Ramblin' with Roger

Somehow I was totally unaware of this book’s existence. It was published by Price/Stern/Sloan in 1970 (though my father may have purchased it later), and I went to college in 1971, so I didn’t see it around.

It was written by Harvey Comics (Richie Rich, Casper) editor Sid Jacobson, whose name frankly didn’t ring a bell, and drawn by Ernie Colon, whose name I recognized instantly.

It’s 80 pages. 14 x 19 cm. Page 3 reads in part: “This satire of America’s best-loved comic strips is presented strictly for laughs, but with the hope that one day, in a world of greater honesty, justice and understanding, the black man will take his rightful place in literature of all kinds.”

So, how did it do? It’s hard to judge things 35 years after the fact, but I’ll give it a shot.

Note: in the comic strip tradition all the words in the strip are in capitals, but for readability, I’ve deigned to write in standard English. Also the words that are in bold in the strip are in red in this text:

The first strip is “Superblack”, a 4 page takeoff on The Man of Steel.

Page 1:
Lois: Mother! Dad! Guess who’s coming to breakfast!

Page 2:

Page 3, Panel 1:
Supes: (looks lovingly at Lois, and vice versa): Lois has told me so much about you folks, we’ve both sure you’ll have the liberalism to delight in our happiness….
(Picture of a man, and a placard “I.F. Stone for President” in the background.)
Page 3, Panel 2:
(Women in background)
Father (waving his finger in Supes’ face): The world is changing fast, but not that fast! As much as I’d like to, I find that I-

Page 4
(Lois’ mom bemused, Lois proud to see Supes hold her dad up in the air by the jacket)
Dad: -W-Welcome you to the family –choke– son!

The movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was obviously on the minds of the writers. Not only are Lois’ first words a play on that title, but the father name-drops Sidney Poitier, the star (along with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy) of that 1967 film.
I think it works as “it’s hard to REALLY be liberal” story. Miscegenation was only legal in all states the same year as the movie came out, after all. the finger in the face was a nice, patronizing liberal, touch.

The second strip is “Bronzie”, 4 page riff on “Blondie”

Page 1:
Bronzie: I Wonder who that could be?

Page 2:
(Neighbors at the door)
Female neighbor: Good evening. We wanted to be the first to welcome you to the neighborhood.

Page 3:

Page 4:
(Neighbors shocked look, Bronzie’s back to them and Bronzie’s husband in his chair, bemused)
Bronzie: In fact, you’re the only ones to call on us in the two years we’ve been living here!

This sort of thing actually used to happen to people I knew. Funny in a somewhat painful way.

I’ll be looking at more strips in the coming weeks.

Thanks to MB for scanning these; this way, I did not need to bug friend Fred, who had scanned some previous items for me.

But there are people who are transcendent, and MLK is one of those.

1. Who are your heroes, if any, and why?

2. Do we need heroes? What function do they serve?

3. Your favorite song about heroes is performed by which of the following artists:
The Beach Boys, David Bowie, Mariah Carey, The Commodores, Enrique Iglesias, David Crosby & Phil Collins, Chad Kroeger, Metallica, Tina Turner, The Wallflowers, or someone else?
I’ll answer the third question, and maybe the others, in the appropriate place.

1) Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. … Mark Twain
2) I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. … Winston Churchill
3) A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. … George Bernard Shaw

4) A Congressman is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. … G. Gordon Liddy
5) Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. … James Bovard, Civil Libertarian
(1994)
6) Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. … Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton

7) Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. … PJ. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian
8) Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. … Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)
9) Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short
phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. … Ronald Reagan (1986)

10) I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. … Will Rogers
11) If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free. … P. J. O’Rourke
12) In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. …
Voltaire (1764)

13) Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics will not take an interest in you. … Pericles (430 B. C.)
14) No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. … Mark Twain (1866)
15) Talk is cheap … except when Congress does it. … Unknown

17) The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. … Winston Churchill 18) The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. … Mark Twain
19) The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. … Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher(1820-1903)

20) There is no distinctly native American criminal class … save Congress. … Mark Twain
21) What this country needs is more unemployed politicians. … Edward Langley, Artist (1928 – 1995)
22) A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have. … Thomas Jefferson
***
I made an auditory error in my review of Julie Hembeck’s review last week. I heard the phrase “Do somethin’ right for once” and somehow REPEATEDLY heard the word f***in’ for somethin’. The wax will be removed from my ears, Fred.

Three weeks is generally the accepted amount of time one expects to host a live Christmas tree indoors. Coincidentally, three weeks is also the generally
accepted amount of time that most folks play Christmas music…
Here’s what I realized this year: ninety-nine per cent of folks–even me–end their Christmas Carol-athon no later than early evening of the December 25th, but
virtually no one takes their tree down on the 26th. So, if you play Elmo and Patsy, Bing and Bowie, John and Yoko, and all the other seasonal crooners during the three weeks leading up to Christmas, and you trim your tree (like us) only a week before the big day, and then leave it up as the New Year approaches and eventually arrives, thereby totalling two full weeks left standing after the presents have been unwrapped… that means there’s but one single seven day period in which we find the sounds of the season piping out of the stereo speakers alongside the colorful illumination of the Christmas tree! One short quick over-before-you-know-it week!

I understand the conundrum, Fred, but I disagree with the conventional wisdom on this. Why is it that the seasonal music can only be played in that period just before Christmas? It isn’t even Christmastime, it’s Advent. Christmastime is that period from Christmas leading to January 6, Three Kings Day, the beginning of Epiphany.
“The 12 Days of Christmas” FOLLOW from Christmas, not lead up to it. So the MacKenzie brothers, Bob and Doug, were partially right. Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day ARE part of the 12 days. The two Christmas albums I received this year feature Auld Lang Syne, the epitome of New Year’s Eve.
Certainly, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” should be played on the days leading up to the holiday. But what of “We Three Kings”? It’s not really applicable until AFTER the birth.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of songs that could just as well be played at the end of January (Jingle Bells, Baby It’s Cold Outside).

I have some 80 Christmas CDs – and I spent 10 hours listening just to the one disc you sent me. So my listening doesn’t end until January 6. It’s theologically justified. And your Christmas tree will be so much happier. (Ours went down, finally, on Sunday.)

In addition to the things I’ve been watching regularly, I checked out Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg. Don’t know who Steinberg is? Check here.
He’s been interviewing comedians for his show on TV Land. Another TV Land foray into original programming.
The first guest was Mike Myers. That was the only hour-long show, and it dragged in places. There was an awkward bit when Steinberg said something nice about Myers’ wife. Recently, I’ve read that Myers and his wife have split up.
Larry David was Larry David. Is he just paranoid, or are they really out to get him? Funny, especially if you like his schtick.
Steinberg directed Bob Newhart on his second sitcom. Sometimes, the fact that Steinberg knows the guests so well there is a bit of disconnect to the audience. But Newhart did a stand-up bit that KILLED.
The show with Martin Short was the best I’ve seen. If you didn’t know that Steinberg and Short(and Myers) were Canadian, you’d certainly be aware of it quickly.
Tonight’s show is with Jon Lovitz (10 p.m., EST), and next week’s guest is George Lopez. May be worth watching.

inJustice (yeah, that’s the spelling) is a new show on ABC. I saw only the first episode. (The show started on a Sunday then moved to its regular Friday time slot.) Basically, the premise is that sometimes, in this Law & Order/CSI world, the system gets it wrong, the lawyer (Kyle MacLaughlin of Twin Peaks, Sex and the City) and his merry band of do-gooders try to make it right. Marin Hinkle from Once and Again was convicted of murdering her father. The flashback shows how the cops believed it went down, and at the end you get the real story. I enjoyed it well enough to try it again.

MOVIES

I’ve seen two movies this calendar year thus far. The Squid and the Whale on January 2 and Brokeback Mountain on January 7. At this rate I’ll be seeing over 50 films a year! (Not bloody likely.) The films are both about interpersonal relations in the United States in the recent past.

The Squid is about a couple (Jeff Daniels, the pictured Laura Linney) who get divorced – no spoiler there, it’s in the previews – and how they and their two sons deal with it in mid 1980s New York City. While I enjoyed it– the title DOES eventually get explained, and Jeff Daniels’ performance is quite good – I was looking for an ending of sorts; instead it just…stopped.

Brokeback is a more sprawling tale than I realized, starting in 1963 Wyoming but moving on from there. One could tell that this movie was ending, if only from the music swell. (There was audible crying in the audience.) The real surprise in this film for me was Anne Hathaway, who played princesses in three movies and who MAY be the villain in the film.

I think Heath Ledger is getting so much acclaim, not just because he’s good, and he is, but because people are genuinely amazed that he has more range than being in A Knight’s Tale. It’s like Charlize Theron doing The Italian Job then acting in Monster and (We won’t mention Aeon Flux.) Or, a few years back, this nighttime soap actress, Hilary Swank surprising in Boys Don’t Cry.

Having seen Brokeback, I’ve now seen three of the five “best actors” nominated by Screen Actors Guild : Russell Crowe in CINDERELLA MAN, Ledger, and David Strathairn in GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. The other two are Philip Seymour Hoffman in CAPOTE and Joaquin Phoenix in WALK THE LINE. Unfortunately, neither film is playing anywhere with in a five-county range. I’m hoping that they’ll be brought back before the Oscars.

I’ve seen four of the five SAG “best supporting actors”: Don Cheadle in CRASH,
Matt Dillon in CRASH, Paul Giamatti in CINDERELLA MAN, and Jake Gyllenhaal in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. Just need to see George Clooney in SYRIANA, but I’m mixed about it. I hear the screenplay is unduly convoluted.

I’ve seen very few of the actress performances:

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Judi Dench / MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
Felicity Huffman / TRANSAMERICA
Charlize Theron / NORTH COUNTRY
Reese Witherspoon / WALK THE LINE
Ziyi Zhang / MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams / JUNEBUG
Catherine Keener/ CAPOTE
Frances McDormand / NORTH COUNTRY
Rachel Weisz / THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Michelle Williams / BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Of the above, I saw only Williams. Particularly want to see Theron, and of course, Witherspoon and Keener.

SAG also does Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (Focus Features) SAW
CAPOTE (UA/Sony Pictures Classics) WANT TO SEE
CRASH (Lionsgate) SAW
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. (Warner Independent Pictures) SAW
HUSTLE & FLOW (Paramount Classics) MAYBE I’LL RENT

Incidentally, Roger Ebert defends his “Best Picture of the Year” pick against suggestions that it’s the WORST picture of the year. I agree with Ebert about Crash.

MUSIC

I got music for Christmas:

James Taylor: A Christmas Album. Last year’s Hallmark album is surprisingly enjoyable.

Michael McDonald: Through the Many Winters-A Christmas Album. This year’s
Hallmark album is surprisingly boring, sounding in the same groove, except for the ninth song (out of 10), Christmas on the Bayou.

Paul McCartney: Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. I like this album far more than Paul’s previous effort, but not yet quite as much as 1997’s Flaming Pie. It’s become a cliché that Macca works better when he doesn’t work alone, but it appears to be true here, partnering with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Look for the definitive review from famed Maccologist Fred Hembeck.

Stevie Wonder: A Time for Love. I have every Stevie album since 1970’s Where I’m Coming From, and I own compilation discs that cover his earlier period. If I were new to the artist, I might have enjoyed the disc more. There are songs I like “So What the Fuss”, which still sounds like a curse since I first heard in May, and the first cut, “If Your Love Cannot Be Moved”, but too much of it sounds like mid-80’s Stevie, pleasant and inoffensive, but not really inventive. Maybe it’ll grow on me.

Our New Orleans 2005. A Katrina benefit album, so I should say nice things about it. Actually, I like much of this album, particularly the great Allen Toussaint (pictured) on two cuts. Eddie Bo’s “Saints” has a bit of Tipitina groove to it. I’ve loved the Dirty Dozen Brass Band for decades. Randy Newman’s closer, Louisiana 1927, is, as someone once said, a suitable ending.