Marge gives Bart a lecture about town pride after he writes his name in wet cement. Her speech gets to him when the Shelbyvillian kids come and steal the town's beloved lemon tree. Bart, Milhouse, Nelson, Martin, Todd, and Database all head into Shelbyville to get the tree back. When Marge finds out what Bart is up to, she gets their fathers to go to Shelbyville and find them. The boys find the tree, but it's in the car-impound lot being guarded by the Shelbyvillian boys. The fathers get in the fight for the tree when they find the kids. Flanders purposely illegally parks his RV which then gets impounded, and they take back the lemon tree.
This episode’s main theme is community. The lemon tree was such a significant landmark of Springfield and the kids get really fired up after it is pulled from the ground by the bullies in Shelbyville. They try and do a nice thing for not only themselves but the rest of the community by sneaking into the other town in search of the missing tree. It is ironic that in the beginning of the episode, Bart defaces his own town of Spring field by writing his name in the wet cement, yet once Bart uses his disguise and gets in with the opposing group in Shelbyville, he ends up deceiving them and defaces their town by writing, “Springfield Rules Suckers!” which is priding in his town of Springfield. They finally get the tree back, somewhat mangled, but they got it back and the boys saved the day! The kids of Springfield stuck together as did the fathers of Springfield.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
"Bart the Murderer"
After having a very lousy day of school, Bart accidentally stumbles into `The Legitimate Businessman Social Club', a mobster front. He becomes a bartender, but when he shows up late at work and blames Principal Skinner, Skinner disappears.
Poor Bart. He woke up thinking it was going to be a great day because he had a field trip. Once he got to the breakfast table that morning to find the prize in the cereal had already been taken, his day just goes downhill from there. The dog ate his homework, he missed the bus, it rained his whole walk to school, his pants rip, and on top of everything he forgot his field trip permission slip! Bart was then stuck licking disgusting envelopes with the principal. That day he accidentally gets mixed in with guys from the mob and beings to bartend for them. He thinks its cool and that they are his friends cause they give him money and got him dressed up all nice. When a cigarette truck is high jacked (by the mobsters) they use Bart to store the cigarettes at his home so they didn’t get caught. One day when he is late, the mobsters question him and Bart blamed the principal. The following day at school, the principal goes missing and Bart fears the mob guys killed him. The mob ends up screwing Bart over telling the judge he was the brains behind the whole operation and pinned the whole thing on the poor kid. Low and behold, principal Skinner comes to the trial to tell the real story which was actually funny because he claimed to be stuck under a pile of newspapers and his whole tale was really just very dramatic.
Poor Bart. He woke up thinking it was going to be a great day because he had a field trip. Once he got to the breakfast table that morning to find the prize in the cereal had already been taken, his day just goes downhill from there. The dog ate his homework, he missed the bus, it rained his whole walk to school, his pants rip, and on top of everything he forgot his field trip permission slip! Bart was then stuck licking disgusting envelopes with the principal. That day he accidentally gets mixed in with guys from the mob and beings to bartend for them. He thinks its cool and that they are his friends cause they give him money and got him dressed up all nice. When a cigarette truck is high jacked (by the mobsters) they use Bart to store the cigarettes at his home so they didn’t get caught. One day when he is late, the mobsters question him and Bart blamed the principal. The following day at school, the principal goes missing and Bart fears the mob guys killed him. The mob ends up screwing Bart over telling the judge he was the brains behind the whole operation and pinned the whole thing on the poor kid. Low and behold, principal Skinner comes to the trial to tell the real story which was actually funny because he claimed to be stuck under a pile of newspapers and his whole tale was really just very dramatic.
"Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington"
Thanks to Lisa's patriotic and winning essay in a Reading Digest contest, the Simpsons win a trip to Washington DC. However, Lisa's faith in democracy is shaken when she sees her local representative taking a bribe for a permit to cut down Springfield National Forest.
Most every piece of mail Homer received was thrown out in the garbage, except for a free Reader’s Digest magazine. Because it was free, Homer became oddly interested in it and was an avid reader. One day he came across an essay contest for children. Lisa, being the brainiac she is, wrote a very patriotic essay called “The Roots of Democracy”. The Simpsons are off to Washington D.C.! They stay at the Watergate Hotel, which obviously was meant to bring attention to how much corruption there is in the government. Homer goes crazy once they receive VIP passes and has massages and orders plenty of room service. They also got free tours of the white house! The night before the contest, Lisa takes a tour on her own only to come across a congressman accepting a bribe to cut down Springfield’s Forest. Lisa then is disgusted with him has a bad dream about how all they love is money, and she ended up changing her entire essay to make sure everyone knew about the bribe and the shady business. The congressman was arrested soon after, however Lisa’s essay did not win the contest.
Most every piece of mail Homer received was thrown out in the garbage, except for a free Reader’s Digest magazine. Because it was free, Homer became oddly interested in it and was an avid reader. One day he came across an essay contest for children. Lisa, being the brainiac she is, wrote a very patriotic essay called “The Roots of Democracy”. The Simpsons are off to Washington D.C.! They stay at the Watergate Hotel, which obviously was meant to bring attention to how much corruption there is in the government. Homer goes crazy once they receive VIP passes and has massages and orders plenty of room service. They also got free tours of the white house! The night before the contest, Lisa takes a tour on her own only to come across a congressman accepting a bribe to cut down Springfield’s Forest. Lisa then is disgusted with him has a bad dream about how all they love is money, and she ended up changing her entire essay to make sure everyone knew about the bribe and the shady business. The congressman was arrested soon after, however Lisa’s essay did not win the contest.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Blog for 3/8 "No Loan Again, Naturally"
When the adjustable rate on Homer and Marge's mortgage resets at more than they can afford, they must put their home up for sale. Good Samaritan Ned Flanders buys the house and rents it out to them at an affordable rate. But Homer pushes his luck too far when he takes advantage of Ned's generous land lording duties.
Like I had mentioned in the previous blog, I am not an avid Simpson’s watcher, but Homer not being able to pay bills seems to be a running theme. Ned, being the good neighbor he is despite how Homer treats him, offers to purchase the home again for them and rent it to them so they could still live in their home at an affordable price. I think Homer and Marge are being completely unreasonable by asking him to do all those chores they could easily be doing themselves. They should be so gracious considering they are not living on the streets where they would be if it wasn’t for Ned. However, after being so fed up, Ned does just that and kicks them out. After realizing that he does in fact miss the Simpsons he lets them move back in. I’m not sure if they ended up re-purchasing their home, but I guess we’ll find out the next episode! I feel as though this episode identifies with the current economic situation. With how bad the economy is doing, it is making life a hell of a lot more difficult for people to keep up with their payments and having to cut back on numerous things. Luckily for the Simpsons, their neighbor is extremely kind and I guess forgiving for having helped them out in such a big way.
Like I had mentioned in the previous blog, I am not an avid Simpson’s watcher, but Homer not being able to pay bills seems to be a running theme. Ned, being the good neighbor he is despite how Homer treats him, offers to purchase the home again for them and rent it to them so they could still live in their home at an affordable price. I think Homer and Marge are being completely unreasonable by asking him to do all those chores they could easily be doing themselves. They should be so gracious considering they are not living on the streets where they would be if it wasn’t for Ned. However, after being so fed up, Ned does just that and kicks them out. After realizing that he does in fact miss the Simpsons he lets them move back in. I’m not sure if they ended up re-purchasing their home, but I guess we’ll find out the next episode! I feel as though this episode identifies with the current economic situation. With how bad the economy is doing, it is making life a hell of a lot more difficult for people to keep up with their payments and having to cut back on numerous things. Luckily for the Simpsons, their neighbor is extremely kind and I guess forgiving for having helped them out in such a big way.
Blog for 3/1 "How the Test Was Won"
Bart is informed that he has received perfect scores on a practice test for the upcoming Vice President’s Assessment Test. As a result, he will be exempt from taking the real exam and will be transported by helicopter to a pizza party. However, Bart soon realizes the trip is not what it seems. Meanwhile, Homer must avoid injuring himself for an entire afternoon after failing to pay his insurance.
I have never watched The Simpsons before stepping foot into this class. I have only seen the few episodes that were shown in class, as well as the past Sunday episode. I think it’s an interesting show. It’s humorous with entertaining characters who can appeal to all ages and groups of people. I also like that they make references to things like politics and pop culture. For example, when Homer finds out he is uninsured, he says, “Like a bad neighbor, no one is there!” which is a play on the slogan for State Farm Insurance Company. Also, the main idea of this particular episode was about the standardized testing which has to do with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. This is a law that is aimed at improving U.S. education and greater educational achievement for most students. However in this episode the principal groups tricks Bart and a couple of other kids into thinking they scored perfectly, when really he is just trying to get rid of them so they do not drag down the entire schools scores as a whole. This makes Lisa crazy and it shows her insane amount of stress caused by these ridiculous standardized tests. I personally hate standardized tests. No one has the patience to sit in a hot, crowded room for close to five hours straight and take, what I thought, was a really difficult test. This cannot be what determines your intelligence level at that point in time. Most kids close to half way in just fill random bubbles in because they have no clue and just want to get the things over with.
I have never watched The Simpsons before stepping foot into this class. I have only seen the few episodes that were shown in class, as well as the past Sunday episode. I think it’s an interesting show. It’s humorous with entertaining characters who can appeal to all ages and groups of people. I also like that they make references to things like politics and pop culture. For example, when Homer finds out he is uninsured, he says, “Like a bad neighbor, no one is there!” which is a play on the slogan for State Farm Insurance Company. Also, the main idea of this particular episode was about the standardized testing which has to do with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. This is a law that is aimed at improving U.S. education and greater educational achievement for most students. However in this episode the principal groups tricks Bart and a couple of other kids into thinking they scored perfectly, when really he is just trying to get rid of them so they do not drag down the entire schools scores as a whole. This makes Lisa crazy and it shows her insane amount of stress caused by these ridiculous standardized tests. I personally hate standardized tests. No one has the patience to sit in a hot, crowded room for close to five hours straight and take, what I thought, was a really difficult test. This cannot be what determines your intelligence level at that point in time. Most kids close to half way in just fill random bubbles in because they have no clue and just want to get the things over with.
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