Month: October 2011

Karl Marx, Ayn Rand, and Barbara Eden

A few days ago, while catching up on the sections of the Boston Sunday Globe I hadn’t read yet, I was impressed with a book review written by Michael Washburn, who has high praise for Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution, by Mary Gabriel. Washburn starts by saying…

With history or politics, ignorance is often the precondition of certainty. The less someone comprehends the world’s complexity, the more certain they are of their anemic ideas. Our current economic shambles has created a depressing amount of such lightless bluster. Each action the increasingly impotent Obama administration takes, or fails to take, is met by Tea Party denunciations of “socialism” or “Marxism.”

… and he ends with this equally biting comment.

Small-minded folks who assume that balancing a checkbook gives them insight into global financial systems will surely read Marx’s weak character as evidence that all of his ideas are fraudulent, if they bother to read the book at all.

Washburn’s blog has this video that offers an excellent and entertaining explanation of the big, sweeping changes in the world economy over the past 30+ years.

Like Karl Marx, Ayn Rand’s personal life was a mess, and in some ways it contradicted her political philosophy. Netflix Watch Instantly has Ayn Rand: In Her Own Words. I assume the producers of the documentary are adherents of Rand’s Objectivist ideas, but for myself the film validates my opinion that Rand was a romantic who couldn’t resist the lure of Hollywood, where she combined her hatred of the Soviets and Communism with her unshakable schoolgirl fantasy of the perfect man. Barbara Eden, of all people, has a telling anecdote about Ayn Rand. They both had lived, albeit years apart, in a Hollywood dormitory for women called the Studio Club:

In my day, over a hundred girls lived at the Studio Club. Each of us paid fourteen dollars a week for a room, a telephone answering service, a cleaner twice a week, and two meals a day (generally breakfast and dinner, because no one had time for lunch), at which we all ate home-style food served on a buffet in a large dining room where we could all meet and gossip. Ayn Rand, author of The Fountainhead, was one of the Studio Club’s earliest residents. Like many of us, she was so poor that she couldn’t afford to pay her rent, so a charitable benefactor donated fifty dollars. But instead of using the donation to pay her rent, Ayn promptly went out and splurged on a set of black lingerie.

Leigh, Wendy; Eden, Barbara (2011-04-05). Jeannie Out of the Bottle (Kindle Locations 595-604). Crown Archetype. Kindle Edition.

A computer icon uploads to the cloud

I got home from work, took a short nap, and when I woke up I learned that Steve Jobs had died. Jobs’ return to Apple was the all-time greatest corporate comeback. He not only saved the company from going under, Jobs revolutionized personal computing, as he had done before with the Mac, thanks in part to an inspirational kick from a visit to Xerox PARC. Steve Jobs was only six months older than me, and I didn’t need a further reminder of the passage of time, but I have one anyway.

Crimestopper Richard Tracy, at 80

Dick Tracy’s first appearance, October 4, 1931.

Dick Tracy today.

Joe Staton and Mike Curtis are doing great work, making Dick Tracy a lot of fun to look at and read. I heartily recommended clicking here to go to the new team’s first installment in the series, back on March 14, then keep clicking and reading. Then I suggest paying a measly $12/year — $11.88, actually — to join GoComics as a paying subscriber. If you like comic strips it’s a real deal, and the best 99¢ a month you can spend.

Phil Shepardson, R.I.P.

I owe Phil Shepardson a lot. When I was a senior in college he lined up an internship for me at the local radio station. I must have done all right, because it turned into a job when I graduated. By happy accident, that was how I met Bismo, who called the station when I asked a Star Wars trivia question. “What color is Darth Vader’s light saber?” Bismo said “blue” and I’ll never let him live that down.

Tonight I learned that Phil Shepardson passed away a few months ago. Here’s an obituary. Five years ago, I wrote a bit about Dr. Phil, as we called him at Westfield State College, before there was Dr. Phil.

“As Schools Match Wits” host dies: wwlp.com

You know the tirelessly upbeat, fun, and engaging personalities of Cousin Brucie and Stan Lee? That’s what knowing Phil Shepardson was like. He was a true multi-media man and a kindred spirit. Phil loved cartooning, and he would challenge me on my definitions of art vs. illustration, and films vs. movies. When The Empire Strikes Back came out, I happened to run into Shepardson at a supermarket, and he wanted to know what I thought of the movie. We had a lively discussion about the phenomenon of blockbuster movies merging with fandom, which he didn’t particularly welcome, and he wanted me to explain it to him. Was it a generational thing, or a commercial response to the excellent films of the early 70’s? That was the sort of discussion that Shepardson loved to have. Here’s to you, and farewell, Dr. Phil.