Making of Re\Visioned: Activision - The Backstory

I've been promising this on Twitter for several days now, so let's get to it - a behind the scenes look at the making of each episode of Re\Visioned: Activision. But first, a little history:
Re\Visioned was created by my former boss at GameTap, Ricardo Sanchez, who thought it would be cool create some original animation based on existing videogame IP from the GameTap library. But rather than doing a straight adaptation of these games, Rick wanted to present new takes on the games, or as he put it, "revisioned." And when he added a backslash between "re" and "visioned," a title was born.

Initially, Rick wanted to hire great animators to spearhead the project, but given the budget and time restraints, he was willing to entertain other ideas - which is when I floated the notion of hiring comic book writers and artists to handle story and art, with the idea that those things could be handed off to an animation studio for production. He liked the idea, and then we all went back to what we were doing.

A few months later, Rick struck a deal with The Hero Initiative, a non-profit comic book industry group that raises money to help industry veterans who gave years to the business, often without a safety net or retirement plan. The Hero Initiative would provide scripts and art from a mix of popular current creators and respected veterans in need of work. Included in the group were writers Mark Waid, Paul Jenkins, John Ostrander, William Messner-Loebs, the late Steve Gerber, and Hero Initiative president Jim McLauchlin; and artists Dave Simons, Armando Gil, Joe Rubenstein, Flint Henry, Bob Hall, and Claude St. Aubin. A really talented bunch.

Scripts were written, designs were drawn. And then a decision was made at GameTap to move Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider, a more high-profile, super ambitious project intended to be season two of the series to the head of the line. The Activision project was put on the back-burner, and approved scripts and designs languished for close to a year.

When we finally did get back to Re\Visioned: Activision, the bar had been raised significantly by the quality and complexity of Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider, and while we had less money to throw at Activision, my executive producer, Chris Peeler, and I knew that we needed to find a way to live up to R:TR. With that thought in mind, we went back in to the Activision materials we had commissioned, and found that while we had a good project, some of the scripts were too modest in scope. After consulting with the boss, it was agreed that we would use the materials created by the Hero Initiative as a starting point...

More tomorrow.

-EB

At Last, Re\Visioned: Activision

I am pleased to announce that at long last, after spending a little more than a year in the can, Re\Visioned: Activision, the last web series I produced for GameTap.com, is available for your viewing pleasure. Apparently, the fine people at GameTap uploaded the six episode series - presenting new and original takes on the classic Activision games Pitfall, Cosmic Ark, Pressure Cooker, Kaboom, Freeway, and H.E.R.O. - on Thursday, which just happened to be my birthday. I don't think it was an intentional birthday gift, but after waiting for a year for this thing to be released, it certainly feels like a gift. I will write a more in-depth post about this project on Monday, but until then, please enjoy (all six episodes are available in the embedded player below, or you can view them bigger here):


-EB

Comics, Big Stack Of

Went to the comic shop yesterday with some birthday cash in hand and bought a big stack, which is always fun. But before I get into what I bought, I want to relate a little story about the store itself. While I was browsing the new releases, the manager and a staffer came over with the new order book and started trying to figure out what they should be ordering, by looking at what was on the shelves and counting what was left over. The manager actually said, "I wonder how many of those we actually sold?" This store is regarded as the best in Atlanta - possibly because it's the only one I can find inside the perimeter - and the manager didn't have any idea how much they were selling, which means that they were ordering in the dark. Before yesterday, I had not noticed the absence of a POS (point of sale) system, which means they're not using the bar codes on the comics, GN's, and various merchandise they sell to track their inventory. I am not a retailer, but I'm the son of one, and, really, you don't have to be the son of a retailer to realize this is a really bad way to manage your business. Comics retailer Brian Hibbs writes extensively about the benefits and insights gained from using a POS system in his column Tilting at Windmills, so if you're at all interested in this, it's worth checking out.

Now, to the fun stuff - here's what I bought:

• Captain America #48 - Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America has been outstanding, and the Butch Guice art on this arc is the best I've ever seen from him. Really great stuff. Killing off Steve Rogers and bringing back Bucky could have been hokey, but Brubaker's mastery of character has made this a compelling read every month for four years now, and that's quite an accomplishment.
• Daredevil #117 - Another great run on a book by Ed Brubaker, who for my money is one of the top three writers in comics. The Kingpin made his return last issue, and Brubaker, along with artist David Aja, showed us a side of Wilson Fisk that we've never seen. The great runs on Daredevil have always been less about the costume and more about the man inside it, and there's no character in comics with more drama in his life than Matt Murdock. Bad for him, but good reading for us, which is what it's all about.
• Black Lightning #6 - A good updating of the characters origin. I usually buy a comic for the writing, but this one was all about the art, and I don't think I've seen anything finer from Cully Hamner. (Who, in the interest of full disclosure, is a friend.)
• Fantastic Four #565 - I've really enjoyed Millar & Hitch's FF - it's no Ultimates, but it's been entertaining and typically full of big Millar ideas.
• Scalped #26 - One of the best comics currently being published, by writer Jason Aaron and artist R.M. Guera (although this issue is drawn by Davide Furno). Crime stories at their most brutal. I wrote about Scalped extensively here.
• Ex Machina Special #4 - Lost writer/producer Brian K. Vaughn's political fable set in New York, following the exploits of its mayor, the world's first and only superhero.
• Potter's Field: Stone Cold - A follow up to last year's Potter's Field miniseries by creators Mark Waid and Paul Azaceta. Solid crime/mystery comic.
• Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1 - I have to admit I was skeptical about this effort from writer/artist Tony Daniel, which is about the struggle to succeed Batman, who seemed to have perished at the end of Final Crisis. Not the best comics writing I've ever come across, but nevertheless, this was a lot of fun. If you're a longtime reader of superhero comics, it's easy to predict who's going to wind up as the next Batman, even when it's not accidentally leaked (all indications point to Dick Grayson), but the comics geek in me wants to see how it unfolds.
• Wolverine #71 - A continuation of the "Old Man Logan" storyline by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. I've enjoyed it. It's nice to see Marvel do a story which is clearly a stand-alone, non-continuity piece, as part of the monthly series rather than a mini. Of course, there's plenty of in-continuity Wolverine to go around on a monthly basis...
• Wolverine Saga - A free offering from Marvel that appears to be a linear explanation of Wolvie's convoluted history.

A couple of comics fell off my list of regular titles I'm following, including New Avengers and Dark Avengers. I generally really like Brian Bendis' writing, but I'm burned out on these books. I don't really buy the Norman Osborn Dark Reign thing (I've explained why here), and I'm feeling like I've had enough of the Marvel U status quo-changing storylines, which is part of what has made Captain America and Daredevil really appealing. They may touch on this stuff, but they're not about it - they're about the characters, and that's why I keep buying them.

-EB

Goodbye 38, Hello 39

A somewhat self-indulgent post today. But this is my blog, so aren't they all self-indulgent?

Anyway, it's my birthday, it's gray and rainy outside, and so I thought why not take a few moments to reflect on the last year - which, in many ways, was not what I expected it to be. First, a year ago I was gainfully employed, nominated for several southeast region Emmy awards, and, while I had pretty good idea that the end was coming at GameTap, I also thought I'd pick up something new pretty quick. Boy, did I call that one wrong. Two months later, my unit was shown the door; three weeks after that, I won two of those Emmy awards:
That's me with the statue I took home (the other went with my co-winner Greg Taylor, who really deserves most of the credit for crafting the promo we won for) - it sits on my dresser, a glorious golden paperweight. I'd say that was the highlight of Elliot Year 38, but the truth is, for all the unanticipated difficulty I've had with re-inventing myself as a freelance producer of content - it's a longer process than I thought it would be, and the sorry state of the economy hasn't helped me or anyone - the real highlights are far less complicated and much more profound, and they greet me with a smile every single day...

...my daughter Hannah and my son Sam, who also has a birthday today, turning six, and who will always be the best birthday present I could ever get. Not pictured - because as good a job as we do taking pictures of the kids, we almost never take pictures of ourselves - is my lovely wife, Laura, who really is the most supportive person in the world. Daily reminders that I while I'm going through a period of professional re-adjustment that isn't the most fun I've had on a bun, I have it pretty damn great, and that I'm actually pretty damn lucky.

So, here's to hoping that Elliot Year 39 will see some of the professional things I set in motion during E.Y. 38 come to fruition, including:
-my comic book trailer business, starting with the release of the trailer I produced for Wildstorm.
-some motion comics work; I have some solid ideas for advancing the medium I'd like to put into action.
-Jeffrey Brown's Sketchbook
-a potential non-fiction comic book guide to a casual activity that people enjoy but which shall remain nameless at this juncture, as I don't want to give it away.
-The Package, my webcomic crime novella with artist Alexis Ziritt.
-Mekano Turbo, a comic I'm writing for Alexis.
-Sword-Maiden, a project I conceived of as a comic, but which I'm considering writing as a screenplay.
-a documentary project; we shot the footage for the pilot, featuring comics artist Cully Hamner, now we just need to get down to writing and putting the thing together.

A lot of stuff, all potentially fun, some potentially revenue producing - which would be nice. Most importantly, I have my family backing me up and keeping me hopeful.

-EB
p.s. Just had a birthday phone call with one of my oldest and closest friends from high school, David Sachs. Always great to speak with him - I think life for everyone would be better with a daily dose of David Sachs.

UPDATE: 9:35PM, 3/26/09 - I meant to mention this when composing the above, but forgot, I would guess because my neurons probably aren't firing like they were when I was 29, but other than that, I don't feel like I'm 39. I look in the mirror and I don't see a guy a year away from 40, so it's really hard for me to believe that I've reached the end of my thirties. I know this is a cliche, I know I'm not the first person to say this, think this, write this, but it's the truth. I still feel like a kid. Now I'm going to go read some comics.

I Watched the Watchmen

I wanted to call this post "I Watches the Watchmen," as a jokey kind of answer to the "Who Watches the Watchmen" graffiti tag featured prominently in the Watchmen comics and its movie adaptation, but I figured everyone would I assume I had just made a typo. Anyway...

I finally saw Watchmen last night, and I'm still processing it. But here are some quick thoughts on the subject, because I'm sure you've all been just dying to hear my opinion:

• Jackie Earle Haley makes a great Rorshach. I always thought he was a great actor - remember him in Breaking Away? - and it's nice to see him make a comeback.
• Also thought Patrick Wilson was good as Dan/Nite Owl II, Jeffrey Dean Morgan was good as the Comedian, and Billy Crudup was good as Dr. Manhattan. And while a lot of people thought Malin Akerman was bad as Laurie/Silk Spectre II, I thought she was perfectly fine. I could not stand the guy playing Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias, though - he had the weirdest accent and affectation, and every time he spoke, it pulled me right out of the movie.
  
• Seeing Malin Akerman naked is never a bad thing, but the sex scene aboard the owl ship was really laughable. Setting the scene, where Dan is finally able to get an erection thanks to finally putting on his Nite Owl costume and doing some good, to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is just too on the nose.
• SPOILER! I get the logic of not using the squid, and the new story device works. I just liked the overall absurdity of the squid. That was the real joke that finally broke the Comedian.
• Too gory. I re-read the comic last year, and while it has it's violent moments, I don't remember this much graphic blood-letting, some of which made me turn my head.
  
• If I start working out really hard right now, by the time Halloween comes around, I should be able to pull off a Dr. Manhattan "costume" pretty well. You can read into that whatever you like.
  

Overall, I don't think the movie was bad; it was certainly faithful to the source material in a lot of ways, particularly visually, but really missed the point of the book in other, really important ways. In the book, writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons did a really good job of taking the sexy out of the violence of superheroing - it wasn't sexy, and it wasn't heroic. Director Zack Snyder, however, makes it really sexy and cool-looking with all the slow-mo and super-thrilling fight scenes, and that just goes against the message of the book, in my opinion. It was like those subtleties - although, in the book, they're anything but - went over Snyder's head.

Also, and I know I'm not the first person to say this, but I think the whole story could have been better served with more time. Like about 12 hours worth of time. This just would have worked better, and could have captured some of the depth of the source material, if it had been a series on HBO, perhaps produced by Ron Howard and Tom Hanks, like From The Earth to the Moon and Band of Brothers (which was actually co-produced by Spielberg, but you get my point).

Finally, I don't know that it was really necessary to keep the original setting of the book, which is 1985, with a world on the brink of nuclear war. I get that retaining the setting was being faithful, but watching the movie, I couldn't help but wonder what a more nuanced director could have done to update the material and make it more relevant to the times we live in now. It would have been interesting to see an adaptation of Watchmen that honored the spirit and themes of the original, but that was not so slavishly devoted to it, so that it could stand on its own merits.

So, to distill all this down into a handy rating: it's not quite a thumbs up, and not quite a thumbs down - I give it a sideways thumb. Glad I saw it, not sure if I'll need to see the expanded "definitive" version when it comes out on DVD later in the year.


-EB

p.s. Hey, guess what? Thanks to writing this blog post, I'm no longer processing how I feel about the movie! Thanks, blog!

Great Ribs

Over the last couple of days, two people I follow on Twitter have mentioned Memphis and asked about good restaurants. Now, I've only been to Memphis twice, but both times I was sure to eat at one place: Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous, known for their legendary dry-rub Memphis ribs. That's good eatin'.

I learned about the Rendezvous back in 1987, thanks to a John Hiatt song called Memphis in the Meantime, which has a line that goes "At least we can get a decent meal, down at the Rendez-vous." As I was seventeen at the time, and far less knowledgeable in the ways of barbecue than I am now, I had no idea that the Rendezvous mentioned in the song was an actual place - until my dad mentioned he had eaten there while on a business trip to Memphis.

I never expected to actually eat there - I couldn't think of a reason I would be in Memphis - but I in 1990, while on a cross-country trip with my high school friends, our last stop found us in Memphis in order to hit Sun Records and, of course, Graceland. And, because I insisted, the Rendezvous. We had a great meal, and from there headed back to Baltimore.

The Rendezvous took on mythic proportions for me the following year, while I was once again driving across the country with a couple of college buddies after completing an internship at a production company in Los Angeles. We were taking three or four days to head back east, and on the third day, we decided we would make Memphis by dinner, and if we were going to be in Memphis for dinner, we were going to eat at the Rendezvous. I can't remember exactly where we started the day, but as we pushed on, we realized Memphis was a lot further out than we realized. It was probably 9:30 at night when we finally reached Memphis, and after securing a room at a Motel 6, we headed downtown for ribs, hoping they'd still be open.

One of the charming things about the Rendezvous is that it's down an alley, so after walking down a dark alley that seemed vaguely threatening at what must have been 10:30pm, we arrived at the restaurant, walked in to the tremendous aroma of charcoal and barbecue rub, and found out they were no longer seating, and that they kitchen was done taking orders for the night. We were crestfallen. But my buddy Steve wasn't going to just give up - he pleaded with one of the waiters, explaining that we had driven halfway across the country that day, just for the ribs. This seemed to have made an impression on the waiter, because he called the manager over, and Steve really turned on the charm; moments later, "Mr. Tom", as the waiter called him, was seating us, sending in an order for three full racks of ribs, and offering us some drinks on the house. He said if we had spent all day driving for Rendezvous ribs, than we were going to have Rendezvous ribs. Never in my life did a plate of food look more delicious:
Here's the icing on the cake, or I suppose more appropriately, the rub on the ribs: we thought Mr. Tom was just buying us drinks for being enterprising young men on a mission for ribs, but when we got the bill, he picked up the whole tab. I guess he admired our moxie. We left the waiter a $30 tip, which for three 20-year-olds in 1991 seemed like big money, and he certainly seemed to appreciate it. To this day, it was one of the best meals I have ever had.

-EB
Photos from Roadfood.com

Jeffrey Brown's Sketchbook

Cartoonist Jeffrey Brown is blogging, and today he's posted about an animated project we're collaborating on called Jeffrey Brown's Sketchbook. Check it out, won't you?

Just about four years ago, I approached Jeffrey about the possibility of adapting his superhero parody/homage Bighead into a cartoon. But over time, the idea of doing something completely original became appealing, which resulted in Sketchbook. Here's an excerpt from the exclusive mini-comic drawn by Jeffrey for the pitch:
Now, we could tell you here on the blog how "we've found a way to reduce litigation while also increasing entertainment," but that would be kind of like giving away the farm. However, if you're an entertainment and/or animation network and/or internet video website executive with discerning taste in indie comics, we'd be happy to send you a package including the full mini-comic containing the answer to this age-old dilemma, so succinctly laid out by Jeffrey above in panel number 6. Just shoot me an email care of info@9panelgrid.com.

(I'd also recommend this animated trailer for Jeffrey's book Little Things, from Touchstone Books.)

-EB

Mekano Turbo!

Above is the character line-up from Mekano Turbo (click for full image), a full-on crazy pastiche of post-apocalyptic road movies, Japanese robot cartoons, and Venezuelan mythology, created by my collaborator on The Package, Alexis Ziritt. Alexis recruited me Tuesday night to help him out with a story for the Image Comics anthology book Popgun, which he needed to pitch today. So after mainlining a bunch of reference material and ideas Alexis sent me last night, this morning I sat down at the old iBook G4 and, completely inspired by the notion of doing something altogether different, banged out an outline for an 8-page story. And by 3:00 today, I found out our story pitch was accepted by the guys at Popgun. Next on the list: a script so Alexis can start drawing. This is going to be fun.

-EB

AIG AAAAAGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

The debacle that is AIG is just stunning in its size and scope. But until today, I don't think I really had a grip on just what AIG was up to or why the government keeps bailing them out with our taxpayer dollars. After all, aren't they just an insurance company? The answer to that is NO. AIG is much, much more, and it's looking like if AIG were allowed to collapse, the rest of the world financial system would get sucked down the black hole with it. A really great article by Joe Nocera in Saturday's New York Times lays out the reasons why that is in infuriating detail. The number of bad decisions made, the sheer delusion under which this company was operating, and the pure, naked, greed that led them to make these bad, delusional decisions are shocking enough to make your head spin. Alan Greenspan is on record as saying he believed that the financial companies could regulate themselves out of a sense of self-preservation - it's now beyond clear that this was not the case, and in the case of AIG, that hubris rather than self-preservation is what allowed them to wind up in hole they're dragging us into. I'm not going to get into specifics, as I'm not an expert on this, and they're all in the article. Please read the article. It's important.

And then ask yourself: If the European banks are as badly tied up in the AIG mess as our own banks are, why isn't the European Union footing some of the $150 billion bailout bill that's going to keep them from going under? (And if any nation in Europe is kicking in for the AIG bailout, please comment below - I'd love to be corrected on this count.)

-EB

Once Again, I Am Blog Delinquent

So I looked up and suddenly a week had gone by without a blog update. Bad blogger. BAD BLOGGER!

Busy week last week. Busy week this week. But I will endeavour (yes, I spell it British-style) to be more topical this week. Hopefully, I'll have a link to post for the trailer I produced for Wildstorm, an imprint of DC Comics. That would be cool.

Here's something I'm excited about: one of my favorite comics writers, Ed Brubaker, has a made for the web movie debuting today on Sony's video site Crackle. It's called Angel of Death, and it stars Zoe Bell, Doug Jones, Ted Raimi, and Lucy Lawless. Very Cool. Can't wait to watch it.

-EB

My Big Oscar Prediction....

(drumroll)


...I will be asleep before the end of the ceremony.


-EB

The Package - In Progress

Illustrator Alexis Ziritt has been hard at work on our crime comic collaboration, The Package, and he sent me a preview of page 1, in progress (click for larger image):

This is going to be gorgeous comic, done in a European pulp style. To merely say I'm excited about it would be an understatement. For more amazing work by the talented Mr. Ziritt, check out his Flickr photo stream, and this website, Perro Tureco.

-EB

Decatur Book Festival 2009

I had such a good time last year being part of the Decatur Book Festival as a professional writer that I decided to volunteer this year to help with programming. We're trying to get Neil Gaiman, the brilliant author of novels (American Gods), comics (Sandman), and children's books (Coraline) to come this year, and you can help by clicking on the widget below:

View all Atlanta events at Eventful

Go ahead, click it to show Neil how much we want him to come to Decatur, even if you don't live in here. It's a tremendous event.

-EB

Late to the Game

I admit it, I was late to the game on this whole Obamicon thing. Created by the fine people at Paste Magazine (headquartered right here in Decatur!), this web application allows you to put yourself in the now iconic Obama poster created by artist Shephard Fairey. You know, this one:
Great poster. Here's the Elliot version. Well one of two Elliot versions, depending on how I feel at any given moment:
I'm either "The Man..."
Or "Dope."

And of course by dope, I mean "dope" like "cool." Not dope like "dumbass." That would be an admission my twelve regular readers - you know who you are, kind people - would not want to hear.

-EB

An Apology To My Blog and Random Notes

Hi, elliotblake.blogspot.com -

Elliot here. Clearly, I have been absent from you over the past week. And it occurred to me that perhaps you feel neglected. I don't have a great reason for my delinquency - I just haven't much felt like posting, which I realize is not a great way to keep up traffic to the site. I'm sorry. But hey, I haven't felt much like twittering either, so, y'know it's not you - it's me.

Oh, and about Twitter - I don't want you to get jealous. It's just a way for me to get some of my more random 140 character thoughts out there to the eight people who are dying to know what I think at any given moment.

Look, elliotblake.blogspot.com, I know you rely on me to update you - if it's not me then who, right? - so I'll try and do a better job of it this week. And just to make it up to you, I'll start here with some short notes about a variety of subjects:

-Big, big congratulations to my friend Jay and his wife Jen on the birth of their son Lucas!

-The Watchmen movie is coming out in a few weeks, and a friend of mine from college, photographer Clay Enos, was the on-set photographer, as well as the guy who shot all the photos for the movie posters. He has a book out now of his portraits from the set, and you can find here on Amazon. I saw the book in the comic shop the other day, and it's gorgeous. Clay graduated from Ithaca a year or two ahead of me; he was one of those cinema-photo majors that I and everyone in my class looked up to. We reconnected recently via the Facebook, and it's nice to see him really hitting the big time. Clay is also the mastermind behind the Organic Coffee Cartel, which is single-origin, specialty gourmet organic coffee. I hear it's good stuff. (I need to order a can.)

-Baseball is back. I am prepared for another rough season following the Orioles. Why do I continue to punish myself like this? I haven't lived in Baltimore since 1993, so I should give it up right? Nah. Not gonna happen. Cut me, I bleed orange and black. I guess you could call it a malady; I call it O's Fever. It could be worse - I could be a Cubs fan. My pre-season picks for division winners and the wild card slots in the AL and the NL coming in March. Watch for it!

-My cell phone screen cracked last week, and now most of the screen is completely unreadable:
I can just about make out who's calling, but the phone book is a problem and dialing is dicey. Worse, I can't read or respond to text or multimedia messages. Example - today, I got a picture of Jay's son on the phone. Couldn't see it at all, but somehow I managed to forward it to my email address. Not so easy. I need a new phone. I'd like an iPhone - I'm a Mac guy, it would fit in nicely with my hardware profile - but I am very much intrigued by the Palm Pre, which isn't out yet, but sure is purty. It has a physical keypad that slides out very elegantly from under the screen, and as a former Blackberry user, I like a keypad I can touch. Sure, I could go back to a Blackberry, but after playing with friends' iPhones, that's unlikely to happen - I'm too much of a gadget geek and the iPhone is the gadget geekiest. And frankly, so is the Pre (at least at first glance). Right now, though, I'm trying to hold out with the busted screen phone until some external issues stabilize.

Okay, blog. Do you feel better now? That's a lot of words up there. I hope you no longer feel neglected.

Sincerely,
EB

Motion Comics Are Here

The big news coming out of the New York Comic-Con this weekend - mainstream superhero comics news, anyway - was the announcement of in-continuity Spider-Woman motion comics by Marvel Comics' top writer, Brian Michael Bendis, and his brilliant long-time collaborator Alex Maleev. You can read interviews about this new venture here and here. I was particularly encouraged by what Bendis had to say; he recognizes that motion comics are neither comics nor animation, but instead something somewhere in between, and perhaps a totally new form of graphic fiction. And not without their challenges, as I wrote about recently. I'm going to write more about the topic this week when I've had a little more time to digest this news and do some additional research, but having Bendis tackle this nascent form of sort-of comics storytelling is a good thing. He's a smart writer, his work I think is ideally suited to this kind of limited animation, and he's a mensch. Which is neither here nor there, but I had the pleasure of interviewing him once for pilot I shot for GameTap TV (you can read about that experience here), and he was a mensch.

More on this soon.

-EB

The Meaning of Bipartisan

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

bi·par·ti·san: of, relating to, or involving members of two parties ; specifically : marked by or involving cooperation, agreement, and compromise between two major political parties

The new meaning of "bipartisan," based on the actions and complaints of the Republican congressional leadership:
Compromise? Hah! Do it our way, or we're not going to vote for your package. And if you don't do it our way, you're not being bipartisan. Take that, Democrats!

It's become painfully clear that the Republicans have not realized that they lost the last election. They have reduced numbers in the House and Senate, and they no longer control the White House, because the majority of the American people did like the way they had conducted business over the last several years. That doesn't mean they should lay down and play dead - although I would prefer that - but it does mean that they need to compromise. President Obama, in my opinion, has been very accommodating to the Republicans, and very open to their suggestions. Which is why I completely reject the following statement in a New York Times article about the stimulus deliberations in the Senate:

But while the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, has sought to lower expectations in recent days, winning passage of the stimulus with just 60 or 61 votes would be a clear setback for Mr. Obama, who has pledged to bring about a new spirit of cooperation in Washington.

The Times seems to have bought into the Republican argument that it's President Obama's fault if the bill doesn't get bipartisan support - and that's just a load of crap, because, as the cliché goes, it takes two to tango. If the Republicans aren't willing to accept some things they don't like, then they are not compromising, unlike the Democrats, who have loaded the bill up with far more tax cuts, etc., than they would prefer, in attempt to win Republican support. So it's not a setback for Mr. Obama if he only gets 60 or 61 votes, because you can't play ball if the other team won't show up.

-EB

UPDATE 1:25pm: Just read an interesting post on Talking Points Memo about this same topic, and the four Republican Senators who seem to be willing to work with the President, while the rest are following Jim DeMint, who last night proposed an alternative stimulus bill, with absolutley no spending. None. Only tax cuts. Completely rejecting or ignoring (as Josh Marshall puts it) "what conventional macroeconomics suggests about how to combat the problem."

The Truth About "Lost"

Back when Lost first came on television, I watched it with my lovely wife Laura. She quickly gave up on it because it just wasn't her thing. But between the two of us, we quickly came to the conclusion that Lost was really an updated, much more complex Land of the Lost, the Sid and Marty Krofft show from the 1970's that has now been made into a Super Bowl-promoted Will Ferrel feature. After all, the characters of Lost were lost, in a mysterious realm, with weird things happening, and strange creatures making their lives difficult - like the smoke-monster. "Well, that's a load of crap," you might say, because, "Where are the Sleestaks?" And that's where things get more complex, because there are Sleestaks on Lost, masquerading as the inner-demons of each character. Sleestaks of...the soul.

Also, look at Ben. Big eyes, a little bulgy in nature. Sleestaks? Also big eyes...

Sleep on that, my friends.

-EB

And Another Thing About Obama...

He should “would wear a suit coat and tie.” This from Andrew Card, former White House Chief of Staff for former President George W. Bush, on the syndicated "news" program Inside Edition, as reported on the New York Times blog The Caucus. With all that's going on in the world, I think it's important to pick on our new president for choosing to take off his jacket and actually do some work while he's in the Oval Office.

My unsolicited advice to Mr. Card: if you don't have anything useful or constructive to add to the national discussion about how to get out of this economic mess, maybe just go ahead and take the rod out of your bottom. The White House is no longer controlled by the Bush administration and its formal dress code, so while you can act all offended by the site of President Obama without his jacket on, you just come off as a...what's a nice way to put this? Ah, I know. You come off as a fuddy-duddy.

-EB

Names We Did Not Consider For Our Children

Sixth in an occasional series.

Santonio.


-EB