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People that fight for truth justice and the American way (Superman, etc) all seemed reasonably impressed with prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s demeanor and his ability to rise above the politics of the Plame leak case “leakgate” (I’m sure there will be a few as this is the year of the leaks) and focus on the legal issues. I wasn’t overly impressed with Fitzgerald but I did notice in his press conference months ago that he seemed like a reasonable fellow that was doing his job objectively in a politically difficult situation.

Fitzgerald recently had to make a correction to a document he released. It hasn’t gotten much coverage in the usual outlets, I found it mentioned in the New York Sun:

The prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, claimed in a court filing last week that a former White House aide facing criminal charges for obstructing the probe, I. Lewis Libby, said he was told by Mr. Cheney to inform a New York Times reporter that one of the key judgments of a 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq was that the country was “vigorously trying to procure” uranium.
While the intelligence report indeed alleged that Iraq was aggressively seeking nuclear materials, that finding was not among the key judgments contained in the document’s early pages. The allegation that Mr. Cheney told Mr. Libby to misstate that fact to the Times journalist, Judith Miller, was noted prominently in some news accounts and contributed to an uproar that threw the White House into a tailspin last week.
However, in a letter yesterday, Mr. Fitzgerald advised the judge overseeing the case, Reggie Walton, that the government’s April 5 filing was inaccurate. “We are writing to correct a sentence,” Mr. Fitzgerald’s letter begins. He told the judge an error occurred in the following statement: “Defendant understood that he was to tell Miller, among other things, that a key judgment of the NIE held that Iraq was ‘vigorously trying to procure’ uranium.”

I see this correction of his original statement as reflecting Fitzgerald’s commitment to proper language and accuracy in how he prosecutes. When speaking of legal issues, semantics are very important and Fitzgerald has demonstrated, as he did in the press conference months ago with his careful choice of words in dealing with the press, that he is committed to proper “spin free” prosecution (truth?). That he is not only being methodical but willing to admit a mistake (guess that makes him human) reflects well on his character and the eventual results of this case.

So I’m back on lists and this one is a blast from the past. Toonzone has started a list of what obscure/failed cartoons should be put to DVD. Given the constant push to market nostalgia to the 18-34s I don’t doubt that these toons will be out soon enough. I think our technologies such as DVD and the internet (you don’t think I actually remember the Bravestar theme? . . . okay I did remember the bit about the bear but I thought it was sight of the eagle, not hawk See: Retrojunk) allow us not only the ability to bask in nostalgia but to discover and rediscover stuff that one might have missed. Sure cartoons are a pretty base example of this recent cultural immor[t]ality but for what it’s worth we have more stuff that we can check out and have fun with and that’s pretty cool . . . you know until it’s not but I guess you don’t have to buy it or listen to it or build it or “chirp” it but atleast we have more choices now.

Twenty years ago I had this VHS tape (remember those). The tape is a collection of cartoons made by a variety of studios and one of them, made by the Happy Harmony Studio is called: To Spring. The cartoon begins in the midst of a repressive Winter where snow and ice cover the bleak surroundings. Quickly we are taken underground to a cavern where many Elves (possibly the Underwear Gnomes, working their 3rd job) are waking up. These Gnolves begin their work making the colors; like paint and ink they work in their cavern and pump these nutrient saturated colors back into the Earth bringing forth Spring. For a moment there is a struggle as “Old Man Winter” fights to keep his icy world but Spring wins out for now. And now after all these years I’ve found that cartoon and I think I will watch it because like it or not the months of being stuck inside enduring cold miserable weather are almost over. It is Spring, time to air out the house and go for a walk and see if the problems that festered confined in the cold are really so bad. Course today is April Fool’s Day, who is to say that the weather doesn’t have a sense of humor.

From the AHD this seems apt.

rough-cut

NOUN:
A print of a movie that has not been completely edited.
ADJECTIVE:
Lacking manners and finesse: “a rough-cut man who drew his life with a broad stroke” (Clif Garboden).

So I was doing some err cultural research for a project I’m set to get started on and I came across this term: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retcon

Retcon is shorthand for retroactive continuity. So just when I thought it was tough enough to get anything reliable and consistent in terms of historical information for real stuff I go and find that inconsistencies in my precious fictional ‘verses are so prevalent that there is a term for it. Scrolling down on the link I found a few that were quite entertaining but still I think this is a bad thing. Most good stories have an arch there are sarafices and developments of characters. There is change in environments and themes are developed and deconstructed. Once the world is opened up to being retroactively rewritten it yeilds a great amount of confusion and in many cases ruins what would have been a good story. When one rewrites a movie or adapts a work for the screen or stage there are changes for sure and this is accepted I think because it is a different world. But when a new writer takes over a story and changes it retroactively it seems to negate the previous work and throws the earned emotional connection with the characters into a general disarray (1 more day for more South Park (still written by the same 2 guys no retcon there)). Also once this practice of retcon is accepted it negates all of the work for who is to say that the next writer won’t just throw out the work of his predecessors? I guess I feel that the practice of retcon is the ultimate in lazy writing and a serious cop out in terms of a storytelling device. If a writer wants to tell a story about bounty hunting aliens fighting in giant space robots within the constraints of a previously established world that’s all well and good but if he* wants to make it his own then I think he should do the work and write his own from scratch.

* I’m saying “he” here not to be sexist but simply put women don’t write BHAFiGSR stories . . . if anybody knows one I’d like to meet her.

So word around the campfire is that Issac Hayes has put in to end his contract with Comedy Central and will cease being the Chef character on South Park. Now like many I enjoyed Chef’s wisdom and found him to be a great character. I guess Hayes is a Scientologists and after last seasons episodes slamming Scientology and Catholicism he doesn’t feel like being party to that. Of course he’s stayed around for the years that they slammed many other things. This is what South Park does. I think this hypocrisy of what is off limits is a funny issue. I’ve noticed this before in my life how people will enjoy a show as long as it gels with their world view but find it “not so good” once it contradicts their politics, etc even when the content the jokes are in fact still funny (as quantified by some kind of meter for measuring funny, I’m sure it’s evolving on the net somewhere even as we speak Google Laugh)). Oh well people like that usually give me a good laugh. I just hope that Alphone Mephisto will return to South Park to, in some way, fill the vaccuum that Hayes’ leaving will leave. OR better yet they will work it out OR, as this is the net, it might all just be baseless rumor. On a side note when I tried to do an image search for a pic to dear Alphonse it yielded a dead link and a picture of Christopher Hitchens maybe he could play the new school lunchroom guy.

Lost – Jack I just saw the first ep as a rerun and it is very clear that he is the one to follow.

Magnum PI – Higgins. Hunter – Hunter they named the show after him for christ’s sake.

JLU (Justive League Unlimited) – The Flash he hides a warrior’s pain behind humor.

The Simpsons – Krusty the Clown, when TV was banned by Side Show Bob Krusty went the extra miles and broadcasted from the Alkali Badlands.

Futurama- The Professor because he’s always got “good news”

Looney Tunes – Fog Horn Leg Horn because he reminds me of me sometimes.

Disney Tunes – they are all mostly lame but Dark Wing Duck was pretty cool I mena “when in trouble call on DW.”

Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex – Togusa he’s fighting heavy armoured cyborgs in a natural body and with a mullet that’s just cool.

Superman the animated Series – Lex Luthor voiced by Clancy (the Kurgan) Brown good stuff.

South Park – Dr. Alphonse Mephesto he hasn’t been in it since the NAMBLA ep but damn it they need to bring him back and Kevin too.

Samurai Jack – Aku he’s pure evil and Mako has one of the best voices around.

Battlestar Galactica (2004) – Commander William Adama, it’s Edward James Olmos doing his thing.

The Office (UK) – Tim Canterbury, the regular guy but he has some great faces of sheer I have no mouth and I must scream quality and that’s funny.

The Office (USA) – Dwight Schrute he captures a certain type of person perfectly.

Scrubs – Dr. Perry Cox McGinley is a great actor that up until this show was under appreciated. I just hope that they get Oliver Stone to do an episode someday.

Ed – Dr. Mike Burton the $10 bets were always classic.

Venture Bros. – Master Bill Quizboy

The Sopranos – Paulie ‘Walnuts’ Gualtieri after seeing him in some Quaker State ad I spent a month mastering the index pinky point s I could be just like him.

Curb Your Enthusiasm- Fuckin’ Richard Lewis oh I hate fuckin’ Richard Lewis fuck!

Clerks: The Cartoon – Leonardo Leonardo

Avatar: The Last Airbender – Appa he’s a flying bison.

Gungrave – Harry McDowell he’s got the Scarface syndrome the gensis of that sort of lust for power and how such a character “takes it to the limit” is always compelling.

Deadwood – Doc Cochrun Brad (Chuckie) Dourif is another under appreciated actor and he does a great job as the ambivalent alcoholic (who isn’t on that show, man the drinking game probably kills whole waves of Frat guys every year) doctor who is really the only decent guy on that show.

Freaks and Geeks – Bill Haverchuck he didn’t take any crap and he spoke his mind with a sense of humor.

Arrested Development- Job Bluth that show worked really well as an ensemble but Job stood out always with that sinister over the top smile and intonation that seemed so out of place.

Family Guy – The Chicken

American Dad – The Chicken just you wait he’ll be in there.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise – Soundwave I mean he had those tapes that would become Ravenge, Laser Beak, and one other one damn it I don’t remember. I don’t know why he was hanging around with the decepicreeps in the first place when it was pretty clear that he should be running the show.

Thunercats – Panthro he built all the cool shit that they had and his theme when he was rising up on fools like the Mutants and Hammer Hand in the Thundertank was the best.

Voltron: Defender of the Universe – Lance he was the Raphael of the Lion Force.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Raphael

Last Exile – Captain Alex Rowe of the Killem All Silverna you can’t go wrong with a stoic captain tortured by nightmares of past battles.

Firefly – Captain Malcolm Reynolds you can’t go wrong with a stoic captain tortured by nightmares of past battles.

Babylon 5 – Captain Jonathan Sheridan you can’t go wrong with a stoic captain tortured by nightmares of past battles.

The X-files – Melvin Frohike, it was always a good one if he was involved and Tom Braidwood was also an assistant director on the show.

Cheers- Cliff he also reminds me of me sometimes.

Home Movies – Jason he was consistently funny H. Jon Benjamin is a hero of mine a pioneer in hyper-irony check out the extra stuff on Home Movies Season 1.

Batman: The Animated Series – The Joker Mark Hamill is great.

Samurai Champloo- Jin a samurai with glasses.

Lupin III – Inspector Kouichi “Pops” Zenigata the classic trenchcoat and hat look that’s how inspectors should be.

Walker Texas Ranger – C.D. Parker

Twin Peaks – Dianne

Northern Exposure – Chris from KBear in the Mornin’.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast – Locar

Thunderbirds – there was this aligator in this one episode that was supposed to be a giant mutant because of the scale but it was really just a regular aligator not like Aligator 2: The Mutation.

Outlaw Star – Gilliam ships computer he was a real talker.

7th Heaven – Happy the dog

The Tick: Cartoon – Human Ton with Handie who promoted reading with his references to The Iliad.

You Can’t Do That on Telvision – Barth I always thought it was Barf when I was little but they probably were playing with innuedo back then what a word to use.

Cowboy Bebop – Ein he’s a Data Dog and he talks can talk to cows. Man being the voracious carnivore that I am I wish I could do that.

That should do fine. I’m going to watch TV now.

I just caught a bit of BTTF II (Back to the Future II) on the Super Station or whatever. It was right at the part were Marty was about to intercept and replace Marty Jr. at Cafe 80’s (an 80’s themed retro caffee with Reagan and pinball). So today I got this clock radio speaker thingy that I can connect to my i-Pod which is some pretty high tech stuff and that’s something. It’s 2006 now that’s right so really we’re just 9 years away from 2015 (the setting of the future part of BTTF II). We are quickly approaching the hooverboards (which were given big ups on Empire magazines top 200 things that rocked their world) flying cars, and self drying clothes I find myself longing for Cafe 80’s. I don’t know when Solid Gold Oldies will be Thomas Dolby but I can’t wait for Cafe 80’s and it’s fast approaching.

In the recent State of the Union Address the President spoke in regards to the US regaining competitive strength in the world economy by increasing the math and science skills of young students. Last night on Charlie Rose Norman Augustine and Roy Vangelos, members of the National Academy, were talking about a report they had just finished which laid out a plan for the US to regain this competitive edge. The report was published as: Rising Above the Coming Storm a pdf for free download can be found here: http://books.nap.edu/catalog/11463.html

Also, since TV is twice as fast at information you can watch Augustine and Vangelos on Charlie Rose via Google(double twice as fast) video here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7533029211333433510&q=tvshow%3ACharlie_Rose

One of the biggest issues discussed by Augustine and Vangelos is that of improving K-12 education in the math and science fields. Augustine does briefly and jokingly address one issue about the problem of inspiring the youth towards interests in these fields that I think might be the real crux of the problem. In the US math and science are not viewed, or portrayed in the media, with the reverence that they are in other parts of the world. This is a critical concern. I wonder if there is enough money (as that is all the government can really offer as a remedy) to produce teachers that will inspire kids to dig math and science as much as American Idol (which has been pretty lame this season)? Ultimately it will be up to the kids. I just hope (fingers crossed) that the society will not be inhereited by ambivalent malcontents . . . or Communists.

In my ongoing search for “cool things” I have encountered Channel 101 http://www.channel101.com/ This is a site where people have posted shorts and ideas for television shows. It seems that it has been around for quite awhile (guess I’m out of the subculture loop here). I recently pilaged some of the stuff after Andy Samberg, a new cast member on SNL, was on Conan talking about how he did a project called “the ‘bu”. It sounded right up my “anything goes” sense of humor alley. A quick look at all the stuff on the site leads me to believe that it isn’t all great but much like Channel Frederator I find inspiration in how the web has become a way for people to get their stuff seen and heard. Hopefully this will lead to a greater amount of talent and a higher proportion of “coolness” out there. So check the site out for what it’s worth, you might find a special gem OR you know there is the irony of bad crap angle.