Colin Powell Endorses Obama; So Does Sam Blake

This just in - Colin Powel endorsed Obama on Meet the Press. Clearly, good news for the Obama campaign, and not good news for John McCain. I think Powell is one of the few former members of the Bush Administration to get out with his good reputation mostly intact. Sam, my five year old, just asked what "endorsing" means, and I explained that it means Powell wants Obama to win; Sam said that means he's endorsing Obama, too. I expect these two endorsements to dominate the news cycle over the next couple of days. Press inquiries for Sam' explanation of his endorsement should be directed to me.

-EB

Well, This is Just Frightening...

I'm all for people having differences of opinion when it comes to politics, but this is something else entirely:



Racism, ignorance, and hatred, all on display outside of a Palin rally in Pennsylvania. Is this the "kindness, goodness, and courage of everyday Americans" in the "pro-America areas of this great nation" that Governor Palin mentioned Thursday night? Just curious. I'd like to believe we can better than this as a country, and just respect each others' differences - then I'm reminded that there are people out there that just aren't interested in that line of thinking.

Shouldn't McCain and Palin be speaking out against this kind of behavior? I guess not if it serves their purposes, like the sleazy anti-Obama robo-calls they're employing, which are reinforcing the mindset demonstrated by the people in the video above. Those calls are so sleazy that even Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican and co-chair of McCain's Maine campaign, has called for them to be stopped. Good for her - at least there are some Republicans out there who believe these tactics are below the belt. Unfortunately, those Republicans don't seem to be working for the McCain campaign.

-EB

I Wonder if I Live in a Pro-America Kind of Town?

At a McCain fundraiser in Greensboro, North Carolina on Thursday night, Gov. Sarah Palin said this:

“We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America,” Ms. Palin said, according to a pool report. “Being here with all of you hard-working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans.”

Good grief. I didn't realize there were ares of the country more pro-American than others. I wonder where the anti-America parts of the country are? Anyone? The cities maybe? Is that what she meant?

SARCASM ALERT!
Thank goodness Sarah Palin was brought on to the national stage to point these things out to us, because without her, I never would have realized that it's the small towns where the kind and good and courageous everyday Americans live. Because, oh, I don't know, New Yorkers who had to endure the horror and tragedy of September 11th are only kind and good and courageous one or twice a week, I guess. Yeah, that must be it - you just can't find the kindness, goodness, or courage of everyday Americans in the big cities. Thanks for clearing that up, Governor.
END SARCASM ALERT.

That little speech by Palin once again seems to be implying that people in small towns are more patriotic, or that they are the true patriots of this nation. I'd really like it if the Republicans would stop calling into question the patriotism of those who don't agree with them. I'm not a Republican - that much should be obvious - but I love my country as much as anyone, and I'm proud to be an American, and I'll be an even more proud American if we elect Barack Obama to the presidency.

-EB

This Blog

Y'know, when I started this thing, I really thought I'd be spending a lot of time talking about comic books, my job search, the projects I've been trying to get off the ground, and things that I find interesting. And yet, I've mostly been commenting about politics and the election. Go figure.

-EB

McCain and Palin's ACORN Hyperbole Breeds This:

Death threats to ACORN staffers in Cleveland and Rhode Island, and vandalism at ACORN's Boston and Seattle offices, after McCain's ridiculously overblown statement in Wednesday's debate about how ACORN "may be perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history" and may be "destroying the fabric of democracy." More on this here. With one exception last week, when Senator McCain asked his supporters to dial back their anti-Obama feelings to from violence-threatening hatred to acceptable levels of dislike, the McCain campaign have really been fanning the flames, and they need to come out with a statement saying that this kind of threatening behavior towards a community activist group from his supporters, even if they are "fringe", is unacceptable.

-EB

ACORN...

...and I don't mean the kind falling from the trees to be hoarded by squirrels - I'm referring to the community organization called ACORN, which has been getting a lot of play in the news lately thanks to hysterical cries of voter fraud from Republicans, Fox News, and the McCain campaign. I touched on the ACORN controversy the other night during the debate, and I think it's worth bringing up again because this scandal is being blown up into something much bigger than it actually is.

Here's the story: ACORN, a liberal community organizing group, has been using paid canvassers to register new voters in predominantly poor areas. Several canvassers padded their registrations with phony forms, filled out with names like Mickey Mouse. ACORN, by law apparently, has to turn in all voter registration forms, and as such, these phony registrations were turned in to state governments. But ACORN itself alerted state officials to the problem voter registration forms, which doesn't sound like the actions of an organization seeking to perpetrate, as Senator McCain put it in the debate Wednesday night, "one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy." I don't know - if it were me trying to perpetrate voter fraud so I could destroy the fabric of democracy, I wouldn't call attention to myself - I'd be a lot more shadowy and sneaky, and tell my associates not to try and register Mickey Mouse to vote, because even if someone shows up a the polls wearing mouse ears - it's going to be pretty obvious that it's not actually Mickey Mouse, because Mickey Mouse is not real. You heard it here first, folks.

Even John McCain knows this is ridiculous, and he joked about it at the Al Smith Dinner last night in New York: "In case you haven't been following my opponent's get out the vote campaign, ACORN is helping to register groups previously excluded, overlooked and underserved -- second graders, the deceased, Disney characters. In Florida, they even turned up an ACORN registration form that bore the name of one Mickey Mouse. We're checking the paw prints.Although, I might let that one go, I'm pretty sure the big rat's a Republican." Comedy works best when there's some truth behind it.

There's a larger story here, I think, which is that the Republicans and the McCain campaign are trying to set the table for legal challenges in battleground states they're worried about losing to Obama and the Democrats.

More on this here and here and here. Worth reading.

-EB

If I Had a Band...

...I'd call it Weepy Joe and the Criers.

-EB

p.s. This is the first post in an occasional series called "If I Had a Band...", in which I will post the name of my band if I had one. Which I don't. But, on occasion, I come up with band names out of the blue. And I will post them here.

Live-Blogging the Spin

Mitt Romney just said Barack Obama "isn't someone who keeps America America." Give me a fucking break. I hate the spin room. Both sides spew bullshit after the debate, and that's all the time I've got for it.

Live-Blogging the Debate: Who Won?

Well, it's over, and I think Obama did an okay job. I wanted him to fight back more forcefully against McCain's lecturing and hectoring - it would have been nice to hear him say "Senator McCain is right" a few less times, and I really would have liked to hear him say "Don't lecture me, John." But I guess his game plan has been to keep it civil, and by extension presidential and above it. McCain's demeanor and smugness and overall temperament during the debate keeps him from winning in my book, but he did a good job of keeping Obama on the defensive rather than answering the questions at hand. I can tell you this - I don't like John McCain, and the way he's run his campaign has cost me what little respect I had left for him. I'm going to call this one a draw.

-EB

Live-Blogging the Debate: Vouchers

McCain made a big to-do about vouchers as a cure-all for the problems with the education system, explaining that they're very popular in the terrible D.C. school system, so that must mean vouchers work.

I have more to say on this, but I need to read transcripts and see who said what. Because I disagree with McCain, and I agree with Obama, and I'm going to explain why tomorrow.

In other news, the Dodgers are down by four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. That ain't good.

Good night, and Dodgers, good luck.

-EB

Live-Blogging the Debate: Eloquence

I love how McCain is slamming Obama for his "eloquence" tonight. Read that as "lying to you." As "don't believe the smooth talker." This party, this candidate, this campaign is against intelligence, against intellectualism, against smarts, because the people high up in the Republican party want to keep their base stupid.

Maybe I'm a little angry right now, because I generally don't buy in to conspiracy theories, but to hear the Republicans rail against the "elite', against academics, against those who have excelled in higher education is disgraceful.

Vote for smarts. Vote for "elite." Vote for Obama. Vote against people against education.

-EB

Live-Blogging the Debate: Is Hard Work!

I'm having trouble keeping up. New York Times, you've beaten me again!

Shout outs to my homies Mary Grace and Randy, and a hey hey to my old college pal Dan!

-EB

Live-Blogging the Debate: Mis-Representin'!

Every freaking time McCain gets the last word, he takes the opportunity to completely misrepresent Obama's positions, and I really would like to see Obama smack back. McCain is scoring points this way, but he's offsetting those points scored with his creepy, pissy, know-it-all demeanor. Obama, as usual, is doing a good job of remaining above it and appearing presidential - but I'd still like to see him land a good one on McCain.

Live-Blogging the Debate: Energy

How much does McCain think 45 new nuclear power plants are going to cost? He said we can be completely off Middle Eastern and Venezuelan oil by the end of his first term, but that math doesn't add up. How long does it take to build one nuclear plant? And what do you do with the spent fuel, when we can't find a safe place to put our current spent nuclear fuel?

Live-Blogging the Debate: Kitchen Sink

Every time McCain gets the last word, he throws the entire kitchen sink at Obama, regardless of whether or not it's related to the topic. I wonder how many times he's going to say "he wants to raise your taxes" tonight? I feel like if I was taking a shot every time he said that I'd be drunk by now - and I'm lagging behind on the live debate because I paused it on my TiVo.

Live-Blogging the Debate: VEEPS

Good answer from Obama on why Biden was a good pick for V.P.

McCain says Palin is a role model for women. My wife says "No." End of story.

Live-Blogging the Debate: Exaggerating ACORN

ACORN perpetrating the greatest voter fraud in history? Give me a break! A few people paid to sign up new voters registered Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Tony Romo. If someone showed up at the polls and tried to vote as Mickey Mouse, they'd be turned away. End of story. The Republicans and the screaming idiots at Fox News are making a big stink about this because they've realized McCain can't win on issues.

Live-Blogging the Debate: Smack Talk

Somehow John McCain is laying the blame for his negative campaigning on Senator Obama. Please. The tenor of the McCain campaign over the last several weeks has been disgusting.

Live-Blogging the Debate: Smack Back, Barack

I'd like to see Senator Obama hit McCain back a little harder. McCain keeps asking "when has Sen. Obama ever stood up against the leadership of his party?" That's a stupid argument, because Senator Obama's party has not been in the majority except for the last two years, and has not held the White House for eight. Democrats generally do not see eye to eye with the Bush Administration, and as the opposition party, needed to present a unified front against Bush and the Republicans. Shelve this argument, John, it's stupid.

Live-Blogging the Debate: I Will Look at Obama!

Senator McCain is working really hard to actually look at Obama tonight.

He did have his tough guy moment though, just now, telling Obama if he wanted to run against President Bush he should have done it four years ago. I give McCain points for that one.

Live-Blogging the Debate: Ignoring Reality

Bob Schieffer just asked if all the spending proposed by both candidates, given the current economic climate, is "ignoring reality." I think John McCain is ignoring reality by not answering the question, and by continuing to flash that creepy, wide-eyed, off-putting smile.

Is it me, or does McCain seem kind of agitated tonight? I'm waiting for tonight's "that one" moment.

-EB

Live-Blogging the Debate: Feeling the Pressure

I think Senator McCain is completely feeling the pressure tonight - he seems completely tongue-tied.

Joe the Plumber is getting a lot of play - I guess Joe Sixpack is off tonight.

-EB

Live-Blogging the Debate: Game On

9:05 - I think John McCain just had a Sarah Palin moment - his answer about the "Fannie and Freddie Mae" causing the housing crisis sounded a lot like Gov. Palin's non-sensical answer in her interviews with Katie Couric.

Live-Blogging the Debate: Pre-Game

Before things get started, a question: I was just watching The Colbert Report, and Colbert was interviewing Nobel Prize Winner economist Albert Steiglitz, who said that U.S. contractors in Iraq are making money shipping sand into Iraq from Kuwait. Sand. Could that be true?

The Dodgers and Phillies are playing right now, the Dodgers down 3-1 in the NLCS. I'd like to be watching the game, but my desire to see John McCain melt down this evening is outweighing my desire to see the Dodgers hang on and win. Go Dodgers!

Live-Blogging the Debate: Return of the Jedi!

I will, once again, be live-blogging and taking on the forces of evil in this third and final installment of the Debate Wars trilogy. But if any of those damn Ewoks show up - or Wilfred Brimley with a couple of adorable kids - I'm outta here.

-EB

New MacBooks

Is it wrong for me to lust after the new MacBook and MacBook Pro introduced today by Apple?

Sid The Science Kid...

...kind of creeps me out, which is unfortunate, because I think the content of the show is fantastic, and my kids - my son especially - love it. The producers - the Jim Henson company, the people behind Sesame Street - do an outstanding job of explaining scientific principles that kids are curious about, like how water becomes ice, and vice versa.

But man, the look of the show makes it hard for this particular grown-up to watch. Here, in no particular order, is my dissection of Sid the Science Kid (if you're squeamish, don't look):

• Character Movement: all the characters look like Sesame Street muppets, but instead of being puppets, they're computer generated models, and as such, they have far greater range of motion than a hand-operated puppet. This is not inherently a bad thing, but when something that looks like a puppet is animated in part using motion capture to impart realistic human movement, it's creepy, and does not look right. This issue is compounded by very soft timing of the movement, which makes the characters seem to move a little slower than a real person would move, making it seem almost as if the characters are moving though a liquid atmosphere, rather than air.
• Lip-Sync Animation: If these characters were traditional muppets, they'd only have two mouth positions - open and closed. And more often than not, they would have a more or less fixed expression on their faces. Sid and his friends have whole range of expressions and organic mouth positions that seem entirely out of place on muppets - the mind (okay, my mind) rejects seeing them emote and talk this way.
  
• Voices: True to its Sesame Street roots, grown-ups do the voices for all the characters, including the main cast of four different kids. For some reason it's easier to accept those grown-ups-as-kids voices coming out of a traditional puppet than it is out of these computer rendered models. Sid and his friends just don't sound like kids, or really even talk like kids.

For me, it all comes down to choice of medium, and while Sid remains true to the Henson brand, I think it would work better as a computer generated show if they had come up with character designs that weren't so firmly established in the mind as puppets. All that said, I'm certainly in favor of the show, and would recommend it for kid-friendly viewing, but parents - prepare to be a little creeped out.

-EB

Correction

Last week I posted some photos of myself with Scott McCloud at Agnes Scott College, which should have been credited to photographer Gary W. Meek. That post has been updated with the proper credit, and the editors of elliotblake.blogspot.com apologize for the error.

-EB

Maybe I Spoke Too Soon...

This from the New York Times:

LAKEVILLE, Minn. — After a week of trying to portray Senator Barack Obama as a friend of terrorists who would drive the country into bankruptcy, Senator John McCain abruptly changed his tone on Friday and told voters at a town-hall-style meeting that Mr. Obama was “a decent person” and a “family man” and suggested that he would be an acceptable president should he win the White House.

But moments later, Mr. McCain, the Republican nominee, renewed his attacks on Mr. Obama for his association with the 1960s radical William Ayers and told the crowd, “Mr. Obama’s political career was launched in Mr. Ayers’ living room.”

The dizzying statements came on a confused day when Mr. McCain’s campaign pounded Mr. Obama as a “liar” in an incendiary television commercial about Mr. Ayers....

The article in its entirety is posted here. So what's it going to be for the McCain campaign? High road or low road? It seems to me you can't travel both simultaneously, because attempting to have it both ways smacks of hypocrisy. So perhaps I was too quick to offer praise for Senator McCain's change of heart. Interesting analysis of McCain is offered at Talking Points Memo by blog founder Josh Marshall. Definitely worth a read.

-EB

Behold My Power!

In my last post, I took John McCain to task for the nasty tone his campaign has taken over the last week, as he and Palin whipped up anger, resentment, and vitriol towards Barack Obama at their rallies and with their dirty advertisements. Well, clearly someone in the McCain camp read that post, printed a copy of it, and gave it to Senator McCain to read (as he doesn't know how to use the Internet), because later in the day he changed his tune and actually came to Obama's defense at a Minnesota town hall rally. I take full credit for this shift, however temporary, to responsible campaigning. I could describe it, but here's some video instead, put together by the progressive blog Talking Points Memo:


Extraordinary stuff. Senator McCain comes to his senses and displays some of that honor and integrity that he's known for, saying that his supporters need to be respectful of Senator Obama, and gets booed for it - although more supporters cheered for his call for politics to be conducted in a civil manner, which is encouraging. Hopefully, given the history of racism and violent acts towards minorities in this country, this appeal for respect by McCain will lead to cooler heads, because the ginning up of supporters into an angry mob is, at best, not a good idea and at worst highly irresponsible.

Back to the video for a moment - in my opinion, the most extraordinary piece of that clip is the part where McCain tells his supporters they don't need to fear Obama: "He is a decent person, and a person that you do not have be scared as President of the United States..." Thus undercutting the entire message of his last week of campaigning, the tune of which was that we should be scared of a President Obama. We shouldn't be scared of that of course - we should elect Barack Obama to the presidency on November 4, and I'm hopeful that we will.

-EB

p.s. The Alaska legislative panel investigating Sarah Palin's part in "Troopergate" (dominated by Republicans, by the way) tonight found that Gov. Palin abused her power in firing the state public safety commissioner. That, and having to admit that a President Obama isn't really scary, add up to one really bad day for the McCain campaign. And to some schadenfreude for Democrats everywhere. (Yeah, I used the word "schadenfreude" - and I'm not afraid to do it again. I might even pull out "zeitgeist." Just watch me. I'll do it.)

Desperation is Ugly, a.k.a. McCain/Palin '08

What is wrong with John McCain, Sarah Palin, Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, and all the people involved with running the McCain campaign? John McCain claims to be a man of honor and integrity, and portrays himself as a man with a strong moral compass, but where is that moral compass as he and Palin whip up their partisan crowds into an angry shouting mob? Is fear-mongering really what we need right now, when not just our economy, but the global economy is melting down? (Or freezing up, depending on whether you're thinking about the stock martets or the credit markets.)

John McCain is proving, every day, that he has no idea about how to deal with the economic crisis, and that he has no idea about how to deal with Barack Obama in a civilized manner, so we're being barraged with tear down after smear after lie by a man so desperate to be president of these United States that he's either forgotten where he's placed his honor and integrity, or he's revealing that he never truly had adequate reserves of either quality.

-EB

Photos From My Panel Appearance with Scott McCloud

DECATUR, GA - 9/17/08 (Photos by Gary W. Meek, Copyright 2008 Agnes Scott College)
There I am (above) with comics genius Scott McCloud at Agnes Scott College's panel on The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, which was the common reading for incoming freshmen. I was asked to be on the panel to talk about the adaptation of Persepolis from graphic novel to animated feature film. Scott is talking about Persepolis while I sit idly by, hoping I don't come off like a dumbass while waiting for my turn to speak. Seriously, though, as a comics fan and as a writer, to get to be on a panel with Scott McCloud was very cool.

Here (above), I'm pretending like I know what I'm talking about while describing a scene I particularly enjoyed in the book and in the film. I was very impressed by how the filmmakers, one of whom was Satrapi, the author and artist of the book, were able to let go of the narrative form inherent to the source material - a comic book - to fully take advantage of the medium of animation. The scene pictured above is from the sequence in the book where teenage Marjane goes through a growth spurt. It was represented very differently in the movie, but the overall effect was the same. Well done.

Here are the panel participants in a staged post-panel photo opportunity. We're all hanging out by the ashtray - but no one is smoking, except for my shoes. I always think it's appropriate to wear my flame-adorned Chuck Taylors at public speaking engagements (like I've had so many).

-EB

Post-Debate Wrap-Up

Well, here's my verdict - Obama won. I think John McCain came off as a pissy, rambling, old guy who thinks that he knows better than that young whippersnapper Obama and everyone else in that room.

I thought Obama did great on foreign policy, especially in respect to Pakistan and how to deal with the Al Qaeda/Taliban problem in the troublesome border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was authoritative and very clear about his intentions. McCain accused Obama - and has been accusing him - of telegraphing his intention to invade Pakistan. Obama has never said he's going to invade Pakistan, and clears that up here: "I want to be very clear about what I said. Nobody called for the invasion of Pakistan. Senator McCain continues to repeat this. What I said was the same thing that the audience here today heard me say, which is, if Pakistan is unable or unwilling to huntdown bin Laden and take him out, then we should." That seems like a clear policy statement to me, and puts Al Qaeda on notice, but nowhere does it say "we're going to invade Pakistan."

McCain's response to this was curious to me as well: "I'll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I'll get him. I know how to get him. I'll get him no matter what. And I know how to do it. But I'm not going to telegraph my punches, which is what Senator Obama did. And I'm going to act responsibly as I have acted responsibly throughout my military career and throughout my career in the United States Senate." Okay, Senator, if you know how to get him, why haven't you shared that with anyone else? If you know how to get him, why didn't you push to get him instead of letting it drop and cheerleading for us to get into Iraq? And as far as acting responsibly throughout your military career, have you forgotten about the multiple planes you stalled and crashed as Navy flier, or about how you handled yourself on the USS Forrestal after the terrible accident on its flight deck? And as far as acting responsibly throughout your military career, have you forgotten about your role as one of The Keating Five?

The senator from Arizona indicated that he knew a lot about a lot of things, like Social Security: "Social Security is not that tough. We know what the problemsare, my friends, and we know what the fixes are." And the economy: "And I know how to fix this economy and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil and stop sending $700 billion a year overseas."

I said it earlier, and I'll say it again - Senator McCain, if you know how to fix these things, why haven't you done anything about them?! Are you/were you waiting to be elected President? If so, how is that putting country before all else, like your presidential aspirations?

I'm disgusted. And if I were an undecided voter - which I'm clearly not - I would have landed squarely in the Obama camp tonight.

That's it - time for sleep.

-EB

p.s. Transcript quotes from C-Span debate hub: http://debatehub.c-span.org/ Great job on that website, guys!

Live-Blogging the Debate: Cool Hand John?

McCain just said we need a "cool hand on the tiller" when it comes to foreign policy. I guess he just endorsed Obama for President, because he sure as hell couldn't have been talking about himself. Is he completely out to lunch on how he's careened all over the place over the last few weeks in dealing with the economy? He's got the hot hand of a reactionary, and that is definitely not what we need in a president.

-EB

Live-Blogging the Debate: Okay, One More Thing

Senator McCain, in talking about Iraq, keeps on saying that we need to bring our troops home in victory. I think he's missing a larger point, which is this - it's no longer our war to win. We won when we overthrew Saddam Hussein, and won again when we captured him and delivered him to justice. But in the Bush administration's poor planning for the aftermath of the war, we opened up a sectarian can of worms and a civil war, as well as a new front for Iran to strengthen and exert it's influence. The longer we stay there, the harder it's going to be for the Iraqis to come up with their own political solution to their sectarian mess.

-EB

Live-Blogging the Debate: Health Care

One last thing - John McCain's health care plan would give people a $5000 tax credit to go out and buy their own health insurance. Fine. But it apparently costs $12,000 to insure a family of four. Is Senator McCain going to spot me that extra seven grand? (I will add a link to to explain McCain's health plan later.)

-EB

Live-Blogging the Debate: Smirking

The maverick just keeps smirking and smirking and smirking - he really is just plain obnoxious. Obama is doing a much better job of keeping his composure.

This debate format sucks - I'd like to see some more back and forth between the candidates.

That's it for the live-blogging - I can't keep up.

-EB

Live-Blogging: Obnoxiousness

McCain is really taking the low road tonight - he's taking cheap shot after cheap shot. And the creepy smile that follows up his lying about Obama's tax proposals is too much for me to handle. McCain just tried to link Obama to Hoover and told people that Obama's going to be a protectionist as well - which is just a load of malarkey. I think Obama understands that we live in a global economy that relies on trade, but that's not going to stop McCain from suggesting otherwise.

McCain also just said that fixing Social Security is not that hard - he knows how to do it. If that's the case, why hasn't he done anything to fix it? Where's your record on that, Senator?

He's also repeating lies about Obama's record on taxes, claiming he's voted 94 times to raise taxes. Here's the "straight talk" on that from factcheck.org. It's misleading, and McCain knows it.

-EB

Live-Blogging: It's On!

Initial impressions: McCain is coming off like a pissy, angry old guy. "I know how to fix the economy!" Okay, John, if that was true, where have you been over the last three weeks? Why haven't you brought this knowledge up before now? He's also taking credit for an idea that's been kicked around for several weeks now - buying up upside-down mortgages and refinancing those loans at the new, lower values of those homes. Not a bad idea, but also not his idea.

On to the bailout - McCain brings up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and blames that part of the crisis on Obama and his cronies, when it's his own campaign manager who was a Fannie/Freddie lobbyist for years! And he has a ton of lobbyists on his campaign staff. (They're getting called out in Doonesbury this week.) Then he goes on to blame the low-income people who were getting Fannie and Freddie mortgages - read minority. And he's telling this to an African-American man - I wonder if it occurs to McCain that he's essentially blaming the questioner.

I think Obama is doing a better job of answering questions and having some empathy for the questions so far.

Tonight's Debate

There's been a lot of talk about hearing from "Joe Sixpack" and "Wal-Mart Moms" at tonight's town hall-style debate, which should be interesting, because we'll get to see Obama and McCain answer (or dodge) questions from people who live on "Main Street" who are worried about the economy. I wonder if they'll field any questions from "Joe Comic Book Geek?" Are the concerns of that demographic being heard?

Also, I'm going to give live-blogging the debate another shot tonight.

-EB

"My government is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand."

From this article on Salon.com, which I'm quoting above and here: "Imagine if the Obamas had hooked up with a violently anti-American group in league with the government of Iran."

Instead, though, it was the Palins, specifically "First Dude" Todd Palin, who spent seven years as a member of the secessionist Alaska Independence Party, whose founder, Joe Vogler, was virulently anti-American and anti-government. Here's a quote: "My government is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand." So anti-America was this guy that he got the Islamic government of Iran to sponsor his planned appearance at the United Nations, where he was to denounce the United States. He was murdered before that happened, leading to some dark conspiracy theories on the part of Alaska Independence Party members about who was responsible for his death. Interesting stuff, and I'm willing to bet if this association between the Palins and this secessionist party gets wider press, Gov. Palin and McCain will blow it off as a non-issue, and in the same breath continue to condemn Obama for having worked on education issues with a reformed radical. Any takers? And the McCain team insists they vetted her...

Good stuff.

-EB

Projects

•Spoke to my collaborator on an animated project long in development yesterday, and I'm pretty damn excited about it. We're going to pitch the show to a network soon and see if we can get it going. Can't talk about it in anymore detail than that right now, but when I can, I will, because I think it's an interesting story.

•Still contemplating doing Strange Beasts as a webcomic, and I'm looking into Zuda Comics, which is a relatively new webcomic site owned by DC Comics, as a potential platform. There's some legalese to get through. We also need an artist, although I have someone in mind. Of course, this is all moot if the last publisher we're waiting to hear from decides they want to publish it, which I'd be entirely in favor of. And I think Carl would be in favor of it, too. Right, Carl?

•Still working on casting the pilot for my animated show Comic Shop. Two of the four roles are locked, waiting to hear from someone on voice #3, and waiting to hear from my potential guest star, who is a busy comics pro. But in a perfect world, I'd get all this stuff recorded next week.

That is all. For now.

-EB

Caption This

I found the above tiny advertisement on the New York Times homepage this morning, and it just struck me as anachronistic, given the widening economic crisis we're in. I would think even highly paid CEO's are probably wondering if premium business travel is a good idea right now. Anyway, take a look at that guy's face - he's just so self-satisfied as he sits in his premium business class seat, with a real wine glass. It's inspired several captions:
-"I love my golden parachute!"
-"Crisis? Not where I'm sittin'."
-"I wonder what Sarah Palin looks like naked."

Now, perhaps it's not fair to blame that guy for our economic woes - after all, he's just a model in an advertisement - but it sure is therapeutic. That's a big part of why Lehman CEO Richard Fuld was in front of the House Oversight committee yesterday, being publicly lambasted - so we could have a scapegoat and feel a little better knowing who to blame. So if you're feeling like you need someone to blame, go ahead and blame Mr. Premium Business Travel, by adding your own witty caption in the comments section.

John McCain is Out of Touch and I Know Why!

This just in - John McCain is from an alternate reality. If this campaign was a DC Comics publication, he'd be from Earth-3, the Earth where the counterparts of all the superheroes we're accustomed to - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman - are bad guys, and Lex Luthor is the only good guy. It's opposite world. The evidence of this infiltration of the Republican candidate from another dimension? His speech today in Alburquerque, where he posed this startling question: "Who Is The Real Barack Obama?" A convenient round-up of the salient parts of the speech was found in this entry of The Caucus blog on the New York Times website, but there are a few points that I want to point out here as evidence of my alternate-Earth John McCain theory:

• While the stock market was plunging, and the credit market was freezing up completely - which must be good things on Earth-3, a.k.a. opposite world - Senator McCain was reminding us that “even at this late hour in the campaign, there are essential things we don’t know about Senator Obama or the record that he brings to this campaign.’’ Hmm, that sounds to me like a veiled reference to the multiple-times discounted internet smear campaign that Obama is a secret Muslim (and I'm not referring to a Muslim veil - John McCain don't play that). Am I reading too much into that comment? I don't think so, what with Sarah Palin, doggone it, just doin' her part to remind us patriotic American folks of this great country that Barack Obama "sees America it seems as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country?” Now this is just the type of campaigning that John McCain would have you believe a man of his stature would never stoop too, because he has too much personal integrity. And certainly after the brutal South Carolina Republican primary of 2000, which ended McCain's first presidential bid, and in which McCain himself was subject to savage smearing of his character by Karl Rove, you would think he would just disavow negative campaigning, and that he would never hire anyone like Steve Schmidt, a Rove protege, to run his campaign. But maybe JOHN MCCAIN HAS BEEN REPLACED BY HIS FAR LESS SCRUPULOUS COUNTERPART FROM AN ALTERNATE EARTH! Yeah, that must be it. (Or maybe this isn't John McCain at all - maybe he's been replaced by a shape-shifting Skrull, and this is just setting the stage for a "secret invasion!")
• From The Caucus entry: Mr. McCain decried what he called Mr. Obama’s “touchiness every time he is questioned about his record.’’ Right. Because John McCain isn't touchy about anyone questioning his record or his much-ballyhooed integrity and maverickiness. Here's some more: “For a guy who’s already authored two memoirs, he’s not exactly an open book,’’ Mr. McCain said. “It’s as if somehow the usual rules don’t apply, and where other candidates have to explain themselves and their records, Senator Obama seems to think he is above all that. Whatever the question, whatever the issue, there’s always a back story with Senator Obama. All people want to know is: What has this man ever actually accomplished in government? What does he plan for America? In short: Who is the real Barack Obama? But, my friends, you ask such questions and all you get in response is another angry barrage of angry insults.’’ Huh. Angry barrage of angry insults. This coming from the man who got all snarky with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register, and has a famously bad temper. I guess the Earth-3 Obama that McCain knows from his home planet is really hot under the collar, as opposed to the cool customer we've seen over the last two years, and especially over the last two or three weeks as the economy has gone into the crapper. That must be who McCain is talking about. I don't know. I feel like I know Obama just fine, and I think he's done an admirable job of explaining his positions and his personal history, as well as detailing what he plans for America. Unless he plans to... DESTROY AMERICA! Yeah, if he's planning that, I bet he's keeping it to himself.
• More from The Caucus (thanks, Caucus!): “Senator Obama has accused me of opposing regulation to avert this crisis,’’ he said. “I guess he believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough it will be believed.’’ I'm not really sure where to start with this, but I guess I'll begin here: Senator Obama has accused Senator McCain of opposing regulation, mostly because John McCain has a long record of opposing regulation, and would deregulate the health care system if he could. But the whopper is this: "I guess if he believes a lie is big enough and repeated often enough it will be believed." Senator McCain might as well be talking about his own campaign, as evidenced here in the Washington Post, and debunked pretty much every day here on FactCheck.org (where they do a good job debunking Obama campaign distortions as well - everybody's doin' it!). But perhaps on Earth-3, John McCain is still the honest guy he believes himself to be.
• One more hit from The Caucus: “Today the Dow has fallen below 10,000,’’ he said. “And yet, members of his own party said they felt no pressure to vote for the bill. Why didn’t Senator Obama work to pass this bill from the start? Why did he let it fail and drag out this crisis for a full week before doing a thing to help pass it?’’ Okay, maybe on Earth-3, the Democrats didn't vote for the bailout bill from the start, but here on Earth-Prime, they did, and it's your party, Senator McCain, that didn't have the leadership necessary to get your fellow Republicans to vote for it - at least not until the second round when the bill was made more expensive with...pork! Like tax cuts!
  
• And now, the final piece of evidence that John McCain is from an alternate-Earth: he thinks people are ready to talk about things other than the economy, and that it's a good idea to get really negative about your opponent while people are freaking out about their nest eggs and the plummeting value of their homes. Because people don't need to know how you'd handle these problems, they just need to know that Obama might be some kind of shady, America-hating character, who might be out to destroy us. Thanks, John McCain, I feel better now!

And seriously, thanks The Caucus blog, because I really leaned on your round-up of quotes tonight.

-EB

Good Grief

I took a couple of days off of blogging, mostly because I don't have any time on the weekends to post anything, what with playing with the kids and all, which, honestly, is a welcome respite from all the things going on with the economy and the election. I'm even dreaming about this stuff now - last night I dreamt that I was obsessing over election polling numbers and statistics, so clearly I am very concerned about how all this is going to play out. There was some relief in hearing that Obama has taken a clear lead in the national polls, as well as in swing-state polls, but a lot could happen between now and November 4, so this is no time to be easing up on the gas.

At lunch today, I turned on CNN, and saw that the Dow is down 500 points today, and below 10,000 for the first time in four years. Richard Fuld, the former CEO of the now defunct Lehman Bros. was being grilled, live, by the House Oversight committee, and one of the members was taking the opportunity to grandstand - not a surprise, but it really turned me off. This is a serious crisis and we need to figure out how to get through it.

Certainly, it's not going to help the McCain campaign - they want the focus to turn away from the economy, so instead of talking about solutions or offering up their ideas for how to fix things, they're taking personal potshots at Obama and trying to tear him down. I think this is going to backfire for them. Oh, how I hope it's going to blow up in their faces. At least Obama's not letting this stuff stand - his campaign is hitting back hard. Keating Five anyone?

More on this later - I'm not done venting.

-EB

Memo to Anonymous Commenter Who is Not My Dad

(The below comment from Anonymous was left on my post about "Who Won the Vice Presidential Debate?")

Well thanks so much for your liberal comment. Just sit back sip your wine and scream into your tv as the Mcain and palin ticket wins on November 4.

October 2, 2008 11:23 PM

I just wanted to respond publicly to this. Anonymous, thanks for reading, and you're welcome. I think it's fairly clear from the tenor of my posting, especially last night, that this is the blog of an Obama supporter, and yes, I'm more or less a liberal, so that's going to influence my comments. I also wanted to say that you're right about one thing - if McCain wins on November 4, I will be screaming at the TV, only I won't be drinking wine - I'll need something much stiffer.

Cheers,

Elliot Blake

Who Won the Vice Presidential Debate?

Well, I think that answer depends on whom you're supporting for President. I think there's no doubt about my support for Obama, and I think Biden did a solid job tonight supporting Obama's policies and ripping into John McCain. I also think he did a good job of not being condescending to Sarah Palin - certainly a better job than I did. Boy, I sat back in my comfortable chair, sipping wine like the liberal that I am, and condescended both to the television set, loudly, as if yelling at a baseball player for booting a simple grounder, as well as to the ol' blog.

Yeah, I wanted her to fall on her face, and she didn't - so I think if you're a McCain supporter, you must be elated tonight that she did nothing to embarrass the ticket or the party, and came across as confident, and if you're so inclined - I'm not - likeable.

That's my incisive analysis. That's all folks!

-EB

Memo to Governor Palin Re: Media Filters

Governor Palin -

I'm glad you like debates, and getting the chance to answer questions without the "media filter." Tell me, when you couldn't answer a simple, straight question from Katie Couric or Charlie Gibson, was that because of the "media filter," or because you just didn't know the answer? I would like to point out that at tonight's debate, you barely answered any question directly, and if you didn't know the answer, you re-directed, which you couldn't do when Katie put you on the spot. Katie Couric didn't make you look like an idiot - you made you look like an idiot.

But good job setting the bar so low that the pundits are now saying that you did a good job. Apparently all you had to do is hold your own, regardless of whether or not you could actually answer the questions asked of you.

By the way, Senator Biden kicked your ass - I hope you took notes.

Yours,

Elliot Blake

Live-Blogging the Debate: Maverick!

He's a Maverick, damn it!

I'm a maverick, you're maverick, he's maverick, she's a maverick, wouldn't you like to be a maverick too!

Be a maverick, drink Dr. Maverick...

Well, not if it tastes like John McCain... Yuck.

-EB

The Vice Presidency

Apparently, Governor Palin agrees with Dick Cheney that the office of the Vice President is neither part of the legislative or executive branches of governments.

Scary, especially when you can just look at the Constitution and see that it's part of the executive branch.

She wants that Cheney power. YIKES!

-EB

I'm Live-Blogging the Debate!

I didn't plan on it, but here I am doing it.

Look out New York Times!

Memo to Governor Palin Re: Debate

Y'know, just because you keep saying "straight talk" and "maverick" doesn't make those things true. John McCain has engaged in anything but "straight talk" since he resurrected his campaign by pandering to the right wing of the Republican party.

Also, you say that "John McCain knows evil." Okay. Does that mean nobody else recognizes evil when it knocks on the door? Give me a break, lady.

Finally, let me explain something to you - Joe Biden keeps bringing up the Bush Administration because he's linking the McCain campaign to the failed policies of George W. Bush. And it's working, because you guys have offered nothing new or different from W's policies.

And you can keep making that cute little smile, but I got news for you - people can see through it. It's a politician's smile through and through.

Yours,

Elliot Blake

Memo to Joe Biden Re: Debate

Senator Biden:

Watching the debate, and you're kicking ass. Keep it up. And don't let yourself get too riled.

Also, good job answering questions and not redirecting the moderator's questions too much.

Yours,

Elliot Blake

Memo to Governor Palin Re: Debate

Governor Palin:

Watching the debate - can't help but notice how you good you are at dodging questions you don't have an answer to.

By the way, I'm watching as you attempt to answer the question about what the trigger is for the United States to use nuclear weapons, and I can't help but notice that you keep saying "nuk-u-lar." I'm sorry, but we just can't have another four years of someone in high office in this country who can't properly pronounce "nuclear."

Yours,

Elliot Blake

Memo to Governor Palin

Governor Palin:

I'm watching the debate, and I just wanted to remind you that nuclear is pronounced "nu-cle-ar," not "nuk-u-lar." Get it? "NU-CLE-AR!" "NU-CLE-AR!" "NU-CLE-AR!" "NU-CLE-AR!" "NU-CLE-AR!" "NU-CLE-AR!"

FOR GOD'S SAKE, IT'S "NU-CLE-AR!"

Yours,

Elliot Blake

p.s. Quit being so smug. It's not becoming in a candidate for high office.

Procrastination

I'm supposed to be writing something else right now, not making a blog entry, but I've got a wicked case of procrastination. Must...buckle...down!

This blog o' mine has been very political of late, which is reflective of where my head has been, but I've also been thinking a lot about the following:

• Comic books - Always thinking about the comics. Just finished Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, and I have to say, it might just be the finest example of what the comics medium can accomplish, in terms of breaking down the stereotype that comics are kids' stuff.
• Apostrophes - Specifically when used to indicate the possessive. I was told recently that an updated style manual has dictated the use of the "apostrophe-s" at all times, even when the word in question ends in "s" so as to indicate the plural, as above in "kids", so that instead of writing "comics are kids' stuff," I should have written "kids's stuff." That does not look right to me at all, and seems like it should be read aloud as "kidses stuff". I reject that notion completely. If any of my millions of readers know which style manual makes this assertion, please comment below.
• My various projects - I've been pitching some comics projects, and I'm contemplating writing the first eight or so pages of the latest one, called Strange Beasts (created with my friend Carl LaPan) so I can also submit it to Dark Horse Comics, but I don't have any contacts there, so it would just be an unsolicited submission, and I'm not in love with that idea. I've also been contemplating the idea of a webcomic, and whether or not Strange Beasts would be appropriate for that, or if another comics project of mine, a superhero comedy called Sword-Maiden, would be a better choice. Either way, I'd need to find an artist, and pay this person so it actually gets done. Given my current job status, this is not entirely feasible. I also need to get the pilot for my animated web series Comic Shop voiced; it's written, but I need to cast and record it so I can put together a fully-animated one-minute presentation piece. And I've got one other thing that I've partnered with someone on that I can't talk about right now, but that I'm anxious to get out the door.
• Occasional Superheroine - This is a blog that I read regularly, by a writer named Valerie D'Orazio, who at one time worked as an assistant editor for DC Comics, but has since moved on to become the president of the organization Friends of Lulu and the writer of a forthcoming Cloak & Dagger series for Marvel Comics. Valerie's commentary on the state of the industry is no-holds-barred and often very personal; she says what she thinks, and her honesty makes her blog one of those rare places on the web where you can find opinions about comics and the comics industry rather than blind cheerleading. This, however, has earned her some enmity from a particular subset of...gosh, I don't even know what to call these people...internet comics trolls will do, I guess - anyway, she's actually received death threats from internet comics trolls who don't like what she has to say about DC Comics, or a recent issue of Teen Titans, which is just insane, and when I read about this in one of her recent posts, it was maybe the first time I've actually been embarrassed to be a comic book fan, because, theoretically, the bonehead who felt so moved to tell a blogger she should perish in a fire because he didn't like what she said about his favorite comics publisher is one my comics-loving peers. Then I realized that's not the case, because this person is clearly sub-human and needs to realize that everyone is entitled to their opinion, even when it comes to comics, and if you don't like it, don't read her blog! At any rate, this trend left Ms. D'Orazio in the position of contemplating whether or not it's worth the trouble to continue blogging if she is going to have to deal with that much vitriol, but I'm glad to see that she's going to press on despite the idiocy of the internet comics trolls. Good on ya, Val - it's almost trite to say it, but if you quit, it's letting the terrorists win.
• Employment - Man, this is a tough job market.

That's all for now.

-EB

Updated 8:54pm: Man, that's one hell of a run-on sentence in the section about Occasional Superheroine. Apparently, my procrastination does not allow for reading for clarity.

Memo to House Republicans Re: Bailout Vote

Hey, guys - nice job today, sinking the vote. Honestly, I'm not sure if this is a good bill or not, as I'm not an economist, but it's clear something has to be done so credit in this country doesn't dry up, and it's certainly clear that your president, your presidential nominee, and your house leader really wanted you to vote for this thing. So, Nancy Pelosi was a little tone deaf today and took your party to task for being lax on regulation and playing a big role in allowing things to get where they are today - she probably shouldn't have done that - but blaming her for the failure of the passage of this legislation? This from the New York Times Caucus blog, quoting radio host Hugh Hewitt (never heard of him):

The GOP House leadership is now bluntly declaring what everyone who followed the story today knows: Nancy Pelosi killed the bailout bill with a blistering attack on Republicans just prior to the start of the vote. The Speaker cost millions of Americans hundreds of millions in retirement savings today because she could not resist using her position to slam her political opponents even after they had met her more than half way.

Really? The Speaker cost millions of Americans hundreds of millions in retirement savings today? I thought it was you guys, because you revolted against your party's leadership. I was watching Rachel Maddow tonight, and she brought up a very good point - you guys killed this bill because she couldn't talk nicely to you? What a bunch of pansies. To paraphrase Ms. Maddow, "Way to put your country first." I say, "Way to scapegoat!" Seriously. You all are going to have a lot of atoneing to do between now and Yom Kippur.

Best regards,

Elliot Blake

Memo to John McCain Re: Bailout Legislation

Way to go, Senator McCain. The leadership you showed in putting your country first, suspending your campaign, rushing to Washington, and bringing together Republicans and Democrats to forge a compromise bailout bill was truly stellar, and thanks to your efforts, we have... nothing. Bet you're glad you took that gamble, aren't you? Now that you're in a pickle, I suggest more lying and revising of recent history - you know, just lie about what you did last week, lie about what Obama did last week, and then send out your surrogates to perpetuate those untruths. That's the best way to get out from under this mess, because your big gamble to be the hero has made you the goat. I recommend putting your country first once more, this time by suspending your campaign again - for good.

Best regards,

Elliot Blake

The End of The Daily Beard

Well, I forgot to post Day 6 of The Daily Beard yesterday. Where was the public outcry? I guess people really are all-consumed by the election and this financial crisis we're dealing with. That said, here's Day 6:
I call this one The Poseidon, and it does not work on me at all. Just terrible, like the remake of The Poseidon Adventure. And let's consider for a moment the person who actually took the time to grow out, tease, and wax the above beard into that particular configuration...why? I don' t think we'll ever know. It's my hope that he won a prize, though, because that's the only reason I can think of to do something like that. Next, the final beard in this ridiculous exercise:

Yeah, just when you thought it couldn't get more ridiculous, more extravagant, more terrible... it does. Woof. I call this one The Hessian Dandy. I apologize if that offends any Hessians. Now, if you can, I suggest you purge The Daily Beard from your memory banks.

-EB

The Daily Beard - Day 5

I call this one The Gilbert & Sullivan. I don't think an explanation is required.

-EB

Adios, Butch Cassidy

I was saddened to learn that Paul Newman passed away last night. He was one of my favorite actors, and I also happened to enjoy many of his Newman's Own products. The other thing that I admired about Paul Newman was his take on life:

"“We are such spendthrifts with our lives,” Mr. Newman once told a reporter. “The trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I’m not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out.”"

I think he achieved just that.

Adios, Butch-

-EB

Debate Wrap-Up

Just watched the first debate, and, being an Obama supporter, I thought he did just fine - but I wish he did better. I wanted to see Barack wipe the floor with McCain, and that just didn't happen - although it was easy to tell when Obama was getting under his skin - that brought out the pissy side of McCain, which is pretty unflattering.

What I really found interesting was the post-debate spin. I watched the debate on NBC and left it there to see what each candidate's surrogate had to say. For Obama, running mate Joe Biden appeared, and frankly, I wish Obama said a few of the things Biden said about Iraq and John McCain's judgement. For McCain, Rudy Giuliani appeared, rather than McCain's running mate Sarah Palin. Brian Williams issued a disclaimer before bringing on Giuliani, which was that NBC asked for Palin to comment post-debate, and that request was denied. I'm not sure if she's appearing on any other network - I highly doubt it - but to me, that's very telling, because bringing out Palin would have completely undermined every argument McCain made about Obama's experience and McCain's own judgment, because she has neither. Which makes her qualified to be president how, I wonder?

Tired now.

Going to sleep.

More beard tomorrow.

-EB

McCain Agrees to Debate

I think his decision to honor the debate commitment he made has a lot to do with my calling him out as a wuss in my previous post. I have more sway than I realized!

-EB
(drunk with power)

The Daily Beard - Day 4

Before I get I present Day 4 of The Daily Beard, I first want to make a short comment on the status of tonight's presidential debate: John McCain better show up and put his cards on the table. Obama is right - this is exactly the time we need to hear from our potential next presidents about how they'd deal with this crisis we're in. The biggest S&L in the country went under overnight, so clearly, this isn't a problem that's going away. I don't know if a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street is the right thing to do - I'm not an economist. But we need to hear what Obama and McCain have to say on this and a load of other issues, so if McCain doesn't show, in my opinion, it just exposes him as afraid to take on Obama. Don't be a wuss, Senator McCain - get your wrinkly behind on that private campaign jet of yours and let the people hear what you have to say.

And now, the beard:This is a special one, folks - a beard like this one doesn't just assume that shape on it's own, it needs wax and combing. It ages me a bit, I think, but also lends an air of distinction. I call this one The Bismarck, or The Too Much Time on My Hands 2.

-EB

The Daily Beard - Day 3

Let's be clear about one thing: I do not have the patience to grow a beard like the one poorly photoshopped onto my face above. How does one eat with a beard like that? It seems like you'd have to spend a disproportionate amount of time on facial grooming, and I'm not down with that. I call this one The Too Much Time on My Hands. Which could also be the subtitle to this ridiculous Daily Beard feature.

-EB

Patriotic Hats

This has been bugging me since the confluence of Hurricane Gustav and the Republican National Convention, when John McCain suspended the convention for one night so we could (and I'm paraphrasing) "take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats." And now he's suspending his campaign and trying to postpone the first presidential debate to "deal" with the financial crisis (never mind the fact the congressional leaders of both parties have been working on the administration's bailout proposal for five straight days, and according to this post on the noted political blog Talking Points Memo, are 98% there) and suggesting that we need to come together as Americans rather than Democrats or Republicans. Well, I'm a Democrat, but the last time I checked, I'm an American, too. Yes, I'm two things at once. I can even do two things at once - right now I'm watching TV and writing this blog post! Okay, I'm being sarcastic, obviously, but can't John McCain do his part to "deal" with the crisis and still prepare for the debate, like his opponent Barack Obama? Doesn't a president need to be able to multitask? Clearly McCain can't - and in my mind, this business about not being able to be Americans and members of our chosen political parties is just more evidence that McCain can't multitask at all. (Although, in McCain's defense, if we're talking about trying to wear two hats at once, y'know an American hat and a Republican hat, you are just going to wind up looking like a dork.)

Daily Beard #3 tomorrow.

-EB

The Daily Beard - Day 2

Well, the lighting on this beard clearly does not match the lighting in the photo onto which it was pasted. C'est la vie. I call this one The Spartan. If anyone can correctly guess the source of the beard, email me or leave a comment below, and I will send some kind of prize.

-EB

The Daily Beard!

I have been looking for a new job for some time now, as well as developing my own projects and looking for freelance writing/producing gigs, but between the seriousness of that, and my increasing frustration with the current presidential election and how it's playing out in the news media (how is it that McCain's involvement in the last major banking collapse in the 1980's has been so glossed over in the mainstream press?) I have decided that it's time for something completely frivolous. So I present to you, my loyal readership (do I have any readers?), The Daily Beard, wherein I, Elliot Blake, will photoshop a new and ridiculous beard onto my face for one week. I give you now... Beard #1 - behold!

I call this one The Lubavitcher.

(And no, just in case you're concerned, there's nothing wrong with me.)

-EB

The Great Scott McCloud

I had a really interesting two-week period, starting labor day weekend when I was featured as an "author" at the Decatur Book Festival ("author" in quotes because that was how I was designated, regardless of the fact that I'm not one; writer, yes, author, grand overstatement), and culminating last week in giving a guest lecture to a New/Emerging Media class at Georgia State, having dinner with comics genius Scott McCloud, and then appearing on a panel with him at Agnes Scott College last Wednesday morning to discuss the graphic novel and film Persepolis. Four public appearances, and no one threw anything at me, so I feel reasonably confident that I didn't suck too badly.

Anyway, the highlight for me was Scott McCloud. First, he's just a really nice guy. Second, he's really, really smart, and getting to talk to someone who has thought so deeply about his art form, comics, was a treat. Scott gave a public talk last Tuesday night at Agnes Scott, called Comics: A Medium in Transition, which was essentially a distillation of two of his three seminal non-fiction works, Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics. A "distillation" maybe doesn't sound so great, but he puts on a really brisk, interesting presentation, using Keynote (Apple's PowerPoint challenger) to present images that illustrate his points and supplement his talk. Great stuff - I'm going to have to learn how to use that. Scott's work, and his presentation of that work to a campus audience really did a lot for the acceptance of comics on the Agnes Scott campus, and it's really great to see this form that so many people love finally get a critical eye cast upon it (which has been slowly happening for about 15 years now) - because it's in looking at the medium seriously and critically that it can continue to grow and flourish, and in America anyway, move beyond the superhero comics that dominate the mainstream. (Full disclosure: I buy a ton of superhero comics, and I'm not ashamed to say it.)

Scott also illustrated the comic introducing Google's Chrome web browser, and it was interesting to hear him talk about what went into that, as well. A lot of secrecy for many months, and a great deal of research. Since the comic hit the web, there have been many hacks/remixes of it made, involving people writing new dialog for the characters, re-ordering the panels for different effect, and generally just messing around with it in photoshop (I've considered attempting a remix myself). I asked him if he had seen these appropriations of his work, and he said he had, and that furthermore, there were a lot of really great ones out there - he seemed tickled by the idea that his comic about an open-source browser was being used, in a sense, as an open source comic.

My one regret of my Scott McCloud experience was that I asked him to contribute a voice to a show I'm putting together, about comics, and he passed - mostly I think because I picked a poor time to ask him (at the end of a long day), and I didn't do a good job of explaining my show and how much time it would take to record the voiceover (about thirty seconds - it was just one line). Anyway, I certainly do not hold his passing against him, and I hope that if I can get the show off the ground that he will one day make an appearance, perhaps to plug his next work.

-EB

Farewell, Yankee Stadium

I'm a diehard Orioles fan, but as a baseball fan, I'm sad to see
Yankee Stadium go, and I'm sad I never got to see a game in a place
full of such rich baseball history.

That said, I hope the Orioles win tonight. Because I'm not just an
Orioles fan. I'm also a lifetime Yankee hater. (Other Yankee haters
around the world and in Boston will understand what I mean.)

-EB

update: The O's lost. This doesn't surprise me; they've been losing a lot this month, and there was really no way they were going to get to Mariano Rivera, just as there was really no way they Yankees were going to allow themselves to lose their final game at Yankee Stadium.

Sick of All the Republican Lying

I'm watching Sarah Palin on CNN, and to borrow a phrase from Minnesota Democratic Senate Candidate Al Franken, they're a bunch of lying liars. Don't believe their bullshit - the McCain campaign is employing the "lie long enough and lie hard enough, eventually the truth will be overwhelmed" strategy. Palin was just on talking about how Obama's going to raise taxes, but of course she's not going to point out that he's going to allow Bush's tax cuts for the top 1% to expire, and of course she's not going to point out that Obama's tax plan actually cuts taxes for more Americans in the middle-income brackets than McCain's plan does. It's all just a snowjob. If you've got nothing, if you've got no plan, just lie. I'm absolutely disgusted. And the network news is doing nothing more than picking off the low-hanging fruit, like Palin's bridge-to-nowhere bullshit. Check out Frank Rich's column in the NY Times today: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/opinion/21rich.html?em

Good stuff and full of reminders why John McCain is absolutely the wrong person to be in charge of our economy - as if all of last week's flip-flopping on the "fundamentals of the economy" and bailing out AIG, and on regulation vs. deregulation weren't enough of a clue that a clue on the economy is what he lacks.

-EB

It's Pronounced "Nu-Cle-ar"

I was just watching CNN, and they played a clip from the McCain/Palin rally being held today in Minnesota. Gov. Palin was speaking about Iran, and how (I'm paraphrasing here) "we must not let them acquire nuke-u-lar weapons." I don't disagree with that sentiment - which is probably one of the only things the hockey mom and I would agree on if we compared lists - but, my God, how hard is it to say "nuclear" correctly? It's pronounced "nu-cle-ar" - there's not an extra letter U in between the C and L.

Y'know, her inability to say "nuclear" correctly, her absolute certainty that she's right, her unwillingness to blink about anything, and her complete lack of experience on the world stage (apparently she didn't even have a passport until she became governor of Alaska) has made me realize that the only difference between Sarah Palin and George W. Bush is lipstick.

Lipstick. Frightening.

-EB

Hannah's First Joke

My daughter Hannah, who turns three next month, surprised me with her first joke the other day. And it wasn't a knock-knock joke that she heard in daycare - it was a one-liner. For your pleasure, I present Hannah's joke below:

I was trying to make lunch (or something along those lines) and Hannah was being kind of difficult about letting me do it, so I said to her, "Hannah, you're driving me nuts -would just let me finish, please?"

Her reply: "Daddy, I not driving you nuts - I'm driving you grapes!"

On the scale of Toddler Humor - which, if you've been around little kids, is not terribly sophisticated and rarely makes actual sense - that's equivalent to a John Stewart one-liner.

I'm so proud.

-EB

Dark Superman & Friends

Towards the end of August, the comics world was set ablaze with talk that Warner Brothers would once again reboot the Superman movie franchise, but, presumably owing to the phenomenal success of the latest Batman movie, Superman would be going dark. Now, I'm not making a value judgement here, but if the key to financial success is exploring the dark side of characters known for their sunny dispositions, maybe it's worth a try. With that in mind, I've come up with a few "dark" reboots of some traditionally kid-friendly properties:

Clifford, the Big Red Dog: Emily-Elizabeth's teen years are hard on Clifford; she has a boyfriend and isn't paying attention to the big red dog in the manner to which he has become accustomed. Clifford begins to act out against those around him, and his sense of right and wrong leads him to occasionally stomp on or eat those residents of Birdwell Island - dog and human alike - that violate "Clifford's Law." When Clifford pops Emily-Elizabeth's boyfriend's head in his teeth like a grape, it's time for action - but will Emily-Elizabeth have what it takes to put Clifford down?

Bob The Builder: After attending a rave thrown by Wendy’s party hearty sister Jenny, Scoop develops a substance abuse problem and crushes Bob's leg in a drug-induced rage. When the unrequited love of his life, Wendy, begins a torrid affair with Farmer Pickles, Bob tumbles down the rabbit hole of pain-killer addiction. Scarecrow Spud appears to have self-immolated while freebasing behind the barn, leaving behind only his charred turnip nose - but was his death just another in a string of drug-related accidents, or foul play? All of the evidence points to Travis the Tractor, but he’s not talking…

Thomas & Friends: For years, the good people of the Isle of Sodor have lived under the iron rule of Sir Topham Hatt and the unpredictable whims of his sentient trains. But now revolution has come to the island! Will kind-hearted Thomas, ridiculed for his fondness of the “talking meat creatures” help the resistance, or will he fully embrace his mechanical nature and become a blunt instrument of locomotive death, his bright blue paint stained human blood red?

Sesame Street: Economic hard times have pushed out the friendly citizens of Sesame Street. Now Oscar runs a crystal meth lab; Hooper's has become a strip club; and former best friends Telly and Baby Bear lead rival gangs looking to take control of the street...until Elmo comes back. Elmo's all grown-up. Elmo's got a two-by-four. And Elmo knows how to use it. It's time to take back the street... the Sesame Street.

Superfriends: B-list supervillain The Gentelman Ghost gets into the Hall of Justice after hours, violates Superfriend sidekicks Wendy and Marvin, and guts Wonder Dog. The Superfriends return just after the horrible incident, capture The Gentleman Ghost, and decide to wipe his mind - but Batman catches them in the act, and the Superfriends decide to wipe his mind, too! Years later, Wendy and Marvin are murdered, and in the investigation, the unethical actions of the Superfriends are revealed to Batman and the supervillain community, leading to attacks of escalating brutality between the heroes and villains, and causing Batman to spiral downard into paranoia. It's dark, it's brutal - no Superfriend will be unsullied, especially Apache Chief, Samurai, and Black Vulcan...you'll never again look at a token minority characters the same way. Based on the hit DC maxi-series Identity Crisis!

There you go - five surefire hits in the dark vein of "The Dark Knight." Because dark is what the kids want.

Book Festival Wrap-Up

Well, it's taken me nearly ten days to come down from the high that comes from 1) not having anyone throw anything at you while you're speaking publicly, and 2) having people actually turn out to hear what you have to say. Thanks to Amber Dermont of Agnes Scott College and Tom Bell, programming director for the Decatur Book Festival for inviting me to participate in the annual Writer's Conference, and to my amigo Chris Kelly for pitching in his extremely valuable two cents on the art of writing for animation. Thanks also to Terra McVoy of Decatur's excellent Little Shop of Stories for inviting me to be part of the panel for teen readers - it was a total blast. I got to talk a lot about comics - my favorite medium - and it's gratifying to see that people are really beginning to accept comics as a literary form.

Book Festival Clarifications/Corrections

Two things have come to my attention this week, both erroneous, and as such, require some clarification and correction. First, the clarification:

On the Decatur Book Festival website, the description for the workshop I'm giving indicates that I was a writer on the television show Futurama. This is incorrect. To clarify: I did work on the original 72 episodes of the show, but strictly in a production capacity, as the design coordinator at Rough Draft Studios, the animation house that produced the animation for the show. This is where I cut my teeth in the animation business, and learned just about everything I know about producing a quality cartoon. And while I wish I could say that I was a Futurama writer, I can't, because I wasn't, and I don't want to pass myself off as something I'm not. For anyone contemplating signing up for the workshop because of this erroneous information, I apologize for the confusion - but I still think if you're interested in animation writing, you'll get something out of the event.

And now to the correction: On page 20 of the Decatur Book Festival circular distributed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I am described as "Cartoon Network's Elliot Blake." This is incorrect as well. I was employed by Turner Broadcasting's GameTap, which is a sister company of Cartoon Network, but I've never worked for Cartoon Network. I can only guess that since I'm giving a workshop on writing for animation, an assumption was made that I must work for Cartoon Network. I'd like to work for them, sure. But I don't. Once again, I apologize for the confusion.

Rock on.

-EB

Decatur Book Festival

The line-up for the Decatur Book Festival was announced today, and yours truly is one of the 225 “world-class authors” (their words, not mine) participating in what has become a really big deal literary event here in the southeast. The festival runs from August 29-31, and I’ll be presenting a workshop on animation writing somewhere in that timeframe. More information as it becomes available. Click here to see my profile and (ridiculous) head shot. I’m looking forward to this - it should be fun.

Emmy Night in Atlanta

On Saturday night, I had the distinct honor of being my industry peers and a bunch of people in the television news business at the 2008 NATAS Southeast Regional Emmy Awards. I received an Emmy for Television Advanced Media Excellence, for my work on the Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider series, and a second Emmy for Television Spot Announcement Excellence, for my contributions to a Lara Croft on TNT and GameTap promo. It was a good night for GameTap TV alumni - we were nominated for eleven awards across six categories, and took home five Emmys. After learning that GameTap TV was going away, resulting in our being laid off several weeks ago, this was a nice way to go out: on top.