Wednesday, August 6, 2003

Arnold's Running

Amazing. I was 90% sure he wouldn't. But I guess in politics, there's always that 10%.

What amazes me after a fast sweep of the political boards is that some Republicans think this is good news for them. Arnold staying out would have been good news for them because it would have made Riordan the front-runner. Richard Riordan has pretty much the same politics as Schwarzenegger but can't be accused of being unserious about the job or utterly inexperienced. He's also someone the Republicans could look to as a long-term center of power in the state. Yeah, Arnold's got the name value but he also has all that other baggage.

But some Democrats are also acting as if this is good news for them and I don't think it's that, either. Arnold will turn out the voters, especially some who may just love the idea of electing someone who isn't a career politician. That's one of the main sentiments that got Jesse Ventura his seat.

Seems to me the big loser in this is Riordan. That is, if he is/was going to run. And the other big loser (of course) is Darrell Issa who spent all that money to fund the recall and now may finish behind Gallagher.

You see why I don't write more on this site about comic books? It's because there's so much more hokey fantasy in this stuff.

• Posted at 9:52 PM · LINK

Another Gubernatorial Candidate

What we need in Sacramento is a good comic book dealer! Barry Short of 21st Century Comics is trying to get on the ballot.

I know Barry and he'd make a much better governor than some people I could name.

• Posted at 3:09 PM · LINK

The Gay Bishop

As you've probably heard, he passed the approval process. If you want to see how ridiculous the charges against him were, here is a copy of the investigation into them. Thanks to Steve Meyer for sending the link.

• Posted at 1:10 PM · LINK

Quick Comment

I'm dueling with deadlines today so I don't have time to write a lot of outraged comments about this. A comic book store proprietor in Texas was found guilty and sentenced to 180 days in jail, a year probation, and a $4,000 fine. His crime? Selling an adult comic book to an adult. The dynamic behind the conviction seems to have been the prosecution's claim that there was a school nearby, and the comic book form is by definition for children; ergo, the accused was almost selling pornography to children and the court had the obligation to stop him now while they could. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to intervene.

Eventually, this kind of prosecution will be a thing of the past, and we'll shake our heads over it the way we now can't believe you once couldn't say "pregnant" on television. But a lot more damage will be done and lives ruined before we get to that point.

• Posted at 1:05 PM · LINK

At Last!

A candidate for governor that all Californians can agree upon!

• Posted at 11:31 AM · LINK

Comic Artist Website of the Day

As you'll see when you visit his website, Jay Stephens is a versatile, creative guy. One of the things you might want to browse there are some pages he's done recently for DC for a Teen Titans comic. It was written by veteran scribe Bob Haney, who wrote Teen Titans back in the sixties. According to a message Jay posted on the Comics Journal message board, DC has decided not to publish the completed book because it's "weird and uncommercial." I was looking forward to getting something new by Haney and the fact that DC considers it "weird and uncommercial" makes me all the more eager to read it.

• Posted at 11:27 AM · LINK

Still More on Hope

A fellow named Kevin Boury sent me a long e-mail that raises some good points I'm seeing discussed on the Internet. I'm going to excerpt a chunk and then respond to them below...

Bob Hope never made me laugh. Ever. And that is what I consider to be the best judge of whether someone is funny, not a roomful of grinning audience members who don't want to shout that the emperor has no clothes. After all, McDonald's is a popular eatery, but I would not call what they serve "food" (let alone good). People don't want to admit that what they paid money for is, in fact, a substandard product.

Anyway, just had to chime in because I actually found this Hitchens article to be right on the money. I have never read his work before, but what I read in your blog seemed to dismiss his current work based mostly on his older pieces. I would like to see a Bob Hope fan such as yourself answer his question "What is your favorite Bob Hope gag?"

I think a line could be drawn for a comic between material they deliver well and whether or not they write their own material. Even the article you cite in Mr. Hope's defense indicates that he was never far away from his writers. His appearances with Johnny never seemed to indicate that he was able to make humorous off the cuff remarks. Extemporaneous he was not!

If you didn't find Bob Hope funny, fine. I'm not out to argue with you or anyone that he was; only that I think it's wrong to not recognize that to a lot of people of the last century, he was. It's just like — to invoke another of these unavoidable food analogies — I can't stand cole slaw. I think it's the most repulsive thing human beings put voluntarily into their mouths. But if you want to enjoy the stuff, be my guest. It in no way threatens me to admit that others do. My main problem with the Hitchens piece was that its subtext was, to convert it to the cole slaw analogy, "I hate cole slaw so anyone who thinks it's good is just plain wrong." I could respect and perhaps even write a detailed criticism of the many ways in which Bob Hope was deficient as a performer and maybe as a human being, as well. But that's not what Hitchens did, nor does it take into account that in the pantheon of show business, Hope was a little more than just another stand-up comedian to be judged wholly on his monologues.

I'm afraid I don't buy your McDonald's comparison. For good or ill, McDonald's has a helluva lot of steady customers. They don't go back over and over again rather than admit they're buying a substandard product. They like Big Macs and cheap burgers and drive-thru convenience. And people did not feign laughter at Bob Hope for 70-some-odd years because they didn't want to admit he wasn't amusing them. Too many other comedians fell by the wayside during those decades because at some point they stopped amusing audiences. You can't sustain a career or even a fast food joint for any length of time unless in some way, people are genuinely satisfied with what they're getting.

"What is your favorite Bob Hope gag?" is a somewhat unfair question since Hope was so imitated that quoted lines often sound stale. Moreover, when he was at his best, the joy was in the cumulative effect of his timing and attitude, rather than any one single joke. I mean, I can't name a favorite Laurel and Hardy gag, either. It just amuses me to watch them in action. In the case of Hope, I liked the kind of snotty but cowardly character he played in his best films. I liked the way he'd get up at the Oscars and say something like, "Welcome to the Academy Awards — or as we call it at my house, Passover." But really, I liked the delivery, not the gags themselves. It's like quoting Groucho's "This morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. What he was doing in my pajamas I'll never know" without taking Groucho's delivery into account. The joke itself is just a small part of it. "This is an ex-parrot" isn't particularly funny except when uttered by John Cleese in one specific context. I think my favorite Hope moment on film was the dance on the table with Jimmy Cagney in what was otherwise one of Bob's weaker films, The Seven Little Foys. And no, the scene wasn't funny, nor was it really supposed to be. But it showed Bob off as a great performer, which is what I believe he was.

I thought Hope was usually funny and spontaneous when he was on with Carson and as I said in my piece, I watched one of those spots about eight feet away from the two men. Yes, he was dependent to a great deal on his writers, as were just about all the comedians of his generation. I was surprised to see Hitchens include Berle in any list of better comedians, since Berle freely admitted everything he said was written by others and that he just "remembered well." Would you like to name some great comedians of film and television who didn't spend a lot of money on writers? I sure can't think of too many. The first one who comes to mind is Woody Allen, who has often cited Hope as his hero. One of the things that was different about Hope (and which makes it hard to single out a "best gag") is that most comedians had five routines and they'd do them each ten thousand times. Hope had ten thousand routines and he'd do them each five times.

Bottom line for me is that if he didn't make you laugh, he didn't make you laugh. If you name your 20 favorite comedians, there'll probably be someone on there who didn't make me laugh and that wouldn't mean you were wrong. Within the world of comedy, there's room for the guy who only makes some people laugh. It would be a shame if we homogenized taste in this world to the point where you're only a great entertainer if you manage to entertain absolutely everyone.

• Posted at 12:46 AM · LINK