Things I Learned About Trucking From Patrick Swayze

While I was getting my hair cut today, I had a tough time keeping my eyes off the television, because AMC was showing the Patrick Swayze trucking docudrama Black Dog.
Just take a look at that cast: Swayze, Randy Travis with a beard, and Meat Loaf. Anyway, you see something like that on television, and you just know you're going to learn something, and this fine 1998 primer on the grim realities of the trucking business does not disappoint. Here are the important things I learned, from watching about twenty minutes of the film out of the corner of my eye with the sound off:

1. "The only way to stay alive is to keep moving." Good advice, especially if you're a shark, and also if there are bad guys chasing you, which seems to happen with alarming frequency to the trucker played by Swayze. I was aware that truckers are able to drive for far longer stretches of time than mere mortals, but I never realized it's because they have to keep moving to stay alive. Y'know, lest they be caught by the bad guys that are apparently chasing them.

2. At any given moment, a big rig might careen out of control on a mountain road, slam into an extra-large mobile home conveniently blocking the road, flip over, and explode. Or careen out of control on a mountain road and slam through a country gas station and explode. Or careen out of control on a mountain road in an elaborate pas de deux with another big rig and explode:
3. Truckers need to be ever vigilant, because machine gun-toting thugs on motorcycles could be trying to shoot them or shoot out their tires at any time.
I know. It's a terrifying thought.

4. And, finally, if you're driving down a mountain road, and you see a truck coming the other way, and the driver looks alarmed because he's either careening out of control or machine gun-toting thugs on motorcycles are chasing him, pull off on to the shoulder and let him pass, that way you don't wind up careening out of control and exploding yourself. You'll be glad you did.

Now, in putting together this post, I learned a couple of other valuable things about being a trucker, as portrayed in Black Dog:
-You don't look at the cargo and you don't question the route.
-You just might be haunted by an apparition known as the Black Dog, which apparently "plagues truckers stretched beyond their mental and physical limits," according to the Official Patrick Swayze International Fan Club website, an important resource for truckers. I would think that constantly worrying about careening out of control on mountain roads and exploding, or being chased by machine gun-toting thugs on motorcycles, or just plain keeping moving so you can stay alive, would be enough to cause anyone to be haunted by the Black Dog. Is it selfish to be glad I'm not a trucker?

Anyway, if you haven't seen Black Dog, you should, because it will give you a new appreciation for what truckers go through when they drive on mountain roads.

10-4.

-EB

Names We Did Not Consider For Our Children

Fourth in an occasional series.

Rod Blagojevic.

-EB

The Map, Redux

It's been awhile since I've done a post about site traffic and the Google Analytics map, and since I'm procrastinating about getting some other work done, I thought, why not do one today? So here it is:

Google recently updated their analytics tools, making it easier to view your site information by the day, week, month, or year, so I decided to see how I've done since I started tracking the site traffic for the blog and for my work site, elliotblake.com. Here's what I've learned: for the period of 6/17/08 through yesterday, 12/9/08, elliotblake.com has received 504 visits from 20 countries (458 of those from the U.S., which is no surprise), and from 175 cities. A big chunk of this traffic is due to my being on LinkedIn, and another, bigger chunk is from an ad I placed on entertainment industry site Cynopsis.com and its daily email newsletter, offering my services as a freelance writer. So, to the fine and discerning people from the entertainment centers of New York, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Burbank, and here in Atlanta, who saw the Cynopsis ad and visited the site (some of you more than once, I can tell from the numbers) - thanks for checking me out. I'm currently available for writing, story editing, and producing work.

Traffic to the blog has also been brisk (for the personal blog of a non-famous person, anyway). For the period of 10/2/08 through 12/9/08, I've received 684 visits from 14 countries and 123 cities. That's 180 more visits to the blog than the website, in a little more than half the time since I've been tracking, but from fewer locations; the blog has had more repeat visitors, which makes sense, since it's updated more frequently than elliotblake.com.

Anyway, for my wife who likes these things, I've made a couple of composite maps which show my global reach. Here's the country map:
Green countries have only visited elliotblake.com; blue countries have visited the blog and the website; and red countries have only visited the blog. (And because those countries are red on the map, they either voted Republican in the last election or they're communists.)

Here's the city composite map, showing hits from both the blog and the website:
I'm spreading like measles, only less virulent and more entertaining. (At least I think so.)

That's enough procrastination for one day. Back to work.

-EB

Government Bailouts and Me

I think I'm going to reorganize as a bank holding company so I can tap into the $700 billion TARP fund.

-EB

Names We Did Not Consider For Our Children

Third in an occasional series.

Asdrubal.

-EB

Names We Did Not Consider For Our Children

Second in an occasional series.

Yorvit.

-EB

Names We Did Not Consider For Our Children

First in an occasional series.

Plaxico.

-EB

The New Pornographers

Now, before anyone unfamiliar with The New Pornographers gets in a tizzy, this post is not about any kind of pornography, but rather about the excellent band that goes by the name The New Pornographers. My good friend Jim Wiseman (he of the brilliant op-ed piece about Georgia's antiquated election runoff system in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution a few weeks back) turned me on to them a little more than a year ago, and in that time, they've become one of my favorite bands. They fall into the indie-rock category, and what sets them apart is band leader Carl Newman's uncanny ability to write a power-pop song. Here's an example, called "Use It," from their Twin Cinema album:

I love that song, and if it comes onto my iPod, I've been known to listen to it twice.

I think the thing that really appeals to me about The New Pornos is that they're complete music nerds, in the same way that I am a complete comic book nerd. (The song "Challengers" even seems to reference an old DC comic by Jack Kirby called Challengers of the Unknown, but I'm not sure the reference was intentional.) But it's obvious, from the songwriting to the finished tracks, that Newman and band are really interested in songcraft, and I just dig that. And I think that's why they appeal as well to my buddy Jim, who is a nerd of the mathematical variety (and I mean that in the best possible way).

One of the important things to know about The New Ps is that they're kind of a supergroup; Newman is clearly the leader, but also in the band is the amazing singer Neko Case (whose Fox Confessor Brings the Flood album also never leaves my iPod) and another singer/songwriter named Dan Bejar, from the band Destroyer (which I know nothing about). The songs Bejar sings on the New Ps records are clearly the work of a different author, and have an almost entirely different feel. Early on in my introduction to The New Ps, I wasn't much fond of the Dan Bejar songs, which have also earned some level of scorn from Professor Wiseman. Yes, Jim's not a Dan Bejar fan. In fact, he really dislikes him. And when we saw the band in concert last year, I found Bejar's onstage demeanor off-putting.

But something has happened in the last few months; I now like most of the Dan Bejar songs on the three Pornographers albums I have (Mass Romantic, Twin Cinema, and the latest, Challengers). There's still a couple I click through - "Entering White Cecilia" and "Streets of Fire," both of which creep me out - but otherwise, I let 'em play. And there's a couple I actually really like, first and foremost "Myriad Harbor" on Challengers. Here it is:

It's a cool video, and in the way that ideas (I guess that's what they are) keep erupting out of Bejar's head in the animation, it makes me think of one of my favorite comics of the last couple of years, Matt Fraction's spy comic Casanova, which itself was inspired by several New Ps songs. I'd try and explain, but Casanova is pretty dense, and I can't summarize it in way that will make sense here; but Casanova fans will understand.

There you have it. Jim, I hope you don't hold my new appreciation for the Dan Bejar-penned-and-sung New Pornographers songs against me.

-EB

Live-Blogging the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show...Wrap-Up

The editors of elliotblake.blogspot.com kind of regret the last six posts. We'll be taking the subject of this eponymous blog behind the woodshed for a good thrashing, and return to the sober and serious blogging the ten or fifteen regular readers of this website have come to expect.

Our sincerest apologies,

The Editors

Live-Blogging the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show...Part 6

-It's almost over. Thank goodness. I'm starting to feel like I've somehow sullied myself by undertaking this endeavor.

-They just showed a shot of John Stamos, and he looked bored.

-The tension! Will Karolina make it on stage despite the torn outfit?

-I'm not sure I'll ever know.

-For my money, I'd buy Agent Provocateur. But perhaps not the pirate collection.

Peace out.

-EB

Live-Blogging the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show...Part 5

-Do all the guys really want to be Usher? The man can sing, but it never really occurred to me that I should want to be him.

-Trellis with underpants? Thumbs up.

-What if, when the stage directors yell "Go go go!", one of the models got too excited, and ran? Like a greyhound? Would that throw off the whole thing?

-Okay, the model with the tree branch accouterments looked like she was in some kind of pain. I'm surprised. Those things look very comfortable.

Live-Blogging the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show...Part 4

-Where's Sarah Palin? (Not as a model, as limelight-loving audience celebrity. Get your heads out of the gutter.)

-Laura wants to know, "Do we really need all this extra crap, the capes and corsets and fringes, or can we just wear our underwear?"

-I think Marisa Miller is kind of hot, but she has an abnormally long trunk.

-Laura says she's inspired to wear more glitter, but I think she's just being snarky.

-I don't honestly believe that the pick-up tips provided by the models are going to be useful to anyone.

-I don't think the models really had a "Patton" moment.

-Oh, good. Dancers.

-Are the panties that say "Kisses" on the front and "Big Hugs" on the back inviting something? (Now I'm worried that some lunatic is going to hug that model's ass.)

-A big winter hunting hat paired with a bikini doesn't really work for me.

Live-Blogging the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show...Part 3

-Is the behind-the-scenes stuff really necessary?

-And who the hell is Jose Moreno? Apparently this is the Latin section of the show.

-"Go go go go!" Try not to trip.

-I'm wondering how some if this stuff even qualifies as lingerie.

-There's not enough metal or shiny silver in everyday lingerie.

-Babalu? Is he channeling Ricky Ricardo? Don't get me wrong, the music is fine, but "Babalu?"

-Brett Ratner is shimmying to the music in the audience. He is officially a tool.

Live-Blogging the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show...Part 2

Is the Victoria's Secret Fashion show really "The sexiest night on television," as the CBS announcer just claimed?

I think the fine folks at Skinemax - I mean Cinemax - might have something to say about that.

Live-Blogging the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show...

...because I'm not all about politics, and my wife said I could. Seriously, if there was ever an opportunity for both snark and staring at scantily clad women, this is it.

Of course, I'm coming to it a little late, but thanks to the power of TiVo, I can say the following:

-less camera shots of Usher. No one is tuning in to see him, they're tuning in to see the models.

-more ass. I know this is on CBS, but I think it's kind of tepid to show shots of models in undergarments small enough to put in a letter-sized envelope walking towards the camera but not away from it. What, I should only get to see this if I'm there? (And yes, I know that if I want to see some models in thongs I only need to Google it, but my point is that CBS is the Wussy Network.)

-less Paris Hilton. In all aspects of life.

-the poorly staged behind the scenes "Who's Victoria" sequences have to go.

I Just Got a Robo-call from Sarah Palin...

...and it gave me the heebie-jeebies.

Fortunately, moments later (not an exaggeration), I also got a robo-call from Barack Obama, which effectively counteracted the Palin-induced heebie-jeebies.

(FYI - We have a big runoff election here in Georgia tomorrow, for a Senate seat, which is why we're getting robo-calls from political luminaries and dim-bulbs alike.)

-EB

What I'm Thankful For

It's been an interesting year. It's not often that you lose a great job due to downsizing and then win awards for the work you did there, and then not find work for the next six months. But that's the position I find myself in. I could be crabby about it (and sometimes I am), but the truth of the matter is this: I'm a pretty lucky guy, and I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I'm especially thankful for all the support and encouragement I've received from my friends, my parents and siblings, and my former colleagues, many of whom are in the same boat I'm in, job-wise. I'd name names, but I'm likely to forget someone, so best to just say thanks - you know who you are.

But, first and foremost, here's what I'm most thankful for...



...my wonderful wife Laura, and my kids, Sam and Hannah. Laura's support and encouragement have been unwavering; it's a hell of a lot easier navigating this rough patch in my career knowing that my best friend and partner believes in me and what I'm doing. And Sam and Hannah? They just make me happy.

So, Happy Thanksgiving! Go gorge yourselves on turkey. I know I'm going to.

-EB

Comment on a Comment - Georgia Runoff

I got a comment today from someone going by the moniker "An American Idiot," sort of related to last week's post about the Georgia Senate Runoff election, and I felt like it was worth posting up front so I could respond:

Elliot you are a guy with too much time on your hands! One good reason to vote Republican in this runoff is to insure there IS the ability for the minority to have a voice. As we have seen Nancy Pelosi is not the most open minded person who has ever led the House. When one party controls everything you get group think. This is bad. Think about that when you are standing there ready to drop your vote. I have more on this topic on my blog @ http://anamericanidiot.wordpress.com/

Hi, An American Idiot - thanks for taking the time to comment. First, in response to your comment about "having too much time" on my hands, I can only assume you're referring to my "Mustaches I Have Admired" post. What can I say, I'm between gigs.

I also wanted to respond to your plea for me to vote Republican in next week's Senate runoff here in Georgia - not going to happen, and here's why:

1. I think Saxby Chambliss is a corrupt dinosaur who still believes in trickle-down economics, and I would have an exceedingly difficult time voting for a guy who engaged in really despicable campaigning the first time he ran for the Senate, smearing Max Cleland, a genuine war hero, as not being brave enough to take on Al Qaeda. Once upon a time, John McCain thought that was pretty disgraceful, too, but apparently not so disgraceful that he didn't mind putting in a couple of appearances here in Georgia on Chambliss' behalf over the last couple of weeks.
2. It's not my responsibility as a voter to make sure the minority party has a voice, it's my responsibility to vote my conscience; if enough people feel differently than I do, Chambliss wins, and the GOP has that extra hedge in the Senate. That's the way a democracy is supposed to work. This year, Republicans lost seats in the House and the Senate because people thought they have been doing a lousy job - and I agree with that, so why would I want to help them out, especially someone like Chambliss, who I believe is part of the problem?
   
3. I voted for Barack Obama, I believe in his agenda, and I'm not going to do anything to put an obstacle in his path.

One other thing - you mentioned Nancy Pelosi, and that she's not the "most open-minded person who has ever led the house." It's true, she's been as partisan as her Republican predecessor - but that has no bearing on this particular race. Here's something to consider - the new leader of her party, the President-elect, has made it pretty clear that this is not the time for partisan nonsense. He's setting a tone, and to further his policy agenda - one that Pelosi presumably agrees with - the Speaker of the House is going to have to adopt his tone, because he's going to need support from the other side of the aisle, as broad support is what's going to enable our recovery to get going.

One last thing to consider, as well - assuming that the Democrats do not get to sixty seats in the Senate, there are still going to be issues where the filibuster is busted, because there will be issues where two or three moderate Republicans will be willing to side with the Democrats to get business done.

That's how I see it, anyway.

Thanks for reading,
EB

Mustaches I Have Admired

Don't worry, I'm not going to grow one.

-EB

Chinese Democracy

Can a nation of more than a billion people ever truly be a democracy? And why does Axl Rose give a damn? And how can Guns'n'Roses be Guns'n'Roses without Slash? I assume the new album Chinese Democracy will sell, but more out of curiosity than anything else. Honestly, though - does anyone really care that this album came out, other than the apparently millions of people who are going to cash in on the free Dr. Pepper promo?

-EB

Deep Thought of the Day

On my way to pick up Sam from school today, I noticed a car festooned with bumper stickers expressing a certain political and lifestyle view - "Be a Vegetarian!", "Nice Truck, Buddy! Sorry About Your Small Pee-Pee.", "Kucinich '04", that sort of thing. It was really a case of vehicle as mode of expression, and I've seen it across the cultural spectrum, from NRA-W the President-Love It or Leave It pick-up trucks to ten year old Hondas covered with stickers for obscure goth bands. Which led me to the following:

Are blogs and Facebook pages the more verbose bumper stickers of the information super-highway?

I know - it's heavy, man. Heavy. (And you thought I was kidding when I said "deep thought" in the subject line...)

-EB

Big Website Update; Jeffrey Brown

As indicated in the title of this post, I made a big update to my website today, adding a section for my current projects, cleverly titled "Current Projects." Go there. Click on it. You'll be glad you did! I'd make a money back offer if you were to find the experience unsatisfying, but I'm not charging you anything to visit.

One of the projects you'll find on the Current Projects page is something I've been teasing off and on here, which we've decided to reveal - and if you're an indie comics fan, perhaps you've guessed, based on the post-semicolon portion of this blog entry's title, that it involves the amazing cartoonist Jeffrey Brown. We've put together a pitch for an animated show we're calling Jeffrey Brown's Sketchbook. We're hoping to find a home for it soon. Here's a small excerpt from the proposal (click for a larger view):
I think Jeffrey really captured the essence of my chest hair. More on this (Sketchbook, not the essence of my chest hair) as it develops.

-EB

The Map, One More Time

As I've previously mentioned, I am fascinated by the Google Analytics Map. Here's the latest, detailing the worldwide Elliot outbreak:
And as I've also previously mentioned, my wife is a data connoisseur; she deals with data every day, and is really interested in the visual representation of quantitative information to explain studies and provide context. So she was really in love with CNN's election map as operated by the map maestro, John King. It turns out Laura wasn't the only person into the map - so was The Daily Show's John Oliver (who once got his butt kicked, along with teammate John Hodgman, in charity scrabble tournament by my sister-in-law Elaine). But where Laura sees potential for good in the map, John Oliver sees...evil (worth watching):


That's today's map update.

-EB

Not People's Sexiest Man Alive...Again.

For the 17th year running, I have inexplicably been passed over by People Magazine for the title of Sexiest Man Alive, this time by this guy:That's Hugh Jackman, best known to comic book geeks as Wolverine of the X-Men. Yeah, he's a handsome guy, but I can only assume that I was not chosen because the editors at People did not see any pictures of me running along the beach without my shirt on, which happened a lot while I was in San Diego this past August. It's a travesty.

-EB

Memo to The Blogger Team Re: Comics Addiction

Dear Blogger Team:

I received your email about my other blog, Comics Addiction, being identified as a possible spam blog. As requested, I've submitted it for review, but just in case you investigate the other blogs in my Dashboard to determine the validity of Comics Addiction, I wanted to post something here to let you know it's not spam. I just haven't done anything with it yet. I've been considering starting a blog about comics, but I haven't figured out what the angle is, so I haven't started posting items to it yet - which I'm pretty is not a violation of Blogger's terms of service. Here are a couple of other blogs I've registered but not posted to yet: Nine Panel Grid and The Package. One is the news blog for my company, the other is an impending webcomic. Neither is a spam blog.

Thanks,
Elliot Blake

My Wife is Also Famous

My lovely wife Laura is the type of person who prefers not to have the spotlight on her, but today she was mentioned in the blog of the Teagle Foundation, a major foundation providing grants to educational institutions, including Agnes Scott College, where Laura works. Here's a link spotlighting Laura's professional awesomeness (along with that of Katherine Smith and her art and art history department colleagues). Why is this important? Because it shows what an excellent job she's doing for Agnes Scott, and gives her some much-deserved national attention in the higher education sphere. And it's nice to be able to put a spotlight on that.

-EB

The Map, Again

I really do find the ability to see where the hits for elliotblake.com are coming from to be fascinating. I added a continent since the last map post: South America, specifically, Argentina. Very cool. (Click map for larger view.)
I also checked the traffic for this blog, and yesterday, I got a hit from Beijing, which was a surprise. Either the person who wound up here from China was very interested in the Georgia Senate Runoff, or accidentally clicked on my blog instead of Elliott Gould's. Which could happen.

-EB

Georgia Sentate Runoff Election

Georgia has been in the news quite a bit lately, due to the runoff between incumbent Senator Saxby Chambliss (R), and his opponent, Jim Martin (D). The outcome of this runoff is important nationally because if Martin wins, it puts the Democrats one seat closer to having a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. I'm not going to get into the politics of this; instead, I bring it up because my friend Jim Wiseman, an associate professor of mathematics at Agnes Scott College, who studies the mathematics of voting and chaos theory, has written an outstanding op-ed piece in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the problems with our electoral system. But it's not just about the problems - it's also about solutions, and Jim makes some excellent, reasonable suggestions that could probe beneficial to everyone who cares enough to vote. It's totally worth a read. So read it!

-EB

Two pitches...

...out the door to the network.

Keeping fingers crossed.

-EB

The Map

My lovely wife, a true data connoisseur, is very much in love with the touchscreen electoral map so ably navigated by John King on CNN, but now that the election is over, she's suffering from a little withdrawal. I mentioned in my last couple of posts the quantity of hits my website has received over the last few days - a teeny, tiny amount by commercial standards, but good for me - and where those hits have been coming from across the globe. So, for Laura, here's the map:
I think you can click the map for a larger view. What I like about it is all the dots, each representing a geographic location from which a hit originated. It looks like some kind of global Elliot outbreak, which my ego really digs. The bigger dots indicate a larger quantity of hits from that region, which is why the entire southeast of the United States is obscured by a giant dot representing the Atlanta metro area. Yesterday, I got a hit from Hong Kong. That's just cool.

-EB

Website Update

I updated elliotblake.com this morning to include the Jim Lee Talks... interview series I did for GameTap. Those videos have been available on YouTube for about a year now, but I thought they were worth aggregating in one place, now that GameTap has dispensed with all video programming.

If you have not seen these videos, but you're a fan of Jim Lee (he's a living legend amongst comic book artists if you're not a fan), they're worth checking out, as Jim talks about his artistic process and gives a tour of Wildstorm, his San Diego-based studio. He was a gracious host and an engaging personality, so producing these videos was a pleasure.

-EB

More On Google Analytics and Web Hits

Yesterday, I noted that thanks to Google Analytics, I knew that my website received 34 hits in about a week's time. Well, yesterday, I posted a "situation wanted" ad on the industry newsletter and website Cynopsis, and thanks to that ad (and my continuing networking on LinkedIn), elliotblake.com received 33 hits in one day. Which is more than double my previous record, which was something like 14 hits from Suwanee, Georgia a couple of days before I gave a workshop at the Decatur Book Festival. So the Cynopsis ad is working, I would say, and using Analytics is incredibly useful for determining where the hits are coming from. If you have a website, and you're curious about your traffic, I highly recommend this Google tool. (And they're not paying me to say that. Although they should.)

-EB

Project Updates

Before I get into the project updates portion of this entry, I just want to say a word about Google Analytics, which is a tool that helps you track website traffic. Using Google Analytics, I'm able to see how many hits my blog and websites get on a daily basis, where those hits are originating, and whether or not the hits came from a referring site, like LinkedIn or Facebook. This is just awesome, and here's an example of why: between November 4 and this morning, www.elliotblake.com, the site where all my produced work lives, received 34 visits from 25 cities in 9 countries - 7 hits from 5 countries this morning alone. The bulk came from here in the U.S., but I've also received hits from the U.K., Italy, Canada, India, Spain, France, Poland, and Finland. That's right, Finland. Apparently, I am an international superstar.

So, how does this tie in to the title of this post? Well, the vast majority of those hits came from a posting I left in a discussion forum on LinkedIn, looking for an artist for a webcomic project. I'm happy to report I've found the right artist for the job, a guy named Alexis Ziritt, who is a magazine illustrator, poster artist, storyboard guy, and a co-founder of Calavera Comics, a small publisher specializing in stories taking place where crime fiction and the Mexican masked wrestlers known as luchadores meet. Which is good, because my story is a piece of crime fiction that takes place, in part, in Mexico. He's got an amazing style - very European, with a touch of Paul Pope thrown in for good measure. Here's a taste:

From looking at his work, I think he's the perfect guy for the job, and I am really thrilled to have him on board. I will update you on our progress as we move forward.

In other news, I have in my hot little hands (actually, they're really not small, and it's about 65 degrees in the house, so they're not hot either) a tape containing all the interviews and b-roll shot a couple of weeks ago with Cully Hamner and the Gaijin Studios crew. I begin transcribing today. More on this as it moves forward as well.

-EB

p.s. I'm going to add some additional link content to the sidebar here on the blog, and I'll be adding a new section or two to my main website as well - one for new projects, and one to add the interview series I shot last year with Jim Lee at Wildstorm Studios. It's all on YouTube, so why not?

Draw Every Day For a Year. That's An Order.

My old pal Albert Calleros, whom I worked with at Rough Draft Studios back when I was a design coordinator and he was a storyboard guy, has a fascinating blog called Draw Everyday For a Year, where he does, in fact, post a new drawing just about every day. Albert is an animation director now, working on Fox's American Dad, and he's really just a phenomenally talented artist, able to work in a tremendous range of styles. He's up to Day 300 now, and it's hard not to admire what he's done. How I hate him.

Albert is also one of the creators of the yearly anthology comic Hot Mexican Love Comics, co-published and edited-in-chiefed by our mutual friend Ira Sherak. (Other Hot Mexican Lovers deserving of a shout-out include co-creator Larry Reynosa and the world's angriest Canadian, Bob Bowen. An entertaining blog detailing the convention exploits of the Hot Mexican Love crew can be found here.) The anthology features stories by some of the finest talents of the animation industry, some of whom happen to be friends of mine. Others are mortal enemies. Check it out!

-EB

Looking for a Comics Artist Collaborator

I have written the script for the first chapter of a webcomic which I'd like to submit to DC Comics' online comics venture, Zuda Comics. But I need an artist, one who can handle crime fiction. And finding a good one who can or will work on spec - i.e., for no money up front, just like me - is not easy, because odds are if an artist is good, he or she is getting paid for their work, and paid work has to come first. A quandary indeed. But, if you are a comics artist, or you know a comics artist who might be interested in working on a relatively low risk venture with an award-winning writer-producer (that's me), click on my profile to the right, hit the email link, and shoot me a message.

Thanks,

EB

Teasing a Project

Yesterday, I received a package from one of my favorite indie cartoonists, with whom I've been developing an animated series off and on for the last three-plus years. Over the summer, the development has been more on than off, and now I have in my hands the final art for the series proposal, which will be hand-delivered to the network sometime next week. To say that I am excited about getting this out the door is an understatement. When I can post a more formal tease of the project, I will.

-EB

File Under: From the Mouths of...

"Hannah - do you know who won the election last night?"

Her reply? "Rocko Bama!"

Godspeed, President-Elect Bama...

-EB

File Under: Kids Say the Darndest...

Today as we were pulling up the driveway, a clip of Barack Obama's speech from last night came on the radio. I turned and said to Sam, my five-and-a-half year old son, "Buddy, we did a great thing last night in electing Barack Obama. You're going to grow up in a United States where anyone can do anything, with no barriers--"

"--or vampires?" he interrupted?

"Um, right. No vampires."

"What would Barack Obama do if he saw a vampire? Would he kill it?"

"Um..."

Ah, to be five.

-EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: Relief

I am completely overwhelmed right now. This is a great thing for our country, and I pray that President-Elect Obama can be the great, transformational president that we need right now. I was really worried that somehow McCain would pull off an upset - but now I feel a tremendous sense of relief, and that we, as a country, have a real chance to climb out of the deep hole we're in. He's got a tremendous challenge ahead of him, and we have tremendous challenges ahead of us as a nation, so I hope we can all pull together after a hard-fought, sometimes nasty campaign, and support this man in moving our country forward.

Signing off,

EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: The Big Prognosticator

The results of Indiana not withstanding - still don't know the outcome as I type this - I am very surprised to be watching this man who blew me away with an inspirational speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention be on the verge of the presidency of the greatest nation on Earth. I said to Laura back then, whoever wins, this Obama fellow is going to be president one day. I remember trying to figure out when it would happen; if Kerry had won, I was thinking 2012, but if Bush won, I wondered if a guy so new to the scene would or could run in 2008. And sure enough, Bush won. And Obama ran. And now we're here. And CNN just projected he's going to be the 44th President of the United States. And I actually have tears in my eyes.

Wow.

Wow.

Thanks goodness.

-EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: Big Calls on the Way

California closing soon - six minutes as a I type this. Fifty-five electoral votes. It's getting really damn close.

-EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: John King and the Map

My wife, Laura, really loves that fancy map John King navigates and operates with such alacrity, and also is very appreciative of the way CNN has been talking about data, as she's a data connoisseur. Someone should get her one of those big interactive digital touchscreen whiteboards.

Kudos to you, John King!

-EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: Joe the Plumber

I guess his fifteen minutes are up.

Thank goodness.

-EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: Not Jumping the Gun

This from Josh Marshall of the outstanding Talking Points Memo blog:

A lot of states are still out. But with Pennsylvania, New Mexico and especially Ohio, this race is all but over. Obviously, if the networks projections are wrong in Ohio or PA, all bets are off. But assuming those calls stay in place, it's virtually impossible to see how McCain wins. He would have to win a big blue state to get back into the race. And I just can't see one on the map. There aren't any more available that were even remotely in contention. Things are looking extremely good for Barack Obama.

Good words of caution, worth heeding.

-EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: Hey, Ho, Where'd You Go...

...OHIO.

A little Pretenders for you there, loyal readers.

MSNBC, Fox, and just now CNN have projected Ohio for Obama! Absolutely huge. I know I was waiting on Indiana to call the election, but that's why I'm not on television right now. With Ohio in Obama's column, I don't see how McCain wins this thing. Also, my three-year-old daughter was firm in her prognostication that Barack Obama will win tonight, so that pretty much seals it. Hannah calls it for Obama.

I won't sleep, however, until there's 270 securely in the Obama column.

Still. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

-EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: Beer!

...is making me tired.

-EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: Georgia, Part 2

Okay, so Georgia has been projected as going to McCain - not a surprise. But the county by county maps on the NYTimes are very interesting; right now, overall, it's 60%-30% McCain, but if you look at Fulton and Dekalb counties, it's 60%-30% Obama. That's 'cause we're heavily African-American in these counties, and also heavily pinko.

Still waiting to make my projection.

-EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: Georgia

This is the first election where Laura and I have lived in a state that wasn't reliably blue, and it's nice to know that our votes may actually count this year - not that I'm counting on Obama winning Georgia, but I'd like to see it happen. In the meantime, we're sitting here with our laptops, clicking on the state results on the New York Times website, and looking for the Dekalb and Fulton county results, waiting to see those counties turn blue. Yes, we're geeking out here.

I'm getting ready to call the election - just waiting on the results from Indiana, which are trickling in. The networks are all saying Pennsylvania is key to denying McCain victory, but I think it's Indiana. Or Virginia. Or North Carolina. Or...

-EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: DirecTV Election Mix

Right now I'm watching 8 channels of election coverage on DirecTV's Election Mix channel, which ROCKS! Now I can know when to switch back to CNN for John King and the map (which my lovely wife is geeking out on), and MSNBC, so I can see when Rachel Maddow comes on. I've always wanted picture-in-picture, but never had it - now I want eight channels at once. All the time. Election Overdose!

-EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: Projections

With 0% of the precincts reporting, elliotblake.blogspot.com is now projecting that Virginia is making me nervous, and that I'm going to have a beer.

-EB

Live-Blogging Election Night: CNN

Mary-Grace, Randy, this is for you - Live-Blogging Election Night!

Wolf Blitzer was just hyping "something never done on television", with CNN's Jessica Yellin, and I said to Laura, "Are they beaming her in?" And sure enough, that's more or less what they did, complete with Star Trek Original Series visual fx (but no sound effects), beaming in a hologram of Jessica Yellin, who's in Chicago, to the New York studio. Impressive. Nerdy. Necessary? I'm curious to know if Wolf was actually seeing the hologram as presented live to viewers in the studio, or if he was seeing the effect on a monitor. Appropriately, Yellin said she felt like Princess Leia, but certainly Wolf Blitzer is not our only hope.

More to come.

-EB

I Just Hung Up on John McCain

Well, it turns out the robocalls aren't going to end until the fat lady votes. John McCain just called to campaign in my ear for a moment, and I hung up on him, as it turns out I voted more than a week ago, and it wasn't him I voted for.

Finally!

It's election day. If you haven't voted already, please go do so. (Although I'm fairly certain that my regular audience of 10-15 people are not in need of any reminders.)

I know I'm not the only person in the country to be relieved this day is finally here. I'm staying away from the television coverage until the polls start closing today, and then I expect I'll be glued. Apparently Direct TV is going to have a "election mix" channel, with the screen split into six boxes featuring coverage from the broadcast networks, CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and one screen splitting time between BBC America and Comedy Central. That's probably what I'll be watching. One last hardcore mainlining of election news before I go cold turkey.

I will admit to being on pins and needles today. I'd like to see an Obama victory, and while many of the pundits and news organizations and analysts seem to think that's the likely outcome, I'm not going to believe it until it actually happens - if there's one thing I've learned working in the entertainment business, it's that you take nothing for granted, and that no such thing as a done deal until the check has actually cleared and the funds are securely deposited in your account, a metaphor which I think is easily extended to presidential election politics.

More later, I'm sure.

-EB

Confessions: Weird Al

When I was at GameTap.com, I had the privilege of co-creating, with the whip-smart and talented Chris Jordan, a little show called Confessions, which was an intentionally crudely animated program featuring people's tales of videogame-related woe. Including the pilot, we made seven episodes, under the more-than-capable stewardship of writer/producer/professional funnyman Dave Drabik, who has written for comedy greats David Letteman, Jay Leno, and Bill Maher, and who was brought in to help with Confessions because I was swamped with the Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider show. There are a couple of Confessions episodes written by yours truly up on my website; all-in-all, it was an enoyable experience.

Not long before the plug was pulled on GameTap TV at the end of May, I was tasked with making one final episode of Confessions, this one with a special guest star: Weird Al Yankovic, who, if I remember correctly, was supposed to be the GameTap Artist of the Month for June. GameTap TV was pulled off the website sometime in June or July, so I honestly couldn't tell you whether or not the Weird Al programming happened, but I can tell you that we finished and delivered the Weird Al episode of Confessions before we were shown the door. I was poking around YouTube today, looking to see what GameTap TV programming was still floating around the web, and much to my surprise, I found the Weird Al Confessions, capably written by my occasional writing partner Carl LaPan, produced by me, directed by John Henshaw of Turner Studios, and featuring the actual voice of Weird Al Yankovic. There's a strange video glitch in the YouTube encode, but I embed the episode here for your viewing enjoyment:



-EB

When I Bite Into a York Peppermint Patty...

...I bite into a York Peppermint Patty.

It's good, but I wish it were as transcendent experience as they'd have you believe.


That is all.

-EB

A Day at Gaijin Studios

I mentioned last week that I was finally getting to a project I'm pretty excited about, and while I don't want to give away too much in the way of details, I can tell you this much: interviews for the pilot episode of a new show I've cooked up with my co-producer, the talented and award-winning Will Payne (also late of GameTap/Turner Broadcasting), were shot last Thursday at the offices of Gaijin Studios, one of the premiere creative studios in the comic book industry. Here's Will and I with Cully Hamner (center), the comic book artist best known for the new Blue Beetle at DC Comics and the mini-series Red with writer Warren Ellis, which was recently optioned for a film:
Cully and his studio-mates - Brian Stelfreeze, Laura Martin, Tony Shasteen, and Doug Wagner - kindly allowed us to invade their space for a day, and they really couldn't have been more gracious if they tried. Here's what I can tell you about the pilot: it was shot in HD, and we had a jib arm, allowing for some really smooth camera shots. I think it's going to look great, and it's definitely going to be interesting. More will be revealed as the project comes together.

-EB

Still Burned Out...

...but I just read something that I feel I have to comment on, because I think it's yet another example of John McCain's poor judgement in choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate. According to Palin, and as reported here by ABC News, she fears that her First Amendment rights are being threatened by reporters suggesting that she's engaging in negative campaigning against Barack Obama. Here's an excerpt from the article, including a quote from Palin:

Palin told WMAL-AM that her criticism of Obama's associations, like those with 1960s radical Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, should not be considered negative attacks. Rather, for reporters or columnists to suggest that it is going negative may constitute an attack that threatens a candidate's free speech rights under the Constitution, Palin said.

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

How does anyone suggesting that she's going negative constitute a threat to her free speech rights? No one is stopping her from doing it, and every day this week, both she and McCain have engaged in negative campaigning. Her quote, I think, is very telling - "If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning..." I don't think the news media needs to do any convincing - anyone could listen to her remarks and determine by themselves that it's negative campaigning. Governor Palin must think that most people are waiting to have their opinions spoonfed to them. And I certainly don't believe that she's afraid of being attacked by the mainstream media - I think "mainstream media" is code for any news organization other than Fox - this is just part of the Republican strategy of smearing the media, I suppose because the love affair with John McCain is over. But is that the news media's fault, or John McCain's, since the Straight-Talk Express became the No-Talk express?

Anyway, I think this is just another demonstration of Palin's incompetence, and her inability to distinguish between criticism and censorship has exposed a fundamental misreading of the First Amendment on her part.

Okay, I'm quitting - really.

-EB

Political Burn-out

Well, dear readers, yesterday pretty much burned me out on political blogging. I think I mentioned this in a post last week - as a presidential election political junkie, I've had a real hard time tearing myself away from the 24 hour news cycle, and I've allowed myself to become supersaturated by the non-stop stream of cable tv news, newspaper websites, and political blogs. And after my last two posts, Governor Socialist and Comment on a Comment, I think I've argued all I can argue, and commented all I can comment in any kind of depth on this election. Anonymous and RayRay, I did reply to your comments on the Comment on a Comment post, in the comments section, so if you're interested in continuing that dialogue, please check it out - I value your comments and thanks for engaging in the discussion.

Anyway, blogging about politics was never really the aim of this blog, but this election has been so interesting and compelling and infuriating to me that I've needed an outlet to talk about what's going on - it would not have been fair of me to expect my wife Laura to be the only person to listen to me going on and on about this stuff every day. Fortunately, the internet does not roll its eyes when you start ranting (and for the record, neither does Laura, which is astounding to me and a testament to her patience), which makes it the perfect place for me to air out my world view, especially since, at the moment, I'm not going into an office every day where I can impose my opinions on my co-workers.

So what will be coming to the cleverly named Elliot Blake blog? News on personal and professional projects, more stuff about comics, and who knows what else. I'm sure I'm I'll have one or two more things to say about the election next week, and I probably won't completely give up on discussing current events, but it certainly will not be with the frequency seen this month of October. Beyond that, I'm not sure - the content is certain, however, to become more varied and eclectic, and that, I think, is a positive.

Tomorrow, for sure, I'll be posting on a new project I'm very excited about, so I hope you'll come back and take a look.

-EB

Comment on a Comment

My last post, "Governor Socialist," (scroll down or click here) garnered a comment that I think is worth further discussion, and for the convenience of my 10 or 15 regular readers, I'll paste the comment here so no one has to click around:

Comparing the sharing of the oil revenues in Alaska with Obama's plan to take money from some and redistribute it to others is either convenient or dumb. Take your pick.
In Alaska the oil companies pay for the use of the land based on production that money is the used to fund the states financial requirements. Any excess is returned to the citizens of the state as required by law.
Barack Obama's stated goal is to redistribute the wealth. He feels it is only fair to take money from the "haves" and give it to the "have nots". I believe that is welfare. I believe we have an obligation to help those less fortunate, but history has shown that just giving the poor money kills incentive to improve. Taking the money and educating or training these people allows them to become productive and support themselves.

Anonymous Commenter:
I don't think the comparison is convenient or dumb, mostly because I wasn't making a comparison, and I don't believe the writer at the New Yorker was either. I think on the socialism issue, Governor Palin is talking out of both sides of her mouth - at the same time she's slamming Barack Obama for being in favor of the progressive taxation system we have in this country, equating it to socialism, she's espousing the virtues of Alaska's unique set-up, in which the state and the citizenry are benefiting from the collective ownership of a form of wealth, in this case revenues from oil resources. Here's what the Governor said, in her own words: “...we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” That sounds an awful lot like a form of socialism, and it's one that Alaskans are fortunate to benefit from, because due to this sharing of the wealth, they don't have to pay income or sales taxes. So I think it's intellectually dishonest for her to embrace one form of socialism while accusing Senator Obama of being a socialist for supporting progressive taxation, and using that system of taxation to ask people who can afford to pay a little more in taxes to do so, while at the same time giving a break to people who are working and paying taxes. People who have income so low that they don't pay taxes aren't going to get a break, because you can't pay less than zero.

I don't know enough to argue whether or not progressive taxation is a socialist idea, but if it is, we've had a socialist government since 1913, when the federal income tax was enacted, and therefore, every president since then has been a "redistributionist in chief," including Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, both of whom raised taxes while in office. Leaving aside her embrace of "Alaskan Sharing the Wealth" (for lack of a better term, since "Alaskan Socialism" seems unnecessarily inflammatory), if Governor Palin is anti-socialist, and thinks progressive taxation is socialistic, then she ought to explicitly come out against our tax system and explain what she's in favor of. No taxes? A flat tax? A consumption tax? If she has a position on this, I think Americans are entitled to hear it. Otherwise, I believe it exposes her argument, and the argument of the McCain campaign in the final week of the presidential campaign, as bogus.

That's my two cents.

-EB

Governor Socialist

With all the "socialist" hoo-hah being bandied about in the waning days of the election, I would like to present the following excerpt from that liberal rag the New Yorker, in which Sarah Palin appears to endorse a form of "spreading the wealth":

"For her part, Sarah Palin, who has lately taken to calling Obama “Barack the Wealth Spreader,” seems to be something of a suspect character herself. She is, at the very least, a fellow-traveller of what might be called socialism with an Alaskan face. The state that she governs has no income or sales tax. Instead, it imposes huge levies on the oil companies that lease its oil fields. The proceeds finance the government’s activities and enable it to issue a four-figure annual check to every man, woman, and child in the state. One of the reasons Palin has been a popular governor is that she added an extra twelve hundred dollars to this year’s check, bringing the per-person total to $3,269. A few weeks before she was nominated for Vice-President, she told a visiting journalist—Philip Gourevitch, of this magazine—that “we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” Perhaps there is some meaningful distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it (“collectively,” no less), but finding it would require the analytic skills of Karl the Marxist."

The full article can be found here. I found a link to it on the Talking Points Memo website.

-EB

Work, Glorious Work

This week is shaping up to be productive, thank goodness. Here's why:
-Yesterday, I finished mapping out/laying out/writing the first chapter in a webcomic I'm hoping to submit to Zuda Comics, DC Comics' online comics venture. I'm going to finish typing the script today. There's a significant challenge to scripting a comic; it's far different than writing for animation or live action, in that there's no movement - you have to pick the moments you want your readers to see, and describe them for your artist - so it requires a tweak to your thinking, and I've enjoyed that challenge. I've actually got two stories that I'd like to do as webcomics. If I'm feeling especially productive, I might actually get two scripts done this week.

-Today I do research and prepare the interview questions for the interviews my co-producer and I will be shooting on Thursday, for the pilot episode of what we're hoping will turn into a new documentary web-series. More on this as it develops. This has been in the works for a while, and I'm excited to actually have the shoot.

-Tomorrow I lose an hour to a workshop at the Georgia Department of Labor, which I have to attend to keep receiving my unemployment checks. I'm not looking forward to it, but you gotta do what you gotta do, and in this economy, that's what I've gotta do. Nevertheless, I remain hopeful that job opportunities in my chosen career are just around the bend.

That's all for now.

-EB

Maybe McCain Should Have Picked Hillary

Today in the New York Times, political reporter Adam Nagourney has an article called "Second-Guessing the Vice Presidential Pick," which you can read here. Obviously, right now things are not going well for the McCain campaign, and there's a lot of second-guessing going on, much of it centered on the choice of Sarah Palin, who was chosen, according to the Nagourney article, for several reasons including this one: "...she would give Mr. McCain a chance to compete for women voters who had supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and were upset at how she was treated by Senator Barack Obama and the Democratic Party."

That struck me as a weird turn of phrase. Was Hillary Clinton treated badly by Barack Obama and the Democratic Party? I watched the Democratic primaries very closely, and early on, I was leaning towards Obama, but had not yet decided. By the time of the Georgia primary, I had made up my mind and chosen Obama, and I have not regretted that choice in any way. But in my decision-making process, how Senator Clinton was treated by Senator Obama and the Democratic Party never entered my mind, because I didn't see her being treated badly. I saw that her campaign was unable to shake off Obama, and I saw her reinventing herself a few times in an effort to overtake him as the primaries went on. I know Senator Clinton had a beef with the news media for what she perceived as a free ride for Senator Obama, but I really cannot remember a time where Senator Clinton was treated poorly by Barack Obama.

Am I missing something? Have I put on the rose-colored glasses of selective recollection?

One thing, though, is certain - if we're second guessing better choices for the v.p. slot on McCain's ticket, he'd probably be in a lot better shape right now if, instead of picking a woman to try and woo Hillary supporters, he had just picked Hillary.

-EB

...My Favorite Consignment Shop in Anchorage

Does anyone believe this malarkey? The RNC spent $150,000 on a wardrobe for Sarah Palin and her family, I suppose to upgrade their look for the campaign, and politically, it backfired, embarrassing Governor "I'm Just an Average American Like You" Palin. Yesterday on the campaign trail, she sought to tamp down the flap about the wardrobe, asserting that the clothes are not her property, that it's all just for stagecraft to make things look good, and that she's "back to wearing my own clothes from my favorite consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska."

Give me a break! She's the governor of a state! She's not wearing consignment shop clothes! Seriously, anyone who falls for that should have their head examined. Governor Palin and her husband, according to federal disclosures reported by the Associated Press, are worth about 1.2 million dollars, and they had an income in 2007 of $230,000 - which does not include the $17,000 worth of per diem she was paid by the state for 312 nights of staying in her own home since she was elected to office. Now, I know she has five kids, which certainly eats into a person's wardrobe budget, and I know that of the four people running for high office, Gov. Palin is the least well-off, especially when compared to the person at the top of her ticket, but I just don't buy the consignment shop story.

In the whole scheme of things, perhaps this isn't important, but I think it shows a certain amount of disingenuousness that runs counter to her image as a "maverick" - it just seems like it comes right out of the playbook of your standard-issue politician.

She also said, “The double standard here, gosh, we don’t even want to waste our time.” Does anyone have any idea what she's talking about? What's the double standard?

-EB

Updated 10:20am: Well, according to this column by Maureen Dowd, Governor Palin did, at one point, shop at a consignment store called "Out of the Closet." That said, I'm still not buying her assertion that she's currently wearing consignment shop clothes on the trail. Dowd makes an interesting point in her column - for all the cries of sexism that the Republicans have been throwing at the media and critics of Gov. Palin, it's really the McCain campaign and RNC that are guilty of sexism, in how they have felt the need to gloss-up and glam-up the governor with expensive clothes and a make-up artist that was paid more than anyone on the campaign for the first two weeks of October - more than $20,000! Rather than letting Palin be Palin, as I've heard it said by conservatives, they've been playing, as Dowd puts it, "Caribou Barbie." So, honestly, if Palin is pissed off about how the campaign has handled her, and is concerned that she's been tarnished by this, and in some way diminished by it, she's got every right to be. But it still doesn't make her qualified to be second-in-line for the presidency.

Live-Blogging the Early Vote in Georgia

Today, I voted.

Georgia is one of the early voting states, and turnout here has been huge - today was no exception:
While waiting on line, I thought to myself, I'd really like to be live-blogging this, but I'm sans Blackberry and/or iPhone (which I openly covet). But I had a notebook with me, and a pen, and the will to step back into the 2oth century to record my thoughts. I have scanned them, and I share my voting experience with you below. (Click each page for a larger, readable image.)





Three hours in line! In the end, I did get my Chick-Fil-A reward:
...although I think a better reward would be an Obama victory on November 4. But damn, that chicken sandwich was good.

-EB

Twelve Days to Go...

...and I have been hit with some kind of election malaise, a weariness born, I think, out of the 24 hour news cycle, and my addiction to the minutiae that comes out of that news cycle.

But it's not just that. I've grown weary of the flat-out lying that's coming out of the McCain campaign. They're not even trying to win on issues now - they're trying to win on fear. Of Obama the terrorist sympathizer. Of Obama the socialist. Of Obama the sex-education for kindergartners advocate. Of Obama the government-run health care advocate. And on and on and on, ad infinitum, stretching the truth until it breaks. You can find a collection of the lying, detailing the robocalls and the misleading mailers, here at Talking Points Memo.

Both campaigns engage in distortion, but the McCain campaign just takes it to new levels. The thing that's wearing me out is the zeal with which they seem to engaging in this nonsense, especially McCain's running mate, Governor Sarah "I'm-just-like-you-everyday-Americans-just-don't-mind-the-$150,000-designer-wardrobe-that-costs-more-than-what-most-of-you-pro-America-folks-who-come-to-my-rallies-earn-in-two-or-three-years" Palin. Commie pinko liberal that I am, I was listening to NPR's All Things Considered on the way home from picking up my daughter, and they played a clip from a Palin speech she gave today at a rally in Troy, Michigan (or Ohio - it's unclear). (Here's a link to it.) The gist of the clip is that Palin, smug as ever, credits folk hero Joe the Plumber for getting Barack Obama to say in plain language that he wants to "spread the wealth," and then bashes Joe Biden for saying paying higher taxes is patriotic, before saying that it all sounds like "socialism" to Joe the Plumber "who is speaking for all Americans worried about their economic future," and that "now is not the time to experiment with socialism." To which the crowd responds with loud cheers and jeers. Can I remind the Governor that out of economic necessity, the Treasury Department, led by the former chair of GOLDMAN SACHS, JUST NATIONALIZED THE FREAKING BANKING SYSTEM! So clearly, our government, and our Republican Fed Chairman, decided that it is time to experiment with socialism, at least on a temporary basis.

(Dialing it back now.)

Somehow, she and McCain have these people hoodwinked that they are going to do better under McCain's tax plan then Obama's, which is going to cut taxes for people making less than $250,000 a year. It's probably a safe argument that most of the people at that rally would benefit from the Obama tax plan. I have no problem with anyone who takes issue with the way taxes work in this country - it's a legitimate argument to be had there - but we have a progressive tax system for a reason, and that is so those who don't make much money either don't have more taken out of their pockets, and those who can afford to pay more do so - and with the huge income disparity in this country, the top 1% aren't going to miss the few extra dollars they're going to have to pay - never mind that they're still going to be paying less in taxes then they were under Reagan. And paying slightly higher taxes right now to help bail our country out of this mess we're all in together is patriotic. Sacrifice is patriotic. That's not something that our current president or his would-be Republican successors seem to understand.

Anyway, they also have people going around saying Obama is a socialist. He's not a socialist. I know this is an Obama talking point, but if he were really a socialist, why would he have the support of a capitalist like Warren Buffett, the most respected businessman in the United States? The socialist nonsense, the palling around with terrorist nonsense, the do we really know who Obama is nonsense is all just designed to scare people into thinking that if Obama wins and takes office, he's going to unveil a secret evil agenda and sell out our country to the United Nations and bow down to terrorists. It's small-minded rhetoric intended to play into the conspiracy theories we seem to buy into all to easily in this country.

I'm also tired of the way McCain and Palin have been hammering Obama on how well he speaks. (Somehow eloquence and intelligence are supposed to be bad things, threatening and different to the "everyday Americans" Governor Palin is so fond of talking about.) She intimates in the NPR clip that Obama has not been speaking clearly about his tax plans - and nothing could be further from the truth. He's been clear and consistent about his intentions all along. All you had to do to know this is pay attention. Of course, people not paying attention to what is actually true is what McCain and Palin are counting on now. After all, if you can't make inroads with voters on issues, half-truths and outright lies are all you've got.

-EB
p.s. I think I've worked my way out of my malaise. Blogging is good therapy.

Those Sharp LCD HD TV Ads

I'm watching the world series, and Sharp has bought a lot of time for those freaky ads featuring a professor waxing on about the wonders of Sharp's LCD technology. Y'know, that guy in the picture below. I was thinking I can't be the only person who is somewhat put off by these ads, the constant repetition by the professor of "LCD TV!", and the extremely tight close-ups of the prof, which I can't seem to find a still of on this wondrous thing we call the internet. And it turns out not only am I right about not being the first person to be bothered by these commercials, I'm also not the first person to blog about it (which is less of a surprise). Shout out to the group blog Salt In Wound, from whom I have cribbed the still, for beating me to the punch.



-EB

Memo to the RNC Re: $150,000 Clothing Budget

Republican National Committee, I think you have been very generous with your clothing allowance for Sarah Palin and her family, and I just want to throw this idea out at you: spend $150,000 on me and my family, and I'll consider stopping my searing critiques of John McCain, his campaign, and your party's campaign methods, all of which I frequently indulge in on this blog.

Sincerely,

Elliot Blake

p.s. That doesn't mean I will stop the criticism, it just means I'll think about it.

Here She Goes Again...

Today was one heck of a day for Governor Palin.

First, she took issue with Barack Obama's position as a feminist, asserting that if he were a real feminist, he would have picked Hillary Clinton to be his running mate: “Our opponents think they have the women’s vote all locked up, which is a little presumptuous since only our side has a woman on the ticket,” she said. She added, referring to Mr. Obama: “When it came time for choosing a vice president, somehow he couldn’t bring himself to choose a woman who got 18 million votes in the primaries.” Really, Governor? You're taking issue with the Senator Obama's choice of running mate? You'd rather have gone up against Hillary Clinton in the Vice Presidential debate? I guess you must be curious to know what it feels like to be chewed up and then spit out. Also, I think it's a little presumptous of you to assume that the Obama campaign feel like they have the women's vote locked up - I don't think they're taking anything for granted, starting from the top down - but it's especially presumptous of you to assume that women are going to vote for you, or should vote for you, just because you're a woman.

Second, she has once again displayed a stunning ignorance about what the job of the Vice President is when it comes to the V.P.'s role in the Senate:



It's right there in the Constitution, Governor, Article 1, Section 3: "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided." You wouldn't be "in charge of the Senate," nor would you be entitled to "really get in there with the Senators and make a lot of really good policy changes." Just wanted to clear that up for you.

-EB

John the Would-Be President and Sarah the Pit Bull Hockey Mom

At the Vice Presidential debate, Sarah Palin talked a lot about "Joe Sixpack."

At the final Presidential debate, John McCain brought up "Joe the Plumber" something like twenty-one times.

Today, Gov. Palin introduced "Tito the Builder", "Phil the Bricklayer", "Rose the Teacher", and "Barack the Wealth Spender."

Is it just me, or does it seem like the McCain/Palin campaign is working out the cast of characters for a childrens' television show in which "John the Would-Be President" and "Sarah the Pit Bull Hockey Mom" would lead this brave crew of "everyday Americans" in the struggle against "Barack the Wealth Spender?"

I have a few additional character suggestions for Senator McCain and Governor Palin, supporting characters for "Barack the Wealth Spender," who is clearly supposed to be the bad guy in this new kids' show they seem to be focus-group testing at their rallies: "Bill the Washed Up Old Terrorist", "Acorn the Squirrel", "Jeremiah the Crazy Old Pastor", "Colin the Turncoat Republican Who Only Endorsed Barack the Wealth Spender Because He's Black and so is Colin the Turncoat Republican", "Andrew the Anti-America Big City Dweller", "Newsy the Liberal Media Elite", and finally "Democrat the Baby-Killing Socialist."

If only I could draw. This is sounding like a surefire hit to me.

-EB

Update 11:26pm: This just in - according the Caucus Blog of the New York Times, Governor Palin added one more character to her expanding universe of "real Americans." Giving a speech today on feminism while in Nevada, Gov. Palin singled out "female owners of small businesses, especially one she described as 'Irma the Restaurant Owner.'" That's a good one! Well played, Governor!

Why You No Post, Elliot Blake?

So, you're probably thinking to yourself, "Elliot has posted so many witty and searing insights into the state of presidential election politics over the last few weeks that I've come to rely upon his blog as a way to shape my opinions - but over the last few days, he's hardly posted any witty and searing insights at all!"

And you're probably wondering, "Why you no post, Elliot Blake?"

And you could conceivably even be worrying, "Good gosh, I hope he hasn't been silenced by shadowy operatives of the Republican National Committee due to his oftentimes harsh critiques of the McCain campaign!"

Well, I'm here to tell you that you can relax - the truth is, on the weekends it practically impossible for me to post, because I have small kids. And today? Today I was thinking. Deep in thought. And I was also busy trying to organize and file away more than a year's worth of comic books. Turns out that I underestimated the quantity of comics in need of filing - I'm going to have to get another longbox. I'm up to 7 long boxes and 15 short boxes of comics now, not to mention all the collected editions on my bookshelf. It's quite possible - and the jury is still out on this - that I'm addicted. Addicted to comics. Hey... maybe that'll be my next blog... Because what the world needs now is another comics blog.

-EB
(Apologies to Dave Campbell of the blog "Dave's Longbox" for stealing his "Why you no post, Dave Campbell?" line.)