The Simpsons Movie

[©brad]

i'd love nothing more than to have the simpsons make me laugh again

here's hoping

did you see the season finale? if it's anywhere near as funny as that episode, it'll be great. i hadn't laughed that hard in a long time, simpsons or otherwise.

it was funny, and so was that trailer. but i don't know, the thought of seeing the simpsons in a big theater still seems like a strange experience to me.

but hey, it worked for south park. so who knows.

[MacGuffin]

The Simpsons Meet Hans Zimmer
Soundtrack to The Simpsons Movie comes courtesy of renowned composer.

The soundtrack to The Simpsons Movie will be hitting stores on July 24th, 2007 with a special Limited Edition of the album being released a week later.

Academy Award winning composer Hans Zimmer has crafted the music for the first full-length feature based on Matt Groening's successful television series. The album will feature Zimmer's take on the music from the series.

"It's such an iconic part of today's culture," says Zimmer. "And I had to try and express the style of The Simpsons without wearing the audience out with too much attitude!"

The album will be made available in two formats. The standard jewel case edition comes out on the 24th. The Limited Edition will be sold on July 31st in a bright pink donut case, complete with multicolored sprinkles, which is supplied in a classic bakery take-out box.

The special Limited Edition was created because, according to Zimmer "We wanted to have some fun and really try to do something that would appeal to the fans and be hard to miss in the record store."

[Pubrick]

"And I had to try and express the style of The Simpsons without wearing the audience out with too much attitude!"

[MacGuffin]

7-Elevens become Simpsons 'Kwik-E-Marts'

Over the weekend, 7-Eleven Inc. turned a dozen stores into Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience stores of "The Simpsons" fame, in the latest example of marketers making life imitate art.

Those stores and most of the 6,000-plus other 7-Elevens in North America will sell items that until now existed only on television: Buzz Cola, KrustyO's cereal and Squishees, the slushy drink knockoff of Slurpees.

It's all part of a campaign to hype the July 27 opening of "The Simpsons Movie," the big-screen debut for the long-running television cartoon, which loves to lampoon 7-Eleven as a store that sells all kinds of unhealthy snacks and is run by a man with a thick Indian accent.

For 20th Century Fox Film Corp. and Homer's creators at Gracie Films, the stunt is a cheap way to call attention to their movie, since 7-Eleven is bearing all the costs, which executives of the retail chain put at somewhere in the single millions.

At 7-Eleven, they're hoping it shows the ubiquitous chain has a trait seen in few corporations — the ability to laugh at themselves.

"We thought if you really want to do something different, the idea of actually changing stores into Kwik-E-Marts was over the top but a natural," said Bobbi Merkel, an executive for of 7-Eleven's advertising agency, FreshWorks, a unit of Omnicom Group Inc. "It shows they get the joke."

The monthlong promotion has been rumored a long time — it's hard to keep a secret known by so many suppliers and franchisees — but 7-Eleven managed to keep the locations of the stores quiet until early Sunday morning. That's when the exteriors of 11 U.S. stores and one in Canada were flocked in industrial foam and given new signs to replicate the animated look of Kwik-E-Marts.

The U.S. locations where a 7-Eleven store was transformed into a Kwik-E-Mart are New York City; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Burbank, Calif.; Los Angeles; Henderson, Nev.; Orlando, Fla.; Mountain View, Calif.; Seattle; and Bladensburg, Md.

The idea grew out of conversations between Fox and 7-Eleven's advertising agency.

"We wanted to make sure the movie stands out as a true cultural event this summer," said Lisa Licht, a marketing vice president at Fox. "It has to stand out from other summer movies and TV shows."

The Fox/7-Eleven deal is an example of a practice called reverse product placement. Instead of just putting products prominently in a movie or TV show, fake goods move from the screen to reality.

In some cases, 7-Eleven has contracted with manufacturers of similar products to make their Kwik-E-Mart counterparts. Malt-O-Meal, the Northfield, Minn., cereal maker, will conjure up a recipe for KrustyO's, for example. In others, existing products will simply be renamed. One flavor of 7-Eleven's own Slurpee will be sold as "WooHoo! Blue Vanilla" Squishee for the month.

Other recent examples of reverse product placement include Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, which spun out of the Harry Potter books and movies, and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurants, which opened after the movie "Forrest Gump." 7-Eleven has done other movie-themed promotions, including one this spring for the latest Spiderman installment.

After Fox pitched a 7-Eleven tie-in last year, representatives from the studio, the stores, and Gracie Films — including Simpsons creator Matt Groening and executive producer James L. Brooks, met in Los Angeles to kick around ideas. Brooks added one — holding a contest to let one fan be drawn into a future episode of the TV show.

7-Eleven executives loved the idea. They had surveys showing a strong overlap between their customers and fans of the show — both tend to be young and male. It sounded like cash registers ringing.

"They've been looking at Squishees and KrustyO's and Buzz Cola for years and have never been able to put their hands on it," said Merkel, the advertising executive.

But they won't find Duff beer, the brand chugged by Homer Simpson. The movie will be rated PG-13, and selling a Simpson-themed beer "didn't seem to fit," said Rita Bargerhuff, a 7-Eleven marketing executive. "That was a tough call, but we want to make sure it's considered good, responsible fun."

Bargerhuff predicted extra sales to Simpsons fans will more than offset the cost of the promotion and create new customers for the chain. She also said the chain is prepared for crowds and will have extra security and clerks at the Kwik-E-Marts.

The promotion, however, is not risk-free. The proprietor of Kwik-E-Mart is a man named Apu who speaks in a heavy Indian accent. He is based on a manager Groening encountered while shopping at a 7-Eleven in Los Angeles nearly 20 years ago and plays to stereotypes about convenience-store operators and Asian immigrants.

Many of 7-Eleven's franchisees are Indian, company officials say, although they say they don't track exact numbers. Bargerhuff said they were "overwhelmingly positive" after hearing of the Kwik-E-Mart idea, but "it was not a 100 percent endorsement."

"There was definitely a concern of offending people," she said. "But they seemed to understand that 'The Simpsons' makes fun of everybody. The vast majority saw this as a great opportunity."

That's the case for Kumar Assandas, a 28-year-old franchisee whose parents immigrated from India. His store in suburban Las Vegas is one of the temporary Kwik-E-Marts.

"I know it's a stereotype, but it doesn't bother me. Everybody knows it's a joke," Assandas said. "I'm a big Simpsons fan myself, and maybe subconsciously it even inspired me to become a 7-Eleven owner."

[MacGuffin]

Vt. town named `Simpsons' official home

Maybe it was the pink doughnut. Maybe it was the clever homemade video, or small-town charm. Maybe Homer just figured it was time to go green.

Whatever the reason, this much is true: Tiny Springfield, Vt., beat out 13 other like-named cities Tuesday for the right to host the premiere of "The Simpsons Movie," winning an online poll it wasn't even invited to participate in.

On July 21, the town's 100-seat movie theater will play host to the movie, which opens July 27.

"Vermont wins," read the purple lettering beside the doughnut-chomping patriarch of America's favorite dysfunctional family on "The Simpsons Movie Springfield Challenge" Web site.

"Ninety-three hundred people, and we won," said an exultant Town Manager Bob Forguites. "I think it's pretty neat, myself."

Springfields in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon and Tennessee also made bids, submitting videos meant to show how much their cities are like the fictional Springfield in "The Simpsons."

Competition was fierce: Massachusetts got U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy — the inspiration behind the voice of Mayor Quimby on "The Simpsons," to appear in its entry.

"Just think," Kennedy said. "You'll even be able to enjoy some real chowdah."

Vermont's Springfield — which has a bowling alley, a pub, a prison and a nuclear power plant just down the road — wasn't initially part of the contest, but a local Chamber of Commerce executive appealed to movie producer 20th Century Fox and the race was on.

The town submitted a video shot by a 17-year-old volunteer cameraman showing buildings with "Springfield" in them and featuring Homer — played by a Burlington talk-show host — running through town chasing a big, pink, rolling doughnut.

Eventually, a mob chases him into a movie theater.

The video was posted on the contest Web site along with the other entries. By midnight Monday, the deadline, 109,582 votes were cast.

Vermont got 15,367, edging out Springfield, Ill., which drew 14,634.

Florida's Springfield got the lowest vote total, 1,386.

"We're so excited," says Patricia Chaffee, vice president of the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce. "We came in at the last minute, and for us to win, we feel like the underdogs, which makes this so big and so great for us."

Gov. Jim Douglas congratulated the town.

"This is an exciting, exhilarating moment for Vermonters," he said. "Perhaps more importantly, it proves there's really nothing a giant doughnut can't do. To all the other Springfields, I say 'Don't have a cow, man.'"

The mayor of Springfield, Illinois, the state's capital city, took the loss like a man, not a cow.

"We knew all along that it would be a tough battle against the other cities who claim a relationship with the television program," said Timothy Davlin. "We in Springfield, Illinois, have enjoyed the notoriety from this exercise and hope that it translates into more people visiting Springfield looking for the Abraham Lincoln sites and the Simpsons."

Springfield, Ore., hoped it had an in because "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening is from Portland, the state's largest city, and many of the show's landmarks are named after streets in Portland. It noted in its video that "the only Springfield Groening passed through on his way to Hollywood was in Oregon."

According to USA Today, which ran the vote on its Web site, the 13 other Springfields that participated will be given small screenings of their own the night before the movie opens nationwide July 27.

[Fernando]

Rise and fall of a comic genius

So now we know. Springfield, Vermont, has been named official home of The Simpsons.
It's the kind of stunt that would fit perfectly into the show.
You can almost hear the panic in the voice of The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening.
Once, it was the greatest show on TV.
And it kept on coming, week after week.
Then it all changed.
You can even put a date on it: 1997, in the early episodes of the ninth series, where the head of Bart's school, Principal Skinner, was suddenly, arbitrarily revealed to be an impostor...
This was just the start.
Plots swung sickeningly from one cliche to another.
True, a long-running series has to evolve.
This was change all right, but change as an excuse for idiocy.
And now, off the back of such a catastrophic decline, the movie has arrived.
One thing's for sure.
The residents of Springfield, Vermont, may soon be ruing that giant pink doughnut.

Weird, if you just read the first line of every paragraph you almost don't need to read the whole thing.

Hey P, how valid is that episode for the starting of the downfall of The Simpsons? Which one was the starting point to you? (I ask P for his knowledge on the matter, anybody's opinion is welcome)

[diggler]

in my opinion, thats a fair episode to pick as a turning point.

there were good episodes after that one, but that was the first time i realized the simpsons weren't infallible.

[picolas]

i think the turning point definetly occurs in season 9. and i agree there is still good stuff after it.. (imdb'ing...) i think i would place it at Trash of the Titans. it's totally unreal/not that funny, though the ending is great. the earlier Miracle on Evergreen Terrace has a pretty shoddy premise as well (Bart tells an obvious lie about a burglar, town pitches in to rebuy Xmas) though it's still kinda funny within it.. it might be Miracle depending on your definition of the turn.

[MacGuffin]

Pagans have a cow over Homer
By ONLINE REPORTER

PAGANS have pledged to perform "rain magic" to wash away cartoon character Homer Simpson who was painted next to their famous fertility symbol - the Cerne Abbas giant.

The 17th century chalk outline of the naked, sexually aroused, club-wielding giant is believed by many to be a symbol of ancient spirituality.

Many couples also believe the 180ft giant, which is carved in the hillside above Cerne Abbas, Dorset, is an aid to fertility.

A giant 180ft Homer Simpson brandishing a doughnut was painted next to the well-endowed figure today in a publicity stunt to promote The Simpsons Movie released later this month.

It has been painted with water-based biodegradable paint which will wash away as soon as it rains.

Ann Bryn-Evans, joint Wessex district manager for The Pagan Federation, said: "It's very disrespectful and not at all aesthetically pleasing.

"We were hoping for some dry weather but I think I have changed my mind. We'll be doing some rain magic to bring the rain and wash it away."

She added: "I'm amazed they got permission to do something so ridiculous. It's an area of scientific interest."

She also expressed fears that the painting of Homer, from the animated television series The Simpsons, would cause a mess as it washed away.

During the Second World War, he was disguised to prevent the Germans from using him as an aerial landmark.

Since then he has always been visible, receiving regular grass trimming and a full re-chalking every 25 years.

[MacGuffin]

Business is booming at 'Simpsons' 7-Elevens
"I usually sell 800 hot dogs a week," one owner says. "Now I'm selling about 3,000 a week."

Ever since 20th Century Fox and 7-Eleven teamed up to convert a dozen of its North America stores (including two in the L.A. area) into fictional Kwik-E-Marts as a monthlong promotional tie-in to "The Simpsons Movie," fans have been lining up for real-world versions of the Buzz Cola, KrustyO's and Squishees that previously existed only in the animated series.

"I never thought we were going to do this kind of business," said Swarn Sahni, who owns the 7-Eleven franchise at 1611 W. Olive Ave. in Burbank that will operate as a Kwik-E-Mart through the end of the month (the other local store is at 11143 Venice Blvd. in West Los Angeles). " 'The Simpsons' fans are spending money like crazy."

Sahni said the line outside the store has been near constant and his business has shot up about 300% since putting up the Kwik-E-Mart signage June 30.

Most of that comes from the movie-related merchandise (which is stocked in non-Kwik-E-Mart 7-Elevens as well) -- and more than a few hot dogs. "I usually sell 800 hot dogs a week," Sahni said. "Now I'm selling about 3,000 a week."

As for that most quintessential of Simpson edibles, the doughnut, the Burbank store had sold 57,510 of the Sprinklicious variety in July (they're the ones, as every "Simpsons" fan knows, with the pink icing and multicolored sprinkles), according to a 7-Eleven spokesman.

The doughnuts are only part of the attraction.

The Olive location has become a draw for many of the artists and actors who have worked on "The Simpsons" series or movie, a fact illustrated by the more than 30 character sketches taped in one corner -- the animator's equivalent of posting your head shot at the local dry cleaners.

Maggie Roswell, the Colorado resident who lends her voice to a handful of characters, including Maude Flanders, Sharri Bobbins, Luann van Houten and Helen Lovejoy (whom she plays in the feature film), came to town for Tuesday night's premiereand visited the store. She ended up posing for pictures in the parking lot with fans.

"I signed a little thing that said: 'Maude Flanders had to come to L.A. to actually see the real Kwik-E-Mart,' " she said.

In addition to life-size cutouts of a hot dog-wielding Homer Simpson, Milhouse and Bart cavorting on the roof and Chief Wiggum standing by with a doughnut in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, there are many smaller, more subtle details.

Although the ATM sign that read "First Bank of Springfield" had been already been stolen, campaign posters for Mayor Quimby remained, as did a "Greetings From Springfield" poster -- complete with a three-eyed fish (a result of the local nuclear power plant). And for anyone who wanders around the side of the store, there is one more bonus:

"Many of the 'Simpsons' artists live in this area," said Sterling Hayman who works for TracyLocke, the Dallas agency that helped bring the Kwik-E-Marts to life. "So during the first week we called Fox and said, 'Hey, we thought of an extra added touch you guys might want to consider.' We wanted to make it appear that Bart has graffitied the side of the building."

Hayman walked around the corner of the building and pointed to the spray-painted words "Skinner stinks" and a caricature of Bart's long-suffering school principal and the tag "El Barto."

"That was done on Day 3," Hayman said. "I heard that someone who had been here several times saw it and was like, 'Wow, the store got tagged last night!' How cool is that?"

[w/o horse]

  It obviously didn't live up to my long-held expectations.  The story was kind of shitty, but maybe it only seems shitty because I was much younger when I thought The Simpsons had great stories?  That's possible.  And there was a lot more movie joking than I would have wanted.  But fuck, it was after all The Simpsons, in a theater.

[Ghostboy]

It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. It doesn't feel too long, which is an accomplishment in and of itself, and it has a few gut busters and a steady stream of minor gags. But why couldn't the villain have been Scorpio?

[OrHowILearnedTo]

Well i was completley satisfied. Some big laughs, great gags, and most importantly it never really took itself too seriously (Yes fox even advertises during movies now). The whole spider pig thing (which i prayed was only for the trailer) was actually funny. There were some lame jokes (especially in act 2) But i thought the endeing was great, and I thought Julie Kavner was absolutly fantastic.


The only two problems i had with it were, why did they make it President Schwartzeneger instead of Wolfcastle? Wouldn't had worked either way? It didn't make sense to change the character, did it?
And why was bart drinking whisky? It wasn't funny and was sorta creepy.





But i have to point my thumb way up on this one!

Thank you Simpson movie for doing the thing we were all afraid to do....Kill Greenday

[Pubrick]

i liked it.

[The Red Vine]

I'm not going to call this film "emotionally honest" or "truthful" like some of the critics are saying. It's a stupid slapstick comedy of nothing but gags.

But I laughed a lot.