Original Material

"When there's nothing left to believe in, believe in hope."
"Where did you get that?"
"From the producers of Waiting to Exhale."

This quote comes from the episode "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" from Season 11, in which Homer takes the family to live on the rural farm where he grew up. In this quote, he is trying to justify spreading plutonium over his crops to get them to grow to Marge. She finds his wisdom comes mostly from movie posters.

Does this sound familiar to you reading this blog? I hope so, it sounds like the whole point of this blog, that I am hardwired to live in this world through the lens of the culture around me, especially the Simpsons. This "talent" of mine, the ability to connect almost any situation to the Simpsons, is a blessing and a curse. It is a true talent, just ask my brother- and sisters-in-law. I gave them a demonstration when they came to visit not too long ago.

More to the point, I would like to discuss the blessing part and the curse part in more detail today. I have already discussed some of the curse part in a previous blog. Sometimes, when I go to make a joke, I fail miserably because the joke is funny to me because I love, know, and understand the Simpsons. Unfortunately, there are very few people like that with whom I constantly associate. Often the joke lands flat on its face.

However, there are a few benefits. For one, if there are people unlike me, when I make a witty Simpsons-related joke, it makes me sound like a comic genius (despite the fact that I have received NUMEROUS indications that I am not). Making people laugh is something that I love to do. So obviously, when I do, it makes me quite happy. So that's one of the benefits.

Additionally, it makes me think in the same kind of "humor vein" that the Simpsons are constructed in. For example, in class, we were being taught commands to type into a computer program to do our homework for us. Part of one of these commands was "llmean." The first thing I thought of, like all of you out there did I'm sure, was that sounded like a clothing store for supervillians. If you're like me, I'm sure that the first time you saw Spider-Man, you thought, "So he went from homemade spider clothes to tights? Where in the world did he get those tights? SOMEBODY TELL ME!"

Well, now it is no longer a mystery. Visit L.L. Mean for all your tights, capes, masks, death rays, flamboyant, impractical spandex needs! Sorry, had to include the add for our new sponsor. Ha! Just kidding. That joke got a pretty good reaction from my friends, and it's thanks to my talents that aren't going anywhere near South Beach.

However, there's another curse. I always feel bad whenever I use someone else's humor or jokes for my own purposes. My professors would be proud; I'm constantly worrying about whether or not I need to site the joke I just made. Well, he laughed. Mission accomplished, but should I tell them that I'm a shameless plagiarizer? Will a cadre of copyright police drop down from the ceiling if I don't spill the beans about how I came up with my line about kangaroos?

Eventually, people figure out that all I'm doing is saying Simpsons quotes. Then, every time I make a joke, they ask, "Where'd you get that?" Most of the time, from the Simpsons, Ghostbusters, Arrested Development, or something similar. But, when it's legitimately something from my own brain fruit, a lot of people think I've taken it from somewhere. A reasonable assumption, but it's times like that when I reevaluate my sense of humor. Am I my own person, or just an amalgamation of TV shows, movies, Internet cartoons and comics, the Mattress Police, and Jason Bateman?

I usually just drop it because I tend to get sleepy whenever I think about self-improvement or change. But I usually just walk away with a feeling of acceptance. I'm alright with that because I'm getting people to laugh. The other day I made my dad laugh without the assistance of the Simpsons, Red vs. Blue, or a blog by Rob Kroese (a difficult task that I've been trying to achieve since the age of six). Maybe eventually I'll develop a style of humor that can stand the test of time and won't fail me in social situations.

However, don't hold your breath.