How I Really Learned So Much...

I loved school. Granted, I still have nightmares that although I'm a college graduate with a full time job I have to go back to high school. Actually, I've been told that sometimes those nightmares never go away, which I am not looking forward to. But I digress. As much as I loved school and learning there's really one place where I, and I think others of my generation, learned the most: television, especially cartoons.

I remember playing Scrabble with my older cousins and I used the word "kin" which I had learned from an episode of Garfield and my cousin actually told me it wasn't a word, would not get out the dictionary, and made me take my points back. Seriously! That's burdened me ever since I was 8 years old. I feel a little better getting that off my chest.

Anyway, cartoons seem to parody a lot of other shows, movies, and books so they are actually great learning tools. Where did I first learn Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven?

How did I remember the states and capitals? Animaniacs:


Even in college I used Animaniacs to help me study. I would sing the presidents song when I was trying to remember something in history class (I still sing it when I'm watching Jeopardy! although it is a little bit outdated since it sends with President Clinton) and I used the parts of the brain song to, well, help me remember the parts of the brain!




Of course some cartoons were meant to make us learn like School House Rock! Those cartoons are still great, too. I love the song about Congress and about conjunctions, but I think it's fascinating how much children (and adults) can learn from programs made for sheer entertainment. I do wonder, what are the creators thinking? Are they thinking maybe their audience will take a little piece of knowledge with them after watching and episode or are they merely concerned with whether or not the audience will be entertained?

I have always said that English majors probably know the most useless junk and would excel on Jeopardy! but now I am starting to think that some of the useless knowledge in my noggin is actually up there because of my wonderful friend, television. Thanks, cartoons!

The Musical "Simpsons"

The Simpsons is a great show. Some would argue that the best episodes are behind them, but you have to give props to the creators who keep making new episodes. Also a big congratulations to them for their 20th season, what a feat!

That being said, there are a ton of lists floating the internet about the best episodes. That is why I decided to make a list of the ten best Simpsons episdoes with musical numbers.

10. Homer and Apu
This classic episode from season five features Apu moving in with the Simpson family because Homer inadvertently got Apu fired from the Kwik E Mart. To make Apu feel better about no longer being employed, the family and Apu sing a wonderful song, "Who needs the Kwik E Mart."


9. Homer's Barbershop Quartet
This episode is also from season five. After rifling through some vinyl records at a flea market, Bart and Lisa discover that Homer spent a summer as part of a barbershop quartet. The rest of the episode focuses on flashbacks of the Be Sharps' rise to fame with their hit "Baby on Board" and how they found out they were no longer hot.


8. A Fish Called Selma
A great episode from season seven that features Marge's sister Selma getting involved in a scam of a marriage to fish enthusiast and washed up actor Troy McClure (played by the late, great Phil Hartman) . You may remember him from such filmstrips as Locker Room Towel Fight: the Blinding of Larry Driscoll and from the musical rendition of Planet of the Apes.

7. Last Exit to Springfield
A great episode from season four where Lisa needs braces and as the new union leader, Homer has to regain the workers' dental plan. When the workers decide to strike, Lisa shows off her musical talent with a nice protest song followed by, at Lenny's request, a rendition of "Classical Gas."

6. A Streetcar Named Marge
Another great episode from season four. It's interesting to see how the Simpsons writers make their own spins from popular media. This time, though, not only is Marge playing Blacnhe DuBois in a musical adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire, she is also having trouble with Homer, who seems to be exhibiting some Stanley-like behavior. (Clip of the song is at 1:00.)


5. Marge vs. the Monorail
Season four was one of the best seasons for this list, obviously. The town of Springfield has a surplus of money and what better way to blow it all than on a monorail system. How can they residents of Springfield say no to such a catchy tune? Once again, a great musical number voiced by Phil Hartman (this time as Lyle Lanley, a traveling scammer). (A clip of the song appears at ;51))




4. Mr. Plow
In this season four episode Homer decides to buy a snow plow and to pay for it by plowing the town's snowfall. Homer learns the true value of friendship after sending competing snowplower, the Plow King (Barney) ,on an impossible mission he has to rescue him. The best part of this episode is definitely Mr. Plow's catchy theme song to his late night television commercial.


3. Two Dozen and One Greyhounds
A great episode from season six. Santa's Little Helper ends up getting a racedog pretnant and the family intends on giving the puppies away...once they rescue them from Mr. Burns. Mr. Burns is trying to explain through song why he wants to add a tuxedo made of puppies to his wardrobe.

2. Homer the Great
This episode is from season six. Homer joins the secret Stonecutters society based on the Masons. Once he joins the group explains why they are so powerful, and of course it's always less menacing when it's done through song.



1. Homer at the Bat
This is probably my favorite Simpsons musical moment, and it comes all the way at the end of this season three episode. Mr. Burns wants to win the city softball tournament (and a million dollar bet) so he resorts to hiring ringers Steve Sax, Darryl Strawberry, Ken Griffey, Jr., and other popular MLB players. After a string of unfortunate incidences, the original team wins the game. The song that sums up everything that has happened to the players runs at the end of the episode and through the credits. It's definitely my favorite and a good reason to not change the channel when the credits roll.


Honorable Mentions:

Happy Birthday, Lisa
Stark Raving Dad (Season 3)

We're Sending Our Love Down the Well
Radio Bart (Season 3)

Springfield, Springfield!
Boy Scoutz N The Hood (Season 5)

Jazz Man
'Round Springfield (Season 6)

I'm An Amendment
The Day The Violence Died (Season 7)

Cut Every Corner
Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious (Season 3)

Drop Da Bomb
New Kids on the Blecch (Season 12)

All episode images are from a random Google Image search, I hold no copyright to them whatsoever. Images and characters belong to Fox and Matt Groening.

Holiday Special Spectacular

One of the things I like the most about holidays, any holidays, are the specials. Cartoons, sitcoms, movies, and commercials all have their own particular take on the holidays.

Unfortunately, some of these specials have never made it to DVD or are especially difficult to find. Fortunately with the popularity of the internet, it's really easy to find pretty much any video. Unfortunately, some of the videos are no longer available, but if one looks really hard, they can be found!

Thanks to FanPop, they have provided tons of links to these holiday specials from Garfield and The Smurfs to Will Vinton's Claymation Celebration featuring the California Raisins, Donald Duck, Clips from the Seinfeld Festivus episode.


Everyone say it with me: Thank you, FanPop!
101 Classic Christmas Videos
Classic Christmas Videos Alternate List
Another List of Christmas Videos

Just a tiny speck

Ever since I was little I've been fascinated by space. From the ancient myths about the constellations (a post all it's own, hopefully coming soon) to planets, stars, and other solar systems, I love to just contemplate the universe. Just yesterday I was walking across the parking lot at work and I couldn't help but look up in awe at how massive the universe is and how tiny we all are.

Today's post is a picture post of some amazing space images, which will certainly make you feel just a little insignificant:

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The clouds and gas in the image were taken by the Herschel Observatory. This picture show the materials just starting to condense into stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

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Yet another star-forming cloud taken with the Spitzer telescope.

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Another image from the Spitzer telescope of a spiral galaxy in Ursa Major (46 million light years from Earth). Like most images of space, this is actually a composite of three different images (blue, green, and red capture different infrared wavelengths).

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1400 light years away, this very faint "reflection nebula" sits on the edge of the Milky Way galaxy near the Cepheus constellation.

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This amazing picture is actually restored from a 1966 picture of Earth taken from the moon. What an amazing perspective!

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This picture from the SOHO satellite was taken in 2000. Not only does this picture actually offer a full shot of what our sun looks like, in the bottom left corner there is also an "erruptive prominence" snaking out from the sun. This "claw" is so huge that ten Earths could fit inside of it. That's one huge fireball!

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Probably one of the most famous constellations is that of the great hunter Orion. In the Northern hempisphere, it is one of the easiest winter constellations to spot, specifically because of the three stars ( Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka) that make up Orion's belt. These three stars are each hotter than our sun and are 1500 light years away from Earth.

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The Gum Nebula is so large and expansive that we are less than 500 light years from its front and nearly 1500 light years from its back.

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The Crab Nebula is one of the most famous because it's so beautiful and interesting (of course, the colors represented here are once again, a mosaic of several images). The Crab Nebula spans 10 light years and contains a pulsar at the center that has as much mas "as the sun...but is only the size of a small town."

Haunted Links

To get everyone in the spirit of the holiday (pun not originally intended), I've posted some great links to interesting, spooky, Halloween-y websites. They're sure to keep you entertained and maybe even a little spooked, so turn off the lights and enjoy by the eerie glow of the computer monitor.



True Ghost Stories and
True Ghost Stories' Myspace These are full of real life ghost encounters. I've read through all of the encounters this family has had in their house and I've started to really care about the goings-on. It hasn't been updated for awhile, but there are enough back entries to provide some good reading material.

The Shadowlands and The Subversive Element have sections on hauntings, cryptozoology, UFOs, Aliens, and all things that go bump in the night.

If fiction is more your taste, Google Books features Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

PoeStories.com also features many of Edgar Allan Poe's stories and poetry. My recommendations for Halloween reading are The Raven, The Black Cat, The Fall of the House of Usher, and of course The Tell-Tale Heart. Poe was undoubtedly the king of beautifully macabre literature.

Of course we cannot forget Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre, a wonderful piece of music that is as wonderful as it is chilling! You can take a listen and decide for yourself:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!