Just a quick opinion...

If you own the Playstation 3, or a Blu Ray player, buy or rent the Simpsons movie as the Picture Quality and Sound quality are amazing. Unfortunetly, like the DVD, the extras are a bit underwelming and Fox is undoubtedly going to double-dip when the "Director's Cut" version hits the stores a couple of years.

Oh well...

On to art related news, I'm drawing "Simpsons Generations.Part 3" right now. "Generations" is a tale of the 13yr old Maggie (from this gallery) and Eric, new kid, stuck 12 years in the past and living with the Simpsons as we'd seem them on TV today. If you want to read Part 2 (part 1 is no longer online) go here:

[link]

To change pages, change the "01" ot "02".

Happy reading and have a fun new year everybody!

Jake

Well, I've seen the Simpsons Movie this past Saturday, and I'm glad they tried to inject real emotion into Springfield again. (I won't spoil what transpired for the 7 Simpsons fans who still haven't seen it.) Overall, this movie reminded me of the funny, rapid fire jokes from the first few seasons, and the added length of being an actual movie made the story seem far less-hurried than the episodes. Other than movie ending far too quickly, I'd give this movie a solid A minus.

A few days later on Tuesday, the Limited Edition Simpsons Movie Soundtrack was released and I managed to get the last copy at a Best Buy (Rogers, MN), but that's not the best part. The clerk at the customer service counter where my CD was on hold was humming the Simpsons theme as she was taking the Soundtrack out of a cabinet and I knew I had to ask her for an opinion about a "Simpsons spinoff about a 13yr old Maggie and a new kid, Eric."

I got the usual answer: "Well after so long, I couldn't imagine the characters any differnt." She said, perplexed I'd even ask such a question...but luckily, I was carrying my finished art folder with me. Any hesitations regarding another Simpsons series quickly evaporated. I showed her my drawings of an older Maggie, explained the complexities of the characters (new and old), and within a few minutes, she had waved over close to a dozen of her co-workers to show them.

Not one of the employees, nor a few curious customers passing by, seemed bitter and spouted the cliched "it's a cartoon! They're not supposed to get old!". Everyone who came by were genuinely amazed, and even better, left with big smiles.

Um...Wow...

Finally, I'm hoping you're enjoying the additions to the gallery over the past few days. Since I'm sick of trying to work with Maggie And Eric Dot TV but I like to draw, still, I'm 95% finished moving the better drawings here. There's still some decent sketches left, but the majority of the black and white shaded pics and decent color pics have all been posted.

That's all for now, and until next time...

Jake

What weird blessing and/or curse befell me one cold, rainy March evening in 1999, I cannot exactly put into words. But here at my quietest hour of any typical week, I'll attempt to...or at least give it a meager try...

"The Simpsons."

Just the mere mention of that animated surname invokes yellow-filled good times of laughter, adventure, or just some needed guffaws at the wacky world we live in. From it's inception in 1989 to the end of the millenium, the Simpsons was, in my eyes the greatest thing ever to grace the devoid TV land that once was dominated by squeaky-clean sitcoms during the 80's to the late 90's emergence of cookie-cutter "reality TV" shows. In my humble opinion, the greatest episode of the greatest TV show ever made was Season 2's "Lisa's Substitute", a somber, yet funny story of how Lisa found her "first" true love--not a good looking "Corey" enviormentalist wag, but a Teacher whom truly enpowered Lisa with his care a poise and most importantly, a teacher who reminded Lisa that "you are Lisa Simpson."

My fifteen year old grunge loving self remembers feeling genuinely sad over Lisa's loss. This moment marked the first time I nearly cried while watching ANY televised program, live-action, or otherwise and it was also the moment I realized the Simpsons was not only clever and smart-assed, it was then I realized the show had a genuine heart, as well. And for the next seven seasons, more or less, the show had that "heart" beneath all that zaniness that was a part of Springfield. But, alas, all good things can't last...Whether it be the inmates running the asylum known as Fox and their demi-godlike market research, or the newer staff not 'getting' what made the show great, or even just competition from other shows like South Park and Family Guy, the Simpsons just....changed. (While comedy is a purely subjective thing, I prefer my comedies with likeable, flawed characters first and foremost. To me, it makes the humor more enjoyable.)

In 1999, I was starting to become a bit cynical over the current state of the Simpsons, to me it was becoming more and more of the "Homer and Friends Show" and less of the show I once remembered it as. Also, Futurama was up and coming and my coworkers (who knew me as the resident Simpsons geek) were inquisitive as to whether or not Futurama was Spinoff to the Simpsons. And after telling my employees that it was not, they were dissapointed, and that's when things began to get interesting! So, on that cold and rainy March evening, my pursuit of a crazy passion began....

Untitled for a couple of years, I avoided the cliches of naming a Simpsons spinoff. I disliked "The Simpsons: The Next Generation" or other titles that had references to time in the title. I finally settled on just "Maggie and Eric" since they're the biggest changes in how I envision a Simpsons family, 12 years from now.

First and foremost, I wanted a rift in the family between Lisa (age 20) and Maggie (age 13). I wanted to avoid the stereotypical teen look for Maggie and wanted something along the lines of a brutish, Lisa loathing tomboy. I wanted something where Maggie's quite angst ridden and gets rid of excess stress by extreme physical excersise. And for a new approach, Maggie's not a Bart-clone, but she could almost be considered a bully in her 7th grade class. Most importantly, Maggie is at odds with Lisa, despite the fact Lisa is saddend that Maggie thinks of her as an unwanted shadow in her life.

On the much happier side of the family, we have the new kid: Eric. Yes, I've seen the episode where Homer's supposedly sterile from the plant, but I consider Homer's odds of fathering another child are greatly reduced. Eric, with Homer's side of the DNA pool nearly defunct from the radiation, sports the Bouvier side of the family--Marge's scratchy voice, blue hair, and slightly awkward way of carrying himself. On top of his genetic makeup, Eric's the somewhat spoiled child and has a personality of a preppy / GQ wannabe and unlike Bart, Eric has no qualms with having a girlfriend (who's also his best friend).

Together, this Sibling duo makes up the backbone of a great idea and fresh take on the future of Springfield. Forget every Flash-Forward the current series has done, my version of looking ahead is plausible future. No hover cars, lasers, or anything from the Jetsons in sight. Think of it this way: If the current Simpsons series is like the movie "Batman and Robin", then "Maggie and Eric" would be like "Batman Begins", but only Maggie and Eric is a sequel.

Well, I've rambled on enough for now...


Jake
[link]