The Simpsons Finally Making High-Def Debut
[Thanks, Michael]
simpsons posts
[Thanks, Michael]
'The Simpsons' Mocks Apple
It all starts when the Springfield mall gets its very own Mapple store, "it's so sterile," gasps Lisa upon entering. Perhaps the best exchange comes from Bart's dubbing of a Steve Mobs' product announcement in front of a crowd of gaping nerds, "You think you're cool because you buy a $500 phone with a picture of a fruit on it. Well guess what? They cost 8 bucks to make and I pee on every one!" A Mapple store employee then angrily responds, "Who dares question the boss we fired 10 years ago and then brought back!" Yuk yuk.
Videos after the break for as long as it takes for the copyrighters to wake up. [Thanks, holycow]
Composer Danny Elfman Launches 'Our Greatest Fear' Political Video
With the presidential election just days away now, the list of celebrities busting out the big guns continues to grow. There was Sarah Silverman's The Great Schlep, Matt Damon's blast of Sarah Palin, and the YouVote campaign, which includes more celebrities than an episode of 'Entourage.'
Well, that list has now grown to include the latest video statement by award-winning film ('Edward Scissorhands') and TV ('The Simpsons') music composer Danny Elfman, who just launched his own election-focused viral video called Our Greatest Fear, which effectively explains why electing John McCain would mean very possibly electing Sarah Palin, which would mean very possibly making the worst mistake in the history of American politics.
Plus it's got a cool morph! So '90s, but effective nonetheless. [From: Our Greatest Fear]
Is Electronic Voting Going to Screw Up This Year's Election, Too?
It's actually a 'Simpsons' joke -- Homer selects Barack Obama repeatedly, yet the electronic voting machine disregards his choice and racks up votes for John McCain. The joke would be pretty damn funny too, if it weren't actually happening in West Virginia and Ohio right now.In the last few election cycles, the big names in bungled elections were Ohio and Diebold (which has been renamed Premier Election Solutions -- if you see that moniker on your voting machine, run for the hills). Ohio even had issues in 2007 and 2008 when vote tallies were swapped in a local race for township trustee. Another Ohio incident involved a withdrawn Democrat showing up on some e-voting machines, but not on others.
Of course, Ohio and Diebold (Premier Election Solutions) are not alone. The last few weeks have seen a number of reports out of West Virginia regarding issues with early voting on systems from Election Systems & Software. This past weekend, a flood of reports out of at least three different counties in West Virginia detailed machines that were refusing to register votes for Obama and other Democrats. Voters in Jackson County, Putnam County, and the city of Wheeling in Ohio County claim that machines are taking votes for Obama and switching them to McCain before their very eyes. Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright defended the touchscreen systems to the Charleston Gazette saying, "people make mistakes more than machines." Clearly, he's never used Windows Vista.
Audio/Video, Computers, Video Games, TV
'CSI' and 'The Office' Coming to 'Second Life'
Online virtual worlds are taking over. It would seem as though World of Warcraft and Second Life are cultish phenomena inhabited primarily by the uber-dorky, but if mainstream television is an indicator, things are changing.
Recently, 'South Park' aired an episode in which much of the animation was modified in-game footage from World of Warcraft, while 'The Simpsons' parodied the virtual world in an episode in which Bart and Marge become engrossed in an online role playing world called Earthland Realms.
Second Life isn't left out of the party either: 'Law and Order:SVU' chased a rapist through a fictional virtual world called AY, and, in the October 25th episode of 'The Office,' Dwight Schrute explores Second Life proclaiming his desire to calculate an exchange rate for Linden Dollars (the currency in Second Life) for Schrute Bucks.
The most inventive tie in is coming soon from an upcoming episode of 'CSI: NY,' in which a killer escapes into the world of Second Life. The episode will end with a cliffhanger and pick up in the the virtual world of Second Life, where viewers will be able to help solve the case in a virtual crime lab. In the Spring, the show will pick up where the virtual story line leaves off.
Already, 'The Office' has created its own social networking site / virtual world called Dunder Mifflin Infinity, where branches of the fictional paper company hire employees and compete for Schrute bucks. Sadly, at the moment, the site is barely functional and some have speculated that it's one big ironic joke.
From Virtual Worlds News and Information Week
Related Links:
'The Simpsons' On Your Cell Phone
These are not half-assed recycled bits from the show either: The writers and actors were directly involved in the creation of the product line. The content will be available in 35 countries across 5 continents for a subscription fee of $9.99 a month.
The "Yellow Plan" as, it's called, may seem overpriced, but this is 'The Simpsons'. Other brands would kill for the level of dedication that even "casual fans" have.
From Reuters
Related Links:
_thumbnail.jpg "Vintage Keyboards")
