Fred Kaplan draws some interesting parallels between John F. Kennedy and Barack H. Obama. And of course it goes without saying that we all hope the parallels only extend so far.

We ask questions here, we get answers…

Divers are combing the Hudson with sonar today to try and locate the engines and the black box, to determine the precise moment that two birds collided with passenger jet. The extremely cold weather and water currents have limited the divers' search. A giant crane has been brought in to help remove the plane from the water off Battery Park tomorrow morning and to bring it to an undisclosed location.

An undisclosed location? Why are they taking it to Dick Cheney?

The whole article can be read here. Thank you, David M. Lynch. Now, does anyone know about the luggage?

This morning, we're all reading about the heroism and skill of the pilot who landed (watered?) that U.S. Airways plane yesterday, and of his crew. And they seem to deserve praise and huzzahs and medals and such, and I don't mean to take away from any of that…but I have one question or maybe it's two. In the articles I've read, I don't see anyone discussing what happens to that airplane that's now at the bottom, I guess, of the Hudson River. I mean, the Hudson is said to be a foul place but I don't think even that water will dissolve an entire Airbus A320…not for at least a few months. Do they haul the thing out in pieces or bring in a big crane or what?

And just out of curiosity, is there any chance of the passengers ever seeing their checked luggage again? I have a suitcase that I suspect could be submerged in water for an extended time without its contents being destroyed, especially if it's in some sort of sealed compartment. Are divers going in to try and get the bags out? Or does this wait 'til they haul the whole plane out of the river or what? Someone reading this will know.

This should interest any comic fan who's going to be in or around Los Angeles between mid-February and August. The Skirball Cultural Center — a large, beautiful facility located near Westwood — will be playing host to two allied exhibitions. One is called, unfortunately, "ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938–1950." Details of that one can be found here. The other is called "Lights, Camera, Action: Comic Book Heroes of Film and Television" and you can find out about that one here. Both run from February 19 through August 9 and both feature art and artifacts from superhero glories.

There will be several events in connection with these exhibitions. Not listed yet on the Skirball site is that on the evening of March 5, there'll be a program featuring Jerry Robinson, one of the great comic artists whose work is being exhibited. Mr. Robinson will be interviewed by that guy who hosts all the historical-type panels at the Comic-Con International each year…what's his name? Oh, that's right: Me. Jerry was also a Guest Curator of the exhibition and I hear it's quite wonderful. If you're going to be in L.A. while it's up, you might want to plan for a visit.

This just in…

Circuit City Stores Inc., the nation's second-biggest consumer electronics retailer, said Friday it had run out of options and will be forced to liquidate its 567 U.S. stores. The closures could send another 30,000 people into the ranks of the unemployed.

Let's hope someone notes that a pretty high percentage of those 30,000 people were folks who were hired, not because they knew anything about computers or electronics or any of the things Circuit City sells, but because they were willing to work cheaper than the ousted employees who did. This is the same thing that killed or wounded Egghead Software and The Good Guys and CompUSA or any other chain that was selling technology. The main reason people go into a store to get a computer instead of ordering it over the Internet is because they want to talk with someone who knows more about computers than they do.

Every time I ever went into a Circuit City or any of those other places, there was — at best — one person on the premises who did…and he/she was always swamped with questions not only from customers but from other salesfolks. At the one near me, the answer to every query was, "I'll have to ask Steve." Once upon a time, before they slashed salaries, those places had a lot more Steves.

It's kind of like a hospital saying, "Business is down…let's get rid of all those doctors and hire some kids who've watched E.R.!" Until companies learn what they're selling, we're in for a lot more liquidating and downsizing in the retail electronics business.

Sorry for giving you short notice (the puns are unavoidable) but Turner Classic Movies is running The Terror of Tiny Town tonight around 11 PM Pacific, 2 in the morning back east. And I know what you're thinking: "Oh, dear God, not another western movie cast entirely with midgets and dwarves!" Yeah, I'm sick of 'em, too…but this is kind of a classic. Made in 1938, it stars Billy Curtis and everyone else then in Hollywood who was shorter than Mickey Rooney. ('38 was a good year in this town for little people. Almost everyone in this movie also got work in The Wizard of Oz.)

It's not a good movie but it's too weird to ignore. Apparently, producer Jed Buell planned for this to be the first of a whole series of features (or maybe short subjects) like this. The next was to be Paul Bunyan, starring all the same actors as normal-sized people…and a normal-sized man as Paul. It was never made, probably because no one went to see this one. You might want to see it…or set your TiVo or VCR and see how long you can last.

And if you like bizarre, TCM is following it with The Unholy Three and Tod Browning's Freaks.

My friends in Los Angeles who haven't seen Spamalot may be interested in this. It's going to be the opening show of the Ahmanson's season in July, with John O'Hurley signed to play King Arthur.

The Ahmanson has some interesting offerings before then. There's Minsky's, the new Broadway-bound musical that's loosely adapted from one of my favorite movies, The Night They Raided Minsky's. Then there's Ain't Misbehavin', Frost/Nixon (with Stacy Keach as Nixon) and Dame Edna. I'm going to some or all of those.

Just sitting here, watching news coverage of today's extraordinary air crash. A U.S. Airways jet with 155 passengers aboard made an emergency landing in the Hudson River…and no one was killed. One person suffered a couple of broken legs but that was it. The pilot, they say, made a miraculous water touchdown when his plane was damaged by a collision with a flock of geese. Then that pilot, Chesley D. "Sully" Sullenberger, assisted in getting the passengers off and he and his co-pilot were the last to leave the plane.

I have no fear of flying. I'm afraid of some things but not flying. Nevertheless, from now on when I get on a jet, even if it isn't U.S. Airways, I'm telling myself it's Sully in the cockpit.

"Let's just pretend most things worked…"

My buddy Jerry Beck has a short piece up lamenting what he calls the "second class status" of animated features in Hollywood, as proven by the fact that they're such longshots for the Best Picture Oscar. Here…read a little of what Jerry has to say…

This is the reality: no matter how much money animation makes, or how many hits Pixar and Dreamworks churn out, animation is still a 2nd class citizen in Hollywood. I don't like it that way. It's not how I think — but it's the way it is. And nothing that happens seems to change that perception. Four of the top 10 movies of 2008 (in U.S. box office gross) were animated features — four — and the other six were blockbusters that had more than their fair share of CGI effects (Iron Man, Dark Knight, etc).

Or you can go here and read all of what he has to say and many comments. Here's mine: I think this is a bit of a misperception of Hollywood status. Actually, there are two kinds of status in this business — financial and critical. Financial status is very simple. The more you gross, the more you get. Money is utterly non-discriminatory in terms of animation versus live-action. So when Jerry brings up the issue of the top 10 movies in terms of box office gross…well, those are indeed the movies that achieved that kind of status. And in Hollywood, no one belittles financial success. Truth be told, most would rather have that than the other kind.

That other kind is the critical kind. It's somewhat irrelevant to what a movie grosses and it oughta be. If you think the box office oughta matter, then there's no point in having anyone vote for the Oscars. Just give the little bald gold man to whichever film made the most dollars. Since we don't do that, clearly the Academy Awards are about something else…and as sensibilities have evolved, that something else is generally (generally, now) about courage in filmmaking. It's about creating a movie that goes somewhere new, takes some risks and leaves audiences feeling they've experienced something more than a fun thing to watch while eating Raisinets in the dark.

Whether that's the best possible use of the Oscar, I dunno…but I think it's pretty much what the voters have in mind. They like movies about which no one at the studio said, "Don't worry…this can't possibly lose money because it has all these things in common with last year's big hits." That's not true of most animated features these days. It's not even true of most successful movies.

The Top 10 movies of 2008, as listed on the chart Jerry linked to, were The Dark Knight, Iron Man, the latest Indiana Jones film, Hancock, Wall-E, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Twilight, the new James Bond film and Horton Hears a Who. None of those movies, with the occasional exception of The Dark Knight, are even being mentioned as possibles for Best Picture. It's not because some of them are animated. It's because all of them were very commercial pictures with proven selling points — cute aliens, superheroes, vampires, new characters backed by solid merchandising campaigns, sequels to past blockbuster hits,etc. Milk had none of those safe marketing attributes. Neither did Frost/Nixon. Neither did Slumdog Millionaire or Doubt or Benjamin Button, which is why those will probably be all or most of the five nominees.

I don't think there's a prejudice against animation. Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture. I have a hunch — we'll never know for sure — that The Incredibles would have been nominated if the Academy hadn't, bowing to demands within the animation community, added that Best Animated Feature category. That's probably made it less likely that a cartoon will be up for Best Picture because voters will figure that they're supposed to vote for great cartoons in that division and not the other. In a sense, by lobbying for that, cartoon buffs spread the notion that animated features weren't to be considered in the same competition as live-action films.

Someday, there'll be an animated feature so overpowering and different that it will bust out of that niche and score as Best Picture. Frankly, I don't see the point of trying to hasten that day…but if we want to, we should start lobbying to get rid of that Best Animated Feature category. That, more than anything else, tells the industry there's a place to honor Wall-E and it isn't as Best Picture.