Could It Be Used For Dating?

February 3, 2016 11:06 AM

Behold The Frinkiac, a search engine that matches Simpsons quotes to exact screen grabs. Sure, it looks impressive, but I predict that within 10 years, computers will be twice as powerful, ten thousand times larger, and so expensive that only the 5 richest kings of Europe will own them.
posted by Fuzzy Monster (95 comments total)

I love this.
posted by Lord_Pall at 11:09 AM on February 3, 2016

I, for one, welcome our new robot Simpsons search overlord.
posted by chavenet at 11:11 AM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is a amazing.

How long before someone does this for Monty Python or The Big Lebowski? Or everything, for that matter?
posted by bondcliff at 11:12 AM on February 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

I love this
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:14 AM on February 3, 2016

> How long before someone does this for Monty Python or The Big Lebowski?

I believe they have and I believe it's called "Reddit".

As for the Finkiac, I entered "glaben" and it said "Nothing Found". I am disappoint.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:15 AM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Searched for "glaven", result:

Nothing found.
Try again, for glaven out loud!

posted by ckape at 11:19 AM on February 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

Try 'glayvin'.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:20 AM on February 3, 2016 [5 favorites]

Well, there goes my life.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:20 AM on February 3, 2016

Also, searched for “explain how”, got exactly the result I wanted.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:21 AM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Well, there goes my life.

And how!
posted by Apocryphon at 11:22 AM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's a secret.
posted by damo at 11:24 AM on February 3, 2016

D'OH
posted by Diskeater at 11:26 AM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Confirmed.
posted by these are science wands at 11:28 AM on February 3, 2016

No need to limit yourself to dialog.
posted by ckape at 11:28 AM on February 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

This is awesome, in it's scope and formatting. For example, if you wanted to get a better screengrab, or make an animated clip, you can find the season, episode and time from the link. Example of an apparent mis-match between the screen and text, but the link tells you it's from S14E19 and t=1145061 (not sure if that's the frame number or second, but you could probably figure it out in short order).
posted by filthy light thief at 11:30 AM on February 3, 2016

Oh, a Frinkiac. That's a *really* useful invention!
posted by entropicamericana at 11:33 AM on February 3, 2016 [5 favorites]

Something's happened!
posted by ckape at 11:33 AM on February 3, 2016

I think he's talking to you.

Oh yeah, that's the good stuff.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:33 AM on February 3, 2016

Can't stop. So useful.
posted by damo at 11:35 AM on February 3, 2016

God help us all
posted by twoporedomain at 11:40 AM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
posted by BungaDunga at 11:40 AM on February 3, 2016

D'OH

If it were programmed correctly, we'd see no results for that. The scripts are clear that we're looking for "annoyed grunt."

I know that "...you are technically correct. The best kind of correct." is a Futurama reference. Still feels relevant here.
posted by explosion at 11:46 AM on February 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

This is great and I wish we had it, say, 12 years ago.
posted by Theta States at 11:59 AM on February 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

Look out because of the zooming!
posted by petebest at 12:03 PM on February 3, 2016

You don't win friends with salad.
posted by euphorb at 12:04 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

the power...
posted by Theta States at 12:06 PM on February 3, 2016

explosion: I believe the phrase you're looking for is "I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder!"
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:07 PM on February 3, 2016

Pretty lame, Milhouse.
posted by Cash4Lead at 12:09 PM on February 3, 2016

They fight. And fight.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 12:09 PM on February 3, 2016

I'm unsure of the spelling for "impryouvement" but I guess that's probably close enough.
posted by LionIndex at 12:10 PM on February 3, 2016

Blazing cupid pasta? More like seat retainer!
Sorry.
posted by hat_eater at 12:11 PM on February 3, 2016

now I'll pull my arms out with my face
posted by palindromic at 12:18 PM on February 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

My life is complete. Unicornsimpsons.
posted by WordCannon at 12:20 PM on February 3, 2016

I, for one, welcome our new...
posted by ursus_comiter at 12:27 PM on February 3, 2016

I can't believe nobody has thought of this before. Obtain all the episodes in digital form, slurp all of the closed captions into a database, split the footage into individual frames, host it, done. Really cool.
posted by indubitable at 12:37 PM on February 3, 2016

Based on that "nearly 3 million frames" claim, nearly 17% of the frames of animation in the whole of The Simpsons are represented in this database.

I wonder if this is still Fair Use on this scale? If the frames come from commercial disks, they broke the DMCA to make it, so does that mean it was illegally made?

Copyright law is so messed up.
posted by OwlBoy at 12:39 PM on February 3, 2016

You might remember me...
posted by Jimbob at 12:41 PM on February 3, 2016 [8 favorites]

Paul Newman's going to have my legs broke.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:41 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

I wonder if this is still Fair Use on this scale?

Well Google has got away with hosting millions of scans of books for the purposes of searching so *shrug*.
posted by Jimbob at 12:43 PM on February 3, 2016

I was disappointed that it didn't recognize "labanza," and was going to whack them in that part of them, but then I tried "labonza" and was satisfied. Urge to whack... falling.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:43 PM on February 3, 2016

This is relevant to my interests.
posted by yhbc at 12:44 PM on February 3, 2016

We discussed it with our lawyers.
posted by entropicamericana at 12:46 PM on February 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

Copyright law is so messed up.

Looks like those clowns in Congress did it again. What a bunch of clowns.
posted by Cash4Lead at 12:48 PM on February 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

The fact that it didn't come up with this when I typed in "Nuts and Gum" made me very sad.
posted by tittergrrl at 12:50 PM on February 3, 2016

I'm ready for the next debates!
posted by msbutah at 12:50 PM on February 3, 2016

Waaait a minute, where's Ralph saying "I'm a unitard"??
posted by moonmilk at 12:51 PM on February 3, 2016

Oh! I made it work!
posted by tittergrrl at 12:53 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

The fact that it didn't come up with this when I typed in "Nuts and Gum" made me very sad.

According to the developers' post (which is fascinating in itself, BTW), the search only covers the captioned text, so "visual" gags get lost.
posted by Cash4Lead at 12:53 PM on February 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

Literally!
posted by yhbc at 12:53 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

the search only covers the captioned text, so "visual" gags get lost.

This must be why it's only ~17% of the show represented. Does that mean the show is mostly not dialogue? (This is considering a full runtime of 22 mins an episode with intro and credits in each one.)
posted by OwlBoy at 12:54 PM on February 3, 2016

Where's the Slack integration?
posted by Nelson at 1:03 PM on February 3, 2016 [7 favorites]

My favourite so far is that by typing in 'arrr', you get picture after picture of Captain McCallister
posted by Cantdosleepy at 1:04 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Waaait a minute, where's Ralph saying "I'm a unitard"??

Season 18 :(

But it is a great way to collect the Unitarian jokes.
posted by supercres at 1:10 PM on February 3, 2016

Doesn't work for "I can see through time" or "My cat's mouth smells like cat food."
posted by emelenjr at 1:15 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Cat's breath
posted by supercres at 1:16 PM on February 3, 2016 [3 favorites]

Hom-er-er-er-er!
posted by ckape at 1:17 PM on February 3, 2016

Perfectly cromulent.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:39 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

oh, boy, sleep…
posted by misteraitch at 1:45 PM on February 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

My dad's a pretty big wheel down at the cracker factory.
posted by lagomorphius at 1:47 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

oh, boy, sleep…

I was literally just coming here to paste that.
posted by Going To Maine at 1:47 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Ho yeah, no work is getting done this fine day.
posted by damo at 1:56 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

I was being sarcastic.
posted by Rock Steady at 2:05 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Darn it, no Sneed's.
posted by lagomorphius at 2:10 PM on February 3, 2016

This is being pulled from the DVD subtitle data. Hans Moleman's magnum opus is impossible to find, even under its actual title.

On preview: I've been throughly beaten.
posted by EmGeeJay at 2:12 PM on February 3, 2016

Now, that's interesting.
posted by lagomorphius at 2:16 PM on February 3, 2016

You can't really search for it, but it's in there.
posted by ckape at 2:20 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Moving on to new business, what act of unmitigated evil shall the Republican Party undertake this week?
posted by thefoxgod at 2:36 PM on February 3, 2016

McBain
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 2:39 PM on February 3, 2016

The wonderful @Simsons_tweets has been lobbing these at me daily for a few years now. It's hands down the best use of Twitter.

McBain

Mendoooooozaaaaaaa!
posted by reedbird_hill at 2:40 PM on February 3, 2016

Kwyjibo
posted by audi alteram partem at 2:42 PM on February 3, 2016

Call in a code eight.
posted by Jimbob at 2:46 PM on February 3, 2016

Booky-wook? I've been saying "booky-book" all this time. (I've also been calling her Crandall).
posted by Gary at 3:03 PM on February 3, 2016

Doesn't work for "I can see through time" or "My cat's mouth smells like cat food."

My cat's breath smells like cat food

The other one is in there but I also couldn't get it with the search.
posted by Gary at 3:18 PM on February 3, 2016

Chin up, Moe.
posted by ckape at 3:20 PM on February 3, 2016

One criticism: The back button should not undo each individual keystroke.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:13 PM on February 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

Someone else made a similar thing that extracted gifs from Star Wars and wrote a good technical write-up about how she did it here.
posted by Space Coyote at 4:35 PM on February 3, 2016

FINALLY, I have an image for one of my favorite lines.
posted by epersonae at 5:14 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

it works on so many levels
posted by saturday_morning at 6:09 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is the best thing ever. Now I just need a repositiory for my memes. Should last me well into my 90s.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:00 PM on February 3, 2016

And now, OUR SPECIAL GUEST STAR.
posted by JHarris at 8:04 PM on February 3, 2016

See you in hell, punk
posted by phooky at 8:58 PM on February 3, 2016

What was that about needing mastery of programming and funding from venture capitalists to be "successful" on today's Internet? Here's the guide Homer used to start his successful Internet business, which was later acquired by Bill Gates.

Sadly, I bet Fox's lawyers are drafting a C&D alread and I doubt the Frinkiac is long for this Internet.
:'/
posted by fragmede at 1:55 AM on February 4, 2016

I call the big one "Bitey".
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 2:29 AM on February 4, 2016

Ohh, cool a Simpsons meme generator! And it's searchable by episode text, that's clever! I'll just try it out to see if it pulls up that one quote, Homer's expression is hilarious, and... holy shit, did an hour just go by?
posted by Pazzovizza at 2:31 AM on February 4, 2016

Sadly, I bet Fox's lawyers are drafting a C&D alread and I doubt the Frinkiac is long for this Internet.

Buy him out, boys.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:36 AM on February 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

They should call this book Johnny Deformed!
posted by almostmanda at 5:44 AM on February 4, 2016

This is really, really cool.

They even have caps for "TESTING."
posted by zarq at 7:04 AM on February 4, 2016

What I did before we had the Frinkiac.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:01 AM on February 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

"Frinkiac."
posted by entropicamericana at 9:43 AM on February 4, 2016

Why can't I find anything with Snake's alma mater Middlebury?
posted by holmesian at 10:04 AM on February 4, 2016

Kang & Kodo 4 evar.
posted by DigDoug at 9:26 PM on February 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

i have misplaced my pants.
posted by Drinky Die at 7:39 AM on February 5, 2016

"supernintendo chalmers" and "phoney mcringring" both worked, but I couldn't find the proper wording for "prinskipple skipple" so I just don't know any more.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:51 PM on February 8, 2016

"Prinskipper Skippal" "Prinnipple Skipper". I'm not sure what the source is for their subtitles. I found a Hear/Here mix up, so I am on the Internet to register my disgust throughout the world.
posted by Gary at 4:19 PM on February 8, 2016

:D
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:06 PM on February 10, 2016