Don't have a Valentine's Day card yet? Print out this page, cut out the cards and give it to yourself! You can also download EPS versions of these Valentine's Day cards immortalized on the Simpsons' episode, I Love Lisa, at deconcept.
Happy Valentine's Day
Fake College Diplomas To Climb FDNY Ladder
The city's Department of Investigation revealed that 14 current city firefighters have used fake college diplomas bought online to get ahead in the FDNY. And for three of them, it worked, making their way to positions like Deputy Chief and Battalion Chief! In the FDNY, you need at least 15 college credits to be hired and more to be promoted (ten of the other eleven fake-diploma-holders eventually got enough credit later on to be legitimately hired or promoted).
Money Gets You One More Round
Of all of the reports about the stalled contract negotiations between Fox and the vocal talent of The Simpsons and current work stoppage, you have to hand it to Variety. Their article ended on this pearl of wisdon:
Homer Simpson, in 1995 episode "The PTA Disbands," gave Lisa this piece of advice on work stoppages: "If you don't like your job, you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American Way."The voices behind the characters - Dan Castellaneta (Homer, Barney, Krusty the Klown), Hank Azaria (Moe, Apu, Comic Book Guy, Cletus, Professor Fink), Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Julie Kavner (Marge) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart, Nelson, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders) - are looking for $360,000 per episode/$8 million per season. They currently make $125,000/$2.75 million. Variety also points out that while Ray Romano gets around $1.5-2 million per episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, the Simpsons actors don't need to work long days on set (an sitcom episode usually needs around a week to shoot) - simply 6-7 hours to voice an episode - but, then again, The Simpsons is a $1 billion business. During the last contract negotiations in 1998, when most of the cast was looking to bump their salaries from $30,000 per episode, Fox went ahead and found voiceover replacements for them just in case. That's Rupert Murdoch style hardball!
Bit of the Irish
Related: Listen to a .wav (scrolle to Ralph) of Ralph Wiggum saying, "The leprachaun told me to burn things!" and check out other Irish references on The Simpsons.
Happy Valentine's Day

Big up to Kristine Michelle Howard, aka web goddess, for posting my favorite Valentine ever: The Valentine Lisa Simpson gives to Ralph Wiggum out of pity, in the ninth season episode, I Love Lisa. Also not to be forgotten: Let's Bee Friends (#4).

