Yellowjackets is a TV show I should like. The theme song and opening credits are pretty cool. It features a lot of 90s songs and actors who were popular in the 90s, triggering my nostalgia. The image they use to advertise the show of someone wearing antlers and a veil is pretty cool and makes you think the show will be pretty wild. However, by the end of the first season, I wasn’t planning on continuing to watch it.
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The Simpsons Season 6
In “Bart of Darkness” (S6, E1), there’s a scene in which Bart falls from a tree. Nelson points and laughs with his characteristic “Haw Haw”. When another child says Bart’s really hurt and has probably broken his leg, Nelson replies, “I said Haw Haw.” It’s funny because it’s so horrible. My brother really liked this line and would quote it often.
“Lisa’s Rival” (S6, E2) is pretty funny. A new girl in school is smarter than Lisa which causes her to sabotage her Tell Tale Heart diorama. Ralph Wiggum gets a couple of good lines. “I crushed my Wookie” and “My cat’s breath smells like cat food” are hilarious. The funniest part of the episode is the subplot in which Homer steals sugar from a crashed truck. He keeps the pile of sugar in the backyard and guards it, paranoid that someone will steal it. He mangles a quote from Scarface, claiming that in America, first you get the sugar, then you get the money, then you get the women. His monologue in which he impersonates the blue bloods wondering what is to be done about this Homer Simpson was great.
Continue readingThe Simpsons Season 5
Sideshow Bob returns yet again in “Cape Feare” (S5, E2) and this time he wants to kill Bart. There’s a scene in which Bob repeatedly steps on rakes that smack him in the face that went on way too long. This was done to pad out the episode which was originally too short. It was hilarious to me that the scene went on so long when it first aired, but on a rewatch, this sort of thing is less funny.
Continue readingThe Simpsons Season 4
As a kid, one of the cartoons I watched was Tiny Toon Adventures, which featured younger versions of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and other Looney Tunes characters. Around the same time season 4 of The Simpsons premiered, Tiny Toons featured an obvious Bart Simpson analog named Blard Simpleton. Blard came from a realistic cartoon and was unprepared for wacky things like anvils falling from the sky. Ironically, The Simpsons largely decided to abandon realism in season 4, opting for a lot more Looney Tunes style gags.
Continue readingThe Simpsons Season 3
For season 3, the opening credits change again. This time, the tune Lisa plays on the saxophone is different from episode to episode. Season 3 continues to have a lot of famous-at-the-time guest stars. There’s sports stars such as Magic Johnson and Darryl Strawberry, musical stars like Michael Jackson, Sting, and Aerosmith, and actors like Neil Patrick Harris, Jon Lovitz, and Steve Allen.
Continue readingThe Simpsons Season 2
The first episode of the second season is the highest rated episode of The Simpsons overall, getting 33 million viewers when it originally aired. I remember “Bart Gets an F” (S2, E1) being the last episode of the first season. Since it takes place at the end of the school year when seasons typically end, this would make sense, but I guess my memory is wrong. I was fully expecting Bart to go on to the fifth grade the next episode and was surprised when he remained in the fourth grade. I was Bart’s age when the first season aired, so I thought Bart and I would always be the same age. Alas, I have continued to age while he has remained a permanent fourth-grader.
Continue readingThe Simpsons Season 1
The Simpsons is the longest-running American primetime TV show. It may also be the most influential in terms of phrases and memes. Several new words invented by The Simpsons such as d’oh, meh, embiggen, cromulent, yoink, and craptacular are now in the dictionary. It’s probably influenced every comedy show that’s come after it in some way. Merchandising was hugely successful from the beginning, with as many as one million Bart Simpson t-shirts selling on a single day.
Continue readingEvil and Some Other TV Shows I’ve Watched Recently
After yesterday’s post in which I expressed my disappointment in Deadpool & Wolverine, it occurs to me I tend to spend more time reviewing movies and TV shows I don’t like while not even mentioning shows I do like. Shows I’ve enjoyed recently include Evil, The Penguin, Agatha All Along, and Dune: Prophecy, but I don’t have much to say about them other than I like them. I think this is because when I love a show, I simply go along for the ride, but when I don’t like a show, my brain has to do something to keep from being bored, so I start to analyze it and pick it apart.
Continue readingCatching up with the MCU: The Marvels, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Echo
I think I’m once again caught up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Marvels was a lot of fun, but apparently didn’t do well at the box office. The poor showing is being blamed on the amount of homework you have to do before watching the movie. Monica Rambeau previously appeared in WandaVision, Nick Fury previously appeared in Secret Invasion, Kamala Khan previously appeared in Ms. Marvel, and, of course, the movie itself is a sequel to Captain Marvel.
I don’t think you have to watch all those shows before watching it, though. There’s no reference whatsoever to the events of Secret Invasion and the movie tells you all you need to know about the events of WandaVision and Ms. Marvel. Of course, WandaVision and Ms. Marvel are worth watching in their own right, but you don’t have to watch them first to enjoy this. Of course, you should watch Captain Marvel before watching The Marvels, but that’s it.
Continue readingThe Fall of the House of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher completely retells some of Poe’s most famous stories and contains numerous easter eggs referencing his writing and his life, sometimes directly quoting from him. Vulture has a list of many of these references, although they did miss the reference to Toby Dammit from “Never Bet the Devil Your Head” and a character wrapped up like a mummy being a reference to Poe’s story “Some Words with a Mummy”. Also, they miss the fact that several of Poe’s humorous stories involve making a deal with the devil.
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Mania Delight 