"Heroes" and "Studio 60" are now two episodes into their "new seasons," as it were, and both are looking pretty darned good. Spoilers follow:
"HEROES"--As our story starts picking up speed, the glue that holds everything together--the most compelling tale--continues to involve the "title character," Hiro. It's probably just me, but sometimes I feel like everything else is filler as I wait to get back to Hiro and his iconic mission to find a sword he's convinced will restore his flagging powers (a condition I tend to think is more psychological than anything else: He feels deep down that he's not worthy of his abilities because he was unable to save the waitress.) I'll grant you, the entire storyline in the most recent episode was 100% telegraphed because everyone who watches the show knew perfectly well that George Takei was cast as Hiro's father, so it took the whole episode to get to the point that we knew it was getting to. So that kinda sucked.
Close behind in the compelling department is Claire's seeking out her birth mother...and that wonderful moment when her mother ignites flame from her hand. And up there with all of them is the advent of Christopher Eggelston as the character who e-mailer Marty Devine (now there's a name) dubbed "Doctor Where." Probably the most apt combination of power and social status, Doctor Where appears to be a homeless guy. How thematically consistent, since homeless people and their plight are often invisible to people on a day to day basis.
Now if we could just DO AWAY WITH THOSE DAMNED DRONING VOICE OVER OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS THAT DON'T ADD A DAMNED THING...
"STUDIO 60"--Apparently reinvigorated after NBC lifted its death sentence for at least the rest of the season, Studio 60 has become even sharper and more focused in the last several weeks. The board room face down with Ed Asner only convinces me that, just as "West Wing" really needed Martin Sheen as the ongoing father figure rather than an occasional visitor as originally conceived, so too does S60 need Ed Asner on a regular basis to be the avuncular, crafty, and hard-edged studio head for everyone else to bounce off. If you don't believe me, watch "Sportsnight" before and after Robert Gillaume's stroke cut back his appearances and tell me there wasn't a father-figure-sized hole in the show.
I have to say, no one writes attempts at romance quite like Sorkin, which is to say, badly. Yes, granted, when compared with, say, the relationship sagas in "Boston Legal," S60 is relatively sedate, but even so Sorkin's patented rapid-fire banter just doesn't lend itself to the little moments of romance. Old marrieds, yes, that's in Sorkin's wheelhouse, which is why the Bartlett's dialogue sang, but people who are just starting to put it together? Not so much. Uncomfortable dialogue, dates that go wrong, and relationships that have the stayign power of the Hindenberg, all of which gives me little hope for the various pairings we're seeing. Nevertheless it has entertainment value once one puts aside the thought that anything permanent will come from any of it.
Smart, nay brilliant move to ride on the coattails of "Heroes" by bringing in Masi Oka as a guest star on the show-within-a-show, and I loved the whole business with Matt bidding on a date with Harriet. And I hate to say it...I think the "Dolphin Girl" thing is hilarious. It's one of those things that strikes me as something drawn from real life: That the actress who plays Harriet did this bizarre dolphin laugh one day and, like Allison Janey performing "The Jackal," Sorkin declared, "Oh, that is SO going into the show."
PAD
In case anyone's interested, below is a link to a podcast I did on a show called "Play or Die" (a title that reminds me of the Eddie Izzard routine "Cake or Death": "Cake or death?!" "Uhm...cake." "You! Cake or death!" "Cake." "Cake or death!" "Death!" "Really? Hmm...no one's ever chosen death before. Are you sure you wouldn't like some cake?")
http://podcast.fearlessradio.com/podcast/playordie/012607.mp3
Bush has described himself as "the Decider" and now "the Decision Maker." Kathleen folded that into "the Decisioner," but Ariel then came up with one I like even better: The Decisionator.
But here's my question: Is he really?
From my admittedly layman's understanding of these things, the President serves as the instrument of Congress. Congress has the power to declare war (or, as was the case with Iraq, the power to abrogate that power, apparently) and the President, as the Commander-in-Chief or, if you will the Decisionator, then wages the war on Congress's behalf.
What I'm a little unclear on is: Does Congress has the power to *un*declare war?
The Decisionator is determined to send in more troops, and Congress seems determined to voice its objections via a nonbinding resolution, which is kind of like parents setting a curfew and then enforcing it by announcing that they're going to snore really loudly in protest when the kid breaks it. What I want to know is whether Congress has the power to say, "We're done. We were told the United States was going to war for these reasons. These reasons no longer exist. The war is over. We're pulling out," and then inform the President that he no longer has Congressional authority to wage war, and that if he continues to do so, he will be impeached. In which case, does the Decisionator obey their will or does he tell them to go screw themselves, in which case we have a full blown constitutional crisis.
I'm no con law scholar. I honestly don't have any idea. But it would be interesting in that it would be the second time in the last seven years that matters relating to George Bush suddenly send everyone scrambling to the constitution to see what should happen next.
PAD
From Paris to New York to Bete Noire...whad'ja think?
PAD
Ask the New York Times:
Stephen King's Midnight MadnessEvery week comic book fans look forward to Wednesdays, the day new issues go on sale. On Feb. 7, one of those comics will be the first issue of a new seven-part series based on the Stephen King novel "The Dark Tower," above, from Marvel Entertainment. To commemorate the event, almost 150 comic book retailers across the country will begin selling the issue at the stroke of midnight. A list of participating stores can be found at www.marvel.com/news/comicstories. Fans who flock to Midtown Comics in Manhattan will see a couple of special guests: Peter David, who writes the dialogue for the series, and Jae Lee, the book's artist. The store will open for one hour.
GEORGE GENE GUSTINES
The unblinking Dick Cheney (as we saw in last night's "Colbert Report"), along with various stalking horses, keeps saying we must stay in Iraq "until the job is done."
Now I know it was a long time ago--four years--but as I recall, the job was to get Saddam out of power and to find the WMDs.
Saddam is dead and there's no WMDs.
Mission accomplished. The job, as delineated by the Bush administration, is done. Saying that departing now is "cutting and running" is like saying that punching out the time clock at 5 PM is "bailing out."
PAD
She says she got it from someone in Israel:
President Bush calls in the head of the CIA and asks, "How come the Jews know everything before we do?"
The CIA chief says, "The Jews have this expression, 'Vus titzuch?'"
The President says, "Hell, what's that mean?"
"Well, Mr. President", replies the CIA chief, "It's a Yiddish expression which roughly translates to 'what's happening'. They just ask each other and they know everything."
The President decides to go undercover to determine if this is true. He gets dressed up as an Orthodox Jew (black hat, beard, long black coat), and is secretly flown in an unmarked plane to New York, picked up in an unmarked
car and dropped off in Brooklyn's most Jewish neighborhood.
Soon a little old man comes shuffling along. The President stops him and whispers, "Vus titzuch?
The old guy whispers back: "Bush is in Brooklyn."
PAD
9:02: If your lawyer is sleeping, better give 'im a nudge, everybody look alive 'cause here come the judge(s)!
9:03: Condy Rice looks nice. Hey, you know what this needs? Joan and Melissa Rivers offering fashion commentary on the carpet.
9:06: Red is a power color. Interesting, the women dressed in bright red outfits. They pop out at you in the group shots.
9:07: I think when Bush enters, he should be proceeded by a guy playing "Hail the Chief" on a kazoo. That would entertain me. And when he gets up to the podium, he should just toss aside the prepared text, step forward and shout, "You wanna piece of me?! C'mon!"
9:09: He's wearing a blue tie. Blue=Democrats. Conciliatory?
9:10: It'd be cool if he kept shaking hands and then kept right on going out the far door, leaving everyone standing there going, "Wait? Huh?"
9:11; Still clapping. I wonder how long the ovation would be if his approval rating weren't in the low 30s.
9:13: Nice touch, acknowledging "Madame Speaker."
9:16: "Each of us is guided by his own convictions." Including the criminal convictionst that plagued the GOP.
9:16: Oh, NOW he wants cross-aisle governing.
9:17: Yes, wages are rising...thanks to the Democrats raising minimum wage. 41 straight months of job increase? Can anyone back that up?
9:19: Yeah. Earmarks. That's certainly something that presents a major concern to Americans.
9:22: Oh, geez, here we go with school vouchers again.
9:23: The quality of education, and the fiasco that has been "No child left behind," isn't exactly something I'd boast about.
9:24 Stony silence for the health care plan.
9:25: Ooooooo, that was embarrassing. Lots of people sitting on their hands for the health tax break plan. Could it be that they perceive it as, ultimately, a means of getting big business off the hook for health benefits while not at all guaranteeing that everyone can get health insurance?
9:26: Okay, good point about malpractice junk law suits. That's just out of control.
9:29: Yes, we are too dependent on foreign oil. But "clean safe nuclear power" is a bit of an oxymoron.
9:31: And we're going to reduce gasoline usage in the US how, exactly?
9:32: If we want to decrease gas usage, keeping the price of gas DOWN is the wrong way to go. You want to keep it high so that people will be motivated to use less gas.
9:35: Yes, by taking the war to the enemy, we can win the war on terror, just as we've won the war on crime and poverty and drugs and...
9:34: Okay, who had 9:34 in the 9/11 pool?
9:38: Terror terror terror terror
9:39: Who had 9:39 in the Iran pool?
9:40: in the six years since we were attacked? I thought it was five years?
9:41: If a fraction of the money spent on the war had been spent on education, the country would be in a lot better shape.
9:41: Terror terror terror terror terror terror terror
9:42: Was McCain asleep or taking notes?
9:43: Terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror terror
9:44: Of course, we wouldn't even have to be thinking about breaking promises and leaveing friends if he hadn't gotten us into the war in the first place.
9:45: Does he realize there's a whole bunch of country outside of Baghdad?
9:47: Baghdad is NEVER going to be secure. He msut know that. It almost sounds as if he's setting up framework for going into Iran.
9:50: No, they didn't vote for failure, they voted for a military incursion that was intended to findd WMDs, based upon falsified information fed them by Bush.
9:54: Finally moved away from terror.
9:55: interesting that the SC justices don't stand, not even for combating Malaria.
9:57: Plug a basketball player success story. There's a slam dunk.
9:58: I think it would be funny if there was an orchestra who played him off if he went on too long.
9:59: The annual parade of people continues.
9:59: Yeah, okay, the subway car guy. That was one damned heroic thing he did.
10:01: The depressing thing is that if this decorated Sergeant were a democrat running for President, there would be a GOP disinformation campaign organized to assert that he didn't actually earn his medals.
10:02: Jon Stewart called it. He said the country would be blessed by God, and that Bush would say the country was "strong."
Overall a very low key, sedate, even borderline somnambulant presentation.
I'll be watching the State of the Union tonight and offering running commentary on the blog. Feel free to whip up some nachos and watch along.
PAD
So Hillary Clinton has announced that she's forming an exploratory committee to look into running for president.
I have several problems with this:
First of all, when she ran for Senator, she swore it wasn't to position herself for a presidential run, but rather because she loved New York and wanted to serve its citizens. If she'd been in that position through, say, 2012, I might be convinced she saw the gig as something other than a means to an end. As it is, I feel as if she were here for the minimum amount of time necessary to establish some political cred. That's a touch too manipulative for me.
Second, she's come across to me as too mealy-mouthed and--there's that word again--manipulative on various issues. Even her announcement about running isn't firm and positive: She's announced that she's sticking her toe in the water. Say you're in, say you're out, but make a decision. It makes me think of Mr. Miyagi telling Daniel something like, "You karate yes, fine. You karate no, fine. You karate maybe, you get squished like grape."
Third, I don't think she's electable. I just don't. I don't think she'll play anywhere outside of large metropolitan areas, and even in some of those. I'm not sure Barack Obama is, either. I don't think he's got enough experience and, frankly, I still think there's sizable pockets of this country that don't put a black man in office (hell, I grew up in the 1960s where assassination was the order of the day, so I'm worried some white supremacist is going to pop a cap in his head.)
As crazy as it sounds, I'd almost rather see Al Gore take another run at it. Hell, Richard Nixon came back from a loss, and that wasn't even an election where he won the majority of the popular vote. Unlike everyone else in the field, he's got a six year track record of being actively involved in something other than trying to get office and stay in office. He's been sounding the alert about serious problems this planet faces while the administration had its ears covered saying "la la la, I'm not listening." What's wrong with electing a man who has demonstrably been ahead of the curve on one of the gravest problems these next generations will face?
PAD
This was posted by a close friend of Leah's and I am passing it on to the group.
Sondra Leah Adezio, 46, of Lansdale, PA passed away January 16, 2007 at the Central Montgomery Medical Center.
Born in Newton, NJ, she was the daughter of the late Edwin and Marylyn Fogelson.
Active in many organizations as a young person, she graduated from Newton High School and then received a Bachelor’s Degree from Duquesne University and a Master’s from Clarion University of PA. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority.
Mrs. Adezio was a singer, an actor, and was a nationally known comic book artist as co-writer/inker of Ari of Lemuria, and was a member of Friends of Lulu. She loved to participate in Renaissance Faires and was a member of the International Wenches Guild, Local 9 of the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire and Local 69 of the New York Renaissance Faire. She also was an avid fan of the New York Mets.
She was pre-deceased by her husband, David, her parents Edwin and Marylyn Fogelson, a brother, Scott Fogelson, and a sister Renee Fogelson.
She is survived by her sons, Stephen and Daniel Adezio, of Lansdale, a niece, Catherine Fogelson of Newton, and a brother, Brian Fogelson, of Frenchtown, NJ., aunts, uncles, cousins, and numerous friends.
Services will be held on Friday January 19, 2007 at 11:00 A.M. from the Irwin Funeral Home, 175 N. Main St., Spring Grove, PA 17362 - 717.225.1677.
Visitation hours are from 9:00 A.M. – 10:30 A.M. at the funeral home preceding the service.
Donations may be made for the children at 17 Senator Stout Road, Frenchtown, NJ 08825.
Please note the family has requested that no garb be worn to the viewing/funeral. Please keep this the solemn event that it is. The funeral will be a traditional Jewish funeral, short, sweet and to the point. (EDIT:short explanation here. Leah was a medieval recreationist as are a number of her friends. SCA members and medieval recreationists call their clothing "garb" to seperate it from their mundane clothing. Sorry I am so use to the term "garb" it doesn't even register with me anymore)
I knew she was ill. I knew she had slipped into a coma. And at 4 this morning I woke up and knew of a certainty that she was gone. Now Kath got a call a few minutes ago confirming that Leah Adezio had passed away yesterday.
Leah was a wonderful fan, wonderful pro, wonderful friend, wonderful person. She lost a sister to an early death, a brother to a violent death several years ago, and then her husband passed away unexpectedly. And now she's gone, liver failure followed by kidney failure.
Kath and I saw her last Friday in the hospital. I didn't say anything until now because her brother, Brian, wanted to try and keep things quiet (Kath posted about it but only in the most general and anonymous of terms.) Her skin had gone yellowish green, stark against her red hair, and I was fortunate enough that she was still conscious, still had her mental faculties. We never uttered the words "Good-bye," but we both knew. She was in and out of consciousness Saturday, but mostly out. I came by on Sunday, hoping to have a chance to talk to her one final time. She was breathing heavily, labored. She'd been sleeping since late the previous day and although I stayed for a bit, talked to her gently, she never opened her eyes. Finally I leaned over as I was about to leave and kissed her on the cheek. In her sleep, she reached up, touched her face where my lips had touched hers, and smiled warmly. But she never woke up.
She helped me through a very difficult period in my life, and she will never have the chance to see her two great sons start their own families or bounce grandchildren on her knee. It is bitterly unfair and I rage at the injustice of it all.
I will miss her terribly.
PAD
When "Daily Show" correspondents do their presentations, they typically adopt a sort of faux arch attitude, leaving Jon Stewart looking bewildered (and I have to say, it is amazing to watch Stewart go from being joke-deliverer to straight man with such facility.) It is that archness that makes much of the material work, because what they're saying is incredibly sarcastic, but it's presented as if they're unaware that what they're saying is sarcastic at all.
Not so with Rob Riggle last night in discussing the Bush build-up.
Typically the DS comes up with nonsensical areas of expertise for their commentators: When Bush nearly strangled on pretzel sticks, it would be discussed by their "Senior Junk Food Hazard Analyst." But Riggle is an ex-marine, so he really *is* something of an expert on military affairs, especially in discussing boots-on-the-ground tactics.
And boy, did he look pissed.
I think the audience sensed it. The laughter from what he said was more uncomfortable than it typically is. He came across to me like a guy who was absolutely incensed, doing his best to try and make it comically appealing, and not quite managing. I can't blame him: This is a guy who, unlike the commander-in-chief and the VP, has genuine on-the-ground experience. He does not take life as cheaply or consider it as disposable as America's leaders apparently do. And, to me at any rate, it showed.
PAD
The classic definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.
We've been sending troops into Iraq. The result? Civil War, fighting, and young people dying.
Bush's solution? Send troops into Iraq.
Different result?
No reason to believe so.
Someone should do a dictionary entry for "Insanity" with Bush's picture next to it.
PAD
We are watching the NBC feed.
No Sound....Ah there he is. Very furrowed brow.
Wow, he is admitting that his plan didn't work. (9:02)
Background information but still not calling it a Civil War (9:03)
He's taking responcibility but then he is the determiner
Sound problems(9:04)...and we are back.
Invoking September 11th again. Panic and Fear runs the streets yet again.
So if I am understanding this he thinks that if we secure Bagdad then we secure the Iraq? (9:06)
So this is what the Iraq military will do but what will our commitment be?
20,000 more troops from where? Where are we finding these troops? A question not answered(9:08)
Sounds like a scorched earth policy with Iraq help. Didn't work in 'Nam too well did it?(9:08)
So more death will help the progress in the country? Sounds like he is covering his kister for many more American troops that will be killed(9:09)
Build up the Iraq troops and give money to the reconstruction getting the money from where? (9:11)
Brings up the ghost of Bin Lauden again along with Al Quida to again raise the fear level.
Notice that he keeps bringing it back to what might happen here if we don't do something there. Let's leave the mess there (9:13)
And we are now onto Iran again and the threat that is Iran (9:14)
At least he said "nuclear" correctly.
Condi is going to Iraq again. Hope she packs her flak jacket. (9:15)
Are we going to cut and run or stay and mire? (9:16)
Dehumanizing the enemy yet again (9:17)
Changing what Victory is. I think this is a good example of factiness. (9:18)
He still can't say the words "Civil War" can he?
So by sending more people in, we can get the troops out faster? I am flashing on the last days in 'Nam. (9:19)
Yet another bi-partisan working group being formed to join all the other groups that have gone before them.
Kath is not happy with the troops are great part of the speech. She has friends who have lost brothers, sons, daughters and even grandchildren as recently as yesterday. She feels he really doesn't get it.
And we are back to the commentary.....
Yep. I have decided to watch and comment.
Set your browsers accordingly.
You know, when a massive noxious stink enveloped Manhattan, the first thing that occurred to me was that something was wafting in from New Jersey. But then I thought, "Nah. It'll seem like I'm just making a cheap joke at the expense of the Garden State. So I won't say anything."
And now it turns out that, yeah, apparently it WAS New Jersey, something that should come as no shock to anyone who's ever had to roll up their windows traversing the Jersey Turnpike lest the stench cause them to lose control of the wheel.
What the hell goes on in that state, anyway?
PAD
This is about a hundred times funnier than the ad for "X-Men III: The Last Standing Ovation."
1) Celebrity feuds. A waste of time.
2) Shouting "Sexual discrimination" at the drop of a hat.
But something about the new celebrity feud of Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump (who, in keeping with the spirit of mushing couples' names together, I shall henceforth refer to as Rosie O'Donald) strikes me as worth commenting upon.
The O'Donald half of Rosie O'Donald is bitching that he was ill-used by Rosie for her comments over the irony of O'Donald serving as the arbiter of morality and second chances vis a vis Miss USA. (Personally, I think he did the girl no favors by letting her off. Dozens of Miss Americas have vanished into obscurity, but the one who was bounced because of immoral behavior is currently reigning supereme over on "Ugly Betty." If the current Miss USA, whose name escapes me, had been fired for immorality, she'd have a Vanessa Williams-level shot at an ongoing career.)
Except here's the thing: What Rosie said was no different, and no more vicious, then anything that was said on "The Daily Show" or "The Colbert Report" or "The Tonight Show" or "Letterman." And I have to think that the only major difference between all of those commenters and Rosie is that they're slim male heterosexuals and she's an overweight female lesbian. I think he's reacting not to what was said, but who said it.
And now he's going ballistic over anyone (especially females...see a pattern yet?) who asks him about it, and he hasn't twigged to the fact that the reason people keep asking him about it is because HE made it a cause celebre in the first place.
How dare women speak their minds and not know the place that O'Donald sees them best suited: Either on runways while sporting bathing suits, or as a loyal daughter at his side ganging up on Meredith Vieira.
PAD
So lessee what we've got...
With the public being concerned over the continued erosion of right to privacy, Bush signs off on a bill to tighten up privacy laws regarding the postal service...but reserves the right to, y'know, ignore it. Having his veto and eating it to, you might say.
With the public massively convinced that the Iraq war was and is a fiasco, rather than pulling out, talk is now rife over the prospect of sending in anywhere from 9000 to 20,000 more troops. Y'know...it wasn' t all that long ago that when some diehards would insist that, had we sent in more troops to Vietnam, we still could have won that war, people would just shake their heads and figure that said diehards were...well...morons. That Kevin Kline's character in "A Fish Called Wanda" defiantly claiming that we didn't lose Vietnam..."it was a tie"...was greeted with laughter. And hey...remember the good old days when supporters claimed that Iraq wasn't anything like Vietnam, an endless black hole of young American lives being tossed into a bottomless quagmire with no clear mission and no end in sight? And remember when the notion of a buffoon who couldn't put two sentences together without sounding like a moron becoming president was so ridiculous that Dan Quayle just kind of dried up and blew away? Man, those were the days.
And now the Democrats are endeavoring to storm through Congress, in their first 100 hours, as many of the recommendations of the 9/11 committee as possible and Rep. Peter King is claiming that ignoring the standard committee process is "trivializing" the situation. Here I kinda thought that putting pedal to the medal was a way of underscoring the importance of something rather than trivializing it.
But hey...at least the President is insisting that Congress balance the budget within five years. Funny how he didn't insist upon that when the GOP was in charge, isn't it.
PAD
It is my understanding from one of my sources (which are legion) that a gentleman named Sam, a board frequenter who lives in the Cambridge area, is going through a rough time because his Dad has had a stroke. Obviously there's nothing of a practical nature that I or anyone hereabouts can do, but I do extend my hopes to Sam for his father's speedy recovery.
PAD
I'm a big fan of your work (currently enjoying FNSM / your run on the Hulk
was terrific and still unsurpassed) and was wondering if you can mention on
your blog that I'm doing a radio show about the CBLDF tomorrow on 104.4
Resonance FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast at
www.readyformycloseup.blogspot.com
The show's at 10.30 GMT and features an interview with Charles Brownstein...
with thanks,
Alex Fitch
I certainly hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year.
A local bowling alley had a New Years Eve celebration that Kathleen, Ariel and I attended (Caroline wouldn't have liked the loud noise and disco lights.) That ran until 8 PM, and then all of us (Caroline included) went to a party some neighbors were having down the street. Caroline ran out of gas ten minutes shy of midnight and fell asleep in my lap. Dick Clark was looking a bit better than last year, but the damage from the stroke was still evident. It's clear they're grooming Ryan Seacrest to take over for him, which is kind of...I dunno...eh.
Some great marathons on TV, I have to say. James Bond on Encore, South Park on Comedy Central, Twilight Zone on Sci-Fi. If you're an up-all-nighter as I used to be, plenty to watch while everyone else has gone to bed.
Hope everyone got home safely and didn't get too drunk.
PAD