Baron Dave Romm
Astro Boy
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Summer schedule for Baron Dave's column
This is my busy season, and this is the lull between two storms. I covered the Minnesota Fringe, including several podcasts, and will be covering various political goings-on in a few days. I encourage people to support independent journalism by clicking on the Tip Jar button.
I may not have time to do a regular column here until mid-September. And if something breaks politically I may just send in a column any day. No promises. I'll let Marty know.
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Astro Boy
Astro Boy has has many incarnations. The original Japanese manga (roughly equivalent to a comic book, but even then not specifically a children's medium) goes back to 1951 under the name Tetsuwan Atomu which translates to Mighty Atom. An anime version was broadcast in Japan starting in 1963, in black and white.
Bringing the animated series to the states was a bit tricky. The English name was taken by an American comic hero so was renamed Astro Boy. English lyrics were added to the theme song, which proved so successful that future anime in Japan used lyrics in their themes. All the English dialog was dubbed in, which didn't necessarily match the original movements in Japanese resulting in quirky spurts of dialog (not unlike the early Popeye cartoons, produced before they perfected the art of matching voice work to animation).
As a kid, I watched them faithfully. Indeed, I missed the opening episode b because of a cub scout meeting and never forgave the scouts; one of the many reasons I never continued on to Boy Scouts. I wasn't the only one to watch faithfully: For several years in the mid-60s it was the highest rated show in syndication. That was a bigger deal than it is today, as there were far fewer television stations and syndicated shows tended to be reruns of network offerings or game shows and the like. Twenty years later, Star Trek: The Next Generation was the highest rated show in syndication and the market was bigger but the "share" of any one show was smaller.
the cartoon was revived several times, but it was the original run in the mid-60s that were very formative for my sense of science fiction and how to plot. I hadn't realized just how groundbreaking it was when I was nine, and seeing them now relives the sensawonda while also seeing the flaws. Because the cartoons were in black and white, the masters were erased in 1975 and the sound on the new DVD releases is pretty bad. But not really any worse than the sound from the tv at the time, so losing the fidelity doesn't bother me a lot.
I've now seen two disks worth of the 1963 show, in all their glory, in all their squalor. Ten episodes which range from brilliant to muddled; sometimes both.
The pilot episode, finally seen after 45 years, is brilliant, influential and doesn't fit with the rest of the series. The plot concerns the death of "Aster Boynton", the son of Professor Boynton, in the year 2000. The Professor is head of the Institute of Science, and is driven mad by his loss and vows to create a super robot. Which he does, though it takes several years and the professor eventually spurns his creation. I was reminded of the Spielberg movie AI, which came much later. The animation is very cheaply done, with jerky movements and variants of Hanna-Barbera's limited animation. But very cleverly done, with sweeps and expressive drawings.
By the end of the pilot, the time is several years past the year 2000 opening. That doesn't stop the rest of the series from being set in "the year 2000". Oh well, it's a kid's show. It's kind of nifty, in the "where's my flying car?" nostalgia for the future, simultaneously living in 1963 and an unfulfilled 2000.
Most of the plots are improbable but loads of fun. Astro Boy is an innocent, torn between wanting to be a real boy ala Pinocchio but resolutely saving the day as a very powerful robot. I'm going to comment on the Tenth episode, since it embodies everything that's great about the series and everything that's weak.
In Japan, The Ghost Manufacturing Machine title was translated into "The Spirit Machine". The plot involves Astro Boy and the Prof Elefun going to help Prof. Leopold von Holstein, captive scientist for the dictator of Shangri-Lee, Hatter aka The Mad Hatter. In the 1957 manga, the dictator is called Hitlini a name combining Hitler and Mussolini, who has a Stalin mustache. Brave for an Axis power a dozen years after WWII, though it bounced off me as a nine-year-old.
Again, in Japan manga isn't strictly for kids: much of it not at all for kids. Astro Boy is roughly contemporaneous with Bullwinkle and Rocky which had numerous jokes that kids wouldn't get, but the adult references were jokes and the underlying stories were pretty simple.
"The Spirit Machine" can duplicate humans as ghosts and thereby ensure someone lives forever. Prof. von Holstein is in a dilemma: If he doesn't do what the dictator wants he'll be shot. If he does, Hitler will live forever. This is not standard kiddie fare.
I won't keep you in suspense: Prof. von Holstein deliberately destroys the project as it's extracting Hatter's ghost, killing him, at which point the dictator's henchmen kill the professor. Everyone else is happy. whew.
As dark and violent as the episode is, the spirit manufacturing machine plot is only a small portion of the action. Astro Boy, separated from Dr. Elefun, wanders through Shangra-Lee, seeing how scared people are and trying to rejoin his mentor. Lots of action, quickly paced. Whenever there's a lull, Astro Boy fights something. At one point, for no apparent reason, a bad guy grabs a remote control, pushes a button and a giant robot comes out of the ground. The action-packed battle has nothing to do with the plot but takes a minute or two of animation time. We kids loved it.
I can't just gobble up Astro Boy in the same way that I can see a bunch of episodes of other shows in a row. Too much at once and the weaknesses and dated techniques get in the way. But taken a little at a time, I return to the days of cub scouts, playgrounds and High Adventure!
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
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The Monday Or Thursday Poll
Results
The question was:
T. Boone Pickens, self-proclaimed lifelong oil man and CEO of BP Capital Management that specializes in energy investments has been touting a 'plan' to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil.
Do you think his 'plan' is viable and should it be seriously considered?
Reults:
3 positive replies:
ducks wrote, "actually, I rather like some of the plan. one of my concerns however is what it would do to the quality of life in areas that had lots and lots of the wind turbines. they aren't all that pretty and I'm guessing they make some noise. However, combined with solar energy solutions, natural gas (although I don't know enough about that to say either way) and continued reduction in use, it is certainly better than drilling in Anwar or off Florida..."
Leland responded with an interesting idea, "I think T. Boone Pickens should be encouraged to proceed with the wind farm from start to finish and when completed then the farm should become part of the commons, we the people would buy the system from him at a reasonable price which would give him a profit and he could receive a royalty from every watt produced. Having the system part of the commons would mean the system would be treated like a utility and the price per watt would be controlled by committee."
orendorff made me smile with this, "I'm not smart enough to know if his energy plan is valid or not. However, he has lots of money and will die soon, so he should be sincere if nothing else."
My opinion is that natural gas vehicles are a great way to go. I'm not certain about the wind power thing...
Now for the 3 negative replies. Hoo Boy! Some emotions ran high here!
rdmcd simply said, "NO NO NO NO NO"
socdan wrote, "I humbly submit that TBP portrayed a hero as a coward (irrespective of one's opinion of the US War against Viet Nam) and portrayed a coward as a hero (irrespective of one's opinion of the Texas Air National Guard). If there does happen to be any value in TBP's energy plan, then he should hire someone other than a lying sack of shit (his self) to advance it."
And Sally P, ever the radical (and dear), wrote an essay that started out with a scathing denunciation of Pickens, " Oy Vey! (Yiddish for being overwhelmed) as I am here.
For Me, ANYTHING T. Boone Pickens "thinks" (as if this despot has a brain) is NOT a 'plan
In 2004, twenty donors all gave (with one exception) at least $50,000 to the SWIFT BOAT liars group! Yes, Pickens' disgusts me, therefore I would support NOTHING he thinks or does - period!
She does go on and cites problems with wind mill power such as can be found here at this link A Problem With Wind Power [AWEO.org]
And then finishes with these observations, "The REAL elephant in the room is the overpopulation in this country and the world for that matter ...the big CORPORATIONS encourage overpopulation in order to exploit the workers ...Perhaps if we cut off immigration for a while, we wouldn't NEED so much OIL! Screw offshore drilling - I call for REVOLUTION!
Whew! Up against the wall, motherf_____rs! ...and thanks to all responders!
BadtotheBoneBob
OK, poll fans... No drama this week other than SCARY movies, haha!
The new question is:
What is the scariest movie you've ever seen?
Anecdotes are welcome...
Send your response to BadtotheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Fresh poll questions appear on Monday and Thursday, with Monday's results on Thursday, and Thursday's results on Monday.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
JOE CONASON: A Cut-and-Paste Foreign Policy (creators.com)
The discovery that John McCain's remarks on Georgia were derived from Wikipedia, to put it politely, is disturbing and even depressing - but not surprising. Under the tutelage of the neoconservatives, who revealed their superficial understanding of Iraq both before and after the invasion, he favors bellicose grandstanding over strategic thinking. So why delve deeper than a quick Google search?
Taegan Goddard: Did McCain Plagiarize His Speech on the Georgia Crisis?
A Wikipedia editor emailed Political Wire to point out some similarities between Sen. John McCain's speech today on the crisis in Georgia and the Wikipedia article on the country Georgia. Given the closeness of the words and sentence structure, most would consider parts of McCain's speech to be derived directly from Wikipedia.
SUSAN ESTRICH: Howard's End (creators.com)
You can blame John Edwards for a lot of things, but the last thing anyone should be blaming him for is the nomination of Barack Obama.
FROMA HARROP: Dry Eyes Follow Edwards' Downfall (creators.com)
It's hard to recall a political burial as fast and cold as that of John Edwards. After all, the former North Carolina senator had been a serious contender for president until a few months ago and possibly for VP until last week. Had his cheesy affair not surfaced, he would have commanded a choice speaking slot at the Democrats' convention.
FROMA HARROP: Sex, etc. and the City (creators.com)
I'm not a big fan of the nanny society's limits on freedom, except when I am.
SUSAN ESTRICH: Mime Time (creators.com)
"The reason was for the national interest," the chief music director of the ongoing Beijing Olympics told Beijing Radio. "The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings and expression. Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects. But in the aspect of voice, Yang Peiyi is flawless."
Roger Boyes: Hitler to get Pulp Fiction treatment in Tarantino's "Inglorious Bastards" (timesonline.co.uk)
It is not so much Kill Bill as Kill Adolf. Quentin Tarantino, master of cinematic violence, is about to stir up a hornets' nest in Germany with a war film that depicts Nazi soldiers having their brains bashed out with a baseball bat wielded by a vengeful American.
Will Harris: A Chat with Susanna Hoffs (bullz-eye.com)
"When I was working at my little factory job in the early '80s, and I was listening to oldies radio, which was predominantly '60s stuff back then, I heard 'Hazy Shade of Winter,' and I thought to myself, 'Oh, this is, like, a perfect Bangles song!'"
Tony Sachs: The (Lounge) Lizard King: Happy Birthday, Buddy Greco (huffingtonpost.com)
August 14th is Buddy Greco's birthday, and that's as good a reason as any to pay tribute to the man's greatness. What's not to love?
Alan Franks: Juliette Binoche gets metaphysical (timesonline.co.uk)
As she abandons film for a year to pursue a new dance project, the actress talks of art, love, intuition and intimacy.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Choctaw Cold Case
Was it murder for fun, profit - and a hospital?
The ultimate purpose of the book Dignity for All: How to Create a World Without Rankism is to
help spread the ______ ______?
The first baseball game I ever attended live was at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh in 1967, between the Pirates and Braves. It happened to also be the Game of the Week that week, and I can remember seeing the newly retired Sandy Koufax, working for NBC (I think that was the network), out on the field conducting an interview. I can't remember if Clemente got any hits, but at least I saw him play. What I do remember about the game is Felipe Alou going 5-5 for the Braves, Maury Wills (traded to the Pirates from the Dodgers before that season) getting an inside-the-park home run, and that the Braves won.
responded:
Reader Comment
'Tropic Thunder'
Reader Suggestion
Bob Dylan
Here's another youtube gem. This is Dylan, live at the Apollo in 2004,
covering Sam Cooke's, "A Change is Gonna Come". Click on *more info* for
the lyrics.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny with a nice breeze.
Beat The Writers
The Artists
Chevy Chase provided a crucial run, and Alec Baldwin helped ensure that everyone did the right thing.
Chase blasted a line drive that helped turn the tide in favour of a team of the Artists team when it was down 2-0 in a star-studded Hamptons charity softball game against the Writers.
It was the 60th instalment of the annual Artists and Writers Game, a tradition started by artists including Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.
Saturday's game raised more than $60,000 for hospice, day care and drug rehabilitation services. It also was played in memory of actor Roy Scheider, a veteran of the Artists team, who died in February at age 75.
The Artists
'Found Objects'
Harry Shearer
As the red light switched off and her program went into a commercial, Laura Ingraham's face dissolved from a smile into a frown - then, a look of pure disgust.
In a nine-minute video clip of on-set behavior at Fox News Channel, Ingraham radiates hate at everyone around her. There's a word misspelled on her teleprompter, her script makes no sense, a stranger hanging around annoys her, a producer is talking too loudly in her earpiece.
Shearer's "Found Objects," a semi-regular feature of the "My Damn Channel" Web site, is a place where news personalities don't want to find themselves.
His videos capture them in that television netherworld: on set or on location but before (they might think) the cameras are rolling. It's the time that obsessions about hairstyles or worries that they've done their homework surface - or when real personalities bubble through the makeup.
Harry Shearer
Remains Top Source Of News
TV
Fewer Americans are reading newspapers and are instead getting their news online, but television remains the leading source of news in the country, according to a survey released Sunday.
Pew said the results show an increasing shift toward online news consumption, but that there is now a sizable group of a more engaged, sophisticated and well-off people that use both traditional and online sources to get their news.
Pew found that the largest group of news consumers - 46 percent of those polled - have a "heavy reliance" on television for their news at all times of the day. This group is the oldest, with a median age of 52, and least affluent, with 43 percent unemployed. They are unlikely to own a computer or go online for news.
Pew found that consumers of online news tend to be more educated than those who get their news from traditional sources, with 44 percent of college graduates saying they read news online every day. Just 11 percent of those who topped out with a high school education go online for news.
TV
Thousands Pay Respects
Bernie Mac
As Cedric the Entertainer scanned the crowd of more than 6,000 gathered on Chicago's South Side to remember Bernie Mac on Saturday, he cracked that the comedy king was "still the hottest ticket in town."
Fans, friends and fellow celebrities descended on the House of Hope megachurch to bid their farewells to a man who never forgot his humble Chicago roots. Hundreds of mourners had never even met Mac - or had met him only long enough to shake his hand, get an autograph or thank him for representing his neighborhood.
Samuel L. Jackson, who co-stars with Mac in the upcoming movie "Soul Men," spoke at the church, saying he knew Mac "was having some health issues, but he always said to me every morning that he was always good."
Outside, traffic was tied up for blocks, vendors sold memorial T-shirts for $10, and Chicago waiter Timothy Strickland manned a makeshift shrine featuring photos, including Mac's 1971 eighth-grade basketball team picture. A sign read: "Thank you, Bernie, for showing that good people do come from Englewood."
Bernie Mac
Indian Movie Superstars
'The Unforgettable Tour'
For most people, going on an international tour with hours of rehearsals, a cast of more than 100, and 20 tons of props and sets may not seem like the best way for a family to bond.
Superstar Indian actors Amitabh Bachchan, his son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, along with other Indian movie stars including Preity Zinta, Madhuri Dixit and Riteish Deshmukh have spent the past few weeks touring the United States on "The Unforgettable Tour." The production is a showcase of hit songs from India's massive film industry known as Bollywood.
The tour, which started in Toronto and played a show in Trinidad before making its way to five cities around the United States, has its last U.S. date on Friday on suburban Long Island before heading off to Europe for its last three shows.
It's played at packed houses as fans eagerly came to see their favorites take the stage to perform the elaborate musical numbers that have always been an integral part of Indian movies.
'The Unforgettable Tour'
Hospital News
$chwarzenegger
Gov. Arnold $chwarzenegger has had surgery to repair his right knee, which he injured while working out about two weeks ago.
The former bodybuilder pulled out of an environmental conference Saturday to have his knee examined. His staff did not disclose until Sunday afternoon that arthroscopic surgery was conducted Saturday to repair a torn meniscus.
Spokesman Matt David called the operation a "minor procedure" and noted that $chwarzenegger attended church Sunday, walking on his own.
The 61-year-old bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned politician has suffered numerous physical injuries over the years, most recently when he shattered his femur during a skiing accident in 2006.
$chwarzenegger
Not Advertising On 2009 Oscars
GM
U.S. automaker General Motors Corp. has pulled out of its longtime sponsorship of the Academy Awards, one of the biggest annual events on broadcast television, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
The move, which comes amid a sharp downturn in automotive advertising on television, will leave Walt Disney Co.'s ABC without one of its biggest advertisers for Oscar night in February, the paper said.
The auto maker has long been one of the biggest spenders on the star-studded program, the paper said, adding that it paid out $13.5 million for advertising time on the broadcast this past February, according to TNS Media Intelligence.
GM
Digital Not Cell-Phone Friendly (So Far)
Analog TV
Picture whipping out your cell phone and catching up with "Lost" or "Jeopardy," or watching the local 11 o'clock news, all for free.
You can do this with an imported Chinese phone, but you can't with any phone sold in the U.S. - at least not without monthly charges.
This is one of the reasons the United States is behind several other countries when it comes to making television an attractive option for cell phones. Carrier business models are partly at fault, but choices about TV technology made long ago are largely to blame.
The analog U.S. broadcasts are being replaced by digital broadcasts, but there are no phones anywhere that can tune in to those.
Analog TV
Prosecution In Civilian Court
Jose Luis Nazario
A former Marine sergeant facing the first federal civilian prosecution of a military member accused of a war crime says there is much more at stake than his claim of innocence on charges that he killed unarmed detainees in Fallujah, Iraq.
In the view of Jose Luis Nazario Jr., U.S. troops may begin to question whether they will be prosecuted by civilians for doing what their military superiors taught them to do in battle.
Nazario is the first military service member who has completed his duty to be brought to trial under a law that allows the government to prosecute defense contractors, military dependents and those no longer in the military who commit crimes outside the United States.
The case came to light in 2006, when Nazario's former squadmate, Sgt. Ryan Weemer, volunteered details to a U.S. Secret Service job interviewer during a lie-detector screening that included a question about the most serious crime he ever committed. Weemer was ordered this month to stand trial in military court on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the killing of an unarmed detainee in Fallujah. He has pleaded not guilty.
Jose Luis Nazario
Truth Emerges Too Late
Kim Soo-im
Back in the days of "Commies" and "pinkos," of Red scares, black lists, suspicion and smear, Kim Soo-im stood out as a one-woman axis of evil, a villainess without peer.
"The Korean Seductress Who Betrayed America," as the U.S. magazine Coronet labeled her, was a Seoul socialite said to have charmed secret information out of one lover, an American colonel, and passed it to another, a top communist in North Korea.
In late June 1950, as North Korean invaders closed in on this teeming, panicked city, Kim was hastily executed by the South Korean military, shot as a "very malicious international spy." Her deeds, thereafter, only grew in infamy.
The story of Kim Soo-im is a cautionary tale of political hysteria, fear-mongering and sensationalist media, from a time when historians now believe the Seoul regime secretively executed at least 100,000 leftists and supposed sympathizers.
Kim Soo-im
Weekend Box Office
'Tropic Thunder'
It took four of Hollywood's biggest stars to take down Batman. The DreamWorks-Paramount comedy "Tropic Thunder" - with Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black and Tom Cruise - debuted at No. 1 with $26 million, bumping "The Dark Knight" to second place after four weekends on top, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Warner Bros. Batman flick pulled in $16.8 million to raise its total to $471.5 million. "The Dark Knight" passed the original "Star Wars" ($461 million) and now stands as No. 2 on the all-time domestic charts, behind only "Titanic" ($600.8 million).
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Tropic Thunder," $26 million.
2. "The Dark Knight," $16.8 million.
3. "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," $15.5 million.
4. "Mirrors," $11.1 million.
5. "Pineapple Express," $10 million.
6. "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," $8.6 million.
7. "Mamma Mia!", $6.5 million.
8. "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2," $5.9 million.
9. "Step Brothers," $5 million.
10. "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," $3.7 million.
'Tropic Thunder'
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