treehouse of horror

See, this is why it's so hard to get any work done. The official Simpsons Web site has an awesome video editor where you can piece together clips from the upcoming "Treehouse of Horror XVII" (November 5) to create your very own wacky/scary mish mash of Simpson-y goodness. I'm having enough fun just playing around with it, but if you're feeling competitive you can actually enter your creation in a contest for a chance to have it aired on FOX, or to win a trip to the 400th episode party. Other prizes include an autographed drawing from the episode courtesy Matt Groening, and a bunch of limited edition posters. I would enter my own creation, but I'm afraid it would blow everyone's mind. Or I'm just lazy.

(S06E06) When I first started covering the sixth season of The Simpsons for Retro Squad, some of you asked why I didn't cover one of the earlier "better" seasons. Well, there is a reason I chose this season instead of say, the fifth season (which includes one of my top five episodes, "Rosebud") but that reason no longer applies. What the heck am I talking about? Let's just say we had something cool planned, but it didn't pan out.

Nevertheless, this season had some great episodes, so I'm not at all sorry I chose to revisit them. Besides, if I hadn't picked this season I wouldn't be able to talk about possibly one of the best Halloween episodes ever. So if you'll take my bloody, severed hand, we'll get started: