Musings of a Chicagoan

Katie Couric is soliciting questions for the candidates from Joe Everyman via Digg.com. Her YouTube message:

I took a few moments to throw a few of my own questions in the mix. Unless they’re “dug up,” they won’t make it to the air. But I like ‘em:

1. Sen. McCain, I am a Democrat, but I was a fan of you in your 2000 race, so much so that I mused to a friend that I might find cause to vote Republican were you up against Sen. Clinton, who I dislike. However, comparing 2000 and 2008, not only your platform but your leadership approach, media relationships, relationships with the Religious Right, and donor relationships (amidst many other factors) have drastically changed between 2000 and 2008. I would have gladly voted for you in 2000 against many Democratic candidates, but in 2008, I would not consider it for a moment. My question for you is this: the difference between the candidate you presented to the public in 2000 and the candidate you now present to us is a MASSIVE difference. What caused this difference of philosophy between these two campaigns eight years apart?
2. Sen. Obama, Sen. McCain, each of you comes from the U.S. Senate. One of you will not go to the White House next January. Were that to be you, would you return to the United States Senate to complete your term? Would you want to run for a Senate seat once again?
3. Sen. Obama, Sen. McCain, the Internet has connected people to a degree together never before seen in the history of man. As a result, tens of thousands of Americans are far more aware of their government’s actions than ever before, thanks not only to weblogs and social networking, but due to websites such as GovTrack.Us and OpenCongress, among many others. Pending legislation is instantly disseminated via news aggregators like Google News. Lobbyists’ donations are more clearly chartered and measured than ever before. Would your Administration be friendly to these efforts of citizens to leverage these tools to become more involved in their representation within the American government? How might our government become more “open source” using this increased connectivity — allowing, say, the genius of some savante in a small town sequestered in the middle of America who posts on a message forum somewhere an ingenious solution to our economic problems — to reach the right ears in Washington?
4. Sen. McCain, you have made it clear through multiple statements both prior to and during your Presidential campaign that you agree with President Bush’s actions and performance during Administration. However, he has the lowest approval rate ever measured in the history of Presidential polling. We went from a surplus to an extremely severe deficit; bin Laden remains alive; our economy is crashing; New Orleans still suffers the aftereffects of Katrina; we have thousands of soldiers dead and tens of thousands with life-altering injuries. My question for you is: what metrics are you using in measuring President Bush’s performance by which you see something laudable and commendable to ally yourself with?
   
   This may appear as a loaded question, but it is meant honestly. With an approval rating in the mid-20s, that means that three out of every four Americans disapprove of Bush’s job performance. If any of those 75% are to vote for you, they will need to know why you believe differently than they do regarding President Bush’s performance.

Memesheep. I am a memesheep.

When Heath Ledger killed himself, he left behind a daughter, Matilda. He also left behind a role in The Imaginarum of Dr. Parnassus.

Stepping into his role are three stars: Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law. (If I understand correctly, they’re doing a “parallel universe” kind of thing so that Heath’s part can be preserved as well.)

Get this.

All three of them have donated their salaries from the film to Heath’s daughter Matilda.

That … is one hell of a classy act.

Man, you want to talk about nostalgia? Odd combination of links led me to these:

Very trippy. Of course, it being an ’80s trend, it had to be addressed by Family Guy at one point:

My sister, as a child, loved Kids, Inc., so this song is very much not unfamiliar to me:

(That little blonde girl you first see, named Stacy Ferguson? That’s the Black-Eyed Peas’ Fergie.)

What made me chuckle was I just for the hell of it clicked on the 1991 version of the song … and “Love Hewitt” was in the 1991 cast. Yeah, it’s who you think it is:

Harry Knowles buckles under Lucasfilm pressure to take down scathing Star Wars: the Clone Wars reviews:

Harry hated THE CLONE WARS!

I’ve never hated a STAR WARS film before. I have weathered Jar Jar and any number of Ewoks. I survived Hayden and a wooden Portman. I even accepted Jake Lloyd. I handled all that because it felt like STAR WARS.

I can accept all of Lucas’ flaws, so long as at its heart it felt like Star Wars. I can deal with politics in Star Wars. I can deal with trade skirmishes in Star Wars. I can deal with musical numbers, breathing in the vacuum of space. Basically - so long as it feels like STAR WARS - I can watch any of it.

Was I looking forward to STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (2008)?

Fuckin’ A!

I was dying. After Genndy’s CLONE WARS - I felt that perhaps Lucas “got it” - and that this new animated series was taking a lead from Tartakovsky’s brilliant assembly of pieces. Genndy’s CLONE WARS got STAR WARS better than anyone has got it since Lawrence Kasdan and Irvin Kershner. Genndy took designs and characters that folks were dissatisfied with and made them cool. He did this by using and adapting the themes created by John Williams, the wholly perfect entity involved with Star Wars along with … the sound effects of Ben Burtt. He understood speed and motion - not just with action, but in editing. He understood classic film composition and iconography. And he knows what BADASS is.

The folks behind this STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS movie … you could tell, they looked at what Genndy did - but they didn’t understand any of it. There’s a shitload of battles and shit going boom. There’s noise everywhere - fury everywhere … but none of it is directed. The music by Kevin Kiner is criminally bad. Why they didn’t employ Paul Dinletir and James Venable is beyond me. No, no - let’s hire the composer of WALKER, TEXAS RANGER. Ahem.

Now - I made excuses for this film as I was watching it. I don’t think you understand how much I love STAR WARS. Maybe you do, maybe you do too.

Before the movie started I was firing myself up to go out after the film and buy that new $200 Hasbro Millenium Falcon. I really wanted to go buy it, and I wanted this movie to empower my brain to go through with that. Instead, I found myself at home - putting on Genndy’s THE CLONE WARS - to try and rebuild my passion - so I can go get that new Falcon.

Instead - I’m thinking I’ll just be here at home enjoying this and that’ll be all I need.

Anyway - as I was watching the film, I was excusing the sloppy shots, the sloppy use of the Clone Troopers and Droids - undoing all the awesome work that Genndy had done - and the droids are silly again. The Clone Troopers are limp. And the Jedi - they’re at 25% power from the mind of Genndy. But I was accepting that. I figured that was Lucas dialing back so that the animated series wouldn’t overpower his features.

Then they introduced Baby Jabba aka Rotta the Huttlet aka Stinky. At the point of this character’s introduction - it officially became, the worst character in the history of STAR WARS. If you hate George Lucas cutsiepoo bullshit - oooooooh boy. You’re gonna have a field day of venting and hatred directed at this unbelievably fucking awful little shhit.

Oh - but wait … Little Stinky the Hutt isn’t the worst character in the history of STAR WARS … because Stinky got introduced earlier in the film. As much as I hated lil Stinky … I was weathering Stinky. I seriously was. But later there was a character of such immense shit - offensively bad. The character was so bad, so incredibly awful - that it was a slap to the face. It woke me out of my shit-accepting stupor and made me angry. SUDDENLY my “inner fanboy rage” was awoken.

As I watched this terrifyingly awful character named Ziro the Hutt. A seemingly female Hutt - with tattoos and make-up that sounds like a racist take on a Black New Orleans Crack-Dealing Whore. Because this Hutt speaks ENGLISH - and it is many times worse than I’m actually describing. This character was actually too much for me. So bad that every flaw I was looking past, was now a road sign to inadequacy and mediocrity. All of a sudden my brain realized that Asajj Ventress’ voice no longer was acceptable - and sure enough - the amazing Grey DeLisle, who originally voiced the character back in 2003 - had been replaced by a Nika Futterman - and that voice was missed. The character didn’t have that snarling menace anymore.

I realized that nothing in this animated film felt right. I felt time expanding. It seemed that the film was dragging - nevermind that lots of shit was firing all over the place - and stuff was going boom and things were being revealed. I just didn’t care because this wasn’t what I wanted.

I hated the score, the animation, the shots, the characters and most of all the retarded fucking idiot story.

I hated the film. HATED IT. REALLY HATED IT.

Does this mean the whole Star Wars Animated Series is doomed? No - but it isn’t a good sign. So much of this is awful because of the Hutt plotlines and character. I also feel that Dave Filoni must be a hack. His work here is sloppy - and depending on writers and directing talent - individual episodes may be better. This film was several episodes all strung together - my prayer is that the individual episodes will be both great and awful - and we’ll discover which talents are responsible for each.

That said - the audience did have light applause. My father liked it. My sister felt too much was going on. Me nephew really liked it. That said - Yoko was complaining right along with me. She thought it was shit too. I know Moriarty liked it. Wonder what Quint and Massawyrm thought.

Shit. I hated a STAR WARS. That fucking sucks.

It scares me that this woman has the ability to vote.

There’s 49 of these.

I seem to be running across a number of these lately. Another utterly heartbreaking yet utterly amazing story:

The doctors and social workers had no way of knowing all that had happened to Danielle. But the scene at the house, along with Danielle’s almost comatose condition, led them to believe she had never been cared for beyond basic sustenance. Hard as it was to imagine, they doubted she had ever been taken out in the sun, sung to sleep, even hugged or held. She was fragile and beautiful, but whatever makes a person human seemed somehow missing.

Armstrong called the girl’s condition “environmental autism.” Danielle had been deprived of interaction for so long, the doctor believed, that she had withdrawn into herself.

The most extraordinary thing about Danielle, Armstrong said, was her lack of engagement with people, with anything. “There was no light in her eye, no response or recognition. . . . We saw a little girl who didn’t even respond to hugs or affection. Even a child with the most severe autism responds to those.”

Danielle’s was “the most outrageous case of neglect I’ve ever seen.”