Category: Politics, Religion & Money

Chicago’s Animated Frames of Reference

I was born in Evanston, Illinois, bordering Chicago. Evanston was where Stephen Colbert attended Northwestern University, and where his sometime collaborator J.J. Sedelmier was born. On Facebook, Sedelmier recommends a new Web site, still under construction, about an illustrator and animator from a hundred years ago.

Edwin G. Lutz wrote a book on animation that was used as a reference by Walt Disney at the start of his slightly successful career, as explained by Sedelmier at this link. Note that animation insider J.J. refers to Mike Barrier’s book about Walt Disney, rather than Chicago native Neal Gabler’s much more widely read biography of Walter Elias, who was likewise born in Chicago.

(I strongly encourage reading Michael Barrier’s wonderful book, “The Animated Man” University Of California Press 2007. I’ve used Barrier’s book to put together a brief sketch of Disney’s early years.)

Despite the success ten years ago of “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination,” and Gabler’s other books, he has been struggling financially, as featured on the PBS Newshour in 2016.

The Failure of Ayn Rand’s Objectivism

https://youtu.be/ACkiKVtF3nU

I have watched this installment of “Frontline” three, or maybe even four, times since it first aired in 2009. If anything I think it goes easy on Bill Clinton, by not pointing out that at the end of his administration he agreed to ending the Glass-Steagall Act.

Mr. A by Ditko

Steve Ditko’s take on Ayn Rand’s philosophy deals with good vs. evil in terms of violent criminal activity, as you would expect from a comic book creator. As covered in the Frontline documentary, former SEC chairman Alan Greenspan adopted the extreme free market aspect of Rand’s Objectivism, as you would expect from an economist.

I like to think the fictional Mr. A would agree with me that what the Wall Street banks did by taking advantage of deregulation to commit legal fraud, in both its intent and the outcome of ten years ago, was corrupt and evil. Therein is what I see as the inherent irony of Ayn Rand’s philosophy.

The Peasants Are Revolting

I stopped watching “The Simpsons” after the third season, mostly because I was extremely busy, not only working but also being a new father. Now I’m an old father, and retired, so I’ve been recording “The Simpsons” on the TiVo OtA DVR. Now that I’m recuperating from surgery, I’ve started watching the episodes. The 28th (!) season opener puts the yellow-skinned denizens of Springfieldland in a fanciful medieval feudal society. Maybe it’s supposed to be a parody of “Game of Thrones,” but I don’t know because I don’t watch it.

Anyway, while watching the Simpsons I was reminded of a BBC historical documentary series I had seen maybe ten years ago, created and presented by Monty Python alumnus Terry Jones. I was hoping it’s on YouTube, and here it is.

https://youtu.be/qMrvE2CwRsQ

Sadly, Jones now suffers from a form of dementia that has robbed him of the ability to communicate, so we don’t know if he retains any of his cleverness and wit. By chance, just a week ago Michael Palin had this update on his old chum’s condition. Palin and Jones had worked together years before “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” Most notably in what was ostensibly a children’s show, but it became one of the precursors to Python. The delightful series “Do Not Adjust Your Set,” which also featured the wacky and wonderful Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

“Alexa, Where’s the Nearest Chinese Laundry?”

Thankfully, I have had only two bouts of lower back trouble. The first time was almost ten years ago, as posted here. What got me moving again were a couple of Percocets. I was amazed at the immediate relief the drug provided, but it made me feel terribly sick. One tablet would have been enough, and I later commented to my primary care physician that I couldn’t imagine becoming addicted. He replied, “You’re not a 15-year-old with a football injury. They have a very different reaction. It makes them feel great.”

So here we are, once again struggling with opium as a nation and a society, centuries after the first crisis. My buddy Denro sent a link with a brief history from the Smithsonian.

“It’s a poor town now-a-days that has not a Chinese laundry,” a white opium-smoker said in 1883, “and nearly every one of these has its layout” – an opium pipe and accessories.

So far, post-op I’m doing all right with Tylenol and Celebrex. I have a prescription for an opiate painkiller, but do not anticipate having it filled. By the way, my original post regarding back pain turned out to be wrong. The problem was a simple muscle spasm, and taking a muscle relaxant would have been just as effective as the Percocet. After the second time my lower back gave me trouble, a physical therapist told me the best preventive measure is doing push-ups, and he was right.