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Homer Simpson celebrates his 60th birthday with animation magic



Homer Simpson turned 60 yesterday, on 12 May 2016. Homer Jay Simpson, the star of the television show, The Simpsons, is a safety worker at the Springfield nuclear power plant.

In episode 16, Homer’s drivers’ licence showed that he was born on 12 May 1956. Created by Matt Groening, and voiced by Dan Castellaneta, Homer Simpson first appeared on television in 1987 during The Tracey Ullman Show. By 1989 he, and his family – wife Marge, and children Bart, Lisa, and Maggie – had their own television series. The Simpsons is now the longest-running sitcom and primetime scripted series in American history.



Homer’s hereditary gene, his exposure to radioactive waste, and the vast number of head injuries, have caused his low intelligence quota (IQ). Fortunately, and probably due to Marge’s exceptional intelligence, their daughter Lisa is brilliant. Bart, though, does not like school, and Maggie is still sucking her dummy. Nevertheless, Homer and his family were presented with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame pavement in 2000. Homer says ‘the lesson is never try.’

On Sunday 15 May 2016, the show will attempt something never done before by an animated cartoon series. At the end of Sunday’s 595th episode in America (called ‘Simprovised’) Homer will answer fans questions – live on air – through animation magic, which is actually animation technology.

People in America can phone into the show, and Homer will answer their questions, said Al Jean, the executive producer of The Simpsons. The show will be able to do this via motion-capture technology, which will track the head and arm movements of Homer’s voice person, Dan Castellaneta. The animators will immediately animate Homer’s movements for broadcast across the United States – enabling him to respond to his fans. So Homer Simpson will celebrate his 60th birthday with animation magic.



MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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