Okay, ya got me, now that I've caught up on blog reading again I'm just trying to postpone any actual productive activity in favor of sitting on my tushie and typing:
• Peter David hits the nail on the head about Fox's proposed satirical news show that "tips to the right." Sayeth the Writer of Stuff, "A liberal mindset understands the notion that anything is fair game, but a conservative insists on lockstep adherence to its leaders and unwavering, unquestioning support." Not only that but, as we've seen time and again, mocking people and institutions in power is what satire is all about; comedy that mocks societal have-nots is just mean bullying and isn't very funny at all (that last is, of course, strictly my opinion). Speaking of which, John Rogers uses Michael Richards' racist tirade as a springboard to hold forth on why stand-up is tricky, including some joke-structure-parsing near and dear to my comedy-wonk heart.
• Cory unintentionally hits on one reason I'm in favor of copyright protection: "by prohibiting new writers from retelling others' characters stories, the characters are limited to the perspective their writers imbued them with." Heaven forfend that an author's fictional characters be limited to, you know, the way the author wanted them to be! You want characters to change, you ask permission of the copyright holder (or his/her estate) to play with them, or you get a job in comics or writing tie-in books and play in a larger sandbox with the sandbox's owner's permission. Failing that, make up your own darn characters. Sometimes I despair of some folks' overblown sense of entitlement, wanting to profit off others' creativity. I truly believe we're all creative enough to produce great wonders of our own, and tech-savvy enough to give credit where due via links instead of coveting hits so much that we publicly pout when copyright holders tell us we can't put their videos on our sites.
• Yay, Jill! That is all.
• Is Meg right about this, does Macy's SF store holiday window display actually feature real kitties?
• Former Pen-Elayne guest blogger Diane "Desi" Sweet outs herself. Congrats on the gigs, Desi!
• Ms. Dewey is seriously creeping out eRobin.
• Kathy presents a great Thanksgiving tale of the honoring of Mohegan Chief Mahomet Weyonomon. Don't think I've ever met current Mohegan chief Bruce Bozsum, but members of my ex's family are (or at least were) high muckamucks in that tribe. Hey Steve, does that name sound familiar? Other harvest festival posts include Sheila Lennon posting a 2005 video of Arlo Guthrie performing Alice's Restaurant (clocking in at a very Nixonian 18½ minutes) and a holiday appearance by Professor Wagstaff courtesy of Gary Sassaman.
• In the old-friends-and-foes department: Cliff Meth is not enamored of the Lubavitchers in northwest NJ (by the way: these folks, like many religious fanatics, are hardcore nutso - Hank Magitz reports that there's been a nasty spate of Jew-on-Jew violence in those parts as well); Stuart Hughes is not enamored of his old mate Heather Mills; and Thomas Dolby's iPod doesn't like his new CD. On the other hand, Lance Mannion extols the writing of blogger (and actor) Quinn Cummings (and good blogging in general), Ken Jennings sings the praises of Bob Harris and expounds upon their very different Jeopardy! experiences, Kris Dresen remembers an old friend and inspiration on the anniversary of his passing, and Frank Paynter shares memories of various covert actions starting with JFK's assassination. The fact that George H.W. Bush was in Dallas that day and has managed (through his CIA tenure, vice presidency during the Reagan devolution, presidency continuing that disastrous slide, and son's presidency coming close to destroying our country thanks to more extreme versions of those same horrific policies) to dominate the political scene in one way or another ever since is, I'm sure, pure coincidence.
• Obligatory "Digby does it again" post - Digby on modern journalists and their culture of laziness (and viciousness).
• Two good ones among many from Jenn, who's been on fire this week: discussing how a male comic strip writer is not quite getting how to "write the other" when putting out a comic called "Single Asian Female;" and bemoaning the preponderance of texting cell phones in college classrooms and how their advent (and that of blogs, etc.) is impacting students' attention span. Wow, do I feel old now. I would have loved a laptop back when I was going to college in the BPC (Before Personal Computers) era, for the purpose of taking notes on what the teachers were saying, as even back then I typed faster than I wrote. But why bother going to a place of learning if you're not going to, you know, learn? It's not like higher education in this country is free, presumably these kids or their parents are paying big bucks for them to have the privilege of sitting in those classrooms and actually absorbing information. Or is this just another example of an overblown sense of entitlement, "I paid big bucks so I can do what I darn well please"? Gah.
Lastly, via Robin, the NY Times reports that DC editors Karen Berger and Shelly Bond are embarking on a new imprint, Minx, designed to market to teenage girls and young women. The article only mentions two creators by name, but one of them (the writer) is female. I hope they can also grab some very appropriate female artists like Becky Cloonan and Christine Norrie for these books. Oh, and Valerie responds to the ":Goodbye to Comics" reactions, and posts a video that one of my comments inspired.
• Peter David hits the nail on the head about Fox's proposed satirical news show that "tips to the right." Sayeth the Writer of Stuff, "A liberal mindset understands the notion that anything is fair game, but a conservative insists on lockstep adherence to its leaders and unwavering, unquestioning support." Not only that but, as we've seen time and again, mocking people and institutions in power is what satire is all about; comedy that mocks societal have-nots is just mean bullying and isn't very funny at all (that last is, of course, strictly my opinion). Speaking of which, John Rogers uses Michael Richards' racist tirade as a springboard to hold forth on why stand-up is tricky, including some joke-structure-parsing near and dear to my comedy-wonk heart.
• Cory unintentionally hits on one reason I'm in favor of copyright protection: "by prohibiting new writers from retelling others' characters stories, the characters are limited to the perspective their writers imbued them with." Heaven forfend that an author's fictional characters be limited to, you know, the way the author wanted them to be! You want characters to change, you ask permission of the copyright holder (or his/her estate) to play with them, or you get a job in comics or writing tie-in books and play in a larger sandbox with the sandbox's owner's permission. Failing that, make up your own darn characters. Sometimes I despair of some folks' overblown sense of entitlement, wanting to profit off others' creativity. I truly believe we're all creative enough to produce great wonders of our own, and tech-savvy enough to give credit where due via links instead of coveting hits so much that we publicly pout when copyright holders tell us we can't put their videos on our sites.
• Yay, Jill! That is all.
• Is Meg right about this, does Macy's SF store holiday window display actually feature real kitties?
• Former Pen-Elayne guest blogger Diane "Desi" Sweet outs herself. Congrats on the gigs, Desi!
• Ms. Dewey is seriously creeping out eRobin.
• Kathy presents a great Thanksgiving tale of the honoring of Mohegan Chief Mahomet Weyonomon. Don't think I've ever met current Mohegan chief Bruce Bozsum, but members of my ex's family are (or at least were) high muckamucks in that tribe. Hey Steve, does that name sound familiar? Other harvest festival posts include Sheila Lennon posting a 2005 video of Arlo Guthrie performing Alice's Restaurant (clocking in at a very Nixonian 18½ minutes) and a holiday appearance by Professor Wagstaff courtesy of Gary Sassaman.
• In the old-friends-and-foes department: Cliff Meth is not enamored of the Lubavitchers in northwest NJ (by the way: these folks, like many religious fanatics, are hardcore nutso - Hank Magitz reports that there's been a nasty spate of Jew-on-Jew violence in those parts as well); Stuart Hughes is not enamored of his old mate Heather Mills; and Thomas Dolby's iPod doesn't like his new CD. On the other hand, Lance Mannion extols the writing of blogger (and actor) Quinn Cummings (and good blogging in general), Ken Jennings sings the praises of Bob Harris and expounds upon their very different Jeopardy! experiences, Kris Dresen remembers an old friend and inspiration on the anniversary of his passing, and Frank Paynter shares memories of various covert actions starting with JFK's assassination. The fact that George H.W. Bush was in Dallas that day and has managed (through his CIA tenure, vice presidency during the Reagan devolution, presidency continuing that disastrous slide, and son's presidency coming close to destroying our country thanks to more extreme versions of those same horrific policies) to dominate the political scene in one way or another ever since is, I'm sure, pure coincidence.
• Obligatory "Digby does it again" post - Digby on modern journalists and their culture of laziness (and viciousness).
• Two good ones among many from Jenn, who's been on fire this week: discussing how a male comic strip writer is not quite getting how to "write the other" when putting out a comic called "Single Asian Female;" and bemoaning the preponderance of texting cell phones in college classrooms and how their advent (and that of blogs, etc.) is impacting students' attention span. Wow, do I feel old now. I would have loved a laptop back when I was going to college in the BPC (Before Personal Computers) era, for the purpose of taking notes on what the teachers were saying, as even back then I typed faster than I wrote. But why bother going to a place of learning if you're not going to, you know, learn? It's not like higher education in this country is free, presumably these kids or their parents are paying big bucks for them to have the privilege of sitting in those classrooms and actually absorbing information. Or is this just another example of an overblown sense of entitlement, "I paid big bucks so I can do what I darn well please"? Gah.
Lastly, via Robin, the NY Times reports that DC editors Karen Berger and Shelly Bond are embarking on a new imprint, Minx, designed to market to teenage girls and young women. The article only mentions two creators by name, but one of them (the writer) is female. I hope they can also grab some very appropriate female artists like Becky Cloonan and Christine Norrie for these books. Oh, and Valerie responds to the ":Goodbye to Comics" reactions, and posts a video that one of my comments inspired.
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