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The only joke I really remembered from the episode was the Lion King spoof with Murphy's head in the clouds, but now that I'm reminded of it the pog joke was hilarious. The Evita spoof several seasons ago made me go teary-eyed, I actually downloaded the "Vote Lisa" song. Oh! and the one where Bart kills the bird, not crying my eyes out but still sad.

Although nothing the Simpsons ever did prepared me for the utter devastation that Seymour the dog had on me.

"Mother Simpson" has made me cry. Not every time I've seen it, but once or twice I've been reduced to tears. The moment that breaks me is actually the end credits with Homer sitting on the hood of his car and watching the stars. What makes that image is Alf Clausen's music, which is remarkably poignant for a cartoon/sitcom, and I was glad to hear it praised on the episode's commentary track.

I've also found the episodes with Maggie's first word and Homer's collage of Maggie photos very moving, but I don't think they've ever made me cried.

God, I forgot about Mother Simpson. Yeah, that ending'll do it to you.

Actually, I got quite emotional during the credits of that particular episode when I watched the DVD. Mostly due to the Paul Simon song which I'd never heard before.

Not quite to tears, but I did get goosebumps at the end of the Futurama episode that featured "Don't You Forget About Me". Perfect song for that scene.

Futurama is another discussion altogether, you'd have to be made of steel to get through The Sting or Jurassic Bark without a tear.

One of the primitive Season one episodes, and nobody seems to like it, but "Moaning Lisa" has always had a pretty big effect on me. Not to the point of actual tears, but close enough.

And which episode had the ending where Homer covers up the company sign with pictures of Maggie, spelling out "Do it for her" or something? I remember that tugging at the heartstrings.

"Mother Simpson" from the Simpsons, "Jurassic Bark" and "The Luck of the Fryish" from Futurama and "For the Man Who Has Everything" from Justice League Unlimited are the 4 episodes that come to my mind that have made me cry. "Jurassic Bark" was devastating as it was aired just barely a month after my first dog died. I was truly depressed for days. Even reminiscing about this now makes me teary eyed.

I loved the call back to Jurassic Bark in Season 5 of Futurama where they find 'another' of Fry's dogs and throw it away before he notices, which was somewhat of a relief as I don't think I could have watched another story of such heart wrenching intensity!

I've always gotten a little tearful at HOMЯ, which is the one where Homer has a crayon lodged in his brain since a child removed, becomes smart, bonds with Lisa, disproves the existence of God to Flanders, finds it alienating being smart, asks Lisa what she does ("As intelligence goes up, happiness often goes down. In fact, I made a graph showing this...I make a lot of graphs") and then commits intellectual suicide by having the crayon forcibly reinserted in order to be a part of the group and be able to enjoy effigy burnings and wacky Hollywood romantic comedies again ("What's this...one groom...TWO grooms!?!"), but not before leaving Lisa a goodbye note.

I was reading this Guardian profile of Werner Herzog and smiled over this:

An episode of The Simpsons is soon due to air in which Herzog's famous voice will make a cameo appearance. "I was very surprised when they approached me because I thought The Simpsons was a newspaper cartoon. So when they called, I said, 'Do a voice? I don't understand, it's a TV programme?' They thought I was joking," he continues, chuckling, "but I was not."

The episode airs tonight.

It just doesn't mean what it used to. Even the White Stripes appearance felt trite to me.

LQ wrote:I was reading this Guardian profile of Werner Herzog and smiled over this:

An episode of The Simpsons is soon due to air in which Herzog's famous voice will make a cameo appearance. "I was very surprised when they approached me because I thought The Simpsons was a newspaper cartoon. So when they called, I said, 'Do a voice? I don't understand, it's a TV programme?' They thought I was joking," he continues, chuckling, "but I was not."

The episode airs tonight.

"I'd like to have just one day when I don't put a gun to my head."
"...if you are a fat little boy in a chocolate factory, never try to drink from the river. The tube, my God, every night I see the tube..."
- Herner Herzog as Augustus Gloop

It was a terrible episode, but a great voice turn. The only time I smiled in the entire episode (note: this is the first new Simpsons I've watched since the premiere of Season 13) was at the "Yes, I am Gloop." line - but it was entirely because of Herzog's line read.

Speaking of voices, what the hell happened to Otto, Lenny, Carl, and most of all Bart? Cartwright does this upswing towards the end of the line read to everything Bart says, making him sound more like a little girl excitedly asking a question even if he's just throwing in a quick quip.

WH was better on The Boondocks

He's not actually credited with doing the voice, but it was a damned good impersonation.

if that's true, it's the best impersonation I've ever heard....where did you hear that?

Oh hell, it is him. His IMDb page had it listed under "Himself" rather than his acting credits, and I had just checked his acting credits. No wonder it was so accurate!

Amazing

The Simpsons dedicated last week's episode to Liz Taylor and this week they re-aired "Lisa's First Word", where she voiced Maggie's first word. Very classy move on their part.

The scary thing is that there's likely a market for that.

What in the flying fuck

Quite a coup getting David Cross (channeling Tobias Fünke) to play Ned Flanders.

Also, anyone who wants that yellow bastard Sin City porn parody can get make-up tips here.

The Simpsons World The Ultimate Episode Guide: Seasons 1-20 is now on clearance at B&N for $24.99 (was $150). Is now only available in-store and you can get it for less than $20 if you have their membership plus any of the coupons floating around the net.

Caught the old Lollapalooza episode on at the gym tonight. The closed captioning for the Smashing Pumpkins' "Zero" said "midtempo rock playing."