Breaking from Zappa to recognize the legendary Ravi Shankar, who passed away today.
He had a good run.
corporate-sellout.com
If You Can Read This, You Can Read This
corporate-sellout.com
If You Can Read This, You Can Read This
Hi, I'm Thad. I build websites.
This blog's been up in one form or another since 1999. In that time I've written about topics ranging from comic books to video games to copyright law to creators' rights to Frank Zappa.
I also write eBooks and narrate audiobooks. Here's where you can find them:
The other night I pondered whether Gail Simone would stick with DC or go off and do her own thing. Well, per her tumblr:
I am not giving up on the idea of a major trans character in an ongoing mainstream title without a fight. I want a clear, unambiguous trans character in a prominent, unambiguous and unapologetic role THIS YEAR.
Sure sounds like she's planning on continuing with DC. Or, if not them, moving over to Marvel.
As I indicated the other night, I have mixed feelings about this. There's a part of me, a big part, that loves seeing prominent creators leave DC and Marvel behind and go do their own thing.
But on the other hand, DC and Marvel are still important, their characters are still important, and they're still well-known and accessible (well, commercially, if not narratively). Simone's made a career of bringing more diversity to the DC Universe, and the American comics industry is legitimately better for it.
It bears adding that the most prominent transgender character in the DC Universe right now is probably Shining Knight in Demon Knights, by Paul Cornell, Diógenes Neves, and Bernard Chang. Cornell's done a great job of picking up the baton from Grant Morrison, taking Sir Ystin in a different but altogether natural direction following his introduction in Seven Soldiers. Demon Knights is, itself, quite possibly the most diverse book in the entire superhero genre, but Cornell has pulled off the rather neat trick of making the cast feel organic; each character fits and none ever feels like a token.
(And, per The Outhousers, Cornell's also been one of Gail's most vocal defenders since the announcement of her firing.)
I've got no idea what Gail's got in mind with a book starring a transgender character. I wouldn't bet against a Shining Knight solo book at DC, but there are plenty of other possibilities. Given the Big Two's penchant for recycling characters ("Green Lantern, but black", "Blue Beetle, but Hispanic", "Batwoman, but a lesbian", or, for that matter, "Shining Knight, but transgendered") I'd expect it to tie into an existing brand -- maybe someone from the Batman or Superman family, though I'm thinking it would really be quite appropriate to have it be a character tied into Wonder Woman -- not only has Gail written Wonder Woman before, but Wonder Woman's been the superhero genre's beacon for nontraditional sexual mores since 1941.
It'll be interesting to see what she's got up her sleeve and whether she can get DC or Marvel to publish it.
But in the meantime, she does have some creator-owned work in the pipeline: the Kickstarter-funded Leaving Megalopolis with Jim Calafiore, and something called Field Trip with Amanda Gould, to be published by Mark Waid's Thrillbent.
Per uploader willyrein:
From the vaults of the popular psychedelic show 'The Radio Lab' which later became 'Cryptic Propensity Projections' and 'Midnight Collage' on KBOO FM, Portland, Oregon from 1971-1985. (Caution, this program contains explicit sexual content). Bill whips up a spicy stew with The Mothers of Invention and The Firesign Theater. The photo in the video backdrop is Barry Schwam (Schwump) and Bill Reinhardt recording a radio play. KBOO poster with Hound Dog Taylor by Bruce Sorensen. Poster of Bill at the futuristic console in space by Michael Strickland (Sunnyland Band).
There you have it. Two (or three) great tastes that taste great together.
Dear Senator McConnell,
Hi, me again. You presumably recall my E-Mail of two weeks ago, where, discussing Senate gridlock, I closed by asking you, "Are you going to start filibustering your OWN bills now?"
For the record, Senator, that was intended as a joke. I meant it as an example of ridiculous hyperbole, the sort of crazy, offbeat hypothetical situation that a person of average intelligence would see as self-evidently ludicrous. The kind of thing where someone would read that and think, "Haha, filibustering his own bill. That is humorous, because no rational, sane human being would ever do such a completely asinine thing."
In other words, I was not actually seriously recommending that you start filibustering your own bills.
Despite the misunderstanding, I am absolutely flattered that you took my words to heart, and if I may have a moment of your time I have some more suggestions I would like you to consider.
- Copyright -- please hire Derek Khanna, recently ejected from the Republican Study Committee, to address the subject of copyright reform. Unless you're as cozy with Hollywood lobbyists as your colleagues in the House, of course.
- Corporate personhood -- please revert to pre-Santa Clara v Southern Pacific policy and clarify that the equal protection clause is intended to protect actual human beings, not abstract social constructs.
- Science -- please acknowledge the existence of science, and pressure your colleagues to do the same.
- Women, black people, brown people, gay people, and disabled veterans -- maybe your party could show some basic human decency to these demographics. Just a thought.
- Filibuster -- please restore to pre-1975 rules, or eliminate entirely. The way the minority party has been abusing it recently is a joke. Literally.
Thanks!
Zappa on The Late Show with Joan Rivers, 1986(ish?).
I'd definitely say his conspiracy theories on AIDS are a swing and a miss, but everything else is pretty solid -- and hell, given that this would have been right around the time Iran-Contra broke, I can't say I blame anyone for believing the Reagan Administration was engaging in sinister and wildly implausible dealings.
Gail Simone fired from Batgirl, implies it's because she refused to fridge somebody.
All things considered it's not the major shakeup that Berger's departure is, but it's a shabby damn way to treat a beloved writer (and, not to put too fine a point on it, one who sells books).
On the whole, Simone's been a pretty damn good soldier despite all the bullshit DC's heaped on her and its other creators in the past year and a half. She's expressed some dissatisfaction at being taken off Suicide Squad, and with editorial decisions concerning Firestorm, but she hasn't engaged in anything approaching the (honestly pretty mild) complaints of Roberson, Langridge, or Wood, let alone the gleeful adolescent bridge-burning of Rob Liefeld. (I know, I know -- "gleeful adolescent ____ by Rob Liefeld" is a tautology.)
Regardless, she'll land on her feet. Maybe it'll be at DC and maybe it won't -- on the one hand, I'd love to see her do something creator-owned over at Image or one of the other publishers; on the other, she's probably the most visible example of a dissatisfied DC fan working to change things from the inside, and I think it would be a real blow to lose her in that capacity.
Ah, who the hell am I kidding -- you know what my vote is. Keep on shooting yourselves in the foot, Warners -- I'm happy to follow your disillusioned creators to whatever creator-owned work they cook up.
...Well, maybe not Liefeld.
Appleton, '69; uploaded by YourArf.
Something suitably patriotic, in memory of my uncle the Pearl Harbor vet:
This is from the Apocrypha bootleg; it was performed in Burlington in 1988.
Just got word that my great-uncle, Garth Brown, passed away today. (No condolences needed -- he was 92 years old and had been sick a long time.)
Garth served on the USS Oklahoma. It was hit with three torpedoes on December 7, 1941. He was thrown from the ship, swam up through a layer of oil, and survived clinging to driftwood.
As it happens, that was the first of three times he would survive a sinking ship. (He wasn't much for swimming after that; I never saw him in a pool.)
FDR called it "a date which will live in infamy". And I suppose it did, for awhile anyway. But most people my age don't know what the hell the significance of December 7 is -- probably don't even know who Roosevelt was, and only know what Pearl Harbor was because of that godawful Michael Bay movie.
(I know, I know -- "godawful Michael Bay movie" is a tautology.)
Anyhow. The local paper usually ran a story on Garth every December 7; there's a good one from two years ago over at azcentral.
Funny that he made it to one more Pearl Harbor Day before he passed. Not "funny" as in laughable, of course, but "funny" as in one of those weird little coincidences that make you stop and think for a minute.
They call Garth's generation the Greatest Generation -- and it's because of guys like Garth that they call it that. The ones who beat back the Great Depression, and beat back the Nazis.
Uncle Garth -- you were something else, man. One of the bravest souls it was ever my pleasure to know. Godspeed, and rest in peace.
And to those of you reading this -- if you get the chance, say something nice to a veteran.
A few days ago I posted an interview where Nicolas Slonimsky talks about playing with Zappa. Well, here's a recording of him actually playing with Zappa, courtesy of uploader YourArf, who says it's from December 1981: