Friday the 13th!

As you know, today is May 13th AKA Friday the 13th! Also known as an unlucky day in the US. As of why, I honestly do not know, but I came here today to talk about a show I watched for the first time in forever. The Simpsons.

When I was younger, my father told me starting around the age of one or two, I would sit down every Sunday evening around 9pm to watch the Simpsons and I learned how to turn on the TV. If I was to turn on the TV and find that the show was not on, I would turn the TV back off, but what he would do is keep the channel of the TV on FOX so I can sit down to watch it. He told me I would laugh and was amazed by this show to the point where it became one of my favorite shows. To this day, I honestly still like it. I just haven't given myself the time to watch the newer seasons.

But before that, I went way back and at one point in time (I think around the 10th or 11th grade), I was renting out DVDs from the library to watch the Simpsons starting from I think season 1 -12 or 13. Although extremely old, there were very good seasons. Some were recaps of episodes I have watched and some were brand new to me.

From reading online, many people say they aren't the same as what it used to be, but this can only be based upon one's own personal judgement. So over the course of two days, I watched two episodes and these episodes were the most recent ones from this date which are Season 26 Episodes 15 and 16. Luckily enough, both episodes have reached my expectations of the Simpsons and had made me laugh a bit especially Episode 15.

Starting with Episode 16, The Simpson family was complaining of how much they hate going to church. Marge is the one behind forcing people to go and everyone else were praying to God hoping that the church is burned down. Lucky for them, as they arrived to church, the church has burned down. A few of the faithful church goers like Ned Flanders, Marge, and a few others I cannot name were pretty upset. These group of people all met with the priest and were trying to find a way to get the church fixed so they can have their Sunday mass going again. Marge stepped into the Kwik-E-Mart and somehow, Apu had an idea of how they can raise the money to fix the church. Gambling.

Church Members first walking into the Casino

Many of the church members were against it because of gambling being once of the deadly sins in the bible, but in this special case, since it is for the church, it is not considered as a sin. Long story short, Apu teaches them how to gamble while playing the game Blackjack and they go in the first night at the Casino making a ton. The second night, they went in disguised to prevent anyone recognizing them from the first night. Homer finds out through his kids that Marge has been going to the Casino and he gets put into jail for interfering in their scheme. They pay the money to the contractors to fix the church, but Marge wants to take it back to bail out Homer. Going back to the first scene, prayer has helped get Homer out of jail for free. A very entertaining episode.

This is where it gets interesting.

Homer and the Nigerian Princess are talking in the hotel room. 

In Episode 15, I can totally relate to. In this episode, it was about Mr. Burns creating a new business relation with a Nigerian King. The king brings along his daughter AKA the princess and it is up to Homer to take care of her or should I say, make sure she does not leave the hotel room. I cannot remember her name, but she is 25 years old and this was her first time reaching to America. The last thing she wanted to do was stay in the hotel and watch TV. She wanted to explore Springfield so bad. After several negotiations, Homer finally decided to take her out, but as soon as she took her out to Mo's Bar, he lost her and somehow got locked up by the police. We find later that she stepped out and came back to meet Mo and immediately gained a friendship for each other. Mo took her out on a scooter to see a ton of sites in Springfield and she was loving it. She never felt so free in her life.

After Homer got out of jail, he is running all around Springfield to find the princess. He fakes his voice to Mr. Burn's assistant thinking that Homer is the princess on the phone, taking cars and those bike tours until he finally found Mo and the Princess. The princess says goodbye to Mo and kisses him on the forehead and the paparazi takes a picture of this kiss. It ends up on all of the dirty websites like TMZ and Perez Hilton's website. The Nigerian King finds out and cuts off the deal of receiving 10,000 goats from Mr. Burns. Mr. Burns was not amused by this at all. All characters are found at the end of the episode in Mr. Burns's office to find the Nigerian King confronting Mo assuming that he was having a love affair with his Princess. The Princess backs up Mo and let her father know that they weren't having any kind of love affair and only kissed him on the forehead to show how much she liked him (as a friend) and appreciated the time spent. If you guys are not familiar with the Simpsons, Homer says very dumb stuff from time to time, but he has his moments. This was his time he really touched me. He mentioned to the King that he needs to learn how to let their kids go and be free. But he gave a reference to his one year old child, Maggie who was crawling out the door on her own. Very funny Homer. Pretty much from here, the episode ended.

The letter Sent to Mo where he sent $5,000 dollars over to him.

One really funny thing in this episode was when Mo brought up the Nigerian Letter scam. If you are not familiar to the scam, in the past especially in the early 2000s, a Nigerian would send an email to their address saying that their uncle died and they need money to pay for the wedding and if the person was to pay a certain amount to them, not only would they get their money back, but they would also get an fixed amount of more money. A ton of people fell into this trap and never heard back from them. And it really made me laugh because I have met people who have fallen to this trick and I myself have actually have been sent the email. (I have a dark sense of humor, don't mind me.)

To keep things brief, why this episode really speaks volumes for me because in general, Nigerians (not so sure about other African ethnicities or races) are very strict when it comes to their children. Especially those who stick with the tradition (like my parents and many others I have met). No matter how old you are, as long as you live in their house, you follow by their rules. And I find this to be very annoying especially at my age now (I am currently 20), I should not feel to be talked down upon especially if it is something if it was something already discussed about. No need to repeat yourself. I just wish they were more open and interesting in doing different ideas and activities. It would make my life living at home a lot better, but I know for sure it won't change, so I work my way around the system to make the best of it. If that includes not going home for the break and traveling as much as I can over the summer, its better than nothing. And when I say rules, I am not talking about "You need to clean and cook at home" but "You can't go out" or "Bed time is at 9PM". No. I am at the age where I should be able to make these decisions at the same time be able to come home at a reasonable time and compromise, but that may never happen. So until then, I have to endure the pain.