Tuesday, March 25, 2008

'Allo 'Allo Hitting Germany

According to the London tube press (see picture) and some more serious journalistic organs, one of the funniest British comedy series, 'Allo 'Allo, is supposed to be aired in Germany -- finally.
It is set in Nazi-occupied France, was released in 1982 and went on for 10 years making fun of the British, the French and--of course--"ze Germans".
Apparently there are some doubts if the German viewers think it's funny--I for my part think it's hilarious and I know that Germans usually enjoy the representation of Germans and Germany in foreign fictional media...
Two other great examples: Herr meets Hare, a cartoon from 1945 in which Bugs Bunny meets some Nazis in the Black Forest (link to the video), and the classic of Charlie Chaplin as The Great Dictator Hynkel (whole movie and a cool snippet).

By the way, I was surprised to recognize René as the doorman in Terry Gilliam's Brazil the other day.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Simpsons and Neuroscience/Neuroimaging

I recently watched a great new episode of the Simpsons entitled Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind. It mocks the Michel Gondry flic that bears a similar title (I really want to go and watch his new movie Be Kind Rewind with Mos Def, btw).
Anyways.
What the Simpsons episode made me think of is in how many neuroscientific talks Simpson brain pictures are used as jovial illustrations. I wonder if this also holds for other disciplines or if there is something specific about the mind/brain and the Simpsons family/writers...
So here are two stills from the episode and I'm waiting for the moment when I see somebody using them in a talk.