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.

In my continuing struggle to connect everthing together and develop a Grand Unifying Culture GUC (pronounced “guck” like the white stuff on the sides your lips, yeah that’s right). I discovered that the slightly obscure 80’s classic Dr. Detroit starring Dan Akroid was written by Bruce Jay Freidman a writer who is credited with begining the dark humor trend. Now Dr. Detroit is a strange 80’s movie and to be honest these movies are why I hold the firm stance that the 80’s is the best decade for films to date. Anyway stranger connections have been made but I’m still waiting for the sequel Dr. Detroit II: The Wrath of Mom. Good grief, good stuff . . . or is it just that my mind has been so poisioned by this dark humor that I can’t tell the difference anymore?

P.S. Co-star Fran Drescher, soundtrack by Devo. I rest my case.

Today is my birthday at 10:18 PM I’ll be a quarter of a Century old. I’ll admit that I didn’t know where I’d be by the time I hit this foil wrap around cover issue (comic geeks should get it, rememeber how Magneto pulled the adamantium out of Wolverine?). I guess in this fast paced world where we live longer, enduring the ever expanding progess of the society and coping with the associated ailments (badly) it makes sense that I might feel a certain melancholic ennui about the whole affair of passing away from my “best years”. Certainly things have not passed as I might have planned nor would they ever or should they even in the best of all possible worlds. I suppose my New Years resolution toward some kind of unabstract attempt at peace of mind is at best a noble goal and at worst a futile one (like how I finally worked the titular line in there?) so it goes. I’m sure I’ve got a few more years to work something out but who is to say anything will work out? We’ll that’s the big Existential crisis that we all must deal with sooner or later best to be done with it. I have a meeting, later.

I was just reading this Month’s Wired and they have a list of the top 50 Robots.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.01/robots.html?pg=1&topic=robots&topic_set

Now here we have a different issue. With movies the question is genre, with technology and in this list we have that which does exist and that which exists only in the annals of science fiction (does not exits, hence the fiction). I do not think that a list containing real robots can fairly be compared (at least not yet and in the future the issue might be moot at least for talking cars, etc) to a list that contains fantastical ficticioal robots. I’d have to say that if you want a robot then get a robot, if you want to fantasize about how cool robots will be, might be, then watch or read some good science fiction. I mean Forbes did a list of the richest ficticional characters but they did not compare them to Donald Trump and Bill Gates. That said and Done I will say that Astro Boy rules!

Yeah for sure, IGN just put out their top 25 list of hero movieshttp://filmforce.ign.com/articles/676/676647p1.html

most of them are just wrong. There have been some really good movies about heroism and the super form is usually great fan fare but Blade 2 (the one with the Sun bombs) and Hulk (the Jungian father relationship of the decade) are just bad movies. I’ll admit that they have some of the good ones there including Spiderman 2 and Superman but for the most part either they were stretching too thin when it came to figuring good Super Hero movies OR the core conceptual themes that make up a good super hero movie is not what the list was about. I mean for sheer spectacle and explosions some of these might be great but many are just badly made movies. I thought I was a geek but maybe I just don’t get why people like Hell Boy so damn much? I’m waiting for 2006 when Superman Returns. http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/supermanreturns/