From: pi@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (Raymond L. Gilbert)
Subject: Re: marge gets a job, or whatever it's called
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 12:56:11 GMT

   Overall, I liked this episode.  It wasn't as good as some this season,
but it was certainly better than most IMHO.  And now, responses to
several articles I've seen posted recently.....

>Time to start a new game on a.t.s: Who can come up with the biggest reach
>in trying to find a reference in a given episode of The Simpsons. 

   New?!?  Hardly,  This game is about as old as ats itself.

In article <1dckliINN6ci@cs.widener.edu> STOLLER@dickinson.edu (Stoller, Richard) writes:
>that Smithers' view of Burns is NOT a manifestation of a general
>attraction to men, but rather a particular attraction to Burns.
>In other words, Smithers isn't homosexual, he's Burnsexual (or whatever).

In article <1dcld4INNlgh@bigboote.WPI.EDU> wizkid@wpi.WPI.EDU (Mike Fyrberg) writes:
>Simthers is not homosexual, as most thought, but merely sexually
>interested in Mr. Burns

   Huh?  I don't understand.  Why can't Smithers' be gay *and* be
sexually interested in Burns?  Using your logic, a guy like me who was
sexually interested in a girl wouldn't be heterosexual!

In article <1992Nov5.214759.15233@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal) writes:
>One wonders what story Kent Brockman was relating which concluded, "... leaving
>the vice-president in charge."  This may have been a reference to one of the
>more humour-oriented reasons for voting against Bush, namely that when (...
>alright, IF...) he was assassinated, Quayle would be president.

   I think this wins for the biggest reach of the week (see above).  His
story could have just as easily been "Bush left for Kennebunkport today,
leaving..."

>I wonder what the original intention was with
>respect to the timing of the premiere of this episode and the referendum.  It
>seems more likely that it was intended to show before the referendum.  But I
>can't remember when the referendum date was set.

   The referendum was voted on 10/26.  The week before, a new epsiode of the
Simpsons was supposed to air on 10/22 but instead was a rerun because of
the World Series. However, I thought that episode was supposed to be I&STM.

>Something which really looked like it ought to be a reference but I didn't get
>it: As Tom Jones passes out, Smithers says "Pleasant dreams, Mr Jones."

    This is precisely why we have all these "reaches".  I remember a
few weeks (months? years?) ago someone pointed out that often people
mistook a genre reference for a specific reference.  This is a genre
reference to all those action flicks/cartons where some evil villian
whishes our beloved hero goodbye.  By the same token, the Maggie/fan scene
was a genre reference to any scene where someone is getting sucked into
a potentially lethal instrument, not necessarily a specific reference to
Total Recall.

>"I can't believe it's a law firm" -- a law firm somewhat lacking in the
>traditional dignity of law firms, small as that quantity is.  What other things
>are "I can't believe it's an X"?  Sounds awfully familiar, but I can't place
>it.

    Well, the first thing that came to my mind is a butter substitute I've seen
advertised called "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!"

>Finally, a severe weakness in the ending is that it's entirely unclear whether
>Marge still has her job.

    I think its pretty clear that at the end Marge does have her job,
but that at the beginning of the next epside, she won't have a job.  Its
like the house burning down.  Though maybe it was the cause of the
broken water pipe washer that caused the sinking foundation?

Misc DYNs:

On roof of house:
   model airplane (balsa wood)?
   kite
   paper airplane
   frisbee
   football
   baseball
   Santa Claus
What ever happened to those 1985 Xmas lights?

The Half-Assed Approach to Foundation Repair
   videotape cover has a picture of half an ass (the animal)
   Troy winks at us before beginning...
Troy: First, patch the cracks in the slab using a latex patching compound and a
patching trowl.
Homer: Hand me my patching trowl, boy.
Troy: Now, do you have extruded polyvinal foam insulation?
Homer: No.
Troy: Good. Assemble the aluminum J channel using self bearing screws.  Install.
Homer: What do I do with the...
Troy: After applying a brushable coating to the panels,...
Homer: Wait a minute.
Troy: ... you'll need some corosion resistant metal stucko lathe.
Homer: Wait a minute!
Troy: If you can't find metal stucko lathe,
Homer: Uh huh...
Troy: use carbon fiber stucko lathe! 
Homer: Ooohhh!!!
Troy: Now barge the lathe.

Bart showing the house:
    He must have made his top hat out of construction paper; you can see
two pieces of tape he used to hold it together.

At SNPP:
    In Smithers' office, there's a picture of Burns with Elvis
    Marge's office is 101.
    There is green gunk leaking out of the pipes above her office.

Meanwhile not far away....
    KRUSTYLU STUDIOS
    an obvious reference to Desilu Studios.

Las Vegas:
    The Copper Slipper
        Tonight: TOM JONES and Double Jackpot Slots
    Bobby Goodman (?) and his Gibbons

Questions/Comments:

Sinking house:
   We finally know the house is facing south.  However, when Maggie
falls towards the fan, she is falling towards the *front* door, yet,
from the outside, the house appears to be sinking towards the *left*.

Bart's Curie dream:
   The lip sync was noticeably off on the frightened tourists. I
couldn't tell if this was an animation goof or a reference to Japanese
made moster films.

Maggie with Grandpa:
   If in A Stretcar Named Marge, Maggie could retrive her pacifier, how
come she couldn't clime out of the playpen now?

Donut showdown:
   In the first shot of Homer, we see him wearing a red hat, but then in
the next shot, we see a blue hat.

Happy ending?
   Who says this has a happy/sappy ending?  What happens to Jack Marley?
He's left jobless and wifeless!
-- 
/----------------------------------------------------------------------------\
| Raymond L. Gilbert       | "...the present rule in computing the circle's  |
| pi@indiana.edu           |  area is entirely wrong..."                     |
| IUB Dept. of Physics     |  - Bill No. 246, Indiana State Legislature, 1897|