In the movie "Ziegfield Follies," released in 1946, Red Skelton tries to warn us about "When Television Comes."
Come to think of it, I think I'll have me a double of that Guzzler's Gin.
Good night, and God bless.
In the movie "Ziegfield Follies," released in 1946, Red Skelton tries to warn us about "When Television Comes."
Come to think of it, I think I'll have me a double of that Guzzler's Gin.
Good night, and God bless.
Here at Hoggworks Studios, we take the making of puppets very seriously. We put a lot of effort into it, and in fact we’re looking forward to devoting our creative and professional lives to the medium. We slave over our puppets, agonize over the performances, over the writing, and everything else down the line. We know we’re always improving, and we hope that everything we do will make the thing we did previous seem smaller.
We want to look back and see not just a progression, but such a stark progression that our previous work never reflects what we’re capable of now.
As we look online at the work of other puppeteers, surfing here and there, from the Muppet Central Forums to Puppet Hub to Flickr searches, we stumble upon some really great work, and some work that is being made by people who are clearly new at the puppetry game, but who appear to be putting in real effort. And then we stumble across things like monochrom, and Loren Feldman’s puppet shows.
This latter character irks us — irks me specifically, and here I break from the royal we to descend into the specific, into the I, because I am irked by these productions. I, speaking as a puppeteer, as a person who would modestly suggest that am putting in the effort, am annoyed by this type of work. These people are buying low-end puppets (which there’s nothing wrong with), and filming a show. Now, certainly, I’d never suggest that a person should dedicate themselves to the profession as a lifelong endeavor before putting puppet to hand: that’s not how I got into it. I decided to make dotBoom as a puppet show rather on a whim, made some puppets, and started recording. But I am a person — here’s where I sound terribly vain, and while I do apologize if it is offputting, I can’t apologize for the vanity, because it’s as sincere a statement as you’re going to get from me — who puts in the effort to get good at something. I’ve heard it said that the difference between a person who plays chess and a grand master isn’t the quantity of time spent playing, but the quality of the time spent playing.
To put it another way, it’s less important the amount of time you spend studying a subject, then it is how you spend your time studying.
I take it all very seriously, and I respect others who do, too. I wouldn’t say that we’re doing things perfectly here, and there are a huge number of ways I want us to improve our craft, both from a technical standpoint and a creative one. There are some insanely talented puppet builders and performers out there, and I am both inspired by their work and driven to match and exceed it, if I’m able.
(snip)
Maybe I’m being oversensitive. Maybe a person goofing off isn’t a big deal. Maybe that I’m the abberation for pushing myself so hard, for being so over-critical. Maybe these people who irk me are just trying to have fun, and aren’t simply projecting an air of superiority for their minimal efforts.
Maybe nobody cares. After all, Loren Feldman’s work is becoming increasingly popular. Much of the most popular work online in places like Youtube have the lowest production values, because the content is striking a chord with the viewers, irrespective of the polish or intent of the creators.
I don’t actually care if nobody else cares, because I do. It’s important to me to take it so seriously, and to improve continuously. It matters. And puppetry is an artform, and it should be respected as such. No matter how much of a curmudgeon or a killjoy it may make me seem to say it, if you don’t take this seriously but are presenting it in a way that suggests you are, all you’re doing is insulting those people who do take it seriously.
HERE'S THE THING. Loren Feldman of 1938 Media, it seems, is really Oscar the Grouch. And Oscar can't take criticism. At all.
Worse than that -- and please, children, cover your ears -- Oscar the Grouch has developed quite the potty mouth. Today's show is brought to you by the letter "F."
And the letter "U."
OH, MY! What would Kermit do?
Well, for starters, I think Kermit would turn Miss Piggy loose on Oscar the Potty Mouth Grouch -- a.k.a., Loren Feldman. (Whose stuff really isn't that funny, by the way.)
I also think Kermit would wonder what has become of the wonderful world of puppetry, and how it has become just as debased, angry, unfunny and sad as the world from which it once gave us momentary refuge. (Nice job, by the way, in having one of your cloth characters call Barack Obama a "Schvartze" during a skit.)
This shaygetz knows his Yiddish slurs, and I'll bet President-Elect Obama does, too.
Maybe Feldman's outraged response to his puppeteer critic was part of his shtick. If so, his performance art is about as unfunny as his puppets.
If Feldman is seriously outraged, however, that may be even more disturbing.
AT WHAT POINT in American cultural history did our default response to criticism reset to "unhinged"? When did we decide it was appropriate to bypass cool reason, sarcasm or wit and go straight for bad impressions of 2 a.m. at the Dewdrop Inn when somebody's just told Bubba his woman is ugly?
Just when did we slip the tenuous bonds of culture and become an anticulture?
Of which Loren Feldman would seem to be the unhinged Id.
I suppose if he reads this, Feldman might post a video in which he calls me bad and awful things as his blood pressure redlines. Whatever.
I'LL BE WATCHING some funny puppetry. Like this.
OR THIS:
Likewise, there are reasons my home state of Louisiana was a backwater, is a backwater and seemingly will forever doom itself to being a backwater. One big reason is that Uncle Deleted isn't all that unusual there -- still. Another is that folks down there still think his kind of s*** is normal.
To be tolerated, even.
Unlike African-American proctologists sticking scopes up white butts.
THERE'S A REASON why my home state is on the bottom of all the good lists, at the top of all the bad lists and nowhere to be found on the short lists of corporate America. There's a reason why the public schools in my hometown, Baton Rouge, are 83-percent minority.
There's a reason why literacy and high-school graduation rates there lag behind almost every other state. (And the even worse scofflaws are likewise all in the South.)
There's a reason so many people are poor there.
The reason? Sin makes you stupid.
Its wake swamps all of history and extends well into the future. It has consequences for every segment of society, and it can turn its victims into sinners, too. (See New Orleans, City of.)
Imagine someone who'd rather -- perhaps -- die before his time rather than let a black physician mess with his colon. Imagine a whole society built upon that premise.
The Hero
'Jack fell as he'd have wished,' the mother said,
And folded up the letter that she'd read.
'The Colonel writes so nicely.' Something broke
In the tired voice that quivered to a choke.
She half looked up. 'We mothers are so proud
Of our dead soldiers.' Then her face was bowed.
Quietly the Brother Officer went out.
He'd told the poor old dear some gallant lies
That she would nourish all her days, no doubt
For while he coughed and mumbled, her weak eyes
Had shone with gentle triumph, brimmed with joy,
Because he'd been so brave, her glorious boy.
He thought how 'Jack', cold-footed, useless swine,
Had panicked down the trench that night the mine
Went up at Wicked Corner; how he'd tried
To get sent home, and how, at last, he died,
Blown to small bits. And no one seemed to care
Except that lonely woman with white hair.-- Lt. Siegfried Sassoon,
British Army, 1917
-- John McCrae
Sometimes, you wake up following a drunken night out and realise you have sent an inappropriate text to an ex-girlfriend or your boss.
And sometimes you realise you have drunkenly admitted to plagiarism to camera, and spectacularly resigned from your job, shouting "F**k you' to your boss.
This is what happened to Birmingham Mail reporter Adam Smith on Wednesday morning, as footage appeared on YouTube of him writing a report on the US election, slumped on a Miami pavement, and barely able to speak.
Mr Smith, who also calls himself Steve Zacharanda in the hit video which was viewed almost 20,000 times in 48 hours, had taken a week's holiday to go to Miami to volunteer for the Barack Obama election campaign.
After the victory, and very much the worse for wear and drink, Smith was caught flopped against a set of railings, a laptop on his lap, filing an article about Mr Obama's victory for the Mail.
The maker of the video, a Dutch amateur journalist from Couscous Global, had stumbled across Smith by the roadside, and asked him what he was doing.
"I jumped on a plane on Friday to volunteer for the Barack Obama campaign," Mr Smith explained in a strong, if rather slurred, Brummie accent. "As an ill-advised promise, I've decided to say to my paper back home that I'd write about the American election.
"I wanted to be here because I'm here for history. The trouble is, the readers of the Birmingham Mail are going to get my version of history. And I'm just a little bit pissed..."
With a laugh and a clap of the hands, he added: "And thank god for the BBC, because I'm cutting and pasting, oh, baby!"
Not wanting to seem too unprofessional, he added: "I'm a proper news journalist."
To pile further misery on his ignominy, Mr Smith ended the video by announcing: "My name is Adam Smith, also known as Steve Zacharanda, who has just resigned from the Birmingham Mail, the Birmingham Post and the Birmingham Sunday Mercury, to set up my own magazine…F**k you, I'm doing what I want."
Mr Smith's employment status remains unclear today within a company which is undergoing significant restructuring.
Steve Dyson, editor of the Birmingham Mail, said: "This is an internal matter, so we cannot discuss it."
Asked about the company's attitude towards plagarism, he added: "Whilst we cannot discuss internal matters, plagarism will not be tolerated in any form by BTM Media Limited - although we do not believe that any has been taking place."
DEAR NEW YORK POST, I think you've just found Steve Dunleavy's replacement.
Meantime, Smith was "a bit scared to speak to work." No doubt.
"There's been words like outrageous, bringing the company into disrepute," he told the amateur videographer/reporter for Couscous Global. Actually, I found Smith to be a breath of fresh air.
Usually, you don't find reporters who are that honest and, frankly, hilarious. Give me a Brummie scribbler who's just a bit pissed (in the tipsy Brit sense of the word) any day, instead of 47 self-important, faux-objective "contributors" on American cable networks.
Disrepute? My ass.
Adam Smith took vacation time to come to America and volunteer for Barack Obama's campaign in Miami. His editors -- despite this -- prevailed upon him to write an election piece for the Birmingham News. Sans editor's note or "opinion" tag.
Who, then, ought to take ownership of the disrepute?
And, really, Smith didn't put together so bad a piece for being three sheets to the wind. Could have been much better, yes. But fairly remarkable for being that tanked.
The newspaper -- imagine! -- has taken down Smith's election piece, which (as far as I can tell) shows no sign of having been a "cut and paste" job at the BBC's expense. But you can find it here:
BIRMINGHAM Mail reporter Adam Smith is in America as Barack Obama is named as the next president. Here is his take on the atmosphere in the US:
A NEW chapter in world history has begun, and whatever happens, people in America will never forget this moment.
The people of the USA have elected the remarkable Barack Obama as their first African-American President.
Barack Hussein Obama, the son of a black Kenyan student and a white American woman, swept to power after millions of voters gave him a mandate for change.
Just 52 years after Rosa Parks started the Civil Rights movement by refusing to give up her bus seat, millions of Americans from all different races flocked to polls to elect Mr Obama.
In what will be regarded as one of the greatest political speeches in history, Barack Obama today reawakened the ‘American dream’.
In front of a crowd of 125,000 in Chicago, the President elect said: “I believe in the America that says to every challenge ‘‘Yes We Can’.
“The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
“And I promise you we as a people will get there.”
OK, Obama's speech was quite good. But "one of the greatest political speeches in history" is pretty far over the top. Even for an Obama volunteer.
I attribute the hyperbole to breaking the four-pint barrier.
On the other hand, is Smith's piece much more gushing than that of "objective" American journalists who weren't -- at least officially -- volunteering for Obama-Biden '08? And the guy, as evidenced by the second video, has a love of America that even Sarah Palin couldn't call into question.
Just for that, as a colonist, you have to love the bloke.
SO, LET ME make this official. Adam Smith is my new journalistic hero. And I'd be proud to down a pint or three with him any day.
HAT TIP: Crunchy Con.
tri·age
Pronunciation: \trē-ˈäzh, ˈtrē-ˌ\
Function: noun
1 a: the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors b: the sorting of patients (as in an emergency room) according to the urgency of their need for care
2: the assigning of priority order to projects on the basis of where funds and other resources can be best used, are most needed, or are most likely to achieve success.
(Merriam-Webster Online dictionary)
THE IDEA OF DIVERTING scarce resources, either medical or economic, from the hopelessly sick to those who have a fighting chance -- that is, with the added help -- isn't exactly new. If you've ever watched old M*A*S*H reruns, you understand the concept, as well as its application.
For an even longer time than the concept of "triage" has been around, Louisiana has been the Poor Man of America. The Sick Man of America, too.
In the late 1920s and early '30s, Huey Long thought a little all-American socialism funded by the Standard Oil and Refining Co., could cure what ailed his (Every Man a) Kingdom. It couldn't.
Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal couldn't make Louisiana look like a functioning, prosperous democracy, either. Nor, later on, could Huey's little brother, Earl.
More than a half-century down the timeline, Louisiana remains a place that's sicker, poorer and more uneducated than your average state. Crookeder and more licentious, too, as illustrated by this Associated Press report on the saga of indicted congressman William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson:
Despite the indictment, Jefferson won 56 percent of the vote in Tuesday's election, a primary runoff against former television reporter Helena Moreno. Jefferson, a stalwart Democrat who became Louisiana's first black congressman since Reconstruction when he took office in 1991, won more than 92,000 votes to Moreno's 70,159.
Moreno is white and struggled for support in a district where black registration is roughly 60 percent and where Jefferson has been a powerful political presence for nearly three decades.
(snip)
But Jefferson has shown remarkable political resiliency though his fund-raising and support from political officials have waned. He survived a challenge from a dozen opponents two years ago after news broke that he was under investigation and that federal agents said they found $90,000 in alleged bribe money hidden in his freezer. He drew fewer challengers and won just as easily this year, even after the 2007 indictment.
State Democratic Party leaders, asked for a comment, issued a statement through spokesman Scott Jordan: "The Democratic voters of the 2nd District have spoken, and the Louisiana Democratic Party respects their choice and supports Bill Jefferson."
Jefferson, on Tuesday, scoffed at political opponents and pundits who, he said, "are perplexed" at his success.
"We work hard for the people we represent and we deliver for them day in and day out. . . . That's why we win elections," he said.
MEANWHILE, 80 miles up the Mississippi River in the capital, Baton Rouge, voters decided against taxing themselves to fix infrastructure and expand its convention and tourism base.
And on a more meat-and-potatoes level, says The Advocate newspaper, Baton Rougeans also said no to building a new parish prison, replacing a police headquarters that's literally crumbling around the city's cops and rebuilding 38 dangerously substandard bridges.
Holden said many of the projects that were proposed as part of his half-cent sales tax and 9.9-mill sales tax are desperately needed.WHAT WE HAVE HERE, obviously, is a state that's grown accustomed to lying in its own feces. Its residents refuse to invest today to prosper tomorrow . . . or to pull together for the common good. At all.
As an example, Holden pointed to the $35 million needed to replace 38 bridges that are rated the same or worse as the bridge that collapse in Minnesota last year.
“We are not going to play Russian Roulette in this parish with those 38 bridges,” Holden said.
But Holden said that problems with the bridges and drainage are so severe because of past neglect that a new revenue source is needed to address them.
(snip)
The mayor-president said the proposal would have qualified for an additional $137 million in matching federal funds.
Although Holden’s proposal did not receive any organized opposition, there was some criticism that the $989 million program benefited mostly the city of Baton Rouge.
Two of the biggest projects, a $247.5 million Audubon museum and a $144 million expansion of the River Center and its parking, were both in downtown Baton Rouge. If the River Center expansion had been approved, a Virginia developer had pledged to spend $100 million in private money to build two hotels there.
Holden’s proposal included a $135 million parish prison, a $43.5 million juvenile justice center, $89.7 million for a public safety complex, and $26.2 million to replace eight aging fire stations.
Also included was $45 million to modernize and synchronize more than 200 traffic signals and $49 million to convert the Governmental Building into a City Hall after the 19th Judicial District Court moves into the new courthouse that is under construction.
Last night was for Janice Grigsby. This post is, too. God bless her, wherever she might be.
FIRST, MR. KELLMEYER, I saw the campaign Sen. Obama's opponent ran. I know what the Butcher from Arizona stood for -- slightly less bloodshed at home, a lot more bloodshed abroad. A John McCain victory would have been nothing for which to thank the Almighty.We don't have to be happy, we do have to be joyful.
Perhaps we have been chosen to participate, be God's co-workers, as St. Paul said, in this work of redemption ...
Being happy is being comfortable, healthy and well-fed.
Being joyful is knowing that God's plan is being worked out,
and our obedience and submission to it contributes to His glory.
Jesus was not happy on the Cross, but He was joyful.
We fast and pray, we ask for mercy, but we accept whatever comes, punishment or pleasure.
Times of persecution were prophesied.
If we are found worthy to be subject to them, we should rejoice.
"Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.
"It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
"Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears."—Hebrews 12:3-17
Every drop of blood shed by the abortionist's scalpel will have to be repaid.Conversely, if the Butcher from Chicago fails in his bid, then we must raise our voices in the ancient hymns:
Non nobis, Domine, Domine,
non nobis, Domine
Sed nomini,
sed nomini,
tuo da gloriam.
Not to us, Lord,
But to your Name, be all glory.
The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, the pro-life movement wouldn't, late this election night, find itself in such shambles politically if religious Americans -- particularly Catholic Americans . . . especially their shepherds -- had taken care of basics before playing politics.
17
When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
18
Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit,
20
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."
A teenage girl was dropped off in Sarpy County on Sunday afternoon, and a teenage boy was left in Douglas County on Sunday night.
Sgt. Larry Fasnacht of the Papillion Police Department said the 16-year-old girl was left at Midlands Hospital by her mother.
The girl had lived in Omaha before being sent earlier this year to live with her mother in Arizona, Fasnacht said. The mother left the girl at the Papillion hospital about 4 p.m., he said.
Fasnacht said he did not know whether the mother, who has ties to the community, brought her daughter back to Nebraska specifically to drop her off under the safe haven law.
About 11:20 p.m., a 16-year-old boy was dropped off at Children's Hospital in Omaha, according to dispatch reports. No other details were available.
Kathie Osterman, spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, said more information would not be made available until today.
Since the beginning of September, there have been at least 19 instances of people wishing to use Nebraska's safe haven law, dropping off a total of 27 children — most at hospitals and one at a police station.
"It seems to have been a calculated intimidation tactic," said Tiffany Burns, the Cindy for Congress campaign manager. "One of our computers was stolen, but no other property was taken from our offices and no surrounding buildings were targeted. Clearly they wanted to both frighten us and to gather information." Total damage to the campaign office is currently estimated at more than $5,000.CINDY SHOULDN'T SWEAT the small stuff -- like repeated vandalism and theft. It's not that big a deal.
The Cindy for Congress campaign recently chronicled a series of unusual events, including other threats of violence, in a statement issued on October 13th. In that statement, Cindy Sheehan noted "[t]he past few weeks have been a little strange at Cindy for Congress [...] the things that have been happening could just be coincidences, or a run of bad luck, but the climate for the possibility of campaign hanky-panky certainly exists."
Campaign staffers also note each incident, including today's early morning incident, has followed closely on the heels of a confrontation with Cindy Sheehan's opponent Nancy Pelosi. This morning's incident occurred after an on-air confrontation between the two candidates on KQED's public affairs program Forum with Michael Krasny on Wednesday morning.
"Each time we confront her, each time we ask her for a debate, each time we gain ground in the polls, something horrible happens," said Burns. "Once or twice might be a coincidence, but such a consistent correlation is hard to ignore."
When you're on the International Space Station, you can't sit back and wait for tiny ballerinas, Hannah Montanas and Jokers to ring your doorbell on Halloween.IF WHAT THE Omaha World-Herald reports is true -- and pray for the sake of avoiding nuclear war it isn't -- you might have some space travelers willing to risk re-entry without benefit of a space capsule. At least the end would be quick.
So what's a lonely astronaut to do?
Here's the answer to the homesick boos, from NASA and Omaha musician Chip Davis.
Davis and his group, Mannheim Steamroller, will have the astronauts on the station doing the "Monster Mash," snapping their fingers to "The Addams Family" theme and grooving to "Black Magic Woman" on Friday.
Music from one of the group's Halloween-themed albums will be beamed to the station.
"They're just shooting it up for something fun," Davis said Thursday. "That's a kick, isn't it?"
Astronauts on the space station spend weeks or months more than 200 miles from Earth, so NASA encourages them to unwind. Every morning, songs are broadcast to the station as a wakeup call. In 2005, former Beatle Paul McCartney performed at a live concert that was broadcast to the space station.
For Halloween, NASA selected Mannheim Steamroller's "Halloween 2." The group uses the synthesizer sound that gained fans for its wildly popular Christmas albums on songs associated with the ghostly holiday.
Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin accused the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday of protecting Barack Obama by withholding a videotape of the Democrat attending a 2003 party for a Palestinian-American professor and critic of Israel.
The paper said it had written about the event in April and would not release the tape because of a promise made to the source who provided it.
McCain and Palin called Rashid Khalidi a former spokesman for the Palestinian Liberation Organization, a characterization that Khalidi has denied in the past. Both candidates said guests at the party made critical comments about Israel.
(snip)
McCain also has ties to Khalidi through a group that Khalidi helped found 15 years ago. The Center for Palestine Research and Studies has received more than $800,000 from an organization that McCain chairs.
On Wednesday, McCain said 1960s radical Bill Ayers had attended the same party in 2003. McCain and Palin have criticized Obama for his ties to Ayers and questioned what the videotape of the party might show.
"Among other things, Israel was described there as the perpetrator of terrorism rather than the victim," Palin said at a rally in Ohio. "What we don't know is how Barack Obama responded to these slurs on a country that he professes to support."
In a story published in April, the Times said Obama spoke out at the event on the need for common ground on the Israel-Palestinian issue. Obama has said during the campaign that his commitment to Israel's security is "nonnegotiable."