The Simpsons' Hit Milestone...

The popular cartoon comedy, 'The Simpsons' aired its 500th episode yesterday.

The milestone episode titled 'At Long Last Leave,'  featured founder of 'Wikileaks,' Julian Assange. According to Fox; the produces of 'The Simpsons,' Mr Assange recorded his lines from the UK where he is fighting extradition to Sweden over alleged sex offences.

Since they first hit our screens in 1989, the family from the fictional town of 'Springfield' have survived 23 successful seasons making it the longest running American sitcom as well as being the longest-running American animated program. In 2009 it overtook the then leader in prime-time television ('Gunsmoke') making 'The Simpsons' the longest-running American prime-time, scripted television series of all time.

In order to celebrate this milestone achievement, Fox organised a 200 hour viewing marathon on February 8th of this year which involved devoted fans getting together to watch all 500 episodes back-to-back. The aim was to beat the current Guinness World Record of 86 hours, 6 minutes and 41 seconds for the longest ever continuous television viewing; a title currently held by the fans of the television series '24.' 

Only 100 fans were chosen to participate in the mass-viewing. The lucky few were selected from an online application procedure. 

Fox has announced that it intends to extend 'The Simpsons' for 2 more seasons, providing fans with an additional 59 episodes. 

The show's creator, Matt Groening said: "the writers still had stories to tell, mostly involving characters we've never dealt with."

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Groening said: "We have a character we call Squeaky-Voiced Teen. I'd like to know a little bit more about that guy."

Kristian Ziarko, a life-long fan of 'The Simpsons' said of Fox's plans to continue the series for another 2 seasons: 

"I will be devastated when they stop making them. I grew up with The Simpsons. I remember 

watching the first episode which was the Christmas Special episode and I am still watching them now. I love every episode, and then they came out with 'The Simpsons' Movie' which was amazing. Having Fox stop making episodes would be like taking your favourite childhood toy and burning it."

By Benjamin Yates

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17092968

http://digitaljournal.com/article/318902

http://news.sky.com/home/showbiz-news/article/16166439

Pic 1: Fox Entertainment.

Attack of the Papier Mache Rhino!

More than 100 staff members, police and paramedics have been filmed 'subduing' a papier mache rhinoceros at Tokyo's Uneo Zoological Gardens as part of an emergency training drill in an attempt to prepare them for "a real-life rampage."

The exercise, which involved one zoo worker being attacked by the man-operated model beast; prompting his colleagues to rehearse a rescue procedure, is not a new phenomenon to this Tokyo zoo.

A video posted to 'Youtube' in October of 2008 shows a previous training exercise carried out by the zoo's staff. 

The footage shows members of staff taking cover behind rope netting, armed with 6 foot metal poles forcing the rhinoceros to follow a particular route until; once struck with a tranquillizer dart, the animal is trapped under the netting which had previously protected the workers.

The rhinoceros is one of the largest remaining 'mega-fauna' (megas - meaning 'large' in Ancient Greek and fauna - meaning 'animal' in Latin) with all species having the ability to weigh up to and over 1 tonne in weight.

Their skin can be anywhere between 1.5 cm and 5 cm thick; made of layers of collagen forming a lattice structure.

Pic: Thierry (http2007) Flickr

Their size and strength, as well as a large horn made of keratin - the protein which makes up hair and fingernails - means that rhinoceros' have very few predators in the wild with the exception of humans.

The large mammals have been known to attack people, especially during mating season or when they perceive a threat towards their young. 

The African rhinoceros has been recorded running at speeds of up to 56 kilometres per hour - the equivalent to nearly 35 miles per hour making its charge potentially fatal.

Many 'online commentators' have criticised the Uneo Zoological Garden's methods; deeming them to be severely underestimating the power and strength of a charging rhinoceros. 

"Poking a confused and angry rhino with a stick will not encourage it to move" said one viewer of the 'Youtube' video. "It'll just get more [angry] and have a even better reason to [attack] you."

Despite the staff at Uneo Zoological Gardens hoping they will never have to utilise their training in a real life situation; reports show that there have been 4 instances of their animals escaping in the last 50 years.

By Benjamin Yates

Sources:

Video courtesy of 'Diagonal UK' via 'Youtube.'

Pic: Thierry (Http2007 via Flickr) 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/http2007/1149163581/

http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspx?art_id=42

http://news.sky.com/home/strange-news/article/16165668

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgHQfxT7ImI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megafauna

Made In Chelsea - The Rich Kids Return!

The most tweeted about show of 2011 will return to E4 with highly anticipated 3rd series kicking off with a Christmas Special which will be aired on December 19th 2012.

Despite the previous two seasons of Made In Chelsea receiving a mixed review from critics such as Keith Watson of Metro who described the show as "The Only Way Is Essex with an added 'OK, Yah'" Channel 4's commissioning editor David Williams said:


"With such a loyal audience tweeting, checking in and following the lives of our new TV stars, it's fantastic to be once again returning to the hallowed streets of the Royal Borough of Chelsea."


The E4 show which has become part of a new genre known as 'Dreamality' attracted a total of 806,100 viewers in the first two episodes of season 1 and managed to trend worldwide on Twitter for up to 12 hours after the end of the first episode of the season 2.


Season 3 is set to introduce some new faces to the current cast of favourites such as Caggie Dunlop, Spencer Matthews, Ollie Locke and others.


Made In Chelsea's executive producer Sarah Dillistone said: "We [are] looking forward to bringing new bed-hopping, name-dropping, champagne-popping characters to series three."


David Williams predicts that season 3 will go down a storm saying:  "The staggering amount of audience engagement has proven it to be a perfect fit for E4′s young audience".


Filming for season 3 was announced back in November 2011 however, the cast members have recently been tweeting about filming beginning for the new series. 


Yesterday Jamie Laing, heir to the McVities fortune, added to the anticipation via Twitter by saying: "Filming starts tomorrow for season 3... Got to look fresh for it."

Amber Atherton – jewellery boutique owner and best friend Rosie Fortescue in the series, revealed show bosses are thinking of taking ‘Made In Chelsea’ stateside.

“They are in talks to launch ‘Made in Chelsea’ in America. I think it would go down well over there. Americans are obsessed with the British and they loved the royal wedding; they’d love us.”

By Benjamin Yates

Sources:
http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/reviews/862747-made-in-chelsea-is-the-only-way-is-essex-with-added-ok-yah
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/tv/Made+In+Chelsea-62309.html
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a351998/made-in-chelsea-renewed-for-third-series.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_Chelsea
http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/made-in-chelsea/e4-commissions-series-2-of-made-in-chelsea-will-you-watch/
http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/made-in-chelsea/e4-commissions-series-2-of-made-in-chelsea-will-you-watch/
Pic 1: http://blog.simmons-estates.com/2011/08/made-in-chelsea/
Pic 2: http://www.webtvwire.com/watch-made-in-chelsea-online-season-1-full-episodes-video-streaming-torrent-search/