Ma Bo, from the Chinese city of Dalian, has opened the country’s first shop for left-handed people. “I just want to help the lefties with these special daily-use products, so they can lead an easier and more convenient life,” Ma said. He also operates a Web site for the same purpose – with the slogan “Left is Best.” It “promotes understanding about problems concerning the left-handed.” Ma’s shop features myriad accessories for left-handers, from scissors to can openers. It’s no small affair in a society where people who use their left hands are often scorned. “I’m delighted to see that business people are beginning to show an interest in left-handed products,” said Zhang Heng, a Beijing left-hander. Ma’s only apparent problem? He’s right-handed.
Ratings: Treehouse Of Horror
On the first Sunday of the November sweep, FOX finally launched the premieres for most of its popular Sunday night comedies, but it was an event 75 years in the making that helped carry CBS to the win for the night. The beginning of the network’s “CBS at 75” special carried CBS to a 12.2/18 at 8 p.m., enough to win the hour. The “Treehouse of Horror XIV” episode of The Simpsons pulled in an 8.8/13 and a repeat of “Barting Over” scored an 8.4/12 to give FOX second for the hour. ABC was third with “10-8.” Among adults 18-49, though, FOX scored a convincing victory with a 6.0 rating in the key demographic.
For the week, the new Simpsons ranked at #8 with 16.22 million viewers nationwide. The rerun occupied position #15 with 14.35 million. Its competition, “CBS At 75” came in at #6 with 18.19 million.
Professor In Simpsons Cameo
Nobel prize-winning Harvard chemist Dudley R. Herschbach’s skin turned an unusual shade of yellow yesterday, but not to worry: the energetic professor’s affliction was not the result of an introductory chemistry demo gone wrong. Herschbach, a laureate since he took home the chemistry prize in 1986, made a special cameo as himself on “Treehouse of Horror XIV.” This was Herschbach’s first experience as a cartoon, and he was satisfied with his animated, yellowed-self. “I thought it was a great improvement,” he said. In the episode, which aired last night, Herschbach presents Professor Frink with a Nobel Prize in science for reanimating his deceased father. The father runs amok during the ceremony, stealing the brains of several members of the audience and shoving them into his own head. Read More >>>
Never An Issue With The FNC
Last Thursday we reported that the Fox News Corporation threatened to sue The Simpsons over its news crawl joke. Countless media outlets followed, with the story being published on most major news sites and newspapers. Fox News later denied reports that they ever threatened to sue. “We were all scratching our heads and thought it was hysterical,” spokesman Rob Zimmerman said. “It’s not the first time we’ve been spoofed, you know.” It seems they were telling the truth, with The Simpsons creators releasing an apology on the matter. “Matt was being satirical and certainly there was never any issue between the show and Fox News. We regret any confusion.” Since we were one of the first to publish the story, we thought we’d clear that up.
Season 15 Begins Sunday!
Don’t miss the Season 15 premiere, Treehouse Of Horror XIV at 8:00pm Sunday! Spoilers follow: Yes, the latest installment of The Simpsons’ annual Halloween special is arriving a few days too late for the holiday. It allows the show to kick off with a joke from aliens Kang and Kodos at its own expense: “Pathetic humans! They’re showing a Halloween episode in November!” In Frinkenstein, Frink decides to reanimate his frozen-dead father. Daddy Frink ends up disrupting the Nobel Prize ceremony, which shocks award presenter Jennifer Garner. There are reliable laughs to be had in the final segment involving Bart, Milhouse and a watch that can stop time. But the best segment comes first, when Homer takes over as the Grim Reaper. Read More >>>
Animating The Simpsons
As animation producer for The Simpsons, Rick Polizzi began working on the latest “Treehouse of Horror” episode months ago, and his work will pay on Sunday. After each Simpsons script is locked and the show’s brilliant voice cast has recorded the dialog, layout drawings are sent to a team of animators in South Korea, where the characters are brought to life. It’s Polizzi’s job to oversee the two-month-plus, trans-world, animation turnaround. Once an episode is back stateside, segments have to occasionally be tweaked, or dialog re-recorded. “If the show is not as strong as they like, they can rewrite a few things,” Polizzi said. “If the ending isn’t that strong and they want to punch it up, we can.” Because of the minimalist animation style used in The Simpsons, lines can often be changed without re-drawing faces. Read More >>>
Eat My Lab Coat!
“When my youngest daughter became addicted to the Simpsons, I found myself slowly drawn in. For her, the initial attraction was in the yellowness of the characters. For me it was the humorous yet highly sophisticated angle the series offers on science. As far as I am concerned, it is abundantly clear that the people behind the Simpsons are proceeding with a scientific rationale. The Simpson family is a system trapped in a dynamic yet extremely stable equilibrium. In 14 years, virtually nothing has changed irreversibly. In every episode, the writers change just one parameter in order to probe the response of the equilibrium system, but by the end of the episode, the system will have returned to its initial state.” Read More >>>
Tomacco Becomes A Reality!
Rob Baur, a huge Simpsons fan, grafted a tomato plant to a tobacco plant, grew it, and tonight he has proof from the lab that it worked. “What we found was nicotine in the leaves”. said scientist Ray Grimsbo. The plant grew off the tobacco roots and sucked up the nicotine, just like Tomacco on The Simpsons. The lab hasn’t tested if the actual tomato has nicotine in it yet, but they say it probably does. “Generally in the fruit there is more material concentrated because that’s what everything’s going through to produce the fruit for the next generation. I would expect there would be more.” And that would make the real life tomacco plant very poisonous. Rob Baur says he grew the tomacco plant just for fun, just to see if it would really work. But what’s next for him? “I’ll have to review my DVD’s to see if there is more Simpsons science available.”
Mike Reiss Talks Simpsons
One face behind The Simpsons is writer/producer Mike Reiss, who recently spoke to The Michigan Daily about the show. “A little white guy was used to be Michael Jackson’s singing voice. For some odd reason Jackson only wanted to do the speaking voice.” Some guest stars have backed out after episodes have been written for them. “We had a recent episode where Stan Lee was a guest voice, but that part was written for George Lucas, who begged to be on the show, but pulled out at the last minute.” Even after 15 years on the air, Reiss believes The Simpsons can go on forever unless “the network makes a stupid mistake and kills it. The key to The Simpsons is that everything is right about it, I don’t see any end in sight.” He revealed that the oft-discussed movie is in development and that he is working on the script. Read More >>>
The Simpsons On Vodafone
THQ Inc. and Vodafone today announced an agreement for the distribution of ‘The Simpsons’ branded mobile content exclusively to Vodafone customers throughout Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The first content scheduled for release under this agreement, including ringtones, animated picture messages, wallpapers and screen savers, will be available from November, followed by games. “I am delighted that we are able to launch The Simpsons on a global basis with Vodafone. This is one of the most exciting launches in mobile entertainment to date.” said Adam Comiskey, General Manager, EMEA at THQ Wireless. Read More >>>
One Year Of Simpsons News
As we approach our 6th birthday at The Simpsons Channel, I thought we could reflect on the past year. On this day in 2002 I took a gamble to take the site in a huge new direction. Once being a haven for links and web news, in the space of 24 hours we rebranded ourselves as a site offering the latest show news. This was to be a trial for two months, which would result in closure had it not been a success. The gamble paid off. One year on, 410000 visitors later, the site has a following that we had not experienced in the first 5 years. A year ago I questioned renewing the domain. This year, there’s no maybe about it. You’ve kept me updating for 365 days without losing interest. Here’s to another year. The Simpsons Channel. Your source for Simpsons news.
Quimby’s Animated Campaign
“Diamond” Joe Quimby flat-out denies being the individual that allegedly offered a six-figure bribe to opponent John Nunziata to withdraw his candidacy for Toronto’s mayor, he announced today. “Hey, I’m in the business of taking bribes, not making them,” the ‘colourful’ candidate said. A mayor of Springfield for at least 9 terms, Quimby promises to make his run for the big show in Toronto an ‘animated’ race. Knowing he won’t be invited to any all-candidates debates, Quimby has purchased airtime on Toronto’s “The Comedy Network” in the days leading up to the municipal election. His “Vote Quimby-a-Thon” will air during Friday, Nov. 7 through Monday, Nov. 10 at 9pm ET on The Comedy Network. More information can be found at www.votequimby.ca.