CAPSULE SUBMISSION: Old Yeller Belly (EABF14)

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preview from snpp.com: 8:00 . Old Yeller Belly (EABF14) Stacy Keach guest voices as the owner of the Duff Brewing Company, which names Santa's Little Helper as its new spokesdog, resulting in SLH's original owner (from the first Christmas Special) to come back and claim that he still owns the dog (especially as Homer pretty much threw SLH out when Snowball II had to save Homer's life)

preview from tvguide.com Simpsons Old Yeller Belly 30 min. After the family cat saves his life, Homer disdains the dog, until the canine is picked to be the mascot for Duff beer. Stacy Keach, Hank Azaria, Dan Castellaneta. (VCR Plus+ 4100)

References:

Stacy Keach: Information on the actor can be found at http://us.imdb.com/Name?Keach,+Stacy (Note: this is the second Simpsons episode which he has appeared, though I dont think that the character is exactly the same.)

Mennonites- Actually, the Amish are a branch of the Mennonites. For more information on this topic, consult this website for info. http://www.lmhs.org/histmenn.html

Cat People: Any cat people on this list? I am a proud non-dog owner, although it would makes a much better excuse to get out and talk to chicks if you have a dog on a leash.

Cat Stevens really did convert to Islam. Weird Story can be found here: http://catstevens.com/features/ontheroadtofindout/index.html

Spuds MacKenzie: Information (some of it female) on the crazy canine can be found here: http://www.bullterrierdallas.com/spudgirl.htm Actually, I think it makes more sense for them to use a female dog so things may not be waggling around in the commercials.

Barry Duffman- So that really is his name

Are You There God, Its Me Margaret:: good Judy Blume book.

Complaint: Ok so maybe this is a bad complaint, but do you think that it was nice of them to portray sharks as man attackers? I think that perception of sharks as the bad guy has done a lot over the last couple of years to lead to their population reduction.

Previous Episode References:

[7G08] Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire-SLH first appearance [4F01]-Lisa's Date with Density -Nelson played the guitar in this previous episode [7G13]-The Crepes of Wrath -Can Telephone used by Adiel [2F01]- Itchy & Scratchy Land-Homer messing with the Amish people a la "Witness" [4F04]-A Milhouse Divided -Arbys Hatred [5F11]-Das Bus -Arbys Hatred [4F16] -The Canine Mutiny -The Simpsons gets the dog back after losing it

REVIEW: Well, this episode did have a lot going for it, including a continuation of a story line from 13 years ago and a nice glimpse of the pets as the center of the episode. Those old episodes were always classics to many people, and while this one did not have the "see my vest" song that "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds" had, it did have its funny moments. Bonus note. I kinda like Duffman on the show these days. Maybe they could do an episode on him. Grade: B+

This "bad rap" goes back a long time, whether or not it's legit or not.

We've seen this weird campaign by Peter Benchley in recent years about how the great white shark has gotten a bad rap, and he's feeling guilty because he wrote "Jaws" and both the book and movie did portray the shark that way. He wrote an article for National Geographic sometime within the past three years.

But, there is a scene in the film where the police chief is looking through a book, and sees a painting of a shark attacking a dory. That's right out of National Geographic. I remember we were looking at that very picture sometime in elementary school, which was in the sixties. And it did not start there.

Michael

Why is it weird if a man decides to convert religions?

evan

well, weird because it was such a dramatic change for him, and his music really reverberates with so many people and he just gave up all of it at the snap of a finger. I wish he were still making music though, as I grew up listening to peace train and morning has broken quite often.

Stephen

"Park Luck" wrote in message news:[email]...

I think there have been others who walked away from a music career, though none come to mind immediately. Certainly, there are some who became better known as actors.

I thought the big issue about Cat Stevens was that having converted, years later he made some public comment in favor of that death sentence on Salmon Rushdie.

Michael

Peter Green?

Grace Slick refuses to perform anymore, says people her age doing rock songs is "pathetic".

IIRC, he was for it.

Well, if you go beyond the hits, and listen to all his albums, it seems pretty clear he was a man searching for something, and it's not that surprising that he ended up at religion. Islam *is* a bit unusual. Usually, people either end up at one of the dominant religions of their culture (so we'd expect Christianity for him) or some freaky weird new-age cult thing.

It's a major religion. How is that unusual?

evan

That was explained in the next sentence, which you snipped out. :-)

Usually, when people become religious, it is either one of the major religions of their cultural group, or it is a small new age or cult religion.

"Stephen" wrote in news:bnita.12722$[email]:

The year the movie _Jaws_ was released (1975), ten times as many people died from being struck by lightning on golf courses as from shark attacks.

(I remember this from many years ago, when I happened into the specific statistics. Both numbers were relatively low, something like 30 and 3, and I think they were US-only.)

Jim

One time when Jaws was on TV, maybe when it was first broadcast on a network, I remember saying to someone that one reason a shark seems so scary is that it's not our environment. Run into a grizzly, and you think you can run or climb a tree or whatever. But if you're in the water, you are the one out of place and you don't have many options. So whether or not sharks are a danger, there is an inherent fear that derives from the different environment.

Michael

Come on, Homer did preface the attack by stating that he would just float there like a wounded seal. So he was identifying the natural instinct of sharks and their perception. We taste bad to sharks and they only attach us if they think we are something else or as defensive measures.

I thought this was actually a jump-the-shark reference. Not so much jumping the shark as the shark rolling over in a drunken stupor.