TVSquad

Gadgets have always fascinated me. And it's not because of what you can do with them. It's what you CAN'T do with them. The day my microwave can cook my dinner, then feed it to me while it's cleaning my toilet, de-crumbing the toaster, and doing my taxes is the day my interest in gadgets dies.

The most impressive aspects of gadgetry are how much you can customize them to fit your taste and personality. Just a few years ago, having a Dilbert screen saver that didn't send your hard drive into an epileptic fit was the epitome of "personal" computing.

Now you can change the way it looks from every angle, the way it thinks, and even the way it talks. TomTom unveiled a new voice skin for their GPS devices. Now Homer Simpson, the actual voice of Homer Simpson voiced by Dan Castellanetta, can guide you to locations and it doesn't have to be a dispensery of donuts.

(S19E16) SPRINGFIELD: GOOD -- The new town slogan that cost Mayor Quimby the entire treasury of Springfield.

When it comes to supporting characters The Simpsons have them up the proverbial wahoo. Many, like Flanders, Mr. Burns, Apu, and Millhouse, are distinct personalities with lengthy back stories that we the fans know quite well. Others, like Bumblebee Man, Cletus, Kent Brockman, and Comic Book Guy, are known, but only by the stereotypes that they have been given. Fortunately, most of them have been given spotlight episodes to flesh them out a bit more.

While these episodes have been hit or miss I have always found them to be quite interesting because they gave a different perspective on life in Springfield.

(S19E11) "This is Kurt Loder, reporting from the 90's" -- Kurt Loder as Kurt Loder

Ladies and gentleman, as a change of pace I will be debating myself during this week's review of The Simpsons.

Rich: Hello, everyone and welcome to this week's review of The Simpsons. I would have to say that, overall, this episode was entertaining and really grabbed the essence of what the 1990's was all about.

Rich: HA!

I've been staying away from writing about The Simpsons the same way I stay away from the cookies I bought a few days ago: I promise myself to only have a couple, but then I figure one more won't hurt, and then I decide to eat another to make it an even number, and by the end I've eaten twenty cookies and written about The Simpsons just as much.

So yeah, we've been saturated with Simpsons stuff ever since the movie came out, but when I came across this article in Reuters, I could not, as a fan, keep my mouth shut and not tell other fans about it.

I love horror movies, and I've seen a lot of scary things in my time, but this might possibly be the most horrifying thing I've ever seen. Watch with a mixture of awe and complete abject terror as a relatively normal-looking guy slowly morphs into a humanoid version of Homer Simpson.

I think it's a pretty good likeness, though the eyes should be rounder and less almond-shaped. Still, who am I to complain? I wouldn't even know how to make something this cool, so kudos to the creator.

I must say, however, that I like artist Roberto Parada's "human" version of Homer Simpson a lot more. It's both beautiful and grotesque at the same time, and the bulging vein-y eyes really sell it.

There are also many examples of human actors portrayed as cartoon images. For example: