A devoted husband, Homer leaves his wife with few complaints. When pressed, however, Marge did once acknowledge to a marriage counselor that Homer \"forgets birthdays, anniversaries, holidays (both religious and secular), chews with his mouth open, hangs out at a seedy bar with bums and lowlifes, blows his nose in the towels and puts them back in the middle, and scratches himself with his keys.\" Despite these few foibles, Homer loves his family, and he'll do just about anything to prove it -- even if that means making himself look foolish.<\/p>
Homer works at Springfield's nuclear power plant as a safety inspector, a job he secured after passing the specialized training course on his third attempt. Once during a strike, Homer's critical functions could be filled only by a brick placed on a lever. Homer also was voted Springfield Nuclear Power Plant Toxic Waste Handler of the Month in October 1990.<\/p>","url":"2008/8/11/The-Simpsons-Homer-02-1.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The Simpsons Homer 02"},{"captionHeading":"Marge","caption":"
Marge is the putty that just barely holds the Simpson family together week after week. By sensibly drawing the line at such frivolous expenses as an electric garage door opener and changes of clothing for her children, Marge manages to stretch Homer's modest salary to cover the tremendous costs incurred by a family of the new millennium: Homer's beer and donut supply, and such necessary expenses as a day trip to India to meet the owner of the Kwik-E Mart Corporation.<\/p>
However, Marge doesn't just bake cookies and stand by her man. She has been on both sides of the thin blue line. Not only has she served in Springfield’s police department for a short while, but with her freewheeling neighbor Ruth Powers, she has gone on a high-speed consciousness-raising adventure, even outwitting and outrunning Police Chief Wiggum himself!<\/p>","url":"2008/8/11/The-Simpsons-Marge-01-1.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The Simpsons Marge 01"},{"captionHeading":"Bart","caption":"
Bart is the most misunderstood Simpson. He is constantly frustrated by the narrow-minded people of Springfield who judge him merely by his thoughts and actions. At heart, he's just a good kid with a few bad ideas, a couple of really bad ideas and one or two that are still being reviewed by the Springfield district attorney. Basically, Bart is no different from any ordinary fourth grader. He enjoys skateboarding, bubble gum, Squishees from the Kwik-E-Mart and single-handedly bringing a homicidal TV sidekick to justice - twice.<\/p>
Labeled an \"underachiever\" by authority figures, Bart rides an academic roller coaster, his grades running the loop-the-loop from F to D-minus, and back again. But he can be ingenious when the chips are down -- as long as his ingenuity is never applied to anything school-related. He even learned portions of the Talmud to help reunite his idol, Krusty the Clown, with Krusty's father, Rabbi Krustofsky.<\/p>","url":"2008/8/11/The-Simpsons-Bart-01-1.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The Simpsons Bart 01"},{"captionHeading":"Lisa","caption":"
Lisa Simpson takes after both her parents: she has Marge's common sense, hard work ethic and sympathy for others; she has Homer's last name. Lisa's enormous intelligence and moral authority place her in a unique position in the Simpson family -- and, for that matter, Springfield at large.<\/p>
Each parents' night at Springfield Elementary, Homer and Marge fight to meet with Lisa's teachers rather than Bart's on the theory that being offered a tin of cookies as thanks is less \"upsetting\" and \"costly\" than reviewing quarterly property damage assessments for melted playground equipment. This 8 year-old also plays the saxophone with the virtuosity, if not stubble, of Springfield's late blues great, Bleeding Gums Murphy.<\/p>","url":"2008/8/11/The-Simpsons-Lisa-02-1.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The Simpsons Lisa 02"},{"captionHeading":"Maggie","caption":"
Over the years, we've watched Maggie grow from a cute pacifier-sucking infant into a cute pacifier-sucking infant who's said her first word, \"Daddy.\" Having learned one new word in five years, Maggie places just behind Bart and slightly ahead of Homer in vocabulary development. For an infant who can neither talk nor walk with any consistency, Maggie nonetheless leads an exciting and rewarding life. She is perhaps proudest of the baby escape she led at the Springfield Daycare Center. Maggie is almost always in a good mood, although once she did develop a rivalry with the mysterious one-eyebrowed baby who lives down the street. Angry pacifier sucks were exchanged.<\/p>","url":"2008/8/11/The-Simpsons-Magie-01-1.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The Simpsons Magie 01"},{"captionHeading":"Grampa","caption":"
Grampa Simpson lives at the Springfield Retirement Castle. He is a fountain of wisdom, impossible to shut off.whose babble eventually lulls people into a deep rage. Grampa not only lives in the past, he practically invented it. His memory is vivid and prodigious.<\/p>","url":"2008/8/11/The-Simpsons-Grandpa-01-1.jpg","width":570,"height":364,"alt":"The Simpsons Grandpa 01"}];