What I Miss

 Well, here we are, just about a year since lock-down began...and the question is, "what do I miss?"

Well, I miss face-to-face communication with people. I've had a little bit over the past 12 months with a limited number of people. I was working for the first two months, so I had my colleagues and customers then. But since May, I've had occasional meetings with people from my church (the rector, the youth minister) as I assist them in dealing with running the parish under lock-down. But little else.

Even in those situations, I miss seeing smiles. Yeah, a real smile shows in the eyes as much as the mouth, but that lower half of the face is important...and a lot of the emotion is simply not transmitted on video.

I miss casual conversation. All my interactions now are scheduled, so that we all know what time we have to be at our computers...and because the technology is not up to handling cross-talk, we all have to take turns (and frequently mute ourselves) rather than have the natural interruptions and interjections of in-person conversation.

If you'd asked me twelve months ago, I might have described myself as an introvert, someone who was happy to work alone. Now, I'm not so sure.

Who Was That Masked Man?

Hypothetical: Around Halloween this year, the CDC announces it believes we have reached herd immunity in the United States. Those areas that have not already lifted restrictions begin to do so--it is no longer mandatory to wear a mask in stores and restaurants, full occupancy is restored, movie theaters and sports arenas are operating, schools have all returned to in-person learning.

Question: What will you do? Will you continue to wear a mask, just in case? Will you start going out to eat again? Will you socialize with friends at their homes and yours? Will you attend large gatherings like weddings? Will you celebrate the holidays "normally"--dinner with extended family on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve services, New Year's Eve parties?

How soon will your life go back to normal?

Mistakes on the Left and Right

 There are moments when I don't know what I despair of the most--the extreme right or the extreme left. Each side, IMO, did things that made them look stupid yesterday.

On the right, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (spurred by a pronouncement from the Archbishop of New Orleans) "urged Catholics to avoid taking the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine and to choose alternatives from Pfizer or Moderna instead because Johnson & Johnson used cells derived decades ago from an abortion to create the vaccine." It called the J&J vaccine "morally compromised". (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/02/archdiocese-new-orleans-johnson-vaccine/) Yes, indeed, your eminences, the death of an unborn child decades ago is more important spiritually than the health and possible death of your congregants in the here and now.

On the left, after urging from a study in 2019, Dr. Seuss Enterprises has decided to cease publication of six of the children's author's works, on the basis that "portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong." The six titles in question are And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot's Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat's Quizzer.  (https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/02/us/dr-seuss-books-cease-publication-trnd/index.html) On looking at the things that were considered in these books, I don't disagree that they are inappropriate by modern standards, but I do disagree with the steps taken. Why not simply publish new editions with the kind of "disclaimers" that companies like Disney and Warner Bros. have placed on some of their older material--that these works represent cultural standards of their time and should be viewed in that context?

In each case, again IMO, the authorities in question simply make themselves look foolish and hidebound.

Conspiracy Generators

 This morning, as we were watching Morning Joe, Jill asked: "What is it that has, in the past decade or so, made conspiracy such a popular method to explain things?"

I suggested the following:

When a formerly majority opinion becomes the minority position, those who still hold that opinion are hard-pressed to explain why their long-held belief is no longer popular--especially if, as is often the case, "all my friends agree with me." They simply cannot believe that the vast majority of the country has altered so greatly or that those who hold this once-reviled position (gay rights, minority rights, atheism/agnosticism, etc.) have legitimately gained power; clearly there must be sinister forces at work.

Hence, a conspiracy: If no one I know supports these ideas, then there must be some small, powerful cabal that is secretly pulling the levers behind the scenes ("a man behind the curtain," if you will). And in an age where powerful communication tools are available to just about anyone, it is ridiculously easy to spread this idea widely. And if you point out that there is no hard evidence for their view, the response is often "that just proves how powerful the conspiracy really is."

It's a concept that has been tried in the past, with somewhat less success. Father Coughlin attempted it using radio, Joe McCarthy with the press and the early days of television, the John Birch Society with pamphleteering. Each had some influence, but it waned as the "gatekeepers"--editors and publishers--pointed out the flaws in their methods and ideologies.

Today, those gatekeepers are no longer as powerful as they once were. In some circumstances, there simply are no gatekeepers. And so, all the nonsense flows through.

Leonine Beginnings

 Proverbially, March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb. Well, it's certainly acting lion-like over the next two days.

Today is wet and damp, starting in the mid-40s and dropping quickly through the afternoon as the skies clear and winds pick up. By tomorrow morning, temperatures will be in the teens with wind chills in the single digits...and it will stay that way throughout the day.

March begins testing out its more ovine characteristics later in the week, when temps rise into the 40s and 50s. What will it be like in 30 days? Who knows?

Chasing WandaVision 3

 Okay, so I've now watched the first eight episodes of WandaVision and I'm still not impressed.

Spoilers ahead:




When did Agatha Harkness become a "bad witch"? In the comics she has always been portrayed as a bit mysterious, as keeping things to herself, but never outright evil. She may always have her own agenda, but she's neither a murderess nor a torturer.

OK...the sit-com parodies were meant to establish part of Wanda's backstory...but four or five of them? Wouldn't two have served the purpose and gotten the story moving a bit more quickly?

Neither Wanda nor Pietro are shown to have powers as kids (unless what Wanda almost does to the Stark device that destroyed their home was meant to indicate that), and Wanda doesn't manifest anything until she contacts that Infinity Stone...so where do Pietro's powers come from?

Finally, if Hayward's concern about Vision is that he was a sentient weapon, how does making him less human make things any better? Or is it that Hayward doesn't want an android with human emotions and prefers one that is simply a machine he can order to do as he wishes? You've got two episodes left guys, it's time to start explaining your villain's motives and aims.

As I've said, if a movie or a book took this long to make sense, we'd stop reading or watching. The only reason I've stayed with this is because so many people keep telling me how wonderful it is and how it's going to end up a masterpiece.

I'm not convinced.

Grocery Shopping

 No, this isn't about the relative safety or risk of shopping in a pandemic. It's about the things that bug the hell out of you in a supermarket.

Number one on my list: There's a line of three or more people at the deli counter and only one employee waiting on customers. The other three are making pre-wrapped sandwiches for later in the day, or stocking shelves with the pre-packaged product. Meanwhile, the line keeps getting longer. As someone who used to work the customer service counter in the same store, I know the manager would have had my head if he saw that situation in my area.

Number two: Employees or vendors who block the entire aisle with the product they are stocking. If the pallet you are bringing out to stock is that big, break it down into a smaller load. Yes, you might have to make two trips, but you won't inconvenience the customers.

Number three: Customers who mosey up the aisle (just to prove it's not just employees who bother me). They're not visibly looking for anything, they just move like they're in the slow lane of the highway with their flashers on.

What bugs you in the supermarket?

Eating Out

 For the first time in months, Jill and I went out for breakfast this morning, to the local Panera. I would not say it was "busy"--certainly not the way it would have been a year ago at the same time of day--and it was appropriately social-distanced. Half of the tables were marked as unavailable, there were floor markings for distancing at the registers. Everyone wore masks, except when eating or drinking.

I felt perfectly safe being there. I'm not sure in what other restaurants we used to frequent I would feel the same way. The local Applebee's seems to be fairly active when I go there to pick up take-out, but I wonder about dining in in places that serve alcohol...the inhibition-reducing effect is a concern.

Commission Commitment

 My best friend, Rich Kolker, asked this morning who could be named as chair of a commission to investigate the events of January 6 who would be acceptable and respected by all sides.

My first thought was George W. Bush. I think it would be difficult for any Republican--save for the hard-core Trumpies like Hawley and Boebert--to object to the only living former President who is a Republican (Trump, obviously, is out of the question). Bush is on good terms with all the Democratic former Presidents, and with the sitting President, Joe Biden. I don't think even the far left wing of the Democrats (AOC, Sanders, etc.) would oppose his being named to the post.

And, though Rich didn't ask about this, I think Pelosi has to give up on the idea of weighting the other members to the Democrats. The general public will see that as unfair, let alone the Republican members of Congress....however, I do think none of the commission members should be current sitting office-holders or likely candidates in the next four years. And a few experts on intelligence and security wouldn't hurt, either.

Comics--Why Dialogue Matters

 There's an ongoing controversy, thanks to a new biography of Stan Lee, about collaboration in comics--who is primarily responsible for the creation of new characters and concepts (and their commercial and esthetic success), especially in the so-called "Marvel method," where the artist works from a rough plot (either supplied by the writer, worked out by the writer and artist together, or done entirely by the artist) and then the writer fleshes it out with dialogue and narration after the art is done.

There's a large part of the comics fan community that supports the idea that the artist is the primary mover...the "real writer and creator" of stories and characters. But, to my mind, this suggests that plot is more important than characterization and that visual appearance is the primary source of success. Let me give an example of where I think that supposition is dead wrong.

It is generally accepted that Stan Lee's plot for the famed "Galactus Trilogy" (Fantastic Four ##48-50) did not include any character like the Silver Surfer, that the Surfer was added visually by Jack Kirby. I do not disagree--visually, the Silver Surfer was entirely Kirby's idea. But is it solely the visual image--striking as it may be--that made the Surfer such an immediate success?

I think not. What made the Silver Surfer a great character was the dialogue Stan Lee wrote for him, the inner dilemma the Surfer confronted between his loyalty to Galactus and his new-found admiration for the human race. While some of that may be reflected in Kirby's art and his notes thereon, it is Lee's putting it into words that makes it real, that makes the Surfer into an interstellar Shakespearean tragic hero.

Looking at Kirby's own attempts at writing dialogue, on the New Gods and other "Fourth World" material, as an example, you can see that, no matter how much emotion and pathos he tried to convey in his art, he could never bring it to full life with dialogue that matched.

If plot were all that mattered, then Kirby would have been a masterful writer; but characterization, as created by dialogue, is just as important...maybe more important. It has been said, after all, that there are only three great plots in all of fiction: Man against man, man against nature, and man against himself. It is the characters and what they do in those situations that make great writing.

Tabula Rasa

 Literally, for the first time since I started this blog in May of last year, I find myself with nothing to say. No political thoughts, no pop culture thoughts, not even any really interesting events in my own life.

Maybe tomorrow.

Party of Three?--Part 2

Today on Morning Joe, there was a discussion of the possibility of a viable third-party in the United States. They proceeded from the premise that about two-thirds of registered voters are independents and would, therefore, welcome a third choice in our elections.

But, IMO, they ignore an important point: Not all of those independents would welcome the same third choice. I figure about a third of them would want a party strongly to the left of the Democrats, another third would want a party strongly to the right of the Republicans, and the remainder would want a party midway between the two existing parties.

IOW, there is no more than about 22% of the electorate that is in favor of any one kind of political party as an alternative. There are around 214,000,000 registered voters in this country...and in the election with the highest turnout in decades in 2020, only about 160,000,000 of them (or about 75%) actually voted. (In most presidential years, the turn-out is more like 60% and in "off-years," often below 50%.)

So, if a third party existed and even all of its registrants voted for its candidate, the best that candidate could hope for is 47,000,000 votes. And if each of my imagined third parties did the same, they would get around the same, leaving 71,000,000 for the Republicans and Democrats to split. In recent years, that split has been virtually 50-50, so each of the two "established" parties would get around 36,000,000 votes. No one would have a majority of the popular vote.

Of course, this ignores that some Democrats and Republicans might vote for one of the third-party candidates. Still, I think a third party--of any political stripe--has a tough row to hoe.

Comics--Past and Future 6

 Continuing this discussion, the last part of which was here. 

 It could be that the two major comics publishers, DC and Marvel, could accomplish some of what I suggest is needed--expanding their readership beyond the current base of superhero fans--simply be reactivating some projects and properties they already own.

At DC, there are three that come immediately to mind:

Blackhawk. This international team of pilots could be portrayed as a sort of flying A-Team, a group of specialists for hire. Or, if you prefer, a variation on Britain's Thunderbirds. Stories could range from warfare to espionage to covert anti-crime missions.

Sugar and Spike. Chances are no one could handle these pre-verbal tykes as charmingly as their late creator, Shelly Mayer, so why try? DC has several decades worth of the originals to reprint. These are the model for successful series such as Rugrats and Muppet Babies...why not re-present them now?

Amethyst, Princess of Gem World. When DC first published this title in the 1970s, I argued it was custom-made for marketing to pre-teen girls, complete with an animated adaptation and a line of toys. But I guess nobody at DC back then was smart enough to see what they had...even after properties like Sailor Moon and Jem and the Holograms showed them the way. Is anyone there (or at their corporate owners) wise enough to see it today?

Marvel has fewer of these types of titles to pick from, as even in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, they were less diverse than DC. But there are two I think could work:

Millie the Model. Recast it as the beginnings of Millie's career, not the heights of it. Shows like Project Runway and America's Top Model demonstrate a public interest in the fashion world; all that's needed is a writer and artist with the ability to translate that world to comics.

Patsy Walker. This was Marvel's attempt at an Archie copy...but even in the 1950s, they played it as less of a cartoon than its more successful rival. Since Riverdale has indicated that teen love and angst still has an audience, why not see if you can bring that audience to you?

None of these should be produced as monthly periodicals, either....but as a series of graphic novels, with some continuing storylines from book to book, probably published on a quarterly basis and kept continually in print.

Your thoughts?

Who Knows?

 "Nobody knows anything."

That was how screenwriter William Goldman (The Princess Bride, All the President's Men, among others) described the situation of predicting success in Hollywood. I've come to believe the same is true of the future of the pandemic.

On the same day President Biden predicted a return to at least "near normal" by the end of this year, a doctor made the prediction we'd be at herd immunity by the end of the spring. They can't both be right (nor can the pessimists who insist we will never conquer COVID). Frankly, I'll take what comes.

And I'll do, for the most part, what the experts recommend. I say "for the most part" because there are some things I do that they may not feel are safe. I do not feel the need to wear a mask if I am outdoors, largely on my own, including walking in the park. I have no problem with dining indoors at a restaurant I can tell is maintaining social distancing, masks (except when eating), etc. 

I do not live in fear of my life in the pandemic, but I understand that others do.

The Mess With Texas

 The Lone Star State prides itself on its rugged individualism: "We don't need help from anybody...." Well, sometimes you do--and it's much better to be prepared for those times than not.

Decades ago, to avoid federal regulation, Texas decided not to connect its power grid with those of neighboring states in a cooperative arrangement, as literally every other state in the union has done. (Hawaii is the obvious exception, but even Alaska has tied its grid with the Canadian system.) But exempting itself from the regulations that come with interstate commerce, Texas also exempted itself from the ones that demand generation and distribution facilities be able to withstand extreme weather conditions--so its power companies didn't bother. Why not? It's cheaper not to insulate and winterize your fuel lines, right, and how often does Texas get temperatures well below freezing, anyway?

Well, based on this chart, of days when Dallas hit extreme temperature, more often than you'd think

32 °F 0 °C	Year	70 °F 21 °C	90 °F 32 °C
11	2020	261	108
19	2019	244	118
26	2018	244	125
8	2017	287	111
16	2016	277	114
25	2015	262	120
36	2014	243	100
29	2013	257	119
17	2012	278	121
27	2011	258	131

Wouldn't you think you'd want to be prepared for something that can happen as often as 20 or 30 times each year? (And that's just Dallas--other parts of the state, such as the Panhandle and the western hill country, can get much colder more often.)

Oh, and naturally, if you've refused to cooperate with your neighbors under normal circumstances, don't be surprised when they are not quick to offer assistance in an emergency. Normally, in this kind of crisis, we'd be seeing news reports of electric crews from other states--as far away as New York or California--coming to help get the power up and running in the affected area. Haven't seen any stories like that this week. I wonder why.

https://www.currentresults.com/Yearly-Weather/USA/TX/Dallas/recent-annual-dallas-temperature-precipitation.php 

Martian Chronicles

 Believe it or not, there are three exploration vehicles from Earth currently orbiting Mars--one from the United States, one from China, and one from the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE mission, launched from in cooperation with Japan, was the first to reach the red planet. It is currently orbiting to test atmosphere and other conditions on the planet. The Chinese orbiter recently completed maneuvers to put it in a polar orbit, as it searches for likely landing sites, with a plan to put a vehicle on the surface by May or June. The US mission will land its "Rover" later today, using the same "sky crane" technology that successfully put its sister vehicle on the surface in 2004.

It would appear humankind's desire to explore the final frontier has not yet waned.

Nothing Trivial

 I'm very disappointed. Last year, my son got me involved in an online trivia contest called Learned League. I enjoyed playing and did pretty well, coming in the top five (out of 26) in my section. I was looking forward to starting the new season today.

But the administrators (wisely, I think) decided to postpone the beginning of the season until next Monday, because of the wide-spread power outages around the country. Oh well, five more days to go then.

Party of Three?

 Since the 2020 election and its aftermath, there's been a lot of talk about "third parties"...mostly centered around the idea of the centrist part of the Republican Party breaking off from what has become a personality cult and forming a new coalition.

Usually, the example given is the end of the Whig party in the middle of the 19th Century and the founding of the Republican Party. But the original GOP didn't just form out of disaffected Whigs...it also included anti-slavery Democrats who refused to support the Democratic Party's Southern-dominated leadership. Essentially, the more radical wings of both parties coalesced into a new organization--and it required prominent members of both parties to declare themselves as Republicans.

I don't think there's much chance of anything similar happening in the next five to ten years. It would have to be the centrist Republicans joining with conservative Democrats...and there just aren't that many of the latter, certainly not any who are as disaffected with their own leadership as the centrist Republicans are with theirs.

Could it be done by enticing independents, the folk not aligned with any party? I don't think so. There are only two independent members of the Senate (and none in the House), both are from New England, and both not only caucus with the Democrats but they are more liberal than the majority of the Democratic members.

A third party? Not unless some prominent Republican steps forward and makes the move.

Comics Past and Future--Part 5

 Continuing this discussion, the last part of which was here.

Naturally, there's more to making the comic-book industry viable again than just improving the story-telling in the superhero titles. We need to expand beyond those concepts...and I don't just mean in publishing other "fan-favorite" genres and titles, like science fiction, including licensed properties such as Star Wars or Doctor Who.

The industry has to have, as it once did, material specifically aimed at girls and women, at children under the age of 12, or even at adults with interests beyond science-fiction, fantasy, and superhero adventure. Well into the 1960s, the best-selling comic-book in the United States was Dell/Gold Key's Walt Disney's Comics and Stories. Given the immense audiences for current Disney material--Frozen, anyone?--why are there no comic-book adaptations and continuations of those properties?

And other modern animated properties seem to me made to order for comic-book stories: Where is the comic-book version of Minions?

Why isn't anyone attempting a comic book with characters reminiscent of Jack Ryan or Ethan Hunt? Why are there no comic books with a rom-com feel or theme? Why not a costume drama along the lines of Downton Abbey or Bridgerton? Surely there is somebody who knows how to write this kind of material for comic books.

Until we have people working at the publishers who have an interest in telling stories, and not just in superheroes, this industry is on a path to extinction.

Ice Ice Baby

 Well, it was a break from the snow....

Yesterday afternoon, about two, we started to get a misty rain...and I mean misty. It never actually felt like it was falling from the sky, just sort of hanging there. By nightfall, it had begun to freeze on surfaces--notably cars and railings. I had put salt on my driveway to attempt to forestall the freezing and it worked for a while. At 9 o'clock, only a few patches were slick...but when I checked at 11, the whole driveway could have been used to play hockey. I figure the ice was about an eighth of an inch thick.

I had a commitment to be at church at 10 this morning. At 6:30, I got up, dressed and went outside to throw salt around. Things must have warmed some already because, while the ice was still slick, it was clear that some melting was beginning. By 8, the driveway, although not clear of ice, was driveable. By the time I returned from church at 11, you'd never have known there was an ice there at all.

Just rain tonight they say and warmer weather by Tuesday--48 degrees for the high--but possible snow again Thursday night into Friday.

It's already the snowiest February in Philly on record.

Vote-ee-Oh-Doh

 I'm not going to comment on the arguments made by Trump's defense team yesterday for two reasons:

1. I didn't watch all of them.

2. From what I have seen, there was little there to comment on.

I am going to make a sort-of prediction, though. First, what should happen: There should be a unanimous vote to convict. After all, 98 of the jurors were actually witnesses to the events in question. (The two Senators from Georgia had not yet been seated on January 6.) But we cannot reasonably expect that outcome.

What I'd like to have happen: I'd like to see Trump convicted by a vote of around 70-30. I can't honestly expect more than about 20 Republicans to vote with the Democrats.

What will happen: Trump will be acquitted by a vote of around 40-60. I think there are 10 Republican Senators who, allowed to vote their conscience, will vote to convict. Which ones? I think we can count on Collins, Murkowski, Romney, and Toomey. I think Cassidy and McConnell are possibles. I leave the other four to your choices.

Comics--Past and Future 4

 Continuing this discussion, the last part of which is here. 

Let me be clear: I am not suggesting a complete return to the comic books of the 1950s and '60s. Even the kids of today would not accept that. But I am suggesting that a good look at what made those publications far more successful--both commercially and aesthetically--than today's comics is worth doing.

The first thing, I think, is denseness of story-telling. I know that I can pick up any mainstream superhero comic book published in the last decade and finish it in under 10 minutes, in many cases, probably in five minutes. But if I go back to a comic book published even 30 years ago, when the direct market was in its infancy, I could expect a 20-minute read at least. And I could expect,  even in an ongoing serial storyline, a substantive chunk of the plot to be included. I could close the book feeling that I had had a complete experience...not just a snippet.

There's a reason that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons chose to use a nine-panel grid on nearly every page of Watchmen, to use just one example. They knew they had a massive story to tell, and they had to give themselves the pacing to tell it. There was no room for full-page "money shots"--every square inch of the page had to be given to the plot.

Now, I'm not saying every comic-book story needs to be that detailed, that dense. But it should give the reader at least a feeling of having seen the equivalent of television episode or a short story in prose...and not just the part that falls between the commercial breaks or what would fit on a page or two of prose.

And there's nothing wrong with telling a story that doesn't need to be continued from issue to issue for a year or more. In one sense, writing "short" is harder, I know. But if you insist that the reader must stick with you virtually forever to get a complete story, you're in the wrong business--go write for a TV soap opera.

More on this soon.

Snow Big Deal Again

 Damn! I thought I was done with posts on this subject for a while.

We got about 2 inches of light fluffy snow overnight. I was able to clear the driveway and the sidewalk in about 30 minutes. I'll clear off the car later this afternoon.

Real problem is that it's not over yet. There seems to be some virtual "train line" sending snow and ice this way for what looks like the whole month of February...some form of precipitation every two or three days at least through the next ten days. Next round is Saturday night into Sunday, then again on Tuesday.

Fortunately, nothing predicted in the foot-or-more range yet.

Not Exactly Perry Mason

 I dipped in and out of the coverage of the Senate trial yesterday, so I didn't see the entirety of any one lawyer's presentation, but parts of all of them. And while I think the House managers put on a case that would have done Law & Order's Jack McCoy proud, Trump's defense team was an embarrassment to every trial lawyer in the country.

There's an old saying in defense law: "When the law is against you, pound the facts; when the facts are against you, pound the law; when the law and the facts are against you, pound the table." Well, Trump's team nearly broke the table pounding on it yesterday.

"This trial is unconstitutional, because Mr. Trump is no longer in office." Of course, the only reason the trial is being held after he left office is because Mitch McConnell, who was in charge of scheduling, refused to hold it before Trump left office. It could have begun as early as January 14, because the House approved the article of impeachment on January 13. And, anyway, to argue that Trump is now immune from facing charges made before he left office is tantamount to saying the embezzler cannot be tried for his crimes if he is fired before the trial begins (even if the charges are filed before that happens).

It is clear to me that even if the Republicans win in the trial (as it currently appears they will), they have lost in the court of public opinion. 

Volunteering

 I keep trying to find ways to keep myself busy during the pandemic...and the recent weather has not made that any easier.

My church is one of the places I am increasing my activity. I am now a member of the technology committee--something that a year ago I doubt anyone in our parish would have thought we needed. But we've been recording and live-streaming services on an almost daily basis, as well as holding meetings that way. (Our annual meeting, required by the by-laws and canons, was held by Zoom this past weekend.)

To facilitate all this, we had a streaming camera installed in the nave of the church in December and this afternoon I have a training session on how to control it. This is in preparation for a funeral service this Saturday, which will be live-streamed, because the live attendees are limited to the immediate family mourners.

Has your volunteering increased in the past year?

Comic Books--Past and Future 3

This is a continuation of the discussion I began here: 

 At the end of the first part of this discussion, I said that other media could tell violent stories about people with superpowers better than comic books can....and the proof is in the huge success of the Marvel films and even the somewhat lesser success of the DC movies and TV series. The audiences for these alleged "spin-offs" from the print versions of these characters and concepts are orders of magnitude greater than the readership of the comic books (even if you take the readership of all the comics as a whole).

Most people, if you say "Captain America," will picture Chris Evans, not a drawing by Jack Kirby or one of the more recent artists to handle that character. If you say "Superman," they will picture Christopher Reeve, not Curt Swan's elegant drawings of the Man of Steel. I'd wager a significant portion of the audience for these movies has never even picked up a comic book, let alone read one. This does not bode well for the publishers of those comic books--especially since they are now owned by the companies that make the movies.

It didn't and doesn't have to be that way. Yes, the direct market--the individual comic-book stores and the distributors who service them--rescued the industry from near-certain collapse when the newsstand system that had sustained it fell, hit by recession, changing demographics, and a shift from a mass transit commuting style to the individual car (among other things). But the direct market should have been only a "stopgap" maneuver, a way to keep things going until a different distribution system evolved. Such a system did evolve for the rest of the magazine industry: They found their way into bookstores and supermarkets, in part by changing their price points and packages, making their product as worthy of sales space as breakfast cereals and canned corn.

But the comics industry fell in love with the "confirmed sale" that the non-returnable direct market represented. A sale to a comic-book store was final; the retailer didn't return the unsold product, he put it in his "back-issue" stock. Of course, in time, that actually meant diminishing sales. The retailer didn't have space for lots of back issues of every title...so he started ordering only what he knew he could sell...and the title that was selling 100,000 copies per issue was soon selling only 40,000. (Eventually, the retailer might cut back all the way to only his "subscription" sales on many titles--ordering only for those customers who had told him they would buy every issue of that series.)

So now, with few exceptions, the only place you can find monthly periodicals of comic-book material is in a comic-book store. And if you aren't actually looking for comic books, you have no reason to go there. The idea of comic books as something you'd pick up while strolling through the grocery store, or waiting for the bus, was lost.

And with that was lost the idea of comic books for a general audience...now they were only for fans.

More on this later as well.

It Was 40 Years Ago Today....

Forty years ago today, I was in Silver Spring, MD, getting married. It's hard to believe it's been so long...but the proof is most evident in two wonderful, successful sons in their 30s. There have been rough spots--we have both had periods when we were out of work (never, thankfully, at the same time); we've had arguments, sometimes very loud ones; for the first half of the marriage, we lived in some not-so-great places (a dinky apartment in Amsterdam, NY, my mother's house, a cramped flat in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn and an even more cramped one in Staten Island). But for the last 20 years, we've owned our own home in the suburbs of Philadelphia. And we've had friends: Rich, who was my best man and remains an "uncle" to our boys; Cat, undoubtedly Jill's closest friend; the many people we've met through science-fiction fandom, church and theater. The past twelve months have been tough, of course, as they have been for everybody. We've lost family members in addition to the pandemic problems. But, paraphrasing a Sondheim song, "We're still here." Happy anniversary to Jill!

Comic Books--Past and Future 2

An exchange on Facebook yesterday reminded me of exactly how I went from being a comic-book reader to being a comic-book collector. When I was growing up on Staten Island, there was a place called the Farmer's Market, a big open space under corrugated steel walls and roof, divided into stalls, that were rented out to various merchants. It was only open on weekends--Friday to Sunday. Most of the renters sold food of one kind or another, as the name "Farmer's Market" would imply. But some dealt in what now would be the stuff you find at flea markets...and one of them sold old comic-books. Not really old ones, though the proprietor did deal in those by mail, but issues from the past six months to five years, roughly. I discovered this place when I was 16, in 1968.

The owner was Bill Morse and his helper was Dave Kaler, a name I knew because he was a sometime-comics writer, notably on Captain Atom for Charlton. For about a year, I went there every Saturday (the market was about a 15-minute walk from my home) and picked up a few dollars worth of comics. (Back then, most of his recent back-issues--those about two years old or less--sold for 35 cents each; cover price in '68 was 12 cents.) Business was slow, though, so sometime in '69, Bill closed up shop.

He returned to running the business from his home....and I became one of his helpers. Every Saturday, I spent two or three hours sorting comics and keeping them in order. I got paid in comic books--three dollars worth for every hour I worked, as I recall. In 1971, Bill rented a storefront in another section of the Island, along a stretch that had become known as "antiques row". I worked there as well every weekend. Eventually, he moved the operation to Manhattan, in Greenwich Village. I continued to work for him until I finished college.

Through Bill, I met a number of young professional comic-book writers and artists, among them Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, and Paul Levitz. Those acquaintances became important about ten years later when I started writing about comics for a living.

Apology Not Accepted

 "Apology accepted, Captain Needa." That line, delivered as the captain drops to the deck, dead via Force attack, came to mind yesterday as I listened to Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's non-apology on the House floor.

I wish that Speaker Pelosi could have responded as Darth Vader did...and with more reason than Vader had--because Needa's apology was at least honest. Greene's speech was little more than a litany of excuses. "I was allowed to believe...." Really? Who "allowed" you to put faith in the Qanon claptrap, other than you, yourself? You are not a teenager, brought up to believe nonsense in a cult family; you made a conscious decision that absurd, asinine conspiracy theories--related to everything from 9/11 to school shootings to the 2020 election--made more sense than the obvious truth as reported by a myriad of reputable sources.

That 95 percent of the Republican members of the House accepted that "apology" and voted against removing her from her committee appointments is a disgrace...and, perhaps, an indication that they are more dedicated to their constituents who agree with Greene than they are to their oaths as members of Congress.

Comic Books--Past and Future

 I spent half of my adult life as a writer, writing on a variety of topics, from office supplies and equipment to jewelry to comics and film/TV. That last was my real passion.

Oddly enough, some of that passion has waned in the past 20 years, as the nature of those two media has radically shifted--especially comics. When I first got interested in comics, as a teenager, they were truly a part of the "mass media". You could find them sold in the same stores as newspapers and general interest magazines like Life and Time and Newsweek--often on the same racks as those publications. Around the time I began writing about them professionally, that all changed: Comic books became a "specialty" product, sold (for the most part) in "boutique" environments to fans. They had moved from an impulse, casual product to a "destination" product; you no longer picked them up while you were doing other shopping, you went to a specific place to make a specific purchase.

At the same time, comics reached the culmination of a trend that had begun two decades earlier. In the 1960s, comic books were written, drawn, edited and published by people who largely had been doing that for 15 or 20 years. It was a job; for many a job they loved, but they had no real emotional attachment to it...they were journeyman craftsmen. Beginning around 1970, that changed, as people a bit older than I was, who had grown up as comics fans started to find work in the business. By a decade later, they were virtually running the business, as their predecessors retired or found that their work was no longer desired by the changing audience. It had become a medium in which fans were creating for fans.

From the beginning of my time writing professionally about comics, I found that kind of comics lacking....precisely because it was all aimed at the same target. Humorous comic books no longer sold well. Even superheroes with a "light touch" were outsold by their grim and violent counterparts. Comics were becoming "adult," it was said. I disagreed--they were becoming, to my mind, adolescent...the print equivalent of the explosion- and chase-filled movies of the same period.

I kept thinking it couldn't be sustained...that other media told such kinds of stories better. Turns out I was right. More on that another time.

Snow Big Deal 3

 With any luck, this is my last posting on this topic for a while.

By noon yesterday, I had cleared enough of the driveway, that I was able to get the car out on the road. We live on a main drag, so it was clean to the pavement and even the back streets in the neighborhood were in good shape. Later in the afternoon, I went to Home Dept and brought home another 50 lbs. of rock salt. I also cleared a path on our sidewalk and by nightfall it was still in good shape.

This morning, with temps predicted to be above freezing and the sun beginning to show, I spread some of that salt on the remaining snow and ice on the driveway, so that the combined heat, sun, and salt would melt and/or soften it all.

Later today, I'll go for another drive, probably to pick up lunch.

 

Snow Big Deal 2

 So, yesterday at noon we had 2 inches of snow in the backyard and it had stopped coming down. It started again about 2 PM and by 5, we had 4 inches. It snowed until sometime around midnight, best as I can figure, and this morning at 8:30 we had 6 inches. It's snowing lightly again now.

I went out to clear some of the driveway with the snow blower, but the bottom layer of snow is packed enough that the blower couldn't clear to the pavement. I'll have to use the shovel on that later this afternoon or tomorrow. But the driveway is clear enough that I'll be able to get the car out should the need arise.

Fortunately, the plows didn't block the entrance to the driveway too badly, and their leavings are still soft, but heavy. I'm pretty sure I can get the car through it without having to shovel immediately.

Snow is supposed to end this afternoon, with warming temps over the next few days.

One good thing: There's absolutely no way any groundhog in the Northeast (Punxsutawney Phil or Staten Island Chuck) saw his shadow this morning. Early spring anyone?

Snow Big Deal

 Yesterday, as the storm was beginning, I put down a layer of salt on my driveway; it kept things clear for a few hours, until it got dark, I think. This morning, there was about an inch of snow on the driveway, but about two inches on the sidewalk I didn't salt.

Two inches isn't enough to bother with the snow blower--and the snow is pretty light and fluffy--so I got out the shovel and with little lifting and a lot of pushing, I cleared most of the driveway to the pavement, and the sidewalk almost to the pavement. Then I threw more salt on the sidewalk, to help that along.

Sure, I'll have to do some of this again tomorrow--and maybe use the blower--but getting through four or five inches of snow is a lot easier than getting through six to eight inches.

Updates tomorrow.

Mono-blogue?

 Last night, I participated in a "Monologue Mixer," in which ten actors from the local community theaters each did a monologue or soliloquy. The material ranged from a couple of Shakespeare soliloquies to Sam Shepard to The Vagina Monologues. My choice was from the play Inherit the Wind, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee.

What I've included below is not my performance from last night, but the "audition tape" I sent in to be chosen for the cast.

Chasing WandaVision 2

 OK, I'm caught up through episode 4 and at least they're trying to explain what's going on. That's better--but this is still, IMO, a seriously flawed series.

Let's start with the basic concept (SPOILER ALERT!)--Wanda is doing all this in an attempt to deal with her despair at the loss of both her brother and her lover, creating a perfect fantasy life. Sure; but why does a woman in her 20s, raised in Eastern Europe, base her image of perfect married life on the American sitcoms of the 1950s-70s, that I assume--given her background--she never saw until she came to the United States as an adult? Further, why didn't she just pick one, instead of advancing from the 1950s to the '70s? (Of course, the answer to that, from outside the world of the series, is that the writers and producers wanted to hit as many iconic shows as they could.) And, if she continues, what will she emulate when she gets to the 1980s? Family Ties? Married with Children?

Now let's get to the real problem--it's taken four half-hour episodes (the time equivalent of a full-length movie) to reach the point where the story is explained to the audience. Tell me, would you sit through a movie or a stage production that took that much time to make sense? I wouldn't. I'm all for a mystery...but at some point, at least the bare outlines of the story have to be made clear so the final resolution of the mystery is understandable.

I'll keep watching--but probably two episodes at a time--in the hope the pace picks up.

Thoughts on Heroes

 What makes a hero? Specifically, what makes a superhero? Extraordinary abilities, obviously...but some superheroes--notably Batman and Robin--have no superpowers; their extraordinariness comes from training and study.

But I think there has to be something more than that. I have always been drawn to the characters who would have been heroic before they gained superpowers or put on a tight-fitting suit. Prime example is the original version of the 1960s Green Lantern: Hal Jordan. Jordan was a test pilot before he met the alien who handed him a glowing lantern and a ring. If you read the accounts of his past as they were revealed, he was to all extents the DC Universe equivalent of Neil Armstrong. Had that fateful meeting not put him on a different path, he might well have been one of his world's Mercury astronauts. He was already a hero.

Similarly, because of the way he was raised by his foster parents, Clark Kent might have been a hero even if his alien origins didn't give him superpowers. In some ways, even when he wasn't flying around dressed in red-and-blue, he was: Reporters take risks, put themselves in danger as part of their jobs. Clark was dedicated to helping his neighbors--he didn't need a cape to do it.

I don't feel the same way about Batman, at least not as he is characterized today. In the 1950s and '60s, I did. In those days, Bruce Wayne, having exorcised his own demons, set about to protect everyone else. Today, it seems as if he is still all-consumed by those demons, viewing the world as bleak and corrupt, barely worth saving, except as doing so eases his own soul. That seems incredibly narcissistic to me.

I'll always prefer the hero who can smile when his job is well done.

Winter Doldrums

 I know there was a time when I loved winter. I have clear memories of sledding well into my teens. I remember snowball fights and trudging through drifts and not minding a bit.

Even as I reached my early adult years, I can't say I hated winter in general. Sure, by the time I was commuting to work, even a minor snowstorm was a pain in the ass and a major one--say a foot or more of snow--was just impossible to deal with. But just cold weather? Not a problem.

Now, though, as I approach my 69th birthday, I find myself really dreading the winter. We're only about halfway through it (if you figure it starts at the end of November and ends at the end of March), and I've already had enough---and this hasn't even been a bad winter so far. We've only had one measurable snowfall and temps through most of January were above normal.

A larger part of it may be the diminished daylight. It's still dark at 7 in the morning, and dark again at 5 in the afternoon. Yes, that will get gradually better over the next month, so that by March daylight will be at least an hour longer, but I still find it depressing to spend a third of my waking hours in the dark.

Maybe I need to move to the tropics?

Constitutional?

 The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

 

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. [emphasis added]

The above is the entire text of the clause in Article I of the U.S. Constitution that sets out the role of the Senate in an impeachment trial. I bold-faced that one phrase because it is important in the context of the current trial of Donald Trump. There is nothing in the text that even suggests, let alone days outright, that an officer cannot be impeached and tried after leaving office...and it is clear that if he or she has left office, the punishment of disqualification remains available in the event of conviction.

Why is it important that this be true? Let's take it out of the context of a president, and make it another impeachable officer--say, Secretary of the Treasury. Our hypothetical Secretary Badguy is charged with actually embezzling from the U.S. Treasury. The evidence is clear, and the House votes for impeachment. But before the trial can begin, Mr. Badguy sees the handwriting on the wall and resigns. Is there now to be no recourse for the Congress? "Sorry, he's out of office, no point in trying him now." That would leave him unpunished and still eligible to be appointed, or worse, elected to another position in the future.

So, yes, it must be Constitutional to try an officeholder whose term has expired or who had resigned.

Placing Blame

 Clearly the plan to get the COVID vaccines out to the public is, so far--in the words of my kids--an epic fail. The issue now is how to fix it, and to do that, we need to know where the problem really is.

My first impulse is to put the blame squarely on the Trump Administration. I suspect, just as it was for the entire four years, they talked a good game but couldn't really play. They were really good at marketing--"Operation Warp Speed," anyone?--but really terrible at actually implementing their cleverly named plans....or at actually having a plan to go with the name. Too often--and this is one of those times, I think--the plan was "Here, we're going to give you all this stuff...now, you figure out how to distribute it and pay for the distribution." It's a way to avoid responsibility.

Second, I have to think that Pfizer and Moderna share some blame as well. Clearly they were not able to ramp up production as quickly as they promised. Now, that may not be entirely their fault; it may be that important ingredients in the manufacturing process are supplied by third parties and those ingredients are the bottleneck--whether because the suppliers are not able to meet demand or because they are coming from overseas and the pandemic itself is causing disruptions to the supply chain.

Third, the state and local governments have to take some responsibility as well. The experience with the PPE supply chain in the spring should have warned them that the federal government, at least under the Trump administration, could not be relied upon to meet its commitments...and that they would need to be prepared to deal with that incompetence. In some cases, it seems the state and local authorities just threw up their hands and said, "We don't have a plan--it's a free-for-all, first-come, first-served, line up and take your chances...." (Florida seems to be the prime example of that.)

It is, of course, too soon to put any blame on the Biden administration; they haven't even been in charge for a week yet. That hasn't stopped some on the right-wing and GOP side of things from pointing fingers: "You said you'd be better at this, why hasn't it improved yet?"

Will it improve? I certainly hope so.

Stove Saga Conclusion

 The new stove was successfully delivered, installed, and tested this morning. 

The old stove on the top, new one on the bottom:

Tonight we cook with the new one for the first time.

Unlucky Thirteen?

 

As promised, my thoughts on Doctor Number 13, Jodie Whittaker.

In my experience, whenever any group of mixed gender gathers for any length of time, one person--usually female--will emerge as the social leader: the organizer of parties, the consoler in times of trouble, the one the others look to for guidance. I have seen this phenomenon in science-fiction circles and in theater casts. I call this person the "den mother".

That is Doctor Number 13's role--"den mother". It is signified by her decision to call her traveling companions a family. And I think it is one of the reasons some fans dislike her characterization....it is distinctly female.

I think that some fans, when they heard the new Doctor would be played by a woman, expected someone who would portray this new incarnation as simply "a guy in a dress". She would have all the typical masculine traits of her predecessors....but Jodie Whittaker (and the writers) chose a different path. Number 13 is female all the way through...affectionate (given to hugs), maternal, sharing--even sharing decision-making. This has been the most democratic of all TARDIS teams; Number 13 is not given to barking orders to her family.

And she is at the same time dependable...and dependent. Imprisoned, she knows her family will rescue her, even as she knows she has to stay strong because they depend on her. I saw complaints on line that this was not "heroic"....that a true hero would have rescued herself. (I guess they never saw the Errol Flynn Robin Hood, in which Robin is saved from the gallows by Maid Marian's plan, not his own.)

I applaud Whittaker, Chibnall et al for taking this controversial direction.

An Even Dozen

 Some thoughts on each of the first 12 Doctors, leading up to a separate post about Number 13, Jodie Whitaker.

1. William Hartnell: The "grumpy grandfather," always finding his traveling companions lacking (even his own granddaughter), but not without affection for them.

2. Patrick Troughton: The "jolly grandfather," always good for a laugh, but ready to defend his companions to the death.

3. Jon Pertwee: The "daring uncle," full of tales about his adventurous past and taking his companions on equally exciting trips.

4. Tom Baker: The "madcap uncle," incredibly intelligent and incredibly wild, you're never sure if he's being brilliant or just crazy.

5. Peter Davison: The "big brother," just a bit older and wiser than his companions, but protective of them.

6. Colin Baker: The "critical uncle," his disagreements with his companions never seem to come from any sense of affection.

7. Sylvester McCoy: The "screwball uncle," not as physically wild as Number 4, but more given to absurdities as part of his plan.

8. Paul McGann: The "heartthrob," Lord Byron in an alien's body with a time machine.

9. Christopher Eccleston: The "reformed bad boy," ready to drag you into something you really aren't ready for.

10. David Tennant: The Doctor as "Mr. Darcy," the brooding, handsome guy every girl falls for...but who deliberately keeps them all distant.

11. Matt Smith: The "daft best friend," the one guy in every circle of chums who maintains a platonic relationship with all the girls--except for the one who he can never quite keep hold of.

12. Peter Capaldi: The "cranky neighbor," always on the verge of saying "Stay off my lawn," but in reality the neighborhood watchman, keeping an eye out for the dangers you don't know are lurking.

Next time, a more extensive look at Number 13, Jodie Whitaker and why she's so disliked by one very vocal segment of fans (and no, it's not entirely just because she's female).

Jeopardy's Future

 Let's get off politics for a while (at least a day). 

Tonight completes Ken Jennings' two-week "try-out" as host of Jeopardy. Overall, I think he's done a good job. He's somewhat chattier than Alex Trebek and he certainly doesn't have the professional polish that Trebek brought to the position, but he keeps the show moving, and he hasn't made any egregious missteps that I've seen. I'd be happy to see him chosen as the permanent host.

Reportedly, for the next two weeks, the show's executive producer, Mike Richards, will step in as the more famous "guest hosts" gear up for their 10-day auditions. Apparently, the first of those will be Katie Couric, followed by former quarterback Aaron Rogers, Bill Whitaker of 60 Minutes, and Mayim Bialik, late of The Big Bang Theory and now starring in Call Me Kat on Fox.

And those four may not be the last of the try-outs. It looks like we might go through the rest of the season--which ends in June, I think, before a permanent new host is announced.

Twelve Months From Now

 Where will we be a year from now?

I believe in one year we will be about two months from having celebrated a normal Thanksgiving, one month from celebrating a normal Christmas, and a few weeks from celebrating a normal New Year's. We will be anticipating a normal Easter and Passover season.

But our entertainment will still be different. Most live entertainment will still be just gearing up to restart; the few venues and productions that managed to open in the closing months of 2021 will be struggling to attract an audience that remains wary of gathering in closed spaces. Movie theaters--those that manage to re-open--will be short of material to show and remain so probably until the spring.

Our politics will be different and yet the same. Governing by legislation (rather than executive order) will have made a return, thanks to a Senate that does not operate as a dam to all bills coming from the House...but there will still be Republican opposition to a lot of what the Biden administration wants to do and the filibuster will let them block some of it (but not all--they will no longer want to be seen as the party of "no").

The extreme right-wing will still be with us...but much diminished by criminal trials and convictions, as well as general public recrimination. The fear is that they will go deep underground, back to where they were a decade ago, only to occasionally burst out like some horror movie monster in violence.

I remain optimistic but realistic of our future.

A New Beginning

What we saw today was in part a study in contrasts. In the space of under four hours, we heard two Presidents speak...one for his last time in that office (we hope) and one for his first time. The differences could not be more stark.

Although President Trump reportedly had prepared remarks for his farewell, he apparently tossed them out and decided to "wing it" in his usual disjointed, incoherent, self-aggrandizing style. His brief speech said little about anything but Donald Trump himself, extolling his non-existent accomplishments of the past four years, once again lying or exaggerating about the economy and the pandemic. 

On other hand, President Biden spoke from a prepared speech...but still far more from the heart than his predecessor had or ever has. I couldn't, of course, transcribe his entire speech (and that will be available within minutes from the media, I'm sure), but here are the sentences and phrases that caught my attention:

"This is democracy's day...."

"The American story depends on....all of us...."

"The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer...."

"My whole soul is in this...uniting our nation...."

"Without unity there is no peace...."

"Disagreement need not lead to disunity...."

"We must end this uncivil war...."

"We will not lead merely by the example of our power, but by the power of our example...."

Beyond the new President's own words, I was moved by two other things. The first was Lady Gaga's incredible rendering of the National Anthem. She did not simply sing it, she performed it...with grand gestures and powerful emotion. The second was the poem by Andrea Gorman, the poet laureate, and her reading of it. It's clear her style develops from rap and hip-hop--the rhythms and rhymes of her work all reflect that--and yet it was also clearly not merely an urban, ethnic opus. Like Hamilton, it uses those tropes to speak to a wider audience.

This was an inaugural ceremony for our time.

Inaugurating the Future

 Yesterday was a post of predictions of long-term events. Today we'll deal with the short-term--what to expect tomorrow, Inauguration Day.

1. Joe Biden's speech will not be particularly memorable. He is not a Lincoln, FDR, JFK, or even an Obama-type orator. There will be no phrases like "the better angels of our nature," "nothing to fear but fear itself," or "ask not what you can do...." (unless he quotes from those, of course). It will, also, I think, not be a laundry list of what he hopes to accomplish; he'll save that for his first State of the Union speech in a few weeks.

2. Someone, somewhere, will do something stupid and/or dangerous in protest...not necessarily in Washington and not even at one of the state capitals. They've telegraphed those and know they will be too well guarded. Where? How about at one of our national monuments? A massive demonstration at Mt. Rushmore? Will the "second Civil War" types decide one of the battlefields of the first one is an appropriate place to wreak havoc--Gettysburg, Antietam, Bull Run?

3. Some GOP representative will immediately file a lawsuit against one or more of the executive orders Biden intends to put in effect tomorrow--most likely anything pertaining to immigration as that is their go-to issue to rile their base.

This time Thursday we'll know how good a prognosticator I am.

Return to Normalcy?

 Will noon on Wednesday mark the beginning of a return to normalcy? And not just for our political lives, but everything else--shopping, entertainment, social life in general? I hope so; I think so.

Note that I say "the beginning"...I don't expect it to be like flipping a switch and all the lights come on, the engines start turning, the doors unlock. It will be more like when you start your car on a cold morning and the heater comes on--the first air that comes from the vents is cold and then slowly, over a period of ten minutes or so, it begins to warm the air. In fact, after 20 minutes or so, you'll probably have to turn down the system, because it gets too hot.

Certainly, politically, we will see the end of gridlock for the most part. While Republicans may still vote against most Democratic proposals, we will no longer have the situation of the last two years, with every bill passed by the House sitting and rotting on the desk of the Majority Leader in the Senate. That was not normal.

As for the non-political, I hope the change in atmosphere in Washington will engender a change in the rest of life--that wearing a mask will cease to be a political statement, that arguments about health restrictions will return to a debate about the science and not be a debate about "tyranny." I hope that those changes will lead to others--that more people being sensible about the restrictions will lead to more sensible restrictions (when you don't have to assume that a sizeable part of the public will not obey the rules, you can make the rules less strict).

BTW, a niggling note: Before Warren Harding used "normalcy" in his Presidential campaign, most people would have said the noun form of "normal" was "normality." "Normalcy" was a purely mathematical term, for the most part.

I've Got a Little List

 This isn't a bucket list; it's a "what I'll do as soon as I can post-COVID list." In no particular order:

1. Go to a movie in a theater.

2. Go see live theater (probably only local community theater, but still).

3. Direct and/or perform in live theater.

4. Play trivia in a bar.

5. Sing karaoke.

6. Go to a restaurant and not rush to get out.

7. Visit friends in person.

I'm sure you have a list as well--what's on yours?

Chasing WandaVision

 I watched two things last night on TV: WandaVision and The Chase.

I'm not sure about WandaVision; I get that there's more than the surface to what's going on (a hint was the reaction of the boss's wife to his choking), and that the surface is an homage to sitcoms, especially The Dick Van Dyke Show and Bewitched, but I'd prefer if that homage were more loving and less satirical. It wouldn't detract, IMO, from the underlying premise if it were.

In addition, I find that there is little comedy chemistry between stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany. Their timing is so bad that Kathryn Hahn stole every single scene she was in. I may wait until there is more to watch in a bunch to try again.

OTOH, I quite enjoyed The Chase. It's a neat format for a trivia/quiz show. The one thing I don't like is that, like every new game show since Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, it is swallowed up in flashing lights and loud, dramatic musical stings. Why is it that producers haven't noticed that the most successful game show in TV history, Jeopardy, relies on none of those things? (They've even toned down the sound effects when someone hits a Daily Double in recent years.) The tension and suspense should come naturally from the gameplay and not need to be augmented with gimmicks.

I'll keep watching because, like Jeopardy, the questions are frequently quite difficult and cleverly written.

Impeach Pit

 So the new argument is whether impeachment only makes things worse. The current assumption is that the Senate will not convict, leaving Trump free to continue his established ways, and his most rabid followers to virtually and literally attack those who opposed him.

This morning I heard a respected expert suggest a 9/11-style commission as a substitute. My first thought was that, today, almost ten years after 9/11, there remains a significant part of the American public that rejects the findings of that commission, that puts forward a range of conspiracies from the idea that the Twin Towers were collapsed by bombs and not the plane strikes, that the entire event was a "false flag" to justify Middle East intervention, and even that the planes never struck the towers and the Pentagon and all the video we have is fake (and the live broadcasts were a ruse that the networks were in on from the beginning).

Commissions and hearings just drag out the controversy and allow the fringe nuts to point to theories expounded in that testimony as "the real truth" or as evidence of whatever conspiracy they choose to accept.

Short of Trump dying (and I'm not even sure that would work, as there would surely be people who presume reports of his death are false--either perpetrated by his supporters or his detractors), I don't know how to end his influence on our politics in the short term. As was pointed out recently, Juan Peron died in 1974, but the movement he began in 1946 persists in modern Argentina.

Number 14?

 It is widely rumored that Jodie Whitaker will be leaving her role as the title character on Doctor Who at the end of the 13th season, currently in production and scheduled to be aired in the fall. That will mean that, in terms of number of episodes, Whitaker will have the shortest tenure as the Doctor in the show's 58-year history. (Of course, little of that is her fault--her first two seasons were cut to 10 episodes from 12 by budget restraints and her final one is reduced to eight because of the pandemic.)

Although the BBC has yet to confirm the rumors, speculation has already begun on who should succeed her in the role....so I've decided to put in my own thoughts. Admittedly, this has only jelled for me in the past couple of days, as I watched my candidate perform as a contestant on BBC's Celebrity Mastermind game show.

My choice would be comedian and panel show personality Stephen K. Amos. Why? Well, as I watched him on the show--which he won, by the way--I saw a mature man with a gravitas belied by a twinkling eye...precisely what I think the show needs right now. I don't think we need another very young person, such as Matt Smith or even Whitaker. I don't think we need another grandfather-figure. We need someone like Patrick Troughton or Tom Baker--someone who could be a leader but with the slightly off-kilter attitude of those men.

Here's a link to the Wikipedia entry on Amos. Read it, catch one of his appearances, and see if you don't agree.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_K._Amos

Are You a Mastermind?

 I've been watching a British gameshow called Mastermind (actually, only the celebrity version is available for streaming on Britbox, but the rules are the same for both). In the first round, each contestant is grilled for 90 seconds on a subject of his or her choosing. The second round is two minutes on general knowledge--everything from pop culture to science to history to politics to...well, whatever.

What amazes me is the subjects some contestants pick for their specialty...and then how bad they are at it. A good score in either round tends to be 7 to 9 right answers. On one show this week, one of the contestants (a Brit reality show "star") chose "cetaceans"--whales, dolphins, porpoises. I presumed she either had a lifelong interest in them or had boned up on the subject in advance. Based on her answers, I would have been wrong. She got three right. I'm no expert on the subject, but I would have doubled her score.

She was no better on general knowledge, where a good score is usually 8 to 10 right. She got 5. The whole time she was whining about how this was much harder than she thought it would be. It made me wonder why she agreed/volunteered to be on the show at all.

It also made me wonder what I would choose as a specialty in the same situation. Comic books and comic strips are an obvious choice...but to narrow it to stuff I really know (and you can do that here--one contestant had a category of the movie Die Hard...not the whole franchise, just the first film) I might make it only DC superhero comics from 1960 to 1970.

What would be your specialty?

Eight Days? A Week?

 I am torn as to what should be done in the remaining days of the Trump administration (eight left as of this morning). 

Clearly, the best thing is for Trump to resign--it's the fastest, requires no action on anyone else's part and takes effect immediately. But we all know that's not going to happen, at least not without some kind of metaphorical gun to his head.

Second best would be activating the provisions of the 25th Amendment, declaring him unfit to continue to serve. There are several problems with that: First, Vice President Pence has said he is opposed, so the simplest way to do it (the VP and cabinet voting for it) is not going to happen and any other method would take too long; second, the provisions outlined in the amendment's language seem to be largely directed toward health reasons and not criminal ones, which means there could be court fights over whether the amendment even applies; and third, the amendment allows the President to challenge the action in the courts, again delaying the effectiveness.

Third best is impeachment, which the House has taken the first steps towards. But until the two new Senators from Georgia are seated, the Senate remains with Republican majority. That's not expected to happen until Inauguration Day itself, so there couldn't be a successful vote to remove Trump until he was already out of office.

Eight days may not seem like a long time--especially now that so much of Trump's bully pulpit has come unplugged--but his most rabid followers, the ones who eagerly heard his words last Wednesday as permission for riot and insurrection, are tuned into him, no matter how he gets the message out. Eight days is more than sufficient for a dangerous conspiracy to continue.

All Stove In

 Update on the stove:

Sunday morning, we determined that it would be safe to use the stovetop burners, but we are still unsure about any part of the oven, so we won't be baking, roasting or broiling anything for a while.

Called GE's repair service this morning, the soonest they can get anybody here is nearly two weeks away...the Friday after next. I made the appointment, but I suspect I'll be canceling it because we will have ordered a new stove before then.

Anyone have any good crockpot recipes they can share?

What Else Can Happen?

 Yesterday evening, Jill and I had a very pleasant on-line meeting with a group of friends. We discussed TV, movies, books, and life in general (no politics). About 7:15, we said our goodbyes and went to the kitchen to start dinner. We were broiling some hot dogs in our electric range.

About 60 seconds in, I heard a loud buzzing from the stove and opened the oven door, to see the broiler heating element shooting sparks from what appeared to be a break in it. I turned off the broiler and the sparks continued, so I went to the basement and tripped the breaker for the power to the stove. That ended it...for the moment. 

We decided to get sandwiches from Wawa for dinner instead.

Some background: A few years back, we had a similar short occur in the main oven heating element. We had it replaced. In 2019, the hinge on the oven door was damaged, such that it will simply fall all the way open when released. We have been meaning to replace the entire appliance...and then the pandemic and lockdown occurred.

An odd thing about our stove: When it was installed (before we bought the house), it was "hard-wired" into the electrical system, as opposed to being plugged in. I don't know if that was standard some 25 years ago, but it means when we replace the stove, we need to have an electrician disconnect it and probably install a socket for the plug on any new stove. Oh, and it has to be an electric...there's no gas line to our house.

We'll probably be doing a lot of crock-pot and grill meals for the next few weeks.

What Do You Read?

 Still keeping things light (or trying to):

What's your favorite form of reading material? Two decades ago, I would have answered science fiction...but too much SF has taken on a dark, dystopian feel. Even the normally future-hopeful genre of Star Trek has begun to look at the world through a dark glass.

These days, I'm reading mysteries--and mostly older mysteries. I went through the entire Nero Wolfe catalog, including the ones not written by Rex Stout. I've started my way through Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason novels--there are more than 80 of them, so that will take me awhile. If I read a currently published mystery novel, it's likely to be historical.

In addition, I read a certain amount of non-fiction: History (I'm in the middle of one about the Bowery section of New York City), politics (but not current politics, thank you--I get enough of that in the news), some popular science (especially paleontology).

So, what do you read?

Reviving Our Youth?

 In an effort to lighten the mood around here after the past few days, here's a somewhat trivial question:

If you were a TV producer, what favorite television of your youth would you revive, with a new cast, and perhaps a more modern outlook--without losing sight of what made it a hit back then?

Here are a few of mine, divided by categories:

Comedy: The Patty Duke Show (obviously no longer called that, but maybe something like "Identical Cousins"). The idea of a pair of teenagers, twins but not sisters, with very different upbringings and personalities, is still a viable source of light-hearted farce. Mistaken identity as a source of comedy dates at least as far back as Shakespeare. And with modern special effects, the illusion could be quite effective.

Adventure: The Wild Wild West. In an age where steam-punk is popular, why not bring back the show that was using it before it was called that? Plus it's a buddy-comedy adventure and has the potential to make science-fiction-like commentary on current events.

Crime Drama: Honey West. It only lasted one season, but it was a groundbreaker in putting a woman in the title role of a private eye...and without the need for a male partner (like Remington Steele or Moonlighting). Casting? I have no idea...but surely there's someone with the appeal of Anne Francis in Hollywood today.

What are your ideas?

Coordinated Violence?

 Not sure how many people have seen this, since it hasn't been mentioned in any TV coverage I've seen, but the insurrection against the Capitol in Washington may not have been a standalone attack.

State capitals in at least six states--Utah, Oregon, Washington, Kansas, Texas, and Arkansas--were threatened by large, violent and armed mobs yesterday afternoon. While none of these incidents seems to have resulted in the sort of breech of security that occurred on Capitol Hill, all of them resulted in some disruption of normal activity--including lock-downs and evacuations. (https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/532997-state-capitals-under-siege-by-pro-trump-mobs)

Does anyone think this is all coincidental? That there was not some sort of coordination involved? That followers of QAnon and 4-Chan and the like did not put out a call, a signal, to their compatriots that the afternoon of January 6 was the time to rise up and take control? I am not that naive.

I've seen some commentary on line comparing yesterday's insurrection to the famed Gunpowder Plot that is commemorated in Guy Fawkes Day. I think that comparison is inapposite. I think it has more in common with the Beerhall Putsch of pre-Nazi Germany. (If you're unfamiliar with that historic incident, here's a link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Hall_Putsch)

Either way, we're talking an organized attempt to disrupt or overthrow the government.

Trump's Epiphany

It is perhaps significant that today's events in Washington fall on the Feast of the Epiphany. In the Christian church, this is the date on which the Magi arrived in Bethlehem, indicating Christ's manifestation to the Gentiles. But the word has a larger, more secular meaning as well:

an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking; an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure

I'm hoping the failure of the last-ditch attempt to overrule and override the electoral results in Congress today will be an epiphany for Trump...or at least for his rabid followers--a grasp of reality, an illuminating realization that their ill-considered crusade is at an end. They lost in a fairly contested election in which there was no overwhelming voter fraud. (There's always some fraud--human nature practically demands it. Somebody somewhere is going to try to cheat.)

The question is, will this epiphany be the like the one Saul of Tarsus had on the road to Damascus--when he changed from persecuting Christians to leading them? Will Trump--or at least his followers--stop being perverters of democracy and become supporters of it?

Brick Walls and Rabbit Holes

 I have stopped trying to respond to people who insist that the election was "stolen" from Donald Trump. There's no point to it. You either wind up talking to a brick wall or following them down the rabbit hole of their own deluded thinking. Even when you present them with verifiable facts (with citations from multiple sources), they tell you it's all fake and part of the vast conspiracy. When you ask them to present verifiable evidence of their "truth," they fall back on the oldest conspiracist argument in the world: The fact that there is no evidence is the evidence of how big the conspiracy is. 

Early last year, before the pandemic, I directed a production of Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue. I never thought the ravings of the lead character, Mel Edison, as he goes through a nervous breakdown would have any bearing on the real world, but....well, read the following and tell me it doesn't sound familiar if you've argued with a pro-Trumper or an anti-masker virus-denier in the past six months:

MEL: Do you want proof, Edna? Do you want me to give you actual, indisputable proof?

EDNA: Of what, Mel?

MEL: That me, that Dave Polichek, that Mike Ambrozi, Hal Chesterman, twenty-three secretaries, six point seven of the working force in this country today is unemployed not because of a recession, not because of wages and high prices, but because of a well organized, calculated, brilliantly executed plot? Do you want me to give you proof right here and now in this room?

EDNA: Well--alright...If you want, Mel. 

MEL: I CAN'T GIVE YOU ANY PROOF!! What kind of proof do I have? I'm out of work, that's my proof...They won't let me work!

 Let me point out that Simon wrote that in 1972, decades before Twitter and Facebook were even gleams in their creators' eyes.

Traveling Companions

 With the departure of two companions over the weekend and the imminent arrival of another this fall, I thought this might be the time to talk about what makes a good partner for the lead character on Doctor Who and who I think have been the best ones (and I've seen at least a little bit of each of them along the way).

I think a good companion has to complement the Doctor they travel with, contribute something to the story and the team that the Doctor does not. A bland companion or one who simply echoes the Doctor's role and abilities is not as asset. That's why I never thought either iteration of Romana worked--we didn't need another Time Lord (or Lady), we already have one.

I also think the best companions are the ones who have shown an ability to work well with more than one Doctor. That's why I think the best companion of the classic series was Sarah Jane Smith. She came to the team with Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor and stayed through several seasons of Tom Baker's Fourth....and she was a fine partner to both. Sarah Jane's strength was her "down-to-Earthness"...though she was never thrown by the circumstances she encountered, she also never stopped seeing them through the eyes of a very human journalist (a trait that also made her character work in The Sarah Jane Adventures). 

A close second was Tegan Jovanka--her feisty attitude was an equally good fit with Tom Baker's somewhat manic portrayal and Peter Davison's laid-back approach. The absolute worst in that period? Undoubtedly, Peri Brown. Her aggressiveness and argumentative style was a nice challenge to Davison...but it simply ground the story to a halt when she confronted Sixth Doctor Colin Baker all the time.

In the reboot period, my favorite companion will be a surprise to many fans--Clara Oswald. During her time on the show, many fans complained that the stories were more about her than the Doctor...and my response is, "Yes, certainly." By the time Clara joined Number 11 (Matt Smith), we had already seen him with Amy Pond, Rory Williams, and a number of one-shot partners. We knew him quite well already--it was Clara we had to learn about. And when she had to switch to the Twelfth Doctor, in the very different guise of Peter Capaldi, she shifted her relationship well--from the flirty girl-buddy to the stand-up daughter figure. (And she showed an ability to relate to Number 10 (David Tennant) and the War Doctor (John Hurt) in the 50th anniversary special.)

Second place goes to Amy, even though we only saw her with Number 11. My feeling for her comes from the idea that she was the first companion to have a real romance and life during her time with the Doctor.

Who is your favorite?

Real Life?

 In 24 hours, the holiday season will be over for most of us, and we will return to real life...or as much of "real life" as we get in the current situation.

Jill will go back to work tomorrow after two weeks off...but, other than not spending eight hours or so every day at her desk, those two weeks were not all that different from the ones that preceded them or will now follow. (FTR, Jill has been working from home for five years now; the only thing the pandemic has done to her work environment is suspend the occasional business trips; her last one was in February.)

And, of course, I've been retired since May 1. I thought my retirement would be filled with things to do--especially community theater. But by the time I actually left my job, there was no community theater to do. And many of the other things I wanted to get involved in (I had proposed a "puppet ministry" for the young people in my church) have been put on indefinite hold.

So, frankly, except for some extra time on Zoom with friends and family and receiving some gifts, these holidays have not been any different from the "real life" that came before or will come after.

I suspect the same is true for most of you.

Patrick Sees a "Who"

 So, what did you all think of the New Year's special episode of Doctor Who (assuming you watched it)? While I'm not a big fan of the Daleks, it's nice to see someone try to use them in a different way. It did lead to a question, though--by this time, in the long history of the show, the people of London have seen Daleks a number of times before, probably some within the lifetimes of people still alive in 2021. Why is it they never recognize this menace when they see it?

Jill suggests it's because the authorities always cover it all up, putting out stories that chalk it up to a hoax, a new technology gone awry, or even--in a case of meta-story--a TV or movie shoot. This one may be a touch harder to explain that way: The prime minister was assassinated on live TV by Daleks. Surely the TV networks kept tape of that!

Trying to avoid spoilers, I was happy to see that the departing companions (or "fam") were left alive, well, and happy...and even with the wherewithal to do some adventuring on their own in the future (leaving room for guest shots, I suppose). I'm not as pleased with the hints that Yaz's friendship with the Doctor may go deeper than that. We went through that with Rose and Martha, and it never plays well, IMO. (And the fact that it's two women this time only gives the incels and social-justice objectors more ammunition.)

Your thoughts? (And if you include spoilers, I will not publish your comments for at least another week.)

What Does a "New Year" Mean?

 Jill just said something to me this morning: "As you hear people talk about how happy they are that 2020 is over, you have to wonder about how we have come to divide up time." I know what she means: has anything really changed in the past 24 hours, other than some numbers on our calendars or the clocks in our computers? Why do we treat this as some great watershed moment? What makes January 1 so different from December 31? I mean, for most of us, even the weather today will be pretty much the same as it was yesterday.

I think about the great "historical" years. People will talk about 1929 as a "bad year," because of the stock market crash that caused the Great Depression....but the crash didn't occur until October. Did that one event color the previous nine months that, up until then, no one had viewed as especially momentous?

On the other hand, in my memory, 1968 was a truly terrible year: April saw the assassination of Martin Luther King, June the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the summer the demonstrations and riots around the Democratic convention in Chicago, and November the election of Richard Nixon (until the last four years the worst president of my lifetime). Those events so overwhelm me that I have little direct memory of anything else that happened that year--even though it was the beginning of my last year in high school.

So, yes, 2020 is forever marred by nine months of pandemic and political/social strife. Too much all at once. The new year perhaps lets us turn a page, like starting a new chapter in a book--building on all the stress of the previous chapter, but writing of new and hopefully better events to come.