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Python Goes 8mm
On August on BBC Two, a show called Home Movie Roadshow will be running old home movies that Terry Jones shot of the early days of Monty Python. You may not be able to watch that broadcast but you can see a little preview of it here. Thanks to Andrew Littlefield for letting me know about it.
From a recent BBC Special celebrating the 80th birthday of Mr. Stephen Sondheim: Simon Russell Beale, Daniel Evans, Julian Ovenden, and Bryn Terfel perform "Everybody Ought To Have a Maid" from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum...
Jacob Weisberg, who has a thriving practice going as an aggregator of stupid remarks that come from political leaders, writes about why Sarah Palin says the inane things she says. The way I see it, he's way overthinking the question. I think it's a matter of just playing to her audience, saying what the people who flock to hear her like.
Years ago, a female stand-up I knew had a routine in her act that I thought was sexist (from a male POV) and stupid and while audiences howled at it, it was the kind of laughter a guy could get by coming out and dropping his pants — a cheap, easy laugh. It was so out of tone and character with the rest of her material (and her as a person) that I asked her one night why she did it. The answer was, "Because people laugh" and that was literally all there was to it. She did it because it seemed to be advancing her career and no, she didn't pause to ponder if she agreed with that message or the philosophy it expressed. It just worked and that, by God, was that. I think of her when I hear Sarah Palin.
• Posted Friday, August 6, 2010 at 12:24 PM · LINK
Power to the People
I've written enough about Five Guys burgers on this blog so here's Equal Time for something healthy. After my Gastric Bypass Surgery, I had to subsist for a time on protein drinks, which was a problem for me. Most are loaded with artificial sweeteners. I'm agnostic on the question of whether things like Aspartame or Sucralose are harmful to most people but I am of the belief that my body doesn't like them...my body and my taste buds. The times I've had them, they reminded me of something gross like animal urine or swamp water or cole slaw.
Anyway, avoiding artificial sweeteners took about 75% of all available protein drinks out of consideration. Avoiding high sugar content eliminated another 20% or so. I only found two brands that worked for me, both of which are flavored with Stevia, which is not an artificial sweetener but is sometimes employed in the same way. The Healthy N Fit line was rather decent but I finally decided I had a slight preference for the Jay Robb brand, which I gather is an industry leader. It deserves to be. They fib a little to make it sound like their product is utterly delicious but most of their protein powders, when mixed with some liquid, are highly drinkable. Some folks add milk or fruit juice but I go commando with plain ice water.
Jay Robb has protein powders made with egg whites, protein powders made from whey and protein powders made from brown rice. I tried all of them and immediately scratched the rice ones from my shopping list. One sip and I did a spit-take so grand, I think I owe royalties to the Danny Thomas Estate. The ones made with egg whites or whey are pretty similar in taste but I have a tiny preference for the whey, which is also lower in Sodium.
All three kinds come in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, plus you can also get the whey in pina colada and tropical dreamsicle, and the egg white protein in an unflavored version. I haven't tried the pina colada flavor because I never had a real pina colada, and I have no use for the unflavored. The tropical dreamsicle, which is kind of a creamy orange, was okay mixed with water and would probably be grand if swirled into orange juice, which I no longer drink. Much better are the vanilla and chocolate flavors, which I think are a lot better than the strawberry. You may, of course, feel otherwise. Mostly, I alternate vanilla and chocolate.
You can buy Jay Robb protein powders online and there's lots of info at the Jay Robb website plus, as you might imagine, prices that are buck or three higher than other sites. I found my best price by going to an outlet of The Vitamin Shoppe but wherever you buy, don't start with a whole cannister of the stuff; not until you decide what you like. For around $2.50 each in many stores, you can buy one-serving packets of each variety.
Some tips. If you mix with water, the colder the better. A blender also helps. I use the Magic Bullet, the same product you're sick of seeing on every third infomercial and it's perfect for this. I also use a little less water than the Jay Robb folks suggest. It makes for a more flavorful shake and you can drink it faster. The longer it sits, the less wonderful it tastes.
And that's about all I have to say on the topic except this. In the last few years since my surgery, my sweet tooth has gone away. My doctors can't explain quite why it happened but one day, I suddenly had no craving for cake, candy, ice cream, etc. Naturally, one can't help but get some sugar in one's diet but I'm no longer interested in the dessert category or anything that's supposed to be sweet so I get a lot less than I once did, like maybe 5% of my previous consumption. This has somehow reconfigured my taste buds such that the Jay Robb protein drinks now taste better to me than they used to. (Conversely, most fast foods taste worse. One of the reasons I gush so much over Five Guys is that it's a puzzling exception.) I don't know if any of you reading this feels the need for a protein drink in your life but if you do, these have been my recent experiences. L'chaim.
• Posted Friday, August 6, 2010 at 12:16 PM · LINK
Recommended Reading
Paul Krugman on the Paul Ryan proposal for slashing taxes for the rich and benefits for everyone else. If you'd like to see Rep. Ryan's idea as he presents it, this page will make his case. I think it's double talk that skirts past a lot of specifics. Like, he exaggerates the financial woes of Medicare, then suggests replacing it with a plan that would give seniors vouchers that would enable them to pay for "quality, affordable [private] health plans." How much would his plan give them? How would anyone be sure that the amounts would cover the costs of a decent health plan? He doesn't say.
Here's just the thing to get you in the mood to enjoy a good movie...
• Posted Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 1:26 AM · LINK
Wednesday Evening
Dahlia Lithwick analyzes the Gay Marriage decision. Just as a lay person, it seemed to me that the lawyer defending Proposition 8 put up an awfully feeble argument. Actually, I've long thought all arguments against letting gays marry were pretty feeble but the folks who put up the $$$ to defend 8 didn't even get their money's worth.
Lithwick explains why it was a sound decision but that really won't matter. The losing side in any such battle these days always think that every court decision that doesn't go their way has to be morally bankrupt, possibly crooked and certainly the work of an "activist judge." I remember when O.J. Simpson was acquitted there were folks who thought he was guilty but who said, "Given what was presented in court, I completely understand why the jury voted the way they did." That never happens when political issues are involved. Everyone thinks their view is so overwhelmingly just and valid that no one could possibly come to another view via honest means.
• Posted Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 11:36 PM · LINK
Wednesday Afternoon
Okay, so the judge here has overturned Proposition 8 and the right-wing pundits and politicians couldn't be happier. They don't really care about Gay Marriage — or if they do, it's secondary to the big prize, which is an issue to outrage their base and motivate it to march and vote and buy books and watch their shows and most of all, donate money. They were all disappointed when they lost Flag Burning as an issue that had that power. It was good for a time but it was so damned stupid, it soon collapsed. They all know Same-Sex Wedlock will eventually be of no use to them. The trend in this country is moving inexorably towards its acceptance. But they had hoped to get a few more years and a few more election-cycles out of it...and now they will. Rush and Hannity have to be turning cartwheels.
I have no idea what's going to happen with the courts on this. It probably has something to do with where it heads, how quickly it gets there and who's on the various benches when it arrives. Eventually, it'll get to the Supreme Court, I guess. Before then though, a lot of people are going to rake in a lot of cash.
• Posted Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 2:47 PM · LINK
Recommended Reading
David Corn reports on the about-to-be-unemployed South Carolina Congressguy, Bob Inglis. Why is Mr. Inglis about to lose his job? Well, to hear him tell it, he tried to give his constituents responsible Conservative and Republican representation and they didn't want that. They wanted hysterical and crazy.
• Posted Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 10:57 AM · LINK
Today's Video Link
I think you all know how this one goes...
• Posted Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 10:52 AM · LINK
Later Today...
Between 1 PM and 3 PM, Judge Vaughn R. Walker will issue his ruling on the constitutionality of California's Propostion 8, the one that banned Gay Marriage. Most of the court watchers seem to think he's going to strike it down, which would mean a lot of screaming all around for months — maybe a year or two — as this thing wends its way towards the U.S. Supreme Court. I still think a neater path to equality would be via the ballot box. It would make it all the Will of the People, rather than a decision by the courts, plus we'd be spared all the delighted outrage of the Fox News crowd. But we'll see...
• Posted Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 3:32 AM · LINK
From the E-Mailbag...
Rob Rose writes to ask...
Mark: a lot of people have expressed concern, not just with the crowding at Comic-Con, but at the fact that it seems to be more and more dominated by Hollywood. Movie, television, and video game companies dominate the exhibit space, and they use up an awful lot of the programming time as well. True, a lot of the Hollywood stuff is comics related (there was a lot of buzz generated for the Avengers movie, for example) or at least within the related genres — science-fiction, fantasy, horror, anime, and so forth. But some is not — in particular I've heard people remaking on this year's Glee panel as an example of how the convention has gotten away from its roots.
I don't think anyone can really question that the media is not only a huge part of the convention, but a major reason why it attracts so many people and so much attention. But my question is this: what's the effect of such a large, diverse convention on the comics industry? I have to think that it may be Hollywood that brings people in, but once they're there, some of them might just think about picking up a comic or two, or at least some related merchandise, and that helps the field. Others may feel that the way comics seem buried in the avalanche of other stuff makes them seem even less relevant, and that a smaller, but more comics-focused, convention would be a better idea.
Curious to see if you have any thoughts on the matter. Thanks...
First of all, having things other than comics at Comic-Con is not a betrayal of its roots. It was always part of Shel Dorf's original Mission Statement that the con would embrace forms other than comics, if only to demonstrate that comics were part of the same world. He had a little speech about it that I believe he cribbed with permission from Jack Kirby. At the 1974 convention, the big Guest of Honor was Frank Capra. Mr. Capra had about as much to do with comics as does the cast of Glee...maybe less since the cast of Glee has probably read some comic books.
If you want to attend a smaller convention that's more focused on comics, that's easy. You just go to one of them. WonderCon, which is in San Francisco next April, is run by the same folks who run Comic-Con and while it has some movie stars and film promotions, the ratio is more favorable to comic books. There are other cons where comics are even more dominant.
The thing I don't think some people get is that the comic book industry is no longer about comic books. Maybe some of the smaller publishers only care about those things on paper but DC and Marvel are now companies where comic books are only a cornerstone. At both firms — at most firms for that matter — the product is comic books turned into movies, comic books turned into TV shows, comic books turned into videogames, etc. If Marvel comes to the con to promote Spider-Man, they're not going to just promote the comic book. That isn't where the money is these days. They're going to promote the Spider-Man movie, the Spider-Man cartoon show, the Spider-Man videogame, etc. And most of the attendees want to hear about all of it, not just about the comic book.
The barrier between comics and other more ostensibly lucrative fields is blurring to the point of non-existence. It has never been that tidy and especially not since Star Wars and Star Trek became ubiquitous at comic conventions. Those franchises fit right in...and not because there were comic book versions of those properties — which brings me to the answer to your key question...
What's the effect of such a large, diverse convention on the comics industry? I think it's not only terrific, I think it's life-saving. At a time when magazines of all kind are folding or suffering plunges in circulation, the intermingling of comics with more mainstream media establishes that comics are more than just magazines. It gives them parity with forms of entertainment that aren't dying out or becoming obsolete. It also gives the word "comics" an importance it never had before. Once upon a time, the comic book business looked at the movies and tried to imitate the trends that were selling in that form. Today, it's the other way around.
I love comic books. I own more of them than you do, whoever you are. But the times, they are a'changin' and the era when they could just be these things on cheap paper is gone, probably forever. For good or ill, what the Comic-Con in San Diego is about is what comics are about, these days. If I looked real hard, I could probably come up with some downsides to this evolution but why bother? This is what it is, where we are and where it's all headed. I share with those who bemoan the Hollywood Invasion a grand nostalgia for the old days...but old days have a way of not coming back and some things change just because they have to. Once you accept that, you can have a very good time in today.
• Posted Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 3:23 AM · LINK
