1. The GOP: The party of the underinformed.
2. A young man hit Neocon idea man and middle-aged straight male pundit expert on lesbians Bill Kristol in the face with a pie recently. Colley was nowhere near him at the time of the crime, and I can prove that.
“Actor Christopher Eccleston has quit as Doctor Who after just one episode of the new series has been screened, the BBC has confirmed…Eccleston, whose first appearance as the ninth Doctor attracted 10 million viewers, said he feared being typecast.”
Okay, fanboy moment flashback…You know what I want to know? I’ll tell you what I want to know. Why the hell wasn’t he locked into at least a three-year contract in the first place? I agree with Peter Davison and the late Patrick Troughton that this is the optimum time for an actor.
And I can’t imagine the new series will get any traction if they have to keep replacing the Doctor…not to mention, he’s only got three regenerations left.
This also reminds me of when TV-movie Doctor Paul McGann took the role only to balk at some publicity and convention appearances. I thought at the time, isn’t that something that should have been negotiated as part of the deal?
I mean yes, the most an actor owes is his performance and all that kind of deeply-sensible stuff. But when you’re taking on the part of an icon, a certain level of commitment and additional responsibility should be involved as well.
Okay, fanboy flashback moment over.
As Media Matters reports here, Dick “toe sucking” Morris has joined the fleet of backpedalers trying to minimize President Bush’s role in the Schiavo case.
What fascinates me more than Bush and his ilk’s zealotry, homophobia and that kind of thing is the lengths they will go to to deny it. I can’t say I respect people like Fred Phelps and Jerry Fallwell, but at least they come out and say they hate gays and that they believe they are god’s mouthpiece on this earth.
If only I could believe that the Schiavo case was going to expose Bush conservatives as the weasely little rationalizers they are. But as I said a couple of days ago, few people have ever gone broke betting on the public’s short memory and/or stupidity.
Paul Hester, the drummer for Crowded House, has taken his own life. Although songwriter/singer/guitarist Neil Finn rightly got most of the credit for that band’s success, Hester and bass player Nick Seymour deserved some too.
The sonic landscapes they created as settings for the songs have never been equaled on any of Finn’s later solo work that I have heard. It’s like, Sting was great, but you wouldn’t discount Stewart and Andy…
Hester had also played on some late-period Split Enz records, including one of my all-time favorites, “Message To My Girl.” He also wrote and sang the atypical “Skin Feeling” on Crowded House’s Together Alone album, which I always liked (the album and the song)
Is this just another example of someone who has had some or all of the things I want and finds it’s not enough? Everywhere you go, you always take the Weather With You…
1. This is kind of fun: A neurologist confronts a right-wing lout.
2. How do you talk to a conservative (if you must)? Suburban Guerrilla wonders.
At least, in those parts of the country that have snow in winter. But anyway, here’s what I mean:
“…six months ago…the Boy Scouts’ “National Director of Program” Douglas S. Smith, Jr., [wrote] forcefully in support of the Boy Scouts’ belief that exclusion of gay people is fundamentally necessary to that organization’s purpose and values.”
“[Yesterday], Boy Scouts’ former National Director of Program Douglas S. Smith, Jr., [was] charged with, and is expected to plead guilty to, receipt and distribution of images of child pornography.”
(Via Ignatz)
You could set your watch to it.
Regarding item six in yesterday’s Recommended Reading, I’ve added my name to this open letter to the National Press Club regarding its panel on blogs and journalism.
As announced, this panel includes James Guckert but no actual…um…whatchamacalit…political bloggers. You might want to sign too, especially if you have a blog of your own.
Tom Wilson is an artist, a voiceover actor on cartoons including Spongebob Squarepants and Batman, and a comedian. He’s also the guy who played “Biff” in the Back To The Future trilogy.
He’s got a website up to showcase his paintings of ViewMasters, Rock-Em Sock-Em Robots, and other pop culture artifacts like himself. They’re actually kind of fun.
As is his “FAQ,” which devolves into a funny defensive dialogue. Oddly enough, a question I would think would be frequently asked is not included. Namely, his feelings on manure. I wonder what they are?
Danny Schechter, the “News Dissector” is a blogger, a documentarian, and an author. More importantly (at least to me), he was the co-creator of one of the most urgent pieces of “pop” music I’ve ever heard.
The track was “Revolutionary Situation” on the anti-Apartheid Sun City album in 1985. It mixed real voices, screams, gunshots, African music and chants over a rap backing track, with rap provided by some guy named Miles Davis. Along with a little of that trumpet thing he did.
Even separated from the immidiacy of the situation as it was in 1985, it’s an incredible piece of music put together by Schechter and Keith “Malcolm X/No Sell Out” LeBlanc. Then, it was revelatory.
At any rate, I tell you all this to lead into this link to a blog piece of Schechter’s, and to explain why to this day his name is a flag to me.
And if you ever get a chance to hear that Sun City album, do it. It remains, to me, one of the rare examples of a “charity” record that can still be listened to for pleasure rather than a sense of resigned duty.