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(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series)
Season 1, episode 15 (“Star Trek”), of the always entertaining “American Dad” plots the sudden rise of Steve Smith as a children’s book author. This premise, of course, is perfect for literary nods. Strange, though, that I only caught two.
Dr. Seuss' First Typewriter
Nod to Stephen King in the opening gag
See the entire episode here:
Additional hilarious photo (I paused the embedded video at just the right/wrong time):
(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series)
Last night’s The Simpsons struck me as especially coincidental. Not only have I posted about the show twice in the past week (11/26/10 and 11/24/10), but the episode shares subject matter with my upcoming novel, Stranger Will. Of all things, messenger pigeons. Random.
What makes it even stranger (no pun intended…unless you laughed; then, pun intended) is that literally ten minutes before the episode aired, I was doing some messenger pigeon related research online.
Fingers crossed that The Simpsons starts a cultural demand for messenger pigeon paraphernalia.
UPDATE: Making this an official night of stringed coincidences, I happened upon a Science channel show called Oddities, which features a museum/store full of specimens meant for the morbid (mummified cats, taxidermied two-headed cows, and so much more). This could possibly be my new favorite show.
But the coincidental part; the shop featured in this show has the same morbid interest factor as the World of Human Oddities featured in my forthcoming novel I Didn’t Mean to Be Kevin.
The takeaways here are:
I think thees are fair conclusions.
(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series)
I caught a rerun of The Simpsons a few days ago, one in which the author of Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom, makes a cameo. I wish for less popular books and authors to get The Simpsons treatment, but I say that only because I am a less popular author with a less popular book. Hint, hint, The Simpsons. Trust me, Matt Groening, you’ll need my mediocre grasp of pop culture and my general irrelevance to stay alive for another 20 years. Also, you’ll need miracle medicine. What are you, like 70 years old?
Season 21 Episode 9 "Thursdays With Abie"
In this same episode, Grandpa Abe tells a story about how he introduced the book Gone With The Wind to an ungrateful Clark Gable. Unfortunately, I could not come across a good screenshot of the book itself, so this image will have to suffice.
(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series)
In yet another The Simpsons (un)expected literary reference, Stephen King’s novel, Under the Dome is called out for its similarities to the 2007 The Simpsons Movie, both stories incorporating a town-sized dome to seal people off from the outside world. The overt commentary may be a further play on the South Park episode, “The Simpsons Already Did it,” which explores the degree to which The Simpsons has embedded itself into our collective consciousness.
The below clip highlights the noted scene in Season 22 : Ep. 6, “The Fool Monty.”
(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series)
Last night I went with a few friends to the Chambers of Edgar Allan Poe Haunted House in the 12th street West Bottoms area of Kansas City. This has become a bit of a tradition for us, going to the haunted houses, which many people consider to be the best in the nation.
Being the literary nerd that I am, the Chambers of Edgar Allan Poe house was especially intriguing to me. This is not to discredit the others (The Beast, The Edge of Hell, and Macabre Cinema – this last one is designed to replicate famous horror movie scenes; I’m looking at you Stephen Graham Jones). They are all great, but being able to experience Poe’s stories in full round simply meant more to me.
This was the first year for the Chambers of Edgar Allan Poe house, and in being so, lacked some of the pizazz I was hoping for. The experience was amazing, definitely, but I wanted more Poe immersion. The house felt more like someone took iconic (re: well-known) Poe imagery and fluffed the scenes with traditional horror garb. Ravens and black cats galore, yes, but where was the Mask of the Red Death? What about the The Cask of Amontillado? Perhaps these were included, but if so, they were so buried by strobe light and fog that I couldn’t tell.
However, the Tell-Tale Heart room and the crawlspace illusions were worth the ticket price alone. If you are in Kansas City, definitely go. If you are not, consider making a trip this way to take in all four of the houses.
