Blogpost #8: The Simpsons' Neologism

    The show, The Simpson had an enormous effect on the American English. Do you want to know why? Because there are so many invented words and expression that is used in the show that is now in the dictionary. The most familiar word that is used in the show and is now defined in the dictionary is the word "D'oh". This is an expression used when he/ she realizes or said something stupid. 

   As I search for more articles about the Simpsons and its effect on the American English, I found an article by Denise Du Vernay entitled ""D'oh!" and more: The Simpsons and its Effect on American English"

    The article talks about the neologism of the show. That how thankful we are for the show because of so many words that is now used today and can be found in the dictionary. There are also words like "Woohoo" which is used as a hastag on twitter to mark post with a happy message and "meh" which means so-so.

   There are also words that is now very familiar but are not yet included in the dictionary. Example of this words are "Embiggen" which means to make or become bigger and "cromulent" which means fine, acceptable, legitimate. These two words are used in the episode "Lisa the Iconoclast".

    There are also words that are coined through blending. Example of this words are "craptular" which is a blend of crap and spectacular from the episode "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace", "Euroific" which is a blend of European and Terrific from the episode "Bart Carny". We also have the word "traumedies" which is a blend of trauma and comedy from the episode "Faith Off" and the word "retirony" which a blend of retirement and irony from the episode "Homer vs Dignity".

  After reading this article, I realized that the show plays a big part for those Linguists. The show just want to create words that are humorous and now it can be found in the dictionary. How great the show is, Isn't it?

Blogpost #7: The Simpsons' Teachings about Life

   We watch cartoons because it simply gives as the satisfaction that we want which is fun and excitement. It makes us laugh and sometimes dream of becoming of one of the characters. I watch cartoons because it satisfy my happiness. It gives me this feeling of excitement and happiness. There are times we watch cartoons but never understand it. We are, sometimes , not like those people who are really aware of what the show really want to convey. Yes, it is all about excitement and fun but it has this deeper meaning on what the show really want to express about life.

   While looking for an article about what the Simpsons really want to share us about life, I have found an article by James Delingpole entitled "What 'The Simpsons' can teach us about life."

    This article explains what the show really want to tell us.

  It explains that we should save the nature and stop pollution. there is this one episode where Lisa persuades Mr. Burns, who owns the nuclear plant in the show, to start recycling at his plants. Lisa's environmental concerns which is depicted in the show, has won numerous awards like being one of the list of 'Most Animal-friendly Characters of all time.

   The article also explains what politics is really now a days. We intend to vote the wrong person and sometimes they are corrupt. That there are politicians who bribe others using cash just to get their vote.

  The article also tackles about homosexuality. That it's OK to be gay or lesbian. There is this one episode where Homer became homophobic when he finds out that their new family friend John is gay. He thought that John might corrupt Bart. What Homer did is that he tries manning up Bart. In another episode, Homer became enlighten when he finally officiate at a gay marriage. In another episode entitled "There's Something About Marriage, Marge's eldest sister, Patty, finally revealed that she is a lesbian.

   The article also tackles about family. That family is really all that matters. Former President George Bush is wrong about his statement that we should be more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons. That the show represents the real view of Life. The show may show grief  among the Simpsons but they still end up loving each other.

     After reading this article, I was more enlighten on what life is about now a days. It really showed us that the Simpsons  is not just a cartoon but it is a reality of life. It conveys what life really is about and it conveys the things that we are not aware of in our surroundings. I realize that the show is a wake-up-call for us. 

       

Blogpost #6: Science on the Simpsons

    When I was in elementary, I really love science. I really had fun doing those experiments in school. That is the one thing I love most about science, we conduct experiments every time we are going to discuss a new lesson. I felt like a Scientist that time. It was really fun. 

     As we can see, everything in this world is made up of science. Science is everywhere. And its even in the show, The Simpsons. Not only math was applied in the show but also science. And this is very interesting because not only you are having fun watching the show but also you can learn science from it.

     According to the article that I have read by Ashley Phillips entitled "Science and the 'Simpsons': A Match made in Springfield", for more than two decades, Science had popped out from the show. From a nuclear plant to a science loving girl, Lisa and to Professor Frink, the show became a science fair that produced episode with science on it.

   In the episode "Second Law of Thermodynamics", we can see Lisa creates a perpetual motion machine. There is this scene where Homer tells his daughter, "In this house, we observe Law of Thermodynamics."

      There is this another episode where Bart discovered a three eyed fish in the river near Mr. Burns' power plant. Mr. Burns even argues that this creature is the next step of evolution.

       One of the trendiest topic in the show was global warming. In the episode, Lisa made a presentation called "An Irritating Truth". This presentation is to save the lake from illegal dumping that would place the Springfield in danger and even the world.

        This episode catch the attention of a professor named Paul Halpern who teaches Physics and Math at the University of Sciences in Philadelphia. He wrote a book about the show. The title of the book is "What's Science ever done for us? What the Simpsons can teach us about Physics, Robots, Life and the Universe."

     The book talks about all the fictional theories and inventions in the story. Example of it is Homer's Theory that the universe is shaped like a donut. It also investigates the issues of time travel and teleportation of Professor Frink.

          The show really influence most of the Scientist to conduct an experiment based on its fantastical inventions on the show.

        After reading this article, I had learned that science play a vital role in the society which the show conveys. No matter how fantastical the inventions is in the show and how impossible some of the theories in the show, It still shows what science really is about. Science should never be forgotten because Science can change a big part in the world. And this what the show, The Simpsons, want to show us.

Blogpost #5: The Simpsons' Mathematical Secrets

    When I was a kid, I really had a hard time understanding Math. It was very difficult for me. I have to memorize all the multiples of 2 to 12 when I was in 1st grade. What I hate most about Math when I was in elementary is solving "Problem Solving". Because you have to read and analyze the given information and determine the equation that should be used in order to have the correct answer. I never really enjoy Math when I was a kid. Maybe the reason why I did not enjoy Math is because I never see it as a fun subject. I see it as a boring subject maybe that's the reason but I did enjoy Math when I was in high-school. It was my favorite subject because at that time I easily understand Math. 

     When I was looking for more articles for my blog, I have found an article by Simon Singh entitled "The Simpsons' secret formula: it's written by maths geeks". This really interest me a lot because I was not expecting that a famous sitcom has its mathematical secrets which is very helpful for the viewers. 

    According to that article, The Simpsons had its mathematical secrets which is written by math geeks. Al Jean and Jeff Westbrook are just two of the writers who applied Math in the famous sitcom The Simpsons. Their passion for numbers are their way to apply Math in the show.

    One of the episode where they apply Math on it is "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play". The scene was like this. Tabitha Vixx, who is the wife of the baseball star Buck Mitchell and was experiencing marital difficulties, was at the Springfield Stadium. At that stadium, she publicly proclaims her love for his husband, Buck Mitchell. Tabitha appeared on the jumbo visual screen. After she appeared on the screen, a question was displayed asking the baseball fans to guess the number of people who attend the baseball game today. 

     As you can see in the picture shown on the left, you can see that you have three options (not including "D"). These three options represents different kins of numbers. 

    

      For Letter A, this is a perfect number. A perfect number is a positive integer that is equal to the sum of its divisor. If we are going to analyze it, the divisor of 8128 is 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 127, 254, 508, 1016, 2032, and 4064. If we are going to add it all the answer would be  equal to 8128.

       For letter B, this is a narcissistic number. A narcissi tic number is a number that is equal to the sum of its own digits which are raised to the power of how many digits are there. If we are going to analyze it, the are four digits in the number 8208. each digit will be raised to the power of 4 because the number has only four digits. So the equation would be like this:

        84 + 24 + 04 + 84 = 8,208.

       For letter C, this is a prime number. A prime number is a number greater than 1 and has only a divisor of 1 and the number itself.

       This is just one of the episode where they applied math on it but there are still more episode where the are still mathematical secrets on it.

   Other episodes like "Money Bart" and "Colonel Homer" also shows mathematical equation.

      In "Money Bart", Lisa was going over a pile of technical books. Then she eventually said the line: "I haven't seen this many books in a dugout since Albert Einstein went canoeing." If we are going to analyze the episode and watch it more clearly, while Lisa is saying the line, we will spot the book titled "eiπ + 1 = 0". This equation represents the five fundamental ingredients of mathematics (0, 1, e, i, π)

      In "Colonel Homer",  The first scene of the episode shows a local movie theatre called Springfield Googolplex. The word Googol is a large number. Its figure is 1 and it is followed by 100 zeros while the word Googolplex is larger than googol but still is a finite number. This word Googol came from Edward Kasner, an american mathematician. The Googol all started when Edward Kasner was having a conversation with his nephew when he mentioned that it would be useful to label and describe the number 1 raised to the power of 100.Then he suggested to word Googol to label that kind of large number.

         I always questioned Math when I was a kid and after reading this article I finally realized that Math is a helpful subject to us. Math is not boring. It is fun. We just say that it is boring because we never try to embrace it or see it as a fun subject. This article let me realize that Math can be fun. 

         

     

Blogpost #4: Myths in The Simpsons

   As for most Filipinos, we are fond of listening to myths. Myths about how everything was made or how it was evolved. Myths are beliefs or ideas that has become connected with the person especially when we are going to illustrate the cultural ideas. As a fan of the sitcom "The Simpsons", what do you thinks is the myth of the show?

  As I look for more articles, I have found one, entitled "Myths in"The Simpsons" from the website comm326.wordpress.com . It does not really connect that much with the myths but it surely talks about works, technology and morality that the show portrays.

  According to that article, The Simpson creates our view that we have about work. It also creates our view that only men should have jobs and women should stay at home.

    If we are going to connect it with one of the episodes in The Simpsons "Maggie Makes Three", we can see that Homer really hates his job and wanted to quit but his wife, Marge, was pregnant with Maggie. What he did is he quits his job and find a new one. This represent our ideas that we should have to work. 

     Most women in the show do not have work that is why it represents our ideas that women should stay at home. There is this one episode where Marge gets a job. But at the end of the episode, she ends up back in the home. She gives up her job for her family and stays in her profession as a housewife. there is also this one character that shows the idea that women should not work and should stay at home is Gil. He is a failure character in the show but wanted to have a job but he can not get one.

     All of this ideas represent what work really is. We end up being on a job we don't like but having a higher salary/ wages than ending up on a job we are happy but having a lower salary/ wages.

     The article also talks about the skepticism of new technology. One of the episode shows how we are blindly worshiping  Mapples (spoof for Apples) with our unconditional money. Bart tells everyone what the consumers of the Mapples do not want to know. He irritate them to see how their trust was violated.

    The article also tackles about the morality of the Simpsons. That the morality is always the center of the Family according to the book "The Simpsons and Philosophy". In the book, Lawler, one of the author of the book, describes Kant's idea about morality. It has two opposing force. First is doing what is right and second is giving into ones desire. According to him that even the most moral person will still have a desire for something that they have to fight. And this portrays the Simpson Family about morality. There is this one episode where Moe, the bartender in the show, convince Homer to put a fire on his  car  just for him to get his insurance money but Homer did the opposite thing which portrays the Kant's morality.
     Reading this article, It really just got to show that The Simpsons is not just a plain cartoon show but it helps us to understand what life really is. It is not just a cartoon but a book that we can learn from.

Blogpost #3: The Simpsons as Philosophy?

   
     Aristotle and Nietzsche are just two of the most well-known philosopher. They have contributed so many philosophical ideas now a days. They are one of the philosopher that portrays the protagonist of the sitcom called "The Simpsons." But have we ever wondered how are they connected to the famous sitcom The Simpson?

   According to Melissa Lonquich in her article entitled "The Simpson and Philosophy":
 "Many of us have grown up watching the hit television cartoon "The Simpsons". We all spend a total of what I sure was hours discussing the previous nights episode with friends at school the next day. What most of us weren't aware of was the massive amount of philosophical insight embodied within the show we have grown to love."
   
  Melissa Lonquich stated that in the book "The Simpson's and Philosophy" written by William Irwin, Mark T. Conrad, and Aeon J. Skoble, there are hidden philosophical ideas found in the characters. 

     First is Homer. We see Homer as the most popular character in the show. We see him as dumb and a liar father who never does anything right. But in the article, They analyze the moral aspect of Homer. We see him not that morally good but he is also not that wicked. To connect him to Aristotle, He conveys the Aristotelian ethics. We define ethics as distinguishing what is good from bad. As for Homer, most viewers admired him. Not because he does something bad but he has this quality that makes him, in some ways, morally good.

   Second is Marge, a typical housewife in the show. She is a religious woman yet she uses here reason as her guide not like the Flanders who does religious whether it would harm them or not. She is the kind of woman who can stand up by her family. To connect her to Aristotle, She follows the Aristotelian philosophy (philosophical tradition begun by Aristotle) of living happy, moral life and with great success. 

     Third is their kids: Bart , Lisa and Maggie.  Bart is a very bratty kid. He is also a habitual Liar just like his father, Homer. But this boy portrays the phrase "It's good to be bad." Because of this, he was connected to the philosopher, Nietzsche, who is a philosophy's bad boy. The common thing about Bart and Nietzsche is that Nietzsche rejected the so called "good person." He rejects morality and virtues. He rather embrace and follow the chaos of the world and so is Bart. Lisa, on the other hand, is a very smart girl. Just like her mother, she is a strong woman. She is a pro-intellectual girl that makes her think and act like an adult. Last but not the least, the forgotten daughter, Maggie. If you will closely analyze the episodes in the Simpsons, we can see that homer forgets Maggie exist. We can see Maggie as a very quiet baby girl. That is why she portrays the phrase "Silence is golden" which portrays most western philosophy.

     I have found another article by Tyler Shores, also entitled The Simpsons and Philosophy.

    Stated in his article, The University of California, Berkeley offered the course of  The Simpsons and Philosophy which was founded in 2003. It was offered to thousand of students. This course was offered to the Berkeley students for them to understand and get closer to philosophy. 

    As we all know, cartoons are very fun to watch. We rather watch and read cartoons than reading those boring textbooks. With this course, Students from Berkeley can easily engage themselves to philosophy through connecting The Simpsons through Philosophy. It is fun and at the same time intellectually challenging for the students.

    According to Julian Baggini, "why cartoons are the best form in which to do philosophy is that they are non realistic in the same way that philosophy is. Philosophy needs to be real in the sense that it has to make sense of the world as it is, not as we imagine or want it to be."

    After reading this two articles, I realized how the Simpsons really influence our live most especially when studying Philosophy. The Simpsons is not just a cartoon, because it really helps us a lot not only entertaining others but also for understanding and enjoying what Philosophy is.

Blogpost #2: Simpsons Family Values

  The best way to have a stronger relationship with your family is watching television with them, together. As a sixteen year old guy, who still watches cartoons, one of the best thing to watch whenever you are watching television with your family is watching cartoons. 

   We have seen so many cartoon shows. There have been different genres for every cartoon shows we watch. What I love most about cartoon shows is that it has this value or moral lesson at the end of the episode.

    
   We see "The Simpsons" as a very funny and sometimes a weird show because there are scenes that will really make you laugh hard because of the silly things that the characters are doing. 

    There are times that there are episodes in The Simpsons which are not appropriate for the young audience because of those green joke and because of how the characters act in a specific scene.

  While looking for an article, I have found an article entitled "Simpsons Family Values" written by John Ortved.

   According to the article, George H. W. Bush made a commitment during a campaign stop last January 1992 to strengthen the traditional family values. In his speech, he stated that the american families should be more "Like the the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons " The Simpsons made a response few days later with the use of their show. The Simpsons family watch Bush deliver his speech. On that episode, Bart said, "Hey! We're just like the Waltons. We're praying for an end of the Depression, too."

   When George Bush lost the 1992 election, Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, made an episode where George Bush moved to another town (U.S Springfield), where his next door neighbor was the Simpsons. At that time they were both bitter enemies.

 Because The Simpson are now "in" at that time, they produce more episode which people can't resist watching. At that time, they also produce episode which shows more family values to the viewers. In the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", We can see how virtue Homer is just to give his Family an unforgettable Christmas. The sitcom became one of the most astounding success in the television history. Many shows have imitated their family values.

   This article really gives me this impression that no matter how dumb or weird the show is, if we are going to look at it closely and understand it more clearly, we can see that their are still values inside of it. We should always remember the idiom "DON'T JUDGE THE BOOK BY ITS COVER" because we can really say how virtue the show is.

   If you are interested to see the episode where Bart said, "Hey! We're just like the Waltons. We're praying for an end of the Depression, too" , here is the video uploaded from Youtube entitled "Like the Waltons too"

    

Blogpost #1: Introduction to "The Simpsons"

     I am Joey O. Hernandez, Jr. When I was a kid, I used to watched cartoons. Until now, I'm already 16 years old, I still watch cartoons.  What I love most about watching cartoons is how they create such unique characters and how kids easily attach themselves to the characters they love the most. It has this feeling that when we watch cartoons, we imagine ourselves as one of the protagonist or the antagonist of that specific cartoon show. It really gives satisfaction to most of the kids. 

     For me, cartoons are stress reliever. There are times when I feel lonely or bored, and sometime I feel stress, I watch cartoons. I don't know why but I really do love watching cartoons.

     One of my favorite cartoon show when I was a kid is "The Simpsons". As most of you know, The Simpsons is one of the most long-running sitcom. It had aired for more than two decades. But what I don't know about "The Simpsons" is who started it and how did they come up with this great show.

    As I look for articles about "The Simpsons", I have found an article entitled "History of The Simpsons" from the website simpsoncrazy.com.

    According to the article History of The Simpsons,"The Simpsons are the brainchild of Matt Groening. He started out as a cartoonist by drawing a weekly comic strip for a set of regional newspapers, called "Life In Hell." They featured a rabbit called Binky and detailed the dark side of life. Books of these early cartoons are sold in bookstores..."

     The article tackles about how The Simpsons started. Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, started as a cartoonist. He started making comic strip for a regional newspaper. When he got a call from James Brooks, the co-producer of The Simpsons, he started the famous sitcom "The Simpsons". At first, everything was all made up. Everything was on the spot.  The main characters from the sitcom was orignally the name of his family (except for the name Bart, which is an anagram for "BRAT"). The sitcom was a big hit.

    
      Our life always starts from scratch and it will always ends up with a thick book. This is how Matt Groening started the sitcom. He started as a Cartoonist and now he is the creator of one of the famous sitcom "The Simpsons".  

      
  Here is a video entitled "The History of The Simpsons" from the website watchmojo.com and was uploaded from Youtube.

        

    While looking for more articles, a question popped out of my mind," What makes The Simpsons a famous show?" and " What makes it very interesting and different among the other shows?".

    Finally, I have found an article entitled " The 10 Most Significant, Lasting Changes on The Simpsons" by Jason F.C. Clarke.

     It does not really tackles about what makes The Simpsons a famous show but it tackles about those interesting episodes from the show that made the audience watch The Simpsons over and over again.

    He stated here that cartoon really gives a big impact in the actions that we show in our lives. But the best thing about cartoon is that the characters do not age. We watch the same characters over and over again but what is appealing to us is the scene. It has this  great impact and feeling that we, the viewers, would watch it again. 

     But, here in this articles, it also shows the changes that is happening to the characters. One of the interesting changes happened in one of the characters is Maggie's Gun skills. As we all know, Maggie is a baby. She has no significant value in the show. But here in one of the episode entitled "Who shot Mr. Burns?", we can conclude that Maggie is the one who shot Mr. Burns. Yes, this episode is quite weird and awkward but it just got to show that Maggie has a talent for firearm (Isn't this stupid yet amazing?). There is also one of this episode where Maggie saves his father, Homer, who was about to take down by a groups of mobsters. Because of Maggie's gun skills, he takes down the entire mobsters saving his father's life.


     Just like TreyVore stated in his article entitled "A look at The Simpsons", "The Simpsons is a very influential show". It really influence most of us especially the value that the show possess. The things that make this sitcom popular is First, the show portrays unique characters. Second, it has this value that you can learn from the show. And third, there are scenes that really reflects the community that we have now. The success of this sitcom really gives an impact to our lives.