'Best of TBH Politoons'
Cory!! Strode On Graphic Novels
'The Birth Of A Nation'
I finally had a chance to read a graphic novel this week, and I'm glad I grabbed one that I bought at a regular book store instead of one of the ones from the comic shop, because it very well could be one of the best political books I have read all year.
"The Birth Of A Nation" is a graphic novel written by Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder and writer/director Reginald Hudlin who is probably best known for the "House Party" movies. McGruder's work is known to Bartcop readers, but Hudlin is not someone whose work I had paid much attention to. McGruder is a great comic strip artist, but this graphic novel is drawn by Kyle Baker, who is known in comics for off-beat graphic novels like "The Cowboy Wally Show" and "King David" as well as his amazingly under-rated (and under-selling) "Plastic Man" series.
With a lineup like this, it would almost be more amazing if the book wasn't any good, but I was not expecting just how much I would enjoy this one. The story is pretty simple: The mayor of East St. Louis is upset about the results of the 2000 election and enters into an arrangement with a business owner to make their city a separate nation after being ignored by the state and federal governments for so long. From there, we find out that the mayor goes for the plan out of selflessness, and other people around him are working for less altruistic reasons.
The story then escalates into high satire that touches on American Greed, cultural stereotypes, the current political state and the problem with idealistic ideas, all while juggling a large cast and keeping them interesting and human. The story has laugh out loud slapstick and scripting as well as subtle satire that sinks in over time, all without making the story seem so outrageous that you think of it as a big goof. Some of the details that seem the most unreal are based in actual events in the city, such as a sequence about how people had to store garbage on their roofs because of a lack of garbage pickups and a need to keep dogs from digging through the trash and scattering it as they burrow through for food.
The plot is very much like a typical movie, but Kyle Baker helps bring it to a higher level, and his cartooning is a joy to see. He captures emotion with his loose style better than any artist who would have gone for a more realistic style. He also brings a balance to the story, making the absurd seem plausible and the plausible seem absurd.
The odd thing about this book is that if you were to go into a comic shop, you probably wouldn't be able to find this. It was published by Crown instead of a major comic book publisher, so it was ignored by most comic shops. However, it should be readily available at any major bookstore or through one of the many on-line book retailers. For general readers, this book gets a 4 out of 5, but for Bartcop fans, a satire that shows just how mad we were about the 2000 election brings it up to a 5 out of 5.
Cory!! Strode (The Best Dressed Man In Comics) has written comic books, novels, jokes for comedians, Op Ed columns, the on-line comic strip
www.Asylumon5thstreet.com and has all kinds of things on his website, www.solitairerose.com
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Terrence McNally: Easter Island, C'est Moi (AlterNet)
... in successful societies the governing elite could not or did not insulate themselves from the problems of the rest of society. They suffered along with everybody else, and so were motivated to solve the problems.
PAUL KRUGMAN: Un-Spin the Budget (NY Times)
Later this week the White House budget director plans to put on an aviator costume, march up to a microphone and declare Mission Accomplished in the war on deficits. O.K., I'm not sure about the costume bit.
David Podvin: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
According to government statistics, an American woman is violently attacked by an American man every nine seconds, so females might be excused for believing that al Qaida does not pose the most imminent threat to their safety.
Byron Williams: Barbara Lee no longer stands alone (www.workingforchange.com)
If one lives in the Bay Area, it is quite possible to periodically spot a car displaying a weather-beaten bumper sticker that reads: "Barbara Lee Speaks for Me."
David Bruce: Wise Up! Death (The Athens News)
"When women are depressed, they eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. It's a whole different way of thinking." -- Elayne Boosler.
College Democrats of America
College Democrats of America Free Downloads
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Bit of coastal influence kept it nearly 30° cooler here than out in the Valley - and that's a good thing.
If you missed Jon Stewart last night, Crooks & Liars can help.
The kid & his class are scheduled for a field trip to the Aquarium today.
Kenneth Y. Tomlinson (R-Party Hack)
PBS
The controversy over alleged political bias in public broadcasting spilled into a Senate hearing room Monday, as lawmakers chided the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for injecting politics into public TV.
Egged on by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who ran the hearing, corporation Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson agreed to a public debate with commentator Bill Moyers on the issue. Moyers left his public affairs program in December after Tomlinson criticized him.
Tomlinson, a Republican veteran of the Reagan administration who joined the corporation's board in 2000 and became chairman three years later, had accused Moyers of "liberal advocacy journalism." Tomlinson hired ombudsmen to monitor the political content of PBS and championed a new half-hour PBS show featuring Paul Gigot, editor of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page.
A recent Roper poll found Americans believe PBS to be a highly trusted national institution. And two polls commissioned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting revealed that 80 percent of Americans see no bias in public broadcasting, according to Pat Mitchell, the chief executive for PBS who has publicly sparred with Tomlinson.
PBS
Kenneth Y. Tomlinson (R-Reprehensible)
More PBS
PBS President Pat Mitchell said Tuesday she supports an investigation of what she called a "very troubling" use of federal money to track the political leaning of programming on public television.
Mitchell declined to say whether Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, should lose his job over surveys he ordered of PBS programming. The corporation funnels the federal funds that pay for a part of public TV.
The internal CPB review of the surveys and use of taxpayer dollars are "obviously big issues and they're not going to go away," she said. "But it's up to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's board to make that decision about whether he's asked to step down."
But tactics other than "secret reports" would be more constructive, she said, referring to the surveys. Besides, PBS could have provided him a list of Moyers' guests for free, Mitchell added.
More PBS
'Simpsons' & 'Family Guy'
Cartoon Feud
"The Simpsons" took a shot at fellow Fox cartoon "Family Guy." So that series' creator is taking a shot right back.
Seth MacFarlane said an episode of "The Simpsons" where a Homer Simpson clone was identified as "Family Guy" dad Peter Griffin was "definitely a slam."
"To me, Peter is much more similar to Ralph Kramden than he is to Homer, right down to his voice," he said, referring to the character from "The Honeymooners." "That's what I see. But because `The Simpsons' and `Family Guy' are really the only two shows of their kind of television, there'll be comparisons made."
"I mean, in its prime, it was one of the greatest comedy shows of all time," he said. "But it's not the show it was. It can't be. You can't do 16 seasons and be consistent."
Cartoon Feud
Networks To Break For
Discovery Launch
When the space shuttle program roars back into space with a scheduled Wednesday launch, the high-profile network coverage will be slightly reminiscent of NASA's heyday -- at least briefly.
ABC's coverage will be anchored by Charlie Gibson in New York and Bob Woodruff at Cape Kennedy along with other reporters. The network's coverage is scheduled to be about a half-hour total, if all goes well, starting a few minutes before the 3:51 p.m. EDT scheduled launch time. NBC and CBS will start around the same time, with Brian Williams anchoring NBC and Bob Schieffer anchoring CBS' coverage. It wasn't clear how long NBC planned to be on the air, but CBS would be on about 15 minutes, said Marcy McGinnis, CBS News senior vp news.
Discovery Launch
Creepy 'Vanilla Sky' Cameo
Katie Holmes
Guests on Teen Soap
'Degrassi'
Alanis Morissette is being sent to the principal's office. The singer-songwriter will guest star as a Canadian principal in The N's teen drama "Degrassi: The Next Generation" August 26 at 8 p.m. EDT.
Morissette will join filmmaker Kevin Smith and actor Jason Mewes in the second part of the high school soap's three-part season finale. In the story arc, Smith and Mewes are filming a sequel to their 2001 film "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." The fictional film, titled "Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!" sees the bumbling duo crossing the border to earn a high school diploma because no U.S. high school will accept them.
Morissette, who appeared as God in Smith's 1999 film "Dogma" and became a U.S. citizen this year, will play the Canadian principal who accepts Jay and Silent Bob.
'Degrassi'
Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation
UCLA
The University of California at Los Angeles and Outfest launched a scheme to preserve and restore Outfest's collection of more than 3,300 independent films with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender movies to ensure the future of the genre.
The project, dubbed the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation, will seek to fill in a gap left by mainstream film preservationists who have in the past overlooked homosexual films because they have not had a perceived commercial value.
The first phase of the project will include transferring Outfest's existing library of preview tapes and discs to the UCLA archive where many of the titles will be digitized to allow public access to films.
UCLA
Knee Replacement Surgery
Angela Lansbury
Actress Angela Lansbury will undergo knee replacement surgery Thursday, her daughter said Tuesday. "Her knee is so painful from years of dancing," said Deirdre Battarra, 52.
Lansbury, who rose to fame on Broadway and starred in television show "Murder, She Wrote," tripped over an electrical cord Friday night while joining celebrities onstage for Stephen Sondheim's 75th-birthday concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
Angela Lansbury
Flamenco Star's Trial Concludes
Farruquito
The trial of one of Spain's top flamenco dancers, known as "Farruquito," on charges of manslaughter in a hit-and-run accident, wrapped up in Seville with the prosecutor calling for a prison sentence of four years and a month, court sources said.
The 23-year-old dancer, whose real name is Juan Manuel Fernandez Montoya, was allegedly driving a powerful car at excess speed and without a license when he ran over 35-year-old Benjamin Olalla, who was crossing a street in the southern Spanish city of Seville last September.
Farruquito was arrested six months after the incident and initially said his 15-year-old brother was driving but later admitted he was behind the wheel.
Farruquito
Revamps Web Site
CBS News
CBS News, which has passed up opportunities to start or join a cable news network, said it wants to be at the forefront of broadband by allowing consumers to construct their own online newscasts.
CBS said its revamped CBSNews.com site will effectively become a 24-hour news network that includes a weblog, "Public Eye," where CBS journalists and executives respond to questions and complaints from the public.
CBS said the content on its advertiser-supported Web site will be free to consumers. ABC News Now charges subscribers $4.95 a month, although some people get the service bundled with others in a broadband package.
CBS News
Ninety % Skip TV Ads
DVR Users
TV advertisers are facing a potential disaster as more consumers buy digital video recorders (DVRs), according to a new study, since about 90 percent of current users fast-forward through ads.
The trends are even more foreboding among the 18 to 34-year-old demographic most coveted by marketers, with 97 percent saying they skip ads all or almost all of the time.
A previous study by media buying agency PHD found that viewers fast-forwarded through about 77 percent of ads.
DVR Users
Radio Spinoff?
Disney
The Walt Disney Co. is considering a multistep transaction that would result in a spin-off of its radio stations and radio network group, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
Disney has long been believed to be considering an exit of the radio business ever since it acquired the stations and network in its 1996 purchase of Capital Cities/ABC, which also brought Disney the ABC and ESPN television networks.
The Journal said interested bidders could include Citadel Broadcasting Corp., Entercom Communications Corp., and Emmis Communications Corp.
Disney
Reruns To Comedy Central
'Scrubs'
Comedy Central said Monday it has acquired rerun rights to NBC's "Scrubs," and will start airing the hospital comedy in fall 2006.
The deal is a rare move for Comedy Central, whose other few acquisitions have included the British series "Absolutely Fabulous" and the sitcom "Sports Night."
'Scrubs'
Reruns Replace Kids Programming
The WB
Reruns of "ER" and "8 Simple Rules ... for Dating My Teenage Daughter" will comprise WB Network's new weekday afternoon block when it launches in January.
"ER" will kick off the 3-5 p.m. block, followed by two back-to-back episodes of "8 Simple Rules." The block replaces the Kids' WB! animation block, which is being dropped from WB's 200-plus station affiliates.
The WB
Triple In First Half
Paid Music Downloads
While U.S. album sales are off 7 percent year-to-date, songs sold over the Web through paid downloads have tripled in the first half of the year, music tracker Nielsen SoundScan said on Tuesday.
Internet users in the U.S. downloaded 158 million individual songs from services like Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes during the first half of the year, compared with 55 million in the year-ago period, SoundScan said.
Single-song downloads now represent 6 percent of overall music sales, compared with less than 2 percent a year ago, according to the data.
Paid Music Downloads
Fixes Botched Florida Reef
Hurricane Dennis
Mother Nature tidied up a man-made mess off the coast of the Florida Keys when the force of Hurricane Dennis flipped a sunken U.S. Navy ship into the perfect position to help form an artificial reef.
Powerful waves and currents generated by the hurricane flipped over the 510-foot (155-metre) USS Spiegel Grove and set it to rest on its keel on the ocean floor, reef project managers said on Tuesday.
That was the position Key Largo scuba divers and tourism promoters had aimed for when they scuttled the 6,880-tonne hulk in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in 2002.
Hurricane Dennis
Fails Upward
Halliburton
"Lawmakers, Including Republicans, Criticize Pentagon on Disputed Billing by Halliburton," read a New York Times headline on June 22. "Worries Raised on Handling of Funds in Iraq," the Los Angeles Times wrote the same day. It seemed clear that the Bush Administration's favorite war profiteer was again in hot water. Shortly thereafter, the Democratic Policy Committee released a report alleging that Halliburton subsidiary KBR overcharged the US government by as much as $1 billion, not even counting an additional $442 million in "unsupported" billing, for work in Iraq.
The headlines ceased over the next week. Then, In early July, KBR captured coverage in a decidedly more positive light: "Halliburton Gets More Iraq Work," Reuters reported on July 7. Once again, an Administration ally was/is failing upwards. Five billion dollars of new work, to be exact, on top of a contract that has brought KBR $9.1 billion, almost one sixth of what Bush promised the entire war effort would cost.
For the rest, Halliburton
Basic Cable Networks
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of July 4-10. Each ratings point represents 1,096,000 households. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses.
1. "Monk" (Friday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.9, 4.29 million homes.
2. "Into the West" (Friday, 8 p.m.), TNT, 2.9, 3.13 million homes.
3. "Real World XVI" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 2.6. 2.88 million homes.
4. "Family Guy" (Thursday, 11:30 p.m.), Cartoon, 2.6, 2.82 million homes.
5. "Law & Order" (Tuesday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 2.5, 2.76 million homes.
6. "Family Guy" (Wednesday, 11 p.m.), Cartoon, 2.5, 2.74 million homes.
7. "The Closer" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 2.5, 2.71 million homes.
8. "Futurama" (Wednesday, 11:30 p.m.), Cartoon, 2.5, 2.69 million homes.
9. Movie: "Legally Blonde" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), TBS, 2.5, 2.69 million homes.
10. "WWE Raw Zone" (Monday, 10 p.m.), Spike, 2.3, 2.56 million homes.
11. "Family Guy" (Tuesday, 11 p.m.), Cartoon, 2.3, 2.5 million homes.
12. "Family Guy" (Thursday, 11 p.m.), Cartoon, 2.3, 2.49 million homes.
13. Movie: "Legally Blonde" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), TBS, 2.2, 2.45 million homes.
14. "Law & Order: SVU" (Wednesday, 10 p.m.), USA, 2.2, 2.44 million homes.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 6:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.2, 2.44 million homes.
Ratings
In Memory
Gretchen Franklin
Actress Gretchen Franklin, known to millions as the dotty, dog-loving Ethel Skinner in the long-running BBC-TV soap opera "EastEnders," died Monday at home in London, her agent said Tuesday. She was 94.
Although her acting career spanned more than 50 years, it was her role in "EastEnders" that made Franklin a household name.
Clutching her pug dog, Willy, Ethel was a fixture in the show's fictional Albert Square - and its Queen Vic pub - from 1985 to 2000.
Born in London, Franklin worked as a chorus girl in London's West End theater district in the 1930s, appearing in such shows as "Sweet and Low."
Her first film appearance came in the 1954 British film, "Before I Wake."
In the 1960s, she had a number of television roles, including parts in the popular police dramas "Dixon of Dock Green" and "Z Cars" and played the wife of the irascible bigot Alf Garnett in the pilot episode of the comic sitcom "Till Death Us Do Part" in 1965.
Gretchen Franklin
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