaper ad from my school board campaign and after "tweaking" it a bit, the pic on the right is what I came up with. Personally, I think this looks a lot like me: right down to the part on the right side of the hair and the ears that are more or less standard gauge for guys in the Knight lineage. Compared to how I looked in my TV commercials, I can't imagine Matt Groening himself drawing a more accurate caricature.

So if you want to see what would look like as a resident of Springfield, point your browser to SimpsonizeMe.com and upload a nice-sized closeup of your mug. Anyone who's a friend of mine might as well go ahead and do it, 'cuz I'm prolly going to run your pics through this just for the heck of it :-P

Read More

If I were a character on THE SIMPSONS ...

A few months ago it was "Chris as a South Park character". Now today, after all of these years of dreaming and courtesy of The Simpsons Movie website, I am finally a character from The Simpsons! Looks pretty much like me, right down to that weird bit of hair on the right-hand side of my forehead that does its own thing without going one way or the other on the part (it's not so pronounced just after a haircut but after a few weeks you really see it). My Simpsons avatar is also wearing denim jeans (my usual style) and dark brown shoes which are meant to be my hiking boots. Lisa thinks that brown and green are my best colors, so I colored "my" shirt brown. And since I'm somewhat of a "fight the status quo" sort, I put the upraised fist/sign of defiance on my shirt.

Pretty nifty, eh? Head over to the movie's site to register an account and you too can be a Simpsons character! Thanks to Shane Thacker (who doesn't look too shabby as a Simpsons 'toon either) for the great find!

Read More