"One Senior Citizen and One Chief Justice of the Supreme Court"

Even the most lay readers of this site know we're alt.nerd.obsessive fans of The Simpsons, larding nearly every post with arcane references and quotes from the show. I try to make a game of it. I see how many obscure Simpsons references I can make in an hour, then I try to break that record.

Like most of those whose formative years occured during the show's ascent (for the record, seasons 3-9), I have a lot of personal memories tied up with at least the first nine seasons or so. My best friend and I became close in 8th grade through quoting the Don Homer ("Don Homer, my son, he's-uh..." "Ah. ah. ah. ... That's-uh good-uh donut.") bit to death. Even back then, in 1995, we speculated on when a Simpsons movie might get made and what they could do. Of course, had it been made then, it'd have been a brazilian times better.

The show has so dramatically shaped my sense on humor and outlook, it's hard for me to identify with people who haven't followed it. Most of the seminal literary or cinematic references of our time I saw on The Simpsons first and then recognized in the actual work they were visually citing. I once forced a date to wait 30 minutes before going out because The Lemon Tree Episode, a personal fave, came on during the hourlong daily block.

My expectations for the movie? None too high. The trailers and spots look a bit like the last seven seasons, pratfall-y and stupid. But I'm hoping the producers just have enough faith in the brand that they don't feel the need to give away great material from the film in the ads. Still, you know it would take dogs-with-bees-in-the-mouths-and-when-they-open-their- mouths-they-shoot-bees-at-you to keep me away.

So, to mark this sweet moment, we planted this lemon tree, lemons being the sweetest fruit available at the time went on The Simpsons Movie web site and created avatars of the Gay Mafia, offering our readers a rare glimpse (excepting that TV whore Ufford) of our collective animated countenances.

Punter

You had to look at it for a good few seconds to make sure it wasn't really Kearney, didn't you? And, yes, when he has a kid, it's sleeping in a drawer.

Nerdlinger Ape

You'll notice that's Scratchy on the shirt. Because I own a cat, in case I hadn't already mentioned that fact a hundred times too many.

flubby

Little does flubby know Clasina Valkenberg has obtained a trademark on the soul patch.

The Maj

We were hoping Unsilent would make a more accurate avatar. He's not nearly that tall.

CaveUfford

Someone apparently has a pretty deluded, er, positive self-image.

Drew

He was a little let down by the lack of towel accessories in the avatar feature.

KSK At The Movies: We Couldn't Find the Tom Brady or Matt Leinart Screen Test

As much as I am a lover of warm weather, summer is the season of stale cultural retreads. No worthwhile TV. Scads of bland popcorn flicks and remakes. Sure, a few football players helpfully implode their careers in the service of futilely attempting to slake our insatiable lust for football news, but truthfully, fresh Mike Vick dogfighting jokes probably won't last us through June, the discovery of a doggie Dachau or no. And because I'm enough of a low-level functionary at work, I can't get much time to enjoy the summery splendor - I worked two out of three days over Memorial Day weekend, don't have enough money to take any exotic vacations, bitchbitchbitch, etc.

Anyway, there are always at least one or two media-related gems that keep me going. Hopefully, The Simpsons Movie will be one. Another such movie is this week's Knocked Up, Judd Apatow's follow-up to The 40-Year-Old Virgin. In a bit of viral marketing, the filmmakers released this outtake with Michael Cera, best known as Arrested Development's George Michael, fabulously and petulently botching a key scene. It's no Lily Tomlin having it out with David O. Russell, but it's all done in a winkingly good humor and fine watching nonethless.