'Best of TBH Politoons'
Cory!! Strode On Graphic Novels
'Can't Get No'
"Even as it opens, the eye might recoil."
When it comes to the events of 9/11, the comic book artistic response has been slow in coming, much like the response in movies. Usually when a large tragedy happens, there is an immediate reaction, and then, as time goes on, a response by artists to what happened, and comics aren't any different. In the month after 9/11, there were benefit books from every major comic company, and a number of smaller ones. Marvel even tried a series in which firefighters and policemen were the main characters, not super-heroes, but it did poorly and was quietly canceled. Movies are starting to deal with it, but they are sticking to the heroic stories of that day, rather than the effect on the rest of us.
Rick Veitch has put out what could be the first true artistic response in the graphic novel arena with "Can't Get No." Veitch has long been an artist who pushes at the barriers of what is acceptable in comics, using dream-like images and unconventional storytelling in his work, and is probably best known for his revisionist superhero work in "Bratpack" which told an adult story of super-hero "sidekicks" that delves into psychological and sexual issues, and quitting his run on the long-running series "Swamp Thing" after editors scrapped a story in which the character met Jesus during the crucifixion. His fascination with dreams led to a self-published series where he illustrated the lucid dreams he experienced called "Roaring Rick's Rare Bit Fiends".
It is that series that came to mind as I read "Can't Get No". The book is unconventionally laid out, only half as tall as a normal graphic novel, but is still the same width. As I read the story, it took a while to understand the kind of storytelling Veitch was doing, as the captions seem to have little to do with the story being told by the pictures. While it tells the story of an executive whose company is destroyed when the permanent markers end up being permanent on human skin, the captions read as a poem that overlays the art, seemingly unconnected, but running in parallel.
However, as I turn the pages, things become more clear. The art carries the story effortlessly, showing the lead character, Chad Roe, as he becomes a victim of his all-too permanent markers after a night of drinking in Soho, taking the reader through the events of 9/11, and Roe's personal breakdown mirrors with a breakdown suffered by the country itself. The story has a dream-like feel to it, with the reality of events being questionable as we follow Roe's journey. As I read, the counterbalance of the thoughts expressed in the captions provides a deeper thought process behind the story. What at first seems overly complex and hard to read becomes clear about halfway through the book, and during a second reading, the impact of Veitch's poetic captions hits harder than on a first reading.
The artist leaves it up to the reader to decide what it means, what is real, and what is a nightmare, mirroring how many people said at the time of 9/11 that it all seemed like a bad dream. Roe, even with the absence of dialog, becomes a fully rounded character through Veitch's use of body language and storytelling style, using symbolic imagery as well as the reader's own knowledge of other stories involving characters who are scarred in some way and have to live apart from normal society.
"Can't Get No" gives no easy answers, doesn't rely on conventional storytelling, and avoids the jingoistic response that most fiction I have read connected with 9/11 has been connected to. It is a meditation on events big and small, the meaning of art, and an examination of personal reality in a way that couldn't have been possible in either prose or film. It is not an easy book to read, but I feel it is an important one, and shows that Veitch is capable of great works, this being one of them.
"Can't Get No" gets a 5 out of 5 and is highly recommended.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
The ideas interview: David Runciman (guardian.co.uk)
Blair and Bush cannot write off the bad consequences of their actions by pointing to good intentions. That is self-deluding hypocrisy, hears John Sutherland.
Adam Jack Gomolin, UC-Berkeley and Alex Halpern Levy, Wesleyan University: Gay Parties (campusprogress.org)
Coming out of the electoral closet.
Will Durst: Bush Behaving Badly
We got some spoiled fruit running the country and he's loose, playing frat boy diplomat with the big kids, and everything is going horribly awry.
Tim Fernholz, Georgetown University: What's The Big Idea? (campusprogress.org)
Do progressives need better ideas - or better campaigns?
Ellen Goodman: Right-wing wedges (Washington Post Writers Group)
GOP plans backfire, exposing gap between right and loony right.
A modern guide to sinning (guardian.co.uk)
Sloth, gluttony, covetousness ... those seven deadly sins are so over. According to the Bishop of London, what's really wicked now are holiday flights and gas-guzzling cars. But Lucy Mangan has other ideas.
Lyrics for Dixie Chicks Song: Not Ready To Make Nice (cowboylyrics.com)
I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
Should we worry about soya in our food? (guardian.co.uk)
Whether you know it or not, you'll probably be eating soya today. It's in 60% of all processed food, from cheese to ice cream, baby formula to biscuits. But should it carry a health warning? Felicity Lawrence investigates.
Dan Vergano: A new hope: Astronomers reach 200-exoplanet milestone (usatoday.com)
In real life, science fiction turns into science with little fanfare, certainly a disappointment for fans of zap guns, teleportation and mini-skirted aliens. Take the discovery of planets circling nearby stars - a minor sensation a few years ago, but now almost humdrum. With little fanfare though, planet detectives have now found an astounding 200 planets orbiting nearby stars.
Living Bank: Whole Body Donation (livingbank.org)
Comment From Mr. Hawk
Re: Hummer
You said, "So, has anybody else seen the Hummer commercial with the tagline
"Restore Your Manhood"?
Guess that offically makes it the vehicle of flaccid, poorly endowed men who
don't mind the world knowing their shortcomings. "
Sorry to inform you but it's companion ad is one where a woman is bullied
on a playground and has to go out and buy a Hummer. To run over the bully's
BMW I guess.
- Mr. Hawk
I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or
give me death!
Patrick Henry
Thanks, Mr. Hawk!
Looked up at the TV while reading this, and damn, there it was. Ewwwww.
How depressing.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still hot, still humid, still cranky.
No new flags.
National Civil Rights Museum
2006 Freedom Awards
The French physician who founded Doctors Without Borders, civil rights leader Joseph Lowery and entertainer Stevie Wonder were named Tuesday as recipients of the National Civil Rights Museum's 2006 Freedom Awards.
The annual awards will be given out by the museum at a banquet Oct. 17.
The awards banquet is a major fundraiser for the museum, built around the former Lorraine Motel where King was assassinated in 1968 while helping lead a strike by Memphis garbage workers.
2006 Freedom Awards
Never-Released Song To Auction
Jimi Hendrix
A never-released song that legendary U.S. rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix recorded 40 years ago is to be sold at auction in New York in October.
Ocean Tomo LLC, a merchant bank that specializes in intellectual property, said the song, "Station Break," was recorded during a session early in Hendrix's career.
Ocean Tomo spokeswoman Wendy Chou said that for unknown reasons the song was never released unlike others from the 1966 New York session.
Jimi Hendrix
Upsets Propagandist
Keith Olbermann
MSNBC personality Keith Olbermann "is over the line" for wearing a mask of Fox host Bill "Falafel Boy' O'Reilly (R-Loofah Specialist) and raising his arm in a Nazi salute, said Fox News Channel chairman Roger Ailes (R- Überspinmeister).
Ailes, appearing at the summer meeting of the Television Critics Association Monday, said Olbermann takes shots at Fox's O'Reilly because it boosts his ratings.
During his Countdown show on MSNBC, Olbermann regularly tweaks spanks corrects O'Reilly. Olbermann has named O'Reilly his "Worst Person in the World" at least 15 times. The nightly award is Olbermann's way of criticizing what he deems bad behaviour.
Keith Olbermann
Wins Half Of Artie Shaw's Estate
Evelyn Keyes
A jury has awarded Evelyn Keyes ex-wife of the late jazz clarinetist and band leader Artie Shaw $1.42 million, which accounts for about half of his estate.
Shaw died in 2004 at age 94. He and Keyes were married from 1957 to 1985 but separated in 1970.
Long after they separated but while they were still married, Shaw wrote a two-page contract in which they promised each other half of their estates, said Henry Gradstein, lawyer for Keyes, 89.
"She went to his executor to collect her half, and he refused," Gradstein said. "She had no choice but to sue."
Evelyn Keyes
Snarky `Jeopardy' Champ
Ken Jennings
"Jeopardy!" ace Ken Jennings, who won $2.5 million during his 74-game winning streak, has a few unkind words to say about the show - and dapper host Alex Trebek.
"I know, I know, the old folks love him," Jennings writes in a recent posting, titled "Dear Jeopardy!" on his Web site.
"Nobody knows he died in that fiery truck crash a few years back and was immediately replaced with the Trebektron 4000 (I see your engineers still can't get the mustache right, by the way)."
Jennings also takes aim at the show's "effete, left-coast" categories and "same-old" format.
Ken Jennings
Austria Grants Russian Diva Citizenship
Anna Netrebko
The government granted Russian diva Anna Netrebko Austrian citizenship Tuesday, citing "her special merits" as one of the world's most sought-after opera stars.
Netrebko, who will also retain her Russian passport, was given Austrian citizenship under special provisions that put athletes, entertainers, artists and other celebrities on the fast track for the procedure. Normally, gaining citizenship takes at least 10 years and involves language and other tests designed to prove the applicant's suitability to living in Austria.
Netrebko has been described as "the new Callas" and "Audrey Hepburn with a voice" by critics. Since her triumphant 1995 San Francisco Opera debut, she has starred with opera companies and symphony orchestras around the world.
Anna Netrebko
Wedding News
Adams - Miles
"Dilbert" comic strip creator Scott Adams called his weekend wedding aboard a yacht in the San Francisco Bay "tremendous," but said he doesn't expect to win a dance competition anytime soon.
Adams, 49, and Shelly Miles, 37, were married Saturday evening on the Commodore Galaxy yacht by the ship's captain. About 150 guests attended the ceremony. It's the first marriage for Adams and the second for Miles.
The couple met at Adams' health club four years ago. Miles has two children, a 6-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter, and both participated in the wedding, Adams said.
Adams - Miles
Baby News
Anderson - Griffiths
Gillian Anderson, star of TV's "The X-Files," is having a baby with her new beau. Her spokeswoman, Connie Freiberg, confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that Anderson will give birth to her second child at the end of the year.
The father is businessman Mark Griffiths, Freiberg said in an e-mail, confirming a report on People magazine's Web site.
Anderson - Griffiths
Reality Show Flap
'Flip This House'
A&E has been slapped with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit stemming from its reality series "Flip This House."
Richard C. Davis, executive producer and star of "Flip," filed suit in the Court of Common Pleas in Charleston, S.C., against the cable network and production company Departure Films, citing fraud, breach of contract and seven other counts.
The lawsuit hinges on A&E's decision to move ahead with a second season of "Flip" without Davis and his real estate company, Trademark Properties. The series follows Trademark staffers as they buy, fix and resell undervalued residences.
'Flip This House'
Gets Cut
`BET Uncut'
"BET Uncut," the compilation of racy videos that drew protests while it kept some rap fans awake late at night, has been cut. The show's last episode after five years aired July 7, BET said.
"BET Uncut" aired at 3 a.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, showing videos considered too risque to show at other times. But it upset some viewers who said many of them were degrading to wom n. The clips regularly showed obscured nudity and women gyrating wildly with sexual overtones. One video by Nelly featured the rapper swiping a credit card up a woman's backside.
BET will fill the time slot with reruns of programs on the air earlier or syndicated sitcoms. Those tend to be a lot cheaper instead of original programming for networks.
`BET Uncut'
Anger Management Program
May Andersen
A Danish model accused of hitting a flight attendant on a plane from Amsterdam to Miami will participate in an anger management program under an agreement announced Tuesday.
May Andersen, a former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, will be allowed to take the four- to five-hour course either in New York, where she has an apartment, or in her home of Copenhagen, Denmark. If she completes the course successfully, the charges will be dropped, Assistant State Attorney Carolyn Zegeer said.
May Andersen
Buying Indian Children's TV Channel
Disney
Walt Disney Co. has agreed to buy Hungama, an Indian children's cable and satellite TV channel that broadcasts in Hindi, for $30.5 million as it tries to keep pace with rivals in the fast-growing market.
As part of the deal, Disney said on Tuesday it would pay an additional $14 million for a 14.9 percent stake in UTV Software Communications Ltd., the diversified Indian media group that owns film and television assets, including Hungama via its United Home Entertainment unit.
Time Warner's Cartoon Network had been a dominant leader in the Indian children's entertainment market, but POGO, Hungama and Disney have closed the gap in recent months, and each has about a one-quarter share.
Disney
Denies Claim 911 Calls Were Blocked
'Indy Star'
The Indianapolis Star is strongly denying a claim by a former columnist that a Star photographer who collapsed in the newsroom, and later died, had emergency help delayed because newspaper workers could not dial 911 from the newsroom.
Ruth Holladay, who retired three weeks ago from the paper after a 37-year career, wrote the claim July 22 on her Web blog, www.ruthholladay.com. The Web posting contends that when photographer Mpozi Tolbert, 34, collapsed at his desk on July 3, fellow workers were not able to quickly reach emergency dispatchers because their phones could not call out.
"That night, nobody could dial 911 from the newsroom. [Star owner] Gannett wants all such calls to go through to security, at extension 4900 and located on the first floor, so that security can exert control," the blog item stated, in part. "The woman working security that night, who got the calls from the second floor, does not speak English with much skill. So she had a hard time getting a grasp on the situation and began asking a lot of questions rather than getting on the horn right away to 911. Meanwhile, horrified, frantic copy editors and others whipped out their cell phones to dial 911."
'Indy Star'
64 Super Bowls
World Cup
World Cup soccer delivered the equivalent of 64 Super Bowls during the month-long tournament, with an average TV audience of 93 million viewers for each match, about the same number who watched the NFL championship.
More than 5.9 billion people watched World Cup matches live in 54 global markets, according to a final tally released on Tuesday by media buying and planning firm Initiative.
The World Cup also attracted twice the number of viewers who watched the Athens Olympics opening ceremony, solidifying its place as the top draw for broadcasters and advertisers.
World Cup
Seek Apology
Steely Dan
Paging Owen Wilson. Jazz-rock band Steely Dan wants an apology. The veteran group behind such hits as "Rikki Don't Lose that Number" says Wilson ripped off its 2000 Grammy-winning tune "Cousin Dupree" for his title role as a slacker in the new comedy "You, Me and Dupree."
In a 10-paragraph letter posted July 17 on Steely Dan's Web site, and addressed to Wilson's brother Luke, band leaders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen ask that Owen Wilson appear at a July 19 show in Irvine to apologize to the band's fans.
Becker and Fagen claim that "some hack writer or producer" heard Steely Dan's "Cousin Dupree," about a hormonal houseguest, and "when it came time to change the character's name or whatever so people wouldn't know what a rip the whole (insert explicative) thing was, they didn't even bother to think up a new (insert explicative) name for the guy!"
Steely Dan
Monument Finally Put To Rest
Barney Fife
An effort to honor the late actor Don Knotts with a statue of his most famous character has ended with the destruction of an unfinished clay sculpture of Deputy Barney Fife.
Tom Hellebrand, the prime backer of the project, asked for the statue to be destroyed. He also said he's selling his house and restaurant in Mount Airy because of the strain caused by three months of trying to find a home for the work.
Work on the Knotts statue was halted after Paramount/CBS, which owns the rights to the television show, withdrew its approval, saying it didn't have the authority to grant permission for a likeness of Knotts.
Barney Fife
Out At ESPN
Harold Reynolds
Harold Reynolds is out at ESPN, reportedly fired from his job as a baseball analyst.
Reynolds, a member of the "Baseball Tonight" team for 11 years, made his last appearance on the show Sunday night, ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said Tuesday.
The network refused to comment on a New York Post report that said Reynolds was dismissed, or to provide any details regarding his departure.
Harold Reynolds
Web Site Reveals
Your Inner Celebrity Twin
According to MyHeritage.com, everyone has a little celebrity inside. Largely meant for charting family trees and as a genealogy community, the Web site also boasts an addictive face recognition technology that blurs the boundary between the great unwashed and the thoroughly groomed.
To find out which celebrity you most resemble, download a photo of yourself, and you'll quickly receive a list of stars with similar facial features. The results, which can include men and women, are often surprising.
In one trial, a white, goateed, middle-aged man came up as most resembling the young black comedian Chris Tucker - and onlookers exclaimed, "You know, I can see that."
The Israel-based site uses algorithms to compare faces. From a database of 3,200 celebs, ten ranked results are provided, which can be quite disparate.
Your Inner Celebrity Twin
Time Suspends Publication
Teen People
Time Inc., a major magazine publisher, said Tuesday it would stop publishing Teen People but keep the magazine's Web site operating.
The magazine, whose circulation has been slipping over the past few years, was launched in 1998. Ann Moore and John Huey, the chief executive and editor-in-chief of Time Inc., told employees in a memo that the company would continue to invest in Web site, "which shows promise and growth."
Teen People
Found In Bog
Medieval Manuscript
Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded the discovery of an ancient book of psalms by a construction worker who spotted something while driving the shovel of his backhoe into a bog.
The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.
He said an engineer was digging up bogland last week to create commercial potting soil somewhere in Ireland's midlands when, "just beyond the bucket of his bulldozer, he spotted something." Wallace would not specify where the book was found because a team of archaeologists is still exploring the site.
Medieval Manuscript
Prime-Time Nielsen
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for July 17-23. Top 20 listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (7) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 11.18 million viewers.
2. (42) "America's Got Talent," NBC, 9.92 million viewers.
3. (X) " Miss Universe Pageant," NBC, 9.65 million viewers.
4. (3) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 9.64 million viewers.
5. (56) "So You Think You Can Dance" (Wednesday), Fox, 9.44 million viewers.
6. (15) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 9.33 million viewers.
7. (6) "Without a Trace," CBS, 9.28 million viewers.
8. (11) "House," Fox, 9.2 million viewers.
9. (18) "CSI: NY," CBS, 9 million viewers.
10. (23) "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.7 million viewers.
11. (58) "So You Think You Can Dance" (Thursday), Fox, 8.63 million viewers.
12. (77) "Without a Trace" (Sunday), CBS, 8.62 million viewers.
13. (22) "Cold Case," CBS, 8.23 million viewers.
14. (104)"America's Got Talent" (Thursday), NBC, 7.91 million viewers.
15. (27) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 7.90 million viewers.
16. (83) "Last Comic Standing 4," NBC, 7.75 million viewers.
17. (21) "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 7.72 million viewers.
18. (72) "How I Met Your Mother" (9:30 p.m.), CBS, 7.68 million viewers.
19. (120) "So You Think You Can Dance" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), Fox, 7.66 million viewers.
20. (109) "House" (Tuesday, 8 p.m.), Fox, 7.52 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Makoto 'Mako' Iwamatsu
Mako, the Japan-born actor who used his Oscar nomination for the 1966 film "The Sand Pebbles" to push for better roles for Asian American actors, has died. He was 72.
Mako, whose birth name was Makoto Iwamatsu, died Friday of esophageal cancer at his home in Somis, California, said Tim Dang, artistic director of East West Players, the Asian American theater company Mako co-founded in 1965.
In an acting career that spanned more than four decades, Mako, who was born in Kobe, Japan in 1933, was a familiar face in film and television, sometimes playing roles that stereotyped Asians. His TV roles included appearances on "I Spy," "MASH," "and "Walker, Texas Ranger."
In films, he was a Japanese admiral in 2001's "Pearl Harbor," a Singaporean in 1997's "Seven Years in Tibet," and played Akiro the wizard in "Conan the Barbarian" and "Conan the Destroyer" with Arnold $chwarzenegger.
Mako immigrated to New York when he was 15. After serving two years in the U.S. military, he moved to California and studied theater at the Pasadena Playhouse.
He is survived by his wife, Shizuko Hoshi, and their daughters Sala and Mimosa.
Makoto 'Mako' Iwamatsu
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
