The Simpsons Bayeux Tapestry Couch Scene

After seeing the great photos from Medieval Simpsons on Wombat's World, I went on an online quest to find the video footage.

Coincidently, I just received my beta invitation to hulu, where I can watch current online shows for free and embed them in my blog. Huzzah!

This clip (aka "the Couch Scene") is the very end of the opening sequence of episode E. Pluribus Wiggum. As any Simpsons fan knows, after 19 seasons, still no two couch scenes are the same. And the Bayeux Tapestry translates quite well into Simpson parody, so let us savor this nod to us medieval geeks.

Thank you, Matt Groening.

The catch with hulu is advertising before and after the clip. Once the credits roll, hit stop and you can skip one of the two commercials. But I bet you'll be watching it again and again, like I did.



**Yeah, I know thise video breaks the page a bit, but it can't be made smaller. Hopefully someone puts this up on YouTube and I can relink it.

***Update 04/02/08: Nope, nobody's put it up on YouTube yet.

Another anniversary - the Battle of Hastings!

Yesterday was the anniversary of the start of the Battle of Hastings in 1066, which changed English history forever. Coincidently, my Lord Aleksy's birthday is also October 14th, (exactly 900 years later) which has changed MY history forever. But I digress...

They say that history is written by the winners. Well, the Bayeux Tapestry was supposedly created by Queen Matilda (William the Conquerer's wife) and her ladies. There are of course, several other theories about the origins.

Within the 230 foot embroidered tale, one can find all manner of men getting medieval on one another. And by 'getting medieval,' I mean the modern pop-culture reference of death and destruction. Lots of severed heads and blood! This work is a great example of an "illustrated narrative", or in modern-speak, a comic book. Well, at this length, it's probably a graphic novel.

There are missing sections of the tapestry and modern attempts have been made to finish the story.

You can make up your own stories using images from the tapestry with the Historic Tale Construction Kit, or just watch the coolest modern use of these images ever in the Animated Bayeux Tapestry video!

Animated Bayeaux Tapestry

Being the moderator of a 4500+ member SCA Group on MySpace brings not only great responsibility, but great rewards as well. I love it when I'm checking the posts for spam to delete (a daily chore) but I find something amazing instead.

Pure epic genius.

Create your own Bayeux Tapestry online!

Ever wanted to create your own epic tale? Try out this fun site - you drag and drop various characters from the original work and make your own ecards to send to friends, or, just load your creation into thier gallery for others to see. You can resize and mirror the characters, and even make multiple page stories.

The Historic Tale Construction Kit looks like an amazing feat of flash programming. But, there is a text bug that I've run into. If you type something, then backspace over it and retype something new, sometimes you get ghosted images of what you first typed. So play with the features for a bit before you let the world see you change history.

Want to do a little book research? Amazon.com has what you need.