The Simpsons Take Butte

Tonight I'm in Butte, Montana, 'cause the BBC flew me here for an interview during the town's annual Evel Knievel Days. I talked with this guy on the railroad tracks behind Matt's Place, where I ate a so-so cheeseburger. Then I walked around the Knievel Days street fair, where I sipped my first-ever energy drink -- blargh! A few hours later, Trigger Gumm was scheduled to jump 39 cars -- which was cut down to 19 -- but I was already bored and not willing to deal with the impending crowd.

Frankly, I preferred to see The Simpsons Movie, so I did. It was funny, and the fancy, big-screen animation was great, but it fell short of killer. Some curious connections... SPOILER ALERT! The pollution in Lake Springfield is so toxic that the EPA declares the Simpsons' hometown the most polluted in America, while Butte is home of the Berkeley Pit, whose lake of ultra-toxic groundwater has made it one of the nation's biggest Superfund sites... SPOILER ALERT! Homer rides a motorcycle around a globe of death, much like the one I saw this afternoon at Knievel Days... SPOILER ALERT! The best-ever Evel parody, Captain Lance Murdock, is briefly seen in the audience of Lisa's "An Irritating Truth" lecture (here's a full-size version of the above image, a spoof of the familiar Evel toy ad that appeared in countless '70s comic books)... SPOILER ALERT! Homer and Bart jump a motorcycle over the Springfield Gorge, a reference to the 1990 Capt. Lance episode, and a meta-reference to Evel's Snake River jump... SPOILER ALERT! The Simpsons go to Seattle!! Well, Marge and the kids, anyway, a fitting addition to the blog entry below.

I can see this fucking thing outside my motel window.