Again, man-made mega-structure building, Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea Football Club. The club that has just recently made their first final to the Champions League ( I hope they lost against man yoo ).
It was 03.00 PM when I arrived there, by an underground train. But sadly, the stadium was closed ( except the shop ), because Chelsea will have a game to be played at the next two days.
I got the chance to see this man-made mega-structure building on last year. It’s nice that I can finally saw a stadium from a Premier-League Club, Arsenal.
Sadly, I can only got chance to see the stadium from outside, and just get to the Arsenal Fan Shop, because the Bad weather, as you can see on above, it was heavily cloudy there.
This is the weapons that have stood since the Highbury era. The stadium has an all-seated capacity of 60,355, making it the second largest stadium in the Premier League, after Old Trafford, and the third-largest stadium of any kind in London, after Wembley and Twickenham. During the planning and construction stages, it was known as Ashburton Grove before a naming rights deal with the United Arab Emirates’ Based airline, Emirates was struck in October 2004.
Clothes may maketh the man, but after glancing down Bandung’s famous clothing strip, I would argue they also make the economy. Today ‘Jeans Street’, or Jalan Ciamplas, is more crowded than ever. But pitching to a youth market, which has a sensitive barometer for what is ‘in’, is not as easy as it might seem.
The mushrooming of distro, or independent fashion outlets, throughout Indonesian metropolitan centres shows that sometimes the best people to satisfy the youth market are young people themselves. But have the original reasons for distro been lost to capitalism and competition?
Distro is a shortening of the Indonesian word distribusi, or distribution. Generally distro differ from other youth fashion outlets by their links to the independent music industry, the age of those involved, and collective ownership styles.
In 1993, a few die-hard music fans set up a music studio in Bandung known as Reverse. This studio was also one of the first to sell international and local indie (independent) band merchandise including t-shirts, hooded jackets, cassettes and posters. A pioneer distro, Reverse mapped out the format that many independent fashion outlets were to follow.
Distro provide a vehicle for creative collective members to market and disseminate their talents. Promoting artistic licence over profit margins, distro do not source stock from factories. Instead most have their own in-house labels with all goods made in small runs. Originality and scarcity are selling points.
Cooperation marked the birth of distro, and to a certain extent it is still evident today. Lined up alongside the distro’s own merchandise are products made by friends also in the clothing game. Staffing is usually a collegiate arrangement with members working in shifts to keep overheads down. Profits are split in proportion to capital investment in the store.
Distro size and scale is as varied as the size and shape of the wallets behind them. One of the first distro I went to was Bandit. A punk hangout, Bandit was just a glass cabinet covered by a tarpaulin with two rickety benches, right next to a McDonald’s garbage skip. These days most are housed in converted garages or small shop fronts.
Distro are a contrast to Indonesia’s mall epidemic. Multi-level malls are vast expanses of bright and shiny marketing providing the shopper with a clean, air-conditioned opportunity to spend. In comparison, distro are cramped by low ceilings and are filled to the brim with merchandise stocks. Posters and stickers cover all available surfaces. Graffiti scars the walls. In Jakarta, one distro advertises its location with a burnt-out, spray-painted van parked in front of the store.
Distro originally developed from the do-it-yourself ethic of the underground music community. However, they soon evolved into a forum for exchanging news about developments in the music scene.
In the early nineties, before the internet was easily accessible, dedicated fans could only gain information from overseas through mail order. As a result, underground music news had very limited circulation. I remember the frustration when a much-awaited newsletter would be sent wayward in Indonesia’s temperamental postal system. Distro filled this void by providing a central point where information and music could be swapped and shared.
In this embryonic stage, political aspirations were rarely expressed overtly. The repressive nature of Suharto’s New Order government meant that rebellious, anti-establishment political views were best whispered, rather than yelled.
Amid the popular discontent of 1997, however, the group behind Riotic Distro broadened discussion to include politics. Riotic was the first Bandung distro to become a hub for political agitation within the punk subculture. Its publications sub-division, Riotic Papers, produced Submissive Riot, the first Bandung zine to debate social and political issues instead of purely music. Submissive Riot was followed by the equally political Harder, published by Harder distro. The Counter-Culture Collective also agitated for change, using distro networks to propagate anarchistic literature.
At the peak of the radical punk movement in Bandung between 1999 and 2000, distro served as the spot for midnight meetings to plan demonstrations and rallies as radical punks formed the aggressive frontline of demonstrations about human rights, workers rights, food subsidies and other issues. The placement of distro on main thoroughfares kept them away from neighbourhood surveillance and the control of urban village officials.
In 2003, however, distro underwent a rapid shift. One of Bandung’s clothing and accessories distro, 347, exploded onto the fashion scene. Wearing the 347 label suddenly became the funkiest trend among Bandung’s fashion conscious. It was the first time a distro had moved outside its underground niche and captured a mainstream market.
The crew behind 347 were from upper middle-class families and had more capital at their disposal than most of their forerunners. This capital, and a clever combination of marketing, attractive packaging, high quality design, good fabrics and screen printing, was 347’s strength. Very quickly its products matched those of international street and surf wear brands, although without the prohibitive price tag.
Taking millions of rupiah a day, the store soon became well-known throughout Indonesia. 347 has even penetrated markets abroad. Hot on the heels of 347’s success, distro began appearing throughout Indonesia – in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Malang, Semarang, Surabaya, Bali, Makassar, Medan and Lampung. There are now over 200 distro in Bandung alone.
This success means that distro are no longer hidden from mainstream view. Where once they were a place for underground music sub-cultures and the politically disenfranchised to share ideas away from the scrutiny of society, they now vie for strategic space close to city centres, shopping malls, high schools, and universities. It is not uncommon for a distro to be a popular after-school hangout.
In Bandung, distro are even beginning to out-compete the city’s famous fashion outlets for the youth fashion market. Foreign labels are now being shunned in favour of locally designed and produced clothing and accessories.
Distro über cool is not limited to clothing. What’s ‘in’ is broad in definition and covers everything from clothes and accessories to cassettes, CDs and posters. Any respectable distro offers a selection of all of the above, but with affordable prices that mock the efforts of their large-scale competitors.
Continuing links to the underground music scene mean that these days many of the larger distro have a department that produces music. This scenario provides a means for independent bands to release music, while at the same time avoid the drawbacks of the commercially-orientated recording industry. In an elegant symbiosis, the resulting album is then sold through the distro networks. Key indie labels that have grown from distro include Riotic Records (from Riotic distro) and Flatspils (from 347 distro).
This cooperation can also extend to band merchandise. Bands will request distro to design and sell band t-shirts. In return, band members will wear distro-designed t-shirts during gigs.
Yet the increased popularity of distro has resulted in a shift in the orientation of many distro from an ideological one to commercial one. In recent times, entrepreneurially-minded individuals have also set up distro as profit-making enterprises rather than creative collectives. Distro now market their t-shirts, wallets and backpacks to the fashion-conscious. They have also lost the political potency that characterised early distro. Instead of facilitating revolutionary meetings, distro are more likely to use their strategic placement to host Saturday night street-side gatherings.
With increased competition, less flexible and imaginative distro failed. The survivors are more commercially savvy and have learnt the importance of self-promotion. Distro now hand out free items such as stickers, badges, and posters at concerts and gigs. At a recent hip-hop gig in one of Bandung’s sports halls, I became the proud owner of three new key rings, all from newly established distro.
Many distro also advertise in the larger, more widely distributed glossy independent print media publications such as Ripple Mag, Suave, and D!!Side. Some of the larger distro are even sponsoring timeslots on local radio, holding quizzes and hosting local indie bands.
Some elements of the original collective ideology of distro remain, such as information sharing and fostering local music. Many websites are devoted to information and tips on setting up a distro or fashion label. Distro-run forums and blogs (web-based diaries) are used for networking and advertising other distro and labels. Forum members can also post information about gigs and events that their store has organised.
From humble beginnings, distro are making a significant impact on the youth fashion industry. But has this success come at a cost? When 347 first became successful, many of the people behind distro collectives explained to me they felt the distro scene had been ‘sold out’. They felt the original anti-capitalist push behind distro had been betrayed.
Indeed, discussion of fashion, promotion and sales now dominate the conversations held over distro counters, discussions that used to focus on political ideology and mechanisms for social change. Political resistance is almost entirely absent from the distro of today.
Yet despite recent changes to distro and ownership styles, they continue to be created by young people for young people. The design and sale of goods provide a creative outlet for young designers, and allow young shoppers to determine, create and exhibit their take on fashion. They also provide an opportunity for local bands to gain a foothold in the notoriously cutthroat music industry. Distro undoubtedly remain a meaningful place for the creation and direction of Indonesia’s youth culture.
Uttu (satanarchy2001@yahoo.com) is a fervent pop culture aficionado. He runs a distro in Bandung.
Personal Review :
Quite good, even though Lurleen Lumpkin made her comeback, but I just felt, that she didn’t made any big impact to this episode. Overall, it was nice to see Lurleen again, but she’d probably get more laughs in future cameos than in carrying an entire episode.
Rating by me : 7.1 / 10
Plot ( Wikipedia.com )
Lisa tries to sell Girl Scout Cookies to Mayor Quimby, but finds the entire town treasury empty. Quimby explains the city spent their money on a new slogan, “Springfield: Good”. A town meeting is held to inform the town they have to raise money. They try faking a natural disaster in order to get relief money from the government, but are tricked and end up in more debt than before. Lisa then reveals Springfield has millions in uncollected taxes, and Springfield soon starts hitting up its most notorious tax evaders. In a news report, Kent Brockman reveals that all tax evaders have been caught, and the only one remaining is Lurleen Lumpkin, a country music star who was once managed by Homer and fell in love with him . As the city searches for her, Homer finds Lurleen hiding in his car, and learns that after leaving her, her life had spun out of control.
Homer comforts the nerve-wracked Lurleen, who says she has no money. Homer agrees to take her home, but Marge remembers how Lurleen caused a huge rift in her marriage, and demands that she gets out. Angrily driving her away, she discovers that Lurleen lives with the homeless. Marge begins to pity her. Marge reluctantly allows her to stay with the family. As a thank-you, Lurleen cooks a barbecue for the family, and Marge apologizes about the argument earlier. Lurleen forgives her, and the two become friends. Soon, though, Lurleen is found, arrested, and taken to court. Judge Snyder decides to go easy on her, with one exception: Lurleen must find an immediate way to pay off her debt to society. When the trial finishes, she explains how she can’t pay off her taxes because all her money went to her ex-husbands (who all resemble Homer).
Lurleen becomes depressed, and the whole family soon hears Lurleen singing through the vent about her father. Marge realizes that after her father left Lurleen, Lurleen had given up faith in all men. Marge decides to get the two Lumpkins back on a proper parent-child relationship. Scouring Springfield, she finally finds him in the corner of Springfield. Royce Lumpkin left Lurleen because he realized he could never be a great father. He is now deadbeat. Lurleen forgives him for leaving her, however, and she writes a new song to celebrate their reunion. The two appear to have a newfound happiness, and spend a lot of time together. But Royce decides to leave Lurleen again. Soon a new song from The Dixie Chicks goes on the radio, Lurleen’s father is there, and he claims he wrote the song, a clear plagiarism of the song Lurleen wrote for their reunion. She goes to the basement to sulk. Colonel Homer and Marge come to her, and tell her to take control of her destiny. Lurleen tells the Dixie Chicks that her father stole her song and they proceed to hit him with their instruments. Lurleen becomes the new opening act for the Dixie Chicks. She has a new husband (who has a resemblance to Homer), and Marge threatens her against ever returning.
Personal Review :
Another boring episode, this marks Lisa for the first time to inhales second hand smoke. I only like the couch gag, when Wile E. Coyote paints a fake couch on the wall which the Simpsons run into.
Rating by me : 4.7 / 10
Plot ( Wikipedia.com )
A large snake enters Bart’s bedroom which is revealed to be a costumed Homer. Lisa arrives dressed as Angelica Button, a character from her favorite book series, and the two reveal that the family is entitled to attend the opening sale of the final book. They manage to all get a copy of the book, and finish reading during the trip home. The family decides to watch television, and a commercial comes on; it is for a ballet academy owned by a man named Chazz Busby. Marge is inspired, and reveals to Lisa that she has a whole box of unfulfilled dreams, one of which is to become a ballet dancer. Lisa encourages Marge to follow her dream, and she auditions for Chazz Busby’s ballet academy. Busby lets Marge pass, but remains bitter about her performance.
Meanwhile, Homer takes Bart to the basement and introduces him to his secret room, the “jerkytorium”, a room in which Homer has been making beef jerky. While dancing, Marge does an impossibly high stretch with her leg, causing it to get stuck. Busby kicks Marge out, insulting her. An angry Lisa decides to defend Marge, and while berating Busby, he notices Lisa’s posture is perfect for a ballerina. He asks if Lisa would join his ballet class, and Marge interrupts, accepting the offer on Lisa’s behalf. However, no matter how hard she practices, Lisa soon turns out to be terrible. While on break, a ballerina asks Lisa if she would like to smoke, claiming it improves their performances. Horrified, Lisa rejects the cigarette. Lisa says that fresh air is better, but inadvertently inhales a large entity of the cigarette’s smoke. When the break is over, Lisa enters the studio and performs better than ever, and deduces that second hand smoke is what makes her excel.
Homer brings Apu to his “jerkytorium”, and he and Bart are shocked to discover it is completely empty. After incorrectly blaming Ned Flanders, Homer discovers that a family of raccoons has made off with his jerky. That night, Lisa hallucinates of a cigarette-smoked shaped older version of her, who convinces her to continue smoking. Outside her window, Homer and Bart lay a trap to capture the raccoons: a tray loaded with sleeping pill-laced beef jerky. However, this plot fails when Homer eats the drugged jerky. While driving Lisa to ballet practice, Marge—who is proud of having a ballerina as a daughter—starts glowing about how she sees herself in Lisa and Lisa begins to suspect that Marge is living out her dream through her.
Homer follows one of the raccoons into the family’s home under a tree stump, and can not bring himself to attack the family because he sees they are a loving family that resembles his own. At the studio, Lisa’s dancing falters and she anxiously waits for the break. When the break does come, she finds out that it is windy outside, so all the smoke begins to blow away. She realizes her only other alternative is to actually smoke a cigarette, and picks one up; right before she smokes it, Homer—alarmed and shocked—arrives to steal it out of her hand. Angry, he goes to tell Marge, but discovers she is so proud of Lisa, he can’t bear to destroy her happiness. He does, however, order Lisa to quit cigarettes, and decides to get Bart to tail her.
When Bart informs Homer that Lisa is still addicted to smoke, Homer creates a plan involving one of the raccoons. On the night of the big ballet recital, the raccoon breaks into the changing room and steals all the cigarettes. On stage, all the ballerinas soon go out of control, and Lisa tells the appalled audience that ballet is something America has forced onto children, and quits, prompting Busby to also quit. Marge also learns not to display her dreams through her child.
Personal Review :
Pretty decent episode. The addition of Nelson as an investigator to the conspiracy was an interesting move on the producers’ part. While the diet cheating storyline was great silly fun, it was the turmoil that Bart and Lisa went through that really made this an outstanding episode. I like when Homer said ,”Oh boy, dinner time! The perfect break between work and drunk”.
Rating by me : 6.9 / 10
Plot ( Wikipedia.com )
are in bed about to “snuggle” but Homer is too enervated to do so. Marge is concerned that Homer’s weight has become an issue again, and hires a formerly obese nutritionist named Betsy Bidwell to help. Betsy puts Homer on an all bell pepper diet. Although Homer seems to eat only the peppers, he gains weight. Suspecting he has been cheating on his diet, Marge discovers a show called Sneakers, a show intent on exploiting cheating couples. Marge decides to call the producers, with the intention of having them stalk Homer and see if he is cheating on his diet. Marge successfully manages to reach Sneakers, and they help her.
Bart and Lisa, sent out of the house by Marge so she can make an “adult phone call” to Sneakers, tour Springfield National Park. At the top of a mountain, the two discover Martin excavating for arrowheads. While Lisa joins him in excavating, a frustrated Bart plays a prank on Martin. Stealing Sideshow Mel’s bone, Bart buries it. Martin arrives thinking it is a real artifact. Bart tugs on a string connected to the bone, which flies up to knock Martin in the head. He stumbles over the edge of the cliff, and falls onto a smaller ledge. Lisa taps him with a stick to wake him, but inadvertently knocks him off the ledge, and he falls into the trees at the bottom of the cliff. The two return home believing that they have killed Martin, and feel guilty and unsure what to do. On the news, Kent Brockman reports Martin has disappeared and is presumed dead. Wiggum says when Martin landed he was eaten by a cougar. Bart wants to admit his crime but Lisa, frightened of going to jail for being an accomplice, convinces him to keep quiet. Homer leaves, claiming he is going to work on a Saturday. Marge calls Sneakers which prompts a nearby van full of Sneakers agents to stalk Homer.
A memorial is held as a tribute to Martin in the school gym. Nelson Muntz realizes that Martin had a fear of heights so it would be unusual for him to be at the top of a cliff. Nelson travels to Mt. Springfield and discovers Sideshow Mel’s bone on a string. Meanwhile, the Sneakers agents catch a video of Homer going to a restaurant. Marge confirms her suspicions of Homer but realizes that the reality show people do not care about their marriage. She quits the show and embraces Homer.
Nelson suspects Bart and Lisa’s involvement in Martin’s disappearance. Having read Martin’s diary, Bart heads to Martin’s greenhouse to complete his butterfly project. Lisa follows him and they finish the project. Lisa confesses to the murder out loud. Nelson appears and catches Lisa’s confession on tape, just as Martin emerges. He recounts how he survived the fall thanks to his underwear with an extra-durable wedgie-proof waistband. His waistband caught on a tree branch and then the cougar pulled at his clothes, tossing him to a safe place. Lisa concludes that underneath her innocent appearance is a dark, twisted person.
Personal Review :
What can I say about this episode ? truly “BRILLIANT!” “GENIUS!” , this episode took the number one spot of my personal rank in this season for temporarily ( waiting for the last 3 episodes ), I like the idea of parodying the rat from Martin Scorsese’s Movie The Departed, this episode marks the best feud of Bart Simpson against Principal Skinner. Beside the feud, I also like when Homer Simpson made laughs about the loaner car, “you stu.. hahahahah, like a jerk, like a jerk !! “
Rating by me : 9.5 / 10
Plot ( Wikipedia.com )
Marge is driving Bart and Lisa to school in Homer’s car when the children begin fighting. When Marge tries to stop the children from fighting, she inadvertently crashes into Hans Moleman’s car. Later at school, Bart is shocked to find his seat taken by a new student, named Donny, who was recently kicked out of his former school. After Donny throws massive amounts of garbage at the school wall, Bart begins to feel he is losing popularity. While trying to imitate Donny, Bart ends up humiliating himself. Feeling his social rank amongst his peers slipping, Bart sulks.
Meanwhile, Homer has taken his car to get fixed. The Wiseguy informs him of a loaner car he could use in the meantime. The loaner car is significantly better than Homer’s old car, and he embraces it, and begins driving it everywhere. Bart plays a prank on Principal Skinner, employing magnets and metal sole pads in Skinner’s shoes. While on the school stage, the magnets cause Skinner to dance uncontrollably and ultimately be hurled outside of the school into a container filled with old retainers. Bart regains the respect and admiration of his peers, but when Skinner attempts to find who is responsible, Donny takes the blame for Bart’s prank. Skinner takes Donny to his office, whereupon Donny is revealed to be in fact a snitch hired by Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers to get Bart suspended. Bart invites Donny into his clique alongside Nelson and Milhouse, and they plot school pranks. To signify Donny’s entrance in the group, Bart rewards him with illegal Blue Vine licorice sticks from Europe, which turn the eater’s tongue blue.
Homer takes Marge out on a romantic evening cruise. The Wiseguy calls Homer, informing him that his old car is ready to be picked up. Homer, however, refuses to give up his luxury car. At the school, Bart is perplexed when Skinner repeatedly anticipates and foils his pranks. Groundskeeper Willie informs Bart that a snitch is amongst them, but Bart wrongly suspects Milhouse. With the aid of Nelson and Donny, Bart imprisons Milhouse in a locker. Bart plans a final prank on Skinner involving egging his house with ostrich eggs. While helping Skinner hang up a banner, Bart notices that Skinner’s tongue is blue. Bart figures out that the snitch is Donny, who had given Skinner the Blue Vines. While driving past the car dealer, Homer sees the Wiseguy selling his car for $99. Homer is furious and realizes that his car is like his child, and takes it back, abandoning the loaner car.
Bart, Nelson and Donny go to the school storage building, where Willie lets them in. Bart denounces Donny as the rat and Nelson grabs him. They plan to place him in Skinner’s office, where they will mix Diet Coke and Mentos, of which they have a huge amount. They are interrupted by the arrival of Superintendent Chalmers, Principal Skinner (toting a video camera), and Willie, who has snitched on Bart in exchange for an elementary school diploma. Chalmers tells Bart that he will be sent to the toughest juvenile detention center there is. Donny pities Bart, as he was the only person who ever cared for him. As Skinner leads Bart away, Donny shoves the crates of Mentos into the Diet Coke, causing the fizzy explosion. The two boys escape through the roof as Skinner, Chalmers, and Willie are caught in the explosion. Bart and Donny shake hands and Donny leaves, telling Bart that he will always remember their friendship, and they promise to meet up with each other sometime in the future.
Personal Review :
This is also getting boring, they seemed to focus on the stories themselves rather than overload them with gags as they tend to do. Maybe the ‘Sid and Nancy’ story got the number one spot for me. I hope I don’t watch this episode in the future.
Rating by me : 3.9 / 10
Plot ( Wikipedia.com )
The episode begins on a Valentine’s Day afternoon. As a Valentine’s day treat, Homer takes Marge to a carnival, where they lose the kids in order to spend the day with one another in the Tunnel of Love. Inside, the two enjoy each other’s company; however, Bart attempts to spoil his parents’ happiness by filling the water with Jell-O, causing Homer and Marge’s boat to stop. Trapped, Homer decides to pass time by telling Marge a love story: Bonnie and Clyde.
In 1933, during the Great Depression, Bonnie Parker (Marge) rejects a man trying to get her attention (Cletus), saying she is looking for someone exciting. Clyde Barrow (Homer) then arrives, and after robbing a store (which he co-owned with his father, Barrow, ironically), the two run off. Clyde discovers Bonnie’s passion is violence, and the two go on a crime spree by robbing banks. After tricking a citizen (Flanders) into helping them, the two garner intense popularity across the country. The citizen they tricked soon realizes what had happened, and snitches to the police. The Louisiana officers soon arrive, and the cops gun Bonnie and Clyde down. While dying, Bonnie tells Clyde that she is looking for a man with more excitement, and that they would never have been together.
Bart and Lisa arrive at Marge and Homer’s boat, demanding a love story for children, where Marge launches into a story of two dogs in love, Shady and the Vamp. Vamp (Marge) is a royal and luxurious female dog. Shady (Homer) is in love with Vamp and eyes her from a distance, vowing that he will win her. After he is trampled by a mob of children, Vamp comforts Shady, and he asks her out for dinner. The two go to Luigi’s, where, after a romantic pasta dinner, the two run off onto a hill. In the morning, Vamp wakes up with nauseous feelings, and Shady leaves her, knowing she is pregnant. In a musical number entitled “Any Minute Now,” the two dogs await for one another’s return, though the cats living with Vamp (Patty and Selma) convince her that Shady would never come back, whilst the dog who is friends with Shady (Moe) convinces him that Vamp would never come back. Her puppies (Bart and Lisa) decide to go look for their father, and after being kidnapped by the dog catcher (Willie), Shady arrives to save his children. Shady returns them home and reunites with Vamp, choosing to stay with her, though Vamp informs him that they have not two, but eleven puppies in the house (Five each resembling Bart and Lisa and one resembling Maggie).
Bart spins into a winding story in the age of Donny and Marie and The Brady Bunch: Sid and Nancy. Nancy Spungen (Lisa), a young model student walks into a rock concert by the Sex Pistols, where she is enamored by the eccentric bassist, Sid Vicious (Nelson). After viewing him throw his bass at a fan at his concert, she decides to go after him. A chocolate dealer (Otto, in a parody of a drug dealer) sells her a chocolate bar which she gives to Sid, who soon begins dating her. As shown in a montage, the two begin having their lives spiraled out of control while gaining a chocolate addiction. Sid soon begins ditching the Pistols, angering lead singer Johnny Rotten (Bart). Sid arrives in the middle of a performance after a major chocolate spree, and knocks into an amplifier which topples over and crushes their drummer (Dolph) (though he survives and visibly escapes with no injuries). Nancy arrives to defend Sid, and informs the Pistols that Sid doesn’t need them, and the two go off trying to sing a soft type of music, performing at CBGB (Comic Book Guy’s Bar). When they are kicked out for a terrible performance, the two decide to go back to their addiction and begin kissing, ending the story. The episode ends within Bart’s story parodying the garbage scene in Sid and Nancy, but showing Homer dumping the trash as it covers the final scene.
Personal Review :
Even though they showed the cultural references from 90’s, I really don’t like the idea to change the history of The Simpsons, I felt disappointed that the episode changed the continuity of The Simpsons. I hope I never watched this episode again on TV.
Rating by me : 3.2 / 10
Plot ( Wikipedia.com )
The Simpson family is freezing inside their house since Homer had not paid the heating bill. Bart and Lisa, searching through an empty box for items to feed the fire, discover a diploma belonging to Marge from Springfield University. Homer and Marge look shocked to find it, and claim it was from their dating years. Lisa does some calculations and realizes that Bart must have been born later in their parents’s relationship than they thought. Marge and Homer proceed to describe one of the darker points of their relationship, the 1990s.
In the flashback, Homer and Marge are happily dating, and are currently living in an apartment, Marge is an avid reader, and Homer is part of an R&B group alongside Lenny, Carl, and “Lou the cop“. One morning, Marge wakes up to find out she had been accepted into Springfield University, but is shocked to learn of the high cost of tuition. Homer, taking pity on Marge, settles on quitting his dream of becoming a musician and instead decides to work at his dad’s popular laser tag warehouse, where he is abused by the children. At Springfield University, Marge is impressed with her surroundings and with the radically leftist and misandric professor Stefane August, despite Homer’s disapproval.
In the present, the repair man arrives and fixes the heater, while Marge continues on with the story. Marge soon begins to admire August, and while caressing Homer after his long day at work, realizes she has feelings for her professor. Marge starts talking to Professor August who has also fallen for her. August begins manipulating Marge by telling her Homer is a simple “townie” who would not appreciate her intellect. A shocked Homer arrives and catches the two together. In his anger, he reforms his R&B group with a new sound called “grunge,” which Homer explains is an acronym for “Guitar Rock Utilizing Nihilist Grunge Energy.” His band is renamed to “Sadgasm”, and they sing a song Homer calls “Politically Incorrect”, listed in the episode’s credits as “Kisses are Dirt”. An angry Marge and Homer soon call their relationship quits, and Marge leaves to go with Professor August.
Homer goes to Moe, who at this point owns a cigar bar. Finding no help from Moe, Homer goes on to perform a new song, called “Shave Me”, which causes him to become so famous that “Weird Al” Yankovic parodies his song calling it “Brain Freeze”. Marge finds Homer’s music unnerving. Marge and August share their first kiss. When running onto the beach, August reveals he and Marge share two very different views on marriage. After the two argue, Marge breaks up with him, breaking his heart. A miserable Marge watches television and is surprised to see Homer made a song dedicated to her, called Margerine. A special news report with Kurt Loder interrupts, revealing Sadgasm had broken up and Homer is holed up in his mansion, miserable. Arriving there, Marge thinks Homer had been doing drugs and soon begins caring for him. It turns out the needles were insulin for his diabetes. The two soon re-unite. Marge reveals to Bart and Lisa that she learned “Homey is where my heart is.”
