Blood for Baal!

Today is April Fool's Day, which means, well, that I quote The Simpsons' episode So It Comes to This: A Simpsons Clip Show. Since then, I cannot take Baal, or Bael, or Ba'al, seriously. But anyway, we're the first of April, it's a good excuse as any to have a laugh:

"Is it St. Swithin's Day already?"

As some of you may know, it is St Swithin's Day today. Which was mentioned, years ago, in The Simpsons, in one of their best summer episodes. I blogged about the day last year and in 2016. This year, I just show you this short clip, which is nevertheless hilarious:

About Michelangealo's David (from The Simpsons)

There is a certain stupid controversy in the US at the mooment. I will not comment on it, I will just leave here this clip from The Simpsons. In this episode. Yes, they were prophetic. And I'm not the only one saying it. I hope the clip makes you feel a little bit better.

Of Ravens and Halloween

I took this picture early in October at Hogshaw Farm, a petting zoo we quite liked and that had lots of Halloween stuff already. It is a true raven. It struck me that because of their cultural depiction, often with sinister associations, ravens are perfect birds for the Halloween season. But they are seldom used, sadly. Of course, there is Edgar Allan Poe's poem/horror story(ish) The Raven, but since a certain program made a parody of it, I cannot take it seriously anymore. As much as it made me laugh, it is a shame. I think ravens should return in horror stories and in Halloween imagery.

Like Melting Sugar

Taken from the best years of The Simpsons, my current state of mind:

The Simpsons: The Ten Commandments

Okay, it is only a few days until Easter, and around that time, you might want to enjoy a few Biblical movies. Even though I'm a Godless heathen, I do enjoy some of them, although not and I repeat never any that features Charlton Heston. Especially not that one. You know the one I'm referring to. Bombastic, arrogant, cheesy, pious nonsense which tries to hide its lack of intelligence with high production value. And this is why I always loved the parody The Simpsons made of it in Homer VS Lisa and the 8th Commandment. Pure comedy gold from back when they were funny. And far more entertaining than the source material, Biblical or cinematic.

The First April Fool's Day

Today is April Fool's Day, and that means... well, that means I keep saying "Blood for Baal! Blood for Baal!" Taken of course from The Simpsons' episode So It Comes to This: A Simpsons Clip Show. Back when they were funny. I am sharing the video again, because, well, it is a sort of tradition. It never ceases to make me laugh. I don't think the info there is very accurate, but what the heck.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! This year, I thought I would celebrate it with a bit of video from The Simpsons, from the episode I Love Lisa. Back in the days when they were still hilarious, with just enough cruelty to be acidic but remaining pleasant. Every joke hits the mark and they are many of them. And is it only me, or does it look like many Valentine's Days we experience, as a child or an adult?

"Blood for Baal! Blood for Baal!"

Okay so I am not being original, but anyway, this is a sort of tradition on this blog: as it is April Fool's Day, here is the extract about it from The Simpsons' episode So It Comes to This: A Simpsons Clip Show. Hilarious as ever.

Of space shuttles and ants

Yesterday, a rocket was launched into space, which we watched with Wolfie, who was absolutely fascinated. I will blog about his newfound love of rockets and space exploration later, but right now let me merely mention that everytime I hear of a space shuttle, or anything to do with astronauts, I remember that episode from The Simpsons (back when they were good of course) when Homer went into space, in Deep Space Homer. More specifically, this scene with Kent Brockman, where he mistakenly thinks hiant ants from outer space have taken over the ship and are about to invade earth. I always laugh when I see it, in more than 25 years it never gets old:

This year's Saint Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone! I hope everybody is enjoying it, hopefully with a good pint of Guinness, like I did earlier on today. Sadly, our local Irish pub is gone, so I had to take it in one of the many, mundane English (shudder) pub. But I should not complain: Saint Paddy's Day truly is a celebration of the Irish diaspora and expats. Although I would give a lot to celebrate in Ireland itself, once in my life. Funny little anecdote: we know for sure that little Wolfie does have some Irish blood, from his maternal grandmother's side, whose grandmother was a bona fide Irish. This is far remote and we cannot claim that we truly are Irish, but that makes him one of the 60 millions people with an Irish ancestry. One of his aunts (my wife of my wife's brother) is Irish, and her daughter (Wolfie's cousin) now has Irish citizenship and passport. So our link with Ireland is stronger than one may think. That said, I don't want to make to overplay it. I love Ireland, but I want to avoid becoming a Plastic Paddy (see my recent posts on the subject). So I end this post with The Simpsons' take on Saint Patrick's Day. It is silly, full of clichés and stereotypes, very Plastic Paddyish, but hilarious all the same.

Lisa Simpson's teaching approach

To make you smile this evening, I thought I would present a short clip from The Simpsons, back from when it was as intelligent as it was funny. This is in fact a number of scenes, from the second season's episode Blood Feud. If you find Lisa over the top in the way she teaches her little sister, I find her sensible. In fact, I do the same thing with Wolfie. And he does have a lemur plush toy.

First day of the swimming pool (in a nutshell)

The heatwave is going in full swing and I sorely miss the family swimming pool. I blogged about it here. But it is about a particular memory of our swimming pool I think about today: the day we opened it and we suddenly had many, many friends. We were one of the first family in the neighborhood to buy one, so you can imagine the attraction it created. It was very much like the episode Bart of Darkness in The Simpsons. Back when they were both funny and relevant. Anyway, I have uploaded here the clip which illustrates in a nutshell what the first day owning a functional swimming pool looks like. It's funny because it's true.

"Beware the Ides of March!"

I mention it every year because I think it deserves to be commemorated: we are the Ides of March, the day Julius Caesar was assassinated. But the famous quote is of course of Shakespeare. I thought I would share the quote dramatized by some great actors, then I remembered that it was also uttered by Lisa in The Simpsons. In Homer the Great, if you are curious. And I thought it was a funny way to use the line and to commemorate the day. So here it is. Homer's reply is also priceless.

Joey Jo-Jo Junior Shabadoo

It's Monday for everyone, the lousiest day of the week and I usually try to cheer my readers up on a Monday with a joke or two. This one is from The Simpsons, back when they were funny. It is from The Last Temptation of Homer if you want the context, but you don't need the context. The joke stands on its own as a brilliant piece of absurd humour. And I feel sorry for Joey Jo-Jo Junior Shabadoo, but he does have a peculiar name.

"Can't sleep, clown will eat me"

Fans of the classic seasons of The Simpsons will remember that this is what a young Bart was saying in Lisa's First Word when Homer had built him a clown-themed bed, as his old pram is going to be used by his yet to be born sister Lisa. The episode was hilarious and confirmed my belief that clowns are creepy and scary. The line is now part of pop culture, it is also the one I had in mind and kept repeating to myself when I was trying to sleep, in the little hours of the morning, while my wife was still in labour. So for no better reason, I thought to share it here tonight:

"Blood for Baal! Blood for Baal!"

Yes, I know I used the very same title last year to commemorate April Fool's Day. But this time, this time, YouTube gave me the film to go with it. I am talking of course of The Simpsons' episode So It Comes to This: A Simpsons Clip Show. Where the famous chant "Blood for Baal! Blood for Baal!"comes from: it is used in an interlude when Lisa explains the origins of April Fool's Day. The whole episode is hilarious, as every episode of the TV show was back then, but this is the line that never fails to crack me up. I am typing this and I am giggling. So here it is for you to enjoy:

"Blood for Baal! Blood for Baal!"

Does anyone know where I got the quote I used for this post's title from? Today, in case nobody's noticed, is April Fool's Day. Also incidentally the first day of April, but nobody cares about it. I associate the day a lot with an episode of the season 4 of The Simpsons, called So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show. For a clip show, it was actually brilliant. It was also set on April Fool's Day and after. At the beginning of the episode, Lisa explains the origins of the day, saying it came from Pagans. Cut to a flashbacks of the family, as primitives, dancing around an idol and chanting... Yes, "Blood for Baal! Blood for Baal!" If you are in the US, you can see the clip here. If not, you can read the story here. I am sorry I could not find a video to go with this post. For some reasons I have not quite grasped, I found this bit absolutely hilarious and it never fails to crack me up. Something about seeing America's most famous and most loved middle class family worshiping the god/demon Baal. It doesn't get any funnier than this.

The Raven by Poe (The Simpsons take on it)

First and foremost, to begin this countdown to Halloween post, I wanted to say thank you to Wendy from The Halloween Tree blog for giving me such beautiful gifts. I feel so grateful and so unworthy of such generosity. As people know if they read her post about the giveaway, one of the presents The Illustrated Edgar Allan Poe Unabridged. To thank her, I have decided to upload here the upload here The Raven as narrated on The Simpsons, on their very first Treehouse of Horror Halloween special. I could not find the video, only the audio of the narrative, but it is still incredibly funny, yet it keeps the original text as beautiful as scary. In other words, two classics in one. And again, thank you so much Wendy.

Blowin' in the Wind

It is featured in a TV advert or something these days, so I have this song of Bob Dylan in the head. I first remember the song from this Simpsons episode. It was both funny like all Simpsons episodes were at the time, and surprisingly touching, again like all episodes were at the time. And it made me discover Blowin' in the Wind, which I only really listened to years later. So here it is.