After a long legal battle, the NYC Education Department released individual performance rankings of 18,000 public school teachers yesterday. The data came with a particular caveat to media: “The purpose of these reports is not to look at any individual score in isolation ever,” said the DOE's chief academic officer, Shael Polakow-Suransky. “No principal would ever make a decision on this score alone and we would never invite anyone—parents, reporters, principals, teachers—to draw a conclusion based on this score alone.” And of course, that's exactly what the local dailies have been doing. But at least one fun piece of pop culture trivia was revisited because of it: one of those teachers was the inspiration for a character on The Simpsons! And based on the data, he's a terrible teacher. more ›

The unpossible money dispute between The Simpsons voice actors and Rupert Murdoch's Fox Television is going to get uglier before it gets better. 20th Century Fox Television execs have been trying to force the show's six principal voice actors to dramatically reduce their reported $8 million salaries and even then won't promise the long-running show has more than this season to live. And what makes this wildly wealthy actors versus the man story even sadder is that at least one of them says they are fine taking a pay cut—if they can just get a tiny bit of loving from the show's still highly profitable back end. Today Harry Shearer, the voice of Mr. Burns and Ned Flanders (among many), came out to explain his (and not necessarily the rest of the cast's) position. more ›

What good is money if it can’t inspire terror in your fellow man? It seems that a cast money dispute might halt production of new episodes of the The Simpsons, the longest-running primetime TV series, after the current 23rd season wraps up next spring. And you'll either think this is a merciful development, or the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked. more ›

We here at Gothamist love us some Simpsons. And we've always been fond of its music in partcular—yes, we own and still sometimes listen to Songs In The Key Of Springfield—and we are not alone. In fact, one group of fans loves the show's celebrated music so much they're performing its songs live. On Thursday, October 13, 3 Geeks and a Girl will be performing 69 songs from the beloved cartoon in 60 minutes for an actual live audience. They're promising "all your favorites from Chimpan A to Chimpan Z." more ›

Having trouble getting to the forbidden donut shop? Homer Simpson can help—the animated family man is now on the TomTom App for iPhone, and can act as your co-pilot. The PR folks tell us this is the first time a celebrity voice has ever been available for mobile phone based GPS. They added: more ›

Everybody knows that 9/11 was a vast conspiracy perpetrated by the US government, the Freemasons, President Obama, global warming and bedbugs. But now we can add another name to that illustriously evil list: The Simpsons! Or, maybe it's the writers of The Simpsons? Why did I have the bowl? It's all a bit vague, but at the same time, shockingly real. According to several fringe conspiracy experts, it is undoubtedly within the realm of possibility that The Simpsons predicted 9/11 in the episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson." Catch up on all the pupil-dilating details at The Observer sheeple, then watch the video below to complete your education. You could use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely true! And faster than you can say The Simpsons already did it," you'll have discovered that they probably very likely almost definitely did do...something... more ›

Wanted your weekly dose of The Simpsons with a dash of dark commentary regarding its reliance on overseas labor and its owner, 20th Century Fox? Then you must have enjoyed last night's opening title sequence for the long-running animated show. The Wooster Collective says, "In what has to be one of the most closely guarded secrets in TV history, the 'couch gag' opening of tonight's episode of The Simpsons was storyboarded and directed by none other than Banksy." more ›

At the 1968 Democratic Convention, anti-war activists were denied permits to demonstrate by the city and spent most of the week getting their skulls cracked courtesy of the Chicago Police Department, witnessed by a television audience of over 50 million. A year later, eight of the most high profile radicals – guys like Abbie Hoffman and the Black Panthers' Bobby Seale – were tried on charges of conspiracy and inciting riots. The courtroom was a circus, with Seale gagged to silence his outbursts and ultimately sentenced to four years for contempt, while testimony from counterculture icons such as Phil Ochs, Arlo Guthrie, Norman Mailer and Timothy Leary drew massive crowds for the National Guard to disperse. more ›

After the Humane Society revealed a tape of mistreatment of cows at the nation's "No. 2 supplier of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program," burgers and other beef products were temporarily yanked off NYC schools' menus. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had put an "administrative hold" on all products from Hallmark Meat Packing Packing in Chino, CA and asked all schools to stop using products from Westland/Hallmark Meat. more ›

In 2006 Brooklyn photographer Noah Kalina had a lot of eyes on him. After posting a video online containing a photograph of himself taken each day for six years, he went down in viral video history. That video, called "everyday," was scored to original music by his ex-girlfriend Carly Comando, and both have the world's attention again after The Simpsons parodied it a couple of weeks ago. If you are one of the few who haven't seen the original, you can do so here. This Friday marks the 8th year he'll be taking a photograph of himself every day! And today Jen Bekman is offering one of Kalina's prints for sale through her 20x200 website. more ›

There's something to be said for pausing in the fast-paced environment of New York to truly capture the essence of our city. On the other hand, speeding things up can really give one some perspective on the dynamics of New York. Below is a time-lapse video taken between September 1, 2006 and August 31, 2007. It's of Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan looking east to west, and the video features 4,385 individual photographs taken from a stationary elevated position once every two hours for 365 days. more ›

Did your commute feel more like Springfield than New York today? If you're out and about than you'll likely run into the Simpson-izing of Manhattan! Too bad we don't have a monorail here. more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

The season really gets underway this week so a lot of old favorites like The Simpsons, Heroes, and Boston Legal (along with some that shouldn’t be like The Batchelor) are back so you do know what to expect with them. more ›

more ›

Last week everyone nerded out by creating their Simpsons characters. This week have some Springfield-style 3-dimensional fun by visiting the Kwik-E-Mart! more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

Sonic Youth are performing their 1988 album "Daydream Nation" in its entirety this summer at McCarren Park Pool. Don't want to spend $34 + fees for a ticket? Don't worry, we have you covered. more ›

Last Thursday, all of the stations covered the tragic fire in the Bronx quite well and took the opportunity for some refreshers on basic fire safety. As expected, WCBS went way overboard creating a whole special set of graphics for the station’s coverage, complete with new lower thirds that used a different font which were ready by Thursday’s 5 p.m. newscast. For 6 p.m., CBS 2 needlessly sent anchor Jim Rosenfeld to the scene, as they tend to do with most big stories. more ›

Dana Gould wrote for seven years for The Simpsons, starred in the NBC sitcom Working opposite Fred Savage, and has performed stand up on HBO, Showtime, and Comedy Central. He is considered, by many, to be the originator of the alternative comedy movement and is, without a doubt, one of the strongest comedic talents working today. Here he is, for the first time in NYC in seven years, Mr. Dana Gould! more ›

A reader came to us with a problem. While she's lucky enough to have a nice Fort Greene backyard for grilling and cookouts, mosquitoes still view her and her friends as bait, even with a thick coating of anti-mosquito spray, anti-bug incense, and 7 citronella tiki torches.

Is there a mosquito-eating reptile or amphibian that is indigenous to the region that I could purchase and release into my backyard without upsetting the balance of nature back there? (Could a herd of a dozen toads or lizards from the Midwest start a harmful infestation of non-native species in Brooklyn? Far-fetched but possible? Wasn't there an episode of the simpsons about that?) Would I be releasing the bug eaters to a certain death? Would it be at all effective against my super itchy, blood sucking enemies?

The blog Ironic Sans is going through different animated films or TV shows that show Manhattan and analyzing how they portray the city. It's really great, and so far, there are entries on Fritz the Cat, Antz, Sundae in New York, The Simpsons: The City of New York Vs. Homer Simpson, Tom & Jerry: Mouse in Manhattan, Family Guy, and the Rhapsody in Blue segment in Fantasia 2000. Ironic Sans' David says he has a long list of films and shows to go through, and we hope that the short-lived animated show, The Critic, is included. We also remember the Animaniacs segment, Goodfeathers, but we're not sure if it was specifically set in NYC. And would Paul Dini and Bruce Timm's Batman: The Animated Series count? Probably not, but it was awesome. more ›

OK, so we know this has nothing to do with New York. And we already wasted our "Gothamist Random Video of the Day" tag on that helicopter crash. But it's Sunday, and nice out, and we've been distracted by the idea of the Times telling us that Bushwick is the new black. So yeah, check this live-action British Promo for that classic of American animated television: The Simpsons. more ›

You know a fight to be district attorney is getting nasty when you use the tagline "Really, should we re-elect a D.A. who's been around longer than The Simpsons?" First of all, there's nothing wrong with The Simpsons being around so long. Sure, it's creaky and isn't as seamless funny as it used to be in earlier seasons, but it's a lot better than a lot of dreck. Second, the poster calls current Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes "Joe Hynes." The papers refer to Hynes as "Charles Hynes," so Gothamist finds all of this confusing: If the voter isn't familiar with the DA's nicknames, because, really, who is, and if they were swayed by this silly campaign, they might think they shouldn't vote for "John Sampson." Third, if we see fliers in Manhattan saying, "Really, should we re-elect a D.A. who has been around since the year Dog Day Afternoon came out?" we'll give up. more ›