I wanted to post some photos which apparently requires a new post about The Simpsons Breaking Bad Mashup.
That Simpsons opening makes me still love The Simpsons. Even though the opening wasn’t theirs, they still got it on air and, I am sure, had to flex considerable muscle to do so.
The opening was done by Banksy. His signature all over the billboards during the traditional opening is intentional. Have you seen Exit Through the Gift Shop? It’s good and an art piece in every sense. This episode was called Exit Through the Kwik-e-Mart and features Bart becoming a street artist, plastering Springfield with posters a la Shepard Fairey’s Obey but with Homer’s face instead of Andre the Giant and Dope instead of Obey, a nod to his Obama Hope posters I think.
Other guests were street artists Robbie Conal whose posters I remember from high school.
I’m not terribly familiar with the others but they were Ron English and Kenny Scharf. And of course, Banksy who made an appearance via the opening sequence. Say what you will about The Simpsons, they still have street cred. I don’t think there’s anyone who wouldn’t be happy to be on the show and get Simpsonized. They still have integrity if not hilarity. I think this episode is a testament to that fact. Showrunner Al Jean joked, “this is what happens when you outsource” when asked about the opening. Like an aged warrior, a passionate liberal heart still beats and even if they don’t have the teeth themselves, they still have the juice to champion a message that does.
How do you think Banksy feels about being a collector’s item for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt? I consider them the faux-non-corporate corporate power couple of world celebrity. I want his next piece to express his sentiment about his work becoming another millionaire’s trophy, a trophy with international cachet owing more to its owners than to its maker.
And I have not seen Exit Through the Gift Shop. It just went into the streaming queue.
I am about midway through Exit Through the Gift Shop. I came home on Friday so exhausted that I fell asleep in front of the TV, which never happens. (I know to shut it off.) I snored so hard that my uvula swelled up from the beating it took – and that was only in two hours of dozing. So I have to be careful not to fall asleep on the sofa on my back for the snoring. And I have to be careful of Bansky, period. I like to think he played the trick on me, knowing that his film would result in a battered uvula.