The Simpsons

The Simpsons has been dropped from morning TV in Venezuela after being deemed unsuitable for children – and has been replaced by Baywatch.

The popular US cartoon about the yellow dysfunctional family was branded “inappropriate” and pulled by the country’s television authorities. Caracas TV station Televen has started showing episodes of the beachside show in the same mid-morning slot. It became famous for its bikini-clad stars, including Pamela Anderson.

The country’s TV regulator said the saga of Homer Simpson, wife Marge and their three children flouted regulations that prohibit “messages that go against the whole education of boys, girls and adolescents”. It said that some unspecified complaints had been received from viewers. Televen’s manager may decide to show The Simpsons, which has been dubbed into Spanish, at another time of day.

The station is showing episodes of Baywatch Hawaii, a later incarnation of the lifeguard rescue show which started in 1989. The serial, about a group of beach lifeguards, gained notoriety for its attractive male and female cast members coupled with glamorous locations and slow-motion running sequences.

Venezuelan TV is known for filling its schedules with re-runs of old US series and Latin American soap operas. But it also includes a talk show hosted by the country’s president, Hugo Chavez.

In an episode of the weekly programme last year, the Venezuelan leader gave a speech which reportedly lasted eight hours. An abridged version of the show has been broadcast every day since February 2007.

Source: BBC News

Persepolis

As a fan of graphic novels and all things foreign, it seemed natural for me to read graphic novels that are written for or by authors of worldly origins. Since I’m not one to go against nature, I read quite a few randomly selected graphic novels, including Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan and The Golem’s Mighty Swing by James Strum.

Although my initial readings were entertaining, some of them quite intense, none can top the range of emotions that Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi helps the reader to experience. Satrapi tells her own story, so in a sense it’s her autobiography in comic-book style cells. She tells of a time where the world around her was changing very dramatically - she was raised around the time of the Iranian Revolution, and her parents decided it was best for her to attend a foreign school.

Eventually she returns, but Iran is not as she remembered it.

The book is hilarious. It will make you laugh. But at the same time, some of Satrapi’s darker moments are revealed, which, yes you guessed it, will most definately make you cry.

I’d hate to ruin this as a read for you, so I won’t say much more as it really is best portrayed by Satrapi across two volumes (for English readers), Persepolis 1 and 2. I’d advise you to get both in one volume, as I know for a fact you will read the whole thing, probably in no more than one sitting – and that’s not because it’s short, far from it actually. My own version is so battered up (through intensive reading and re-reading) that I’m considering purchasing another copy.

Stop the press, that’s not all. In mid-2007 it emereged that Satrapi was working to bring Persepolis to a wider audience via the medium of cinema. Persepolis is now an animated film, which is currently only available for download in French. Although I obviously have no qualms about downloading films from Hollywood and fat cat production/film companies, I think it’s important to support the independent artists, actors, directors and musicians who put in the effort for the real music and film that we love. The best way for that in this case would be to go out and watch this in a Cinema when it comes out (in English) around April time.

Currently, following over four-thousand votes, IMDb rates Persepolis 8.2/10. 

Persepolis has been nominated for an Academy Award and an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. See all nomintions and awards here.

Have a look at the trailers here.

McCain

Take a look at this. John McCain visits Germany and the (LOL) President – Vladmir Putin.

Since when was Putin president of Germany?

Let’s all point and laugh, shall we?

No. Let’s not. Let’s make sure the Republicans don’t win anything ever.