Thursday, September 9, 2004

Damn!

They've set stud fees for Smarty Jones at $100,000. I've been undercut again.

• Posted at 4:27 PM · LINK

Not-Quite-Dead Heat

People often say that Fox News is biased towards Republicans and that CBS News is biased towards Democrats. I don't think either of those charges is all that valid with regard to their pure news functions. It may have some merit with regard to interview shows and programs on which issues are discussed but I don't think, for example, it's inarguably true of the headlines and polls.

So I have to note that today, the Fox News Poll [CAUTION: PDF file] says the presidential race is a "dead heat." They have Bush two points ahead in a poll of likely voters that has a margin of error of three points. At the same time, the CBS News Poll has Bush seven points ahead of Kerry among registered voters...again, with a three point margin of error.

I don't think either poll means much more than a sampling of one group of voters at one moment. Still, it's kinda interesting that these sources are coming to these results.

• Posted at 2:29 PM · LINK

And Then There Was One...

Franklin D. Roosevelt once referred to the Supreme Court of his day as "the nine old men." This prompted Walt Disney to start referring to his nine key animators by the same phrase. One by one, Walt's Nine Old Men have reached the stage where they're old enough to not be around any longer. Less than three years ago at a tribute to Walt, only three were still around: Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson. That was in December of 2001. The following July, we lost Ward...and now Cartoon Brew is reporting the passing of Frank. I don't suppose we should be shocked at the death of a 92-year-old man, but we can certainly be sad that we are nearing the end of an era.

I was privileged to meet Frank on several occasions. He was charming and polite and very encouraging to those who would follow in his footsteps. And like so many of his generation, he was still amazed and delighted that work that he'd expected to be in and out of theaters and then forgotten was still studied and loved. I remember someone asking either him or Ollie if they'd dreamed that their animation would be remembered forever. Whichever one answered said, "We were just hoping Walt would remember it when it came time to hand out bonuses."

• Posted at 1:16 PM · LINK

Today's Political Rant

I was going to write a piece here explaining at greater length why I think the "Bush was AWOL" story is the kind of distraction John Kerry doesn't need. But this weblog post summarizes my feelings as well as anything I could whip up...plus, linking to it saves me time.

• Posted at 11:39 AM · LINK

Missed Opportunities

Once upon a time, I had the Beatles right in the palm of my hand and I let them get away. I'll tell you all about it in an article I originally posted here but have now moved to NOTES from me.

• Posted at 11:29 AM · LINK

September 10, 2004 • Current • September 8, 2004