For a long time I resisted using my TV tuner card as video wallpaper. I dunno, I thought it was a silly feature. But now I like it. If something sounds interesting I right-click the task bar and select Show the Desktop to watch it.
Author: DOuG pRATt
White House Ill Logic
By this point Karl Rove’s penchant for simplistic catch-phrases and talking points, such as “when they stand up we’ll stand down” and “up or down vote” must be apparent to the majority of Americans, and hopefully everybody is tired of them. The current argument being repeated is that “a timetable for retreat” in Iraq means the enemy would simply hide until we are gone.
Let’s follow that reasoning a bit. If we stay indefinitely the bad guys will continue to fight. If we announce that we’ll be leaving, they’ll run away and hide.
OK, so if the bad guys lay low, that should result in relative calm in Iraq. Will the administration then say the “situation on the ground” must be getting better? Or will we be told there is merely the appearance of stability, and we must therefore stay? I would bet on the latter. In other words, there will be no definition for victory. With Karl Rove there’s just no winning.
Obviously, the so-called surge isn’t working and it won’t work. If Iraq can’t be secured in the next 18 months, then it can’t be done. Not by foreign military occupation, anyway. We’ve got stop enabling the devious, deceptive and dangerous men in the Bush administration, and that means no more money without a timetable for withdrawal.
Added Comment: By Bush’s own logic, by his declaring that the surge would focus on securing Baghdad, didn’t he signal to the insurgents that they should leave the city for a while?
Killer of Sheep
I admit I had never heard of the movie Killer of Sheep until it was featured recently on NPR. [Link here] Steven Soderbergh helped finance the release of the movie. Why him and not Spike Lee? Odd.
Low Fidelity, High Quality
Back in December I mentioned the WGBH radio program The Jazz Decades, hosted by Ray Smith. This Sunday’s show featured some noteworthy restored 1920’s recordings that are of particular interest to Smith — King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, with Louis Armstrong.
Smith rhapsodizes at length during the twenty five minutes of the program that are on the audio player, recorded off of my computer’s FM tuner. I fiddled with the dipole antenna for a few moments at the beginning, as will be obvious if you listen.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/APR07/JazzDecadesApr1-07.mp3]Not being a musician myself, I appreciate these acoustic (non-electrical) recordings more for their historical and technical significance, but Smith’s infectious enthusiasm for the virtuosity of the performances is fun to hear. Note: At one point Smith refers to 1933 when he meant to say 1923.
Snowhite Mechanix
From Treasures of Disney Animation Art © 1982 Disney
The Modern Mechanix site has a scan of a Popular Science article about Disney’s making of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The cover date is January 1938, which means it was on newsstands in December 1937 to coincide with the release of the movie. [Link here]. The text of the article is provided in addition to the scan, which is available in multiple sizes. Nice touches.
… And That Ain’t “Peanuts”
The availability and value of so-called collectibles has changed greatly since the rise of eBay. Prices for certain items plummeted when it became apparent that they were, in fact, not particularly rare, while others skyrocketed in value. One area that has seen incredible inflation is comic book and comic strip originals by particular artists.
Philip Weiss Auctions is hyping the winning bids for original comic strip art by Charles Schulz, including “Li’l Folks” originals. The name “Peanuts” is, of course, another (equally-outdated) way of saying Li’l Folks.
(Oceanside, N.Y.) – Seven original comic strips by the renowned cartoonist Charles Schulz sold for a combined $152,550 at a three-session, weekend multi-estate sale held March 24-25 by Philip Weiss Auctions. The strips included a Sunday “Peanuts” page from 1963 that alone realized $37,000; three “Li’l Folks” strips; and four “Peanuts” dailies. Prices quoted include a 13% buyer’s premium.
The money that the Schulz originals fetched at auction doesn’t surprise me. What stunned me, however, was the $101,700 for the cover art to Spider-Man #43.
Drawn by John Romita Sr., this is a particularly favorite issue of mine, although it’s not one of his best covers. How much was Romita paid for drawing this cover in 1966? Probably not even $100.
I’m pleased that a Romita original can command this much money, and I would like to believe that Jazzy Johnny will get a cut of the bucks transacted at this auction. It’s the right thing to do. (It’s possible that Romita was selling it himself, but given what I know about the history of such peak period Marvel Comics art, I doubt it.)