Friday, July 27, 2007

On 7-27-07, The Militant's Picture Is Revealed...In Simpsonized Form!

As promised, here is a picture of the Militant for all the world to see...Of course, the Militant didn't promise a *photograph* but this is a picture of what the Militant may (or may not) look like. In true showbiz media fashion, the Militant reeled you all in with a teaser -- complete with numerical date. The Simpsonization of the Militant's apparent likeness (Or might this be an intended front to distract one from recognizing the real likeness of the Militant?) is no doubt relevant to the date, as today marks the release of The Simpsons Movie.

As many American cities named Springfield lobbied to be the real "Springfield" for the movie's world premiere, as any diehard Simpson fan would know, Springfield is really an amalgam of different cities in the U.S. Still, that never stopped Springfield from having a Hollywood-like "SPRINGFIELD" sign and a Griffith-like domed observatory in its hills. Of course, it never hurt that the animation studio that produces The Simpsons is located in Burbank (previously in Valley Village), and even the studio that produced the Tracey Ullman Show's prototype Simpsons shorts and the first few seasons is located in the heart of Hollywood. Also, having native Angeleno Harry Shearer in the cast, doing the voices of everyone from Montgomery Burns to Ned Flanders to Kent Brockman (who was based largely on the late, great Los Angeles news anchor Jerry Dunphy) makes this Militant say, "Woo-Hoo!"

But for the Militant, the greatest Los Angeles moment in The Simpsons was when the only live-action part of an episode was actually filmed here.
In Episode 3F04 (1995's Treehouse of Horror VI), Homer enters the 3rd dimension and ends up in our 3-D world, ultimately forgetting his inter-dimensional trip by walking into an "Erotic Cakes" store, filmed on-location along a set of storefronts on Ventura Blvd. near Ventura Canyon Ave. in Sherman Oaks:


Homer drops into the 818 in 1995's Halloween episode.

The Simpsons have been not only the mirror, but the instigator of pop culture for nearly the past two decades. Only time will tell whether "Spider Pig" will be as ingrained into the lexicon of Simpsonalia as "The Stonecutters Song."


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