Ramblin' with Roger

Forbidden fruit

I thought it was me. Occasionally, I’ve gone to a Blogger site and get some sort of message suggesting that the site is forbidden. But apparently, that’s a more universal problem, based on Ian’s comments of September 27. (He doesn’t seem very happy about it.) So, if you get a FORBIDDEN message coming to THIS site, try, try again, please.

The death of comics

There have been some conversation on some sites about the mid-1990s comic book crash. I suggested that while the end may have come later, the beginning of the end commenced with The Death of Superman. And judging by this week’s shipment, as described by Mike on September 29, I fear the end may be near again. Too much product at once will hurt a number of comic stores, I’ll wager, when a bunch of it sits on the racks.
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I’m finding more stuff to give away to one person in my contest, including a stack of comics, unread, the last batch I bought in 1992. Just pick three or more of the best songs from all the Mixed CD candidates. Or give me a good meme.

“Ever seen a grown man naked?” -Pilot (Peter Graves) to kid in the movie AIRPLANE

First, Dorian frets about seeing a naked man.

Then, in response to my teasing him about HIS use of naked men, Fred strikes back (September 29), by putting up pictures of naked women. Actualy, ONE naked woman in three poses.

Crime and punishment

Two stores worth reading in this week’s Metroland:
“Four antiwar demonstrators beat rare federal conspiracy charges they say were brought to chill dissent” but still have their legal problems. The St. Pat 4 tried a SECOND time in my hometown of Binghamton, NY.
Also read in Rapp on This about the Authors Guild suing Google, and why it’s a dumb idea.

And re: crime: two references to O.J. Simpson on the same day? (September 28)

Yup. Mark Evanier (9:14 pm) and Polite Scott

Doctor, doctor

And speaking of the latter, I’ve been really interested in Scott’s dissection of medical procedures in comic books and on the TV medical drama House. I don’t even watch House, and it’s still intriguing and informative.

Remember that the Traveling Wilburys had a Vol. 1, then a Vol. 3

I’m pleased, or at least relieved, to note that Tom the Dog is as mystified by the gap between Episodes 1 and 2 of the new season of Arested Development as I was. Was the “previously” segment a joke, or did they ax the second episode in favor of the third so they could get Charlize Theron and Dave Thomas on sooner?
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There’s an article in the Sept. 20 WSJ, p. B-1, that starts:

FROM ELVIS PRESLEY to Kurt Cobain, battles over a rock star’s legacy often generate years of rancor and legal wrangling as surviving bandmates, family members and others pick through recording archives trying to decide how best to represent the fallen icon.
Not so for Bob Dylan. With a torrent of new projects focusing on his most-revered period, from 1961 to 1966, the singer is pre-empting the posthumous image-massaging that has confronted many rock estates by dealing with his own legacy now, while the 64-year-old is still very much alive.
If you’re looking for the whole thing and can’t access it otherwise, I’ll e-mail it to you.

Thanks for the meme

Tosy stole another one. It’s really kind of dumb in an arbitratry way. Doesn’t mean I won’t do it.

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

Since I’ve only been doing this for a short while, I easily found on my post of May 24:
“But there have been other bands during the years that have had more complicated issues.”
That’s it? I might as well take the 23rd sentence of my 5th post, the penultimate sentence on May 6:
“And I’m very happy for the industry.” (The industry in question: comics.)

Opiate of the masses

A number of folks have been enamoured of a recent website called The Church of Klugman, whose tag reads as follows: “This is a brand new religion – a religion worshiping a man who is a legend, a myth, who brings a new social conscience to our troubled times. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Church of Klugman!” It’s sorta funny/goofy. But Gordon shoudn’t change his name. I LIKE his name.
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My current favorite commercials are a couple from DHL showing bad customer service (waitress pushing the coffee across the counter, the bagger putting the gallon of milk on the top part of the grocery bag, and my favorite, the two young women chatting away about nothing – one of them gives the customer the “just a minute” index finger.) It works because it’s quite believable.
My current least favorite commercial is for some McDonald’s chicken sandwich, with two women who look like they’re pecking away at grain. My wife HATES that thing more than I do.

The Sporting Life

When I realized that the NYY, BoSox and Cleveland could end end up in a three-way tie prior to last night’s games with 2-1 for Boston and Cleveland, I decided to root for that outcome. Cleveland lost, so now they need to beat the White Sox twice while the Red Sox, who won last night, and the Yanks split.

I told Greg Burgas that if he gets 19 right in his picks for weeks 13 and 14 of the NFL season, I’d buy him a drink. I’ll have to find his favorite bar and PayPal the money since Greg’s in AZ, and I’m not.

Bush, Whacked

People keep sending me these things:

#Don Rumsfeld is giving George W Bush his daily briefing and tells him that three Brazilian soldiers have been killed in Iraq. George says “that’s absolutely terrible”, is lost for words, and holds his head in his hands for several minutes. His staff are amazed at the response, and the whole room stays silent. Finally George lifts his head from the table and says “exactly how many is a brazillion?”
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#This is a poem made up entirely of actual quotations from George W. Bush, arranged for aesthetic purposes, by Washington Post writer Richard Thompson.  A wonderful poem like this is too good not to share.  It is truly a testament to literacy in the age of Every Child Left Behind!

Make the Pie Higher!

I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It’s a world of madmen and uncertainty
And potential mental losses.

Rarely is the question asked
Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the Internet
Become more few?

How many hands have I shaked?
They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
I know that the human being
And the fish can coexist.

Families is where our nation finds hope, Where our wings take dream.
Put food on your family!
Knock down the tollbooth!
Vulcanize society!
Make the pie higher!

And baby makes three

I’ve been intrigued with the notion of Intstant Runoff Voting for a couple years. Essentially, you pick your first choice, second choice, etc. The candidate with the lowest total is dropped and his/her votes are spread among the remaining candidates, based on those voters’ selection of the second-most desirable candidate.

This system, which I’ve been told has operated in Australia for decades, would allow people to vote for so-called “fringe” candidates, if that’s where their hearts were, but have a second-choice that might have a chance to win.

A simple example (and I’m going to ignore other candidate for this): Let’s say there was an election among three candidates. Let’s call them Bush, Gore and Nader, just for the heck of it. Let’s say I really like Nader. I can actually vote for Nader! Then my second choice is…lessee, I’ll pick Gore.

At the end of the day, Bush has 40%, Gore has 40%, and Nader has 20%. Nader is eliminated, but his votes are redistributed, based on the second-choice preferences of Nader voters. Let’s say that 75% of Nader voters picked Bush as their second choice, and 25% picked Gore. Then Bush would get 40% +(75% of 20% or 15%)=55% Bush wins, as more people found him acceptable. (It’s JUST an example.)

I urge you to to read more about IRV, especially those of you (Greg, Gordon) who are planning to run for office someday. It’s taking hold all over the country.

Meanwhile, the final report of the Federal Commission on Election Reform is now available. Among other things, it suggests that electronic voting machines should leave a paper trail of ballots cast, a vital issue in my mind in Diebold-land. It also suggests that the government should provide free photo IDs to nondrivers as part of the requirement of having identification becoming a voting requirement. News organizations should “voluntarily refrain from projecting any Presidential election results” in any state until all polls have closed in 48 states, with Alaska and Hawaii excluded. All “legitimate domestic and international election observers” should be granted unrestricted access to the election process, within the rules of the election. I recall that Jimmy Carter, whose Center participated in this process, once noted that the U.S. was in a poor position to go abroad and sanction other countries’ elections, given the irregular methodology of our own.

I thought this was such a swell idea that I thought I’d do the same thing. Send me as many questions as you want. I promise to answer each and every one! (Of course, the answer might be, “No comment.”) And if I’m as lucky as Gordon, you’ll ask a question SO provocative that it will require its own post.

Deadline, Wednesday, October 5 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Answers promised within a week.

I still have to note the passing of Robert Wise, even though he died back on September 14, because he was the director and producer of one of my favorite films (with one of my favorite soundtracks), West Side Story, and one of my wife’s, The Sound of Music. Interestingly, one of the bloggers I read who noted his passing HATED both of those movies, yet spoke admiringly of the prolific Wise, because he was the editor for Citizen Kane and another important movie (I THINK it was The Magnificent Ambersons.)

Sid Luft also died on the 14th. He’s best known as Judy Garland’s third husband, but he actually had a career before meeting Ms. Gumm.

I wasn’t always enamored with Simon Wiesenthal, but he did shed light on the Holocaust and attempted to upend those Holocaust deniers who irritate me so. He died on the 20th.

I hope I’m an ornery someday as former NOW President Molly Yard who died on the 21st..

As I first read on the Dead or Alive website, author M. Scott Peck, best known for the book, “The Road Less Traveled”, died on the 25th. Everyone I knew at the height of the book’s popularity had a copy on their shelves. Whether anyone actually READ it, I don’t know. I’m sure I STARTED to read it…

There are lots of stories that I think I’ll tell over the next several months, being the only black kid in my class for 8 of 10 years there, the neighborhood, other stuff.

I’ll close with the school song (from failing memory):