September/October

The end of The Simpsons theme songs and introduction has been a well-known segment called the "couch gag". Some of the favorites from the first decade have been the MC Escher-like stairway stroll and the Rocky and Bullwinkle homage. Occasionally they fill a need, like the couch gag where the family start to kick Rockette style, then the camera pans out to an ever growing circus scene, complete with elephants balancing on balls and fire-rings being jumped through. That into's used when the show is tight on time, and they needed to beef it up by a few extra seconds.

In the past few seasons, as I've watched it on my lappy or the rare Sunday I'm off and at home to watch it, two general things I've noticed: the show has changed from a two commercial break/three act show to a three commercial break/four act show. The extra squeezing of precious seconds has altered the already fevered pacing of the emotional arc of the show. The other general observation from this extra commercial break is that the couch gag has taken on a whole new life of it's own. They've reworked how the stories get told, and in doing so freed up some time to let the couch gag turn into a mini production.

Examples that immediately come to attention are the "Evolution of the Homer" and last year's controversial Banksy production (he's a British artist for those unfamiliar).

Another example was what was showed this past Sunday (10/2). It was a "couch gag" produced and animated by John Kricafalusi, the creator of Ren and Stimpy, and one of the leading American independent animators and animation innovators today, still existing in a very George Plympton style bubble.

I only saw a quick video of the intro, and it looked like someone filmed it with a camera, and I'll post about it again with more depth once the video is available online (Fox holds it until the next episode airs).

I mention these things in a post with the title being September/October for a reason. September saw a number of posts about literary conceits, almost like a theme of the month was literary shenanigans. Posts like "Quinine and Pine", "Philosophical Basis for 'Two Towns Over' Post", the Wednesday in Los Angeles collection, and the 600th post about literary blogging highlight this.

A number of posts that didn't get written during September that were planned seem to fit nicely with a few other posts I'd like to finish (they were hatched in Texas) and all blend in with John K. and his off model Simpsons couch gag. They all concern animated entertainment.

Now, animation as a theme might be a little trite for a pretentious guy like me. Nevertheless, there shall be a number of posts this month on Plympton, Miyazaki, Kricafalusi, Joe Murray and Steve Hillebrand, and even Walt Disney. Getting it all started, in a roundabout way, will be a post about a family outing to Walt Disney's Magical Kingdom where Orange County's laws cease and his own laws are enforced: Disneyland. And also California Adventure, the park that now sits on the parking lot of the original park, and a place I'd yet to visit until this recent trip.