From Newsday.com: Take Oscar Wilde's 19th-century observation that "life imitates art far more than art imitates life." Caffeinate it with Squishee frozen carbonated beverage. Add a dose of 21st-century movie marketing. Pour the mix atop a dozen or so 7-Eleven convenience stores across America. That's the recipe to publicize "The Simpsons" movie, to be released July 27, and a 7-Eleven in Times Square is one of the locations that, as of Monday, became less a convenience store and more a giant "Simpsons" ad.
On the first day of the transformation, people stopped to gawk at the real-life Kwik-E-Mart, which days earlier was only a satirical cartoon send-up of 7-Eleven."Thank you for loitering," says a sign near the door featuring a portrait of Abu Nahasapeemapetilon, the show's thickly accented Indian-American proprietor of the real, um, fake, Kwik-E-Mart. "Please come again."Passersby in droves whipped out their cameras to take pictures.The store, on 42nd Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues, isn't being paid anything by "The Simpsons" producers.
For avid fans of the longest-running TV cartoon, the store became a clubhouse for discussing Simpsons minutiae amid Bart cookies, Homer bobble-head dolls and Moe and Barney talking bottle openers.
You can buy Simpsons masks in anticipation of the Simpsons movie release at Annies Costumes.
