A few thoughts

[cleolinda]

>> I've been fluctuating between listless and bubbly, which is weird. Like, not even in a manic-depressive way (I don't think?), just--you know how puppies will romp around and then fall over and sleep for fifteen minutes, then get up and do it again? Kind of like that.

>> While I was in the shower yesterday, I came up with a new, punched-up ending to my Black Ribbon series--the ending of the eighth book--that will (I think, I hope) blow people's minds. Possibly they will throw the book across the room, which I highly look forward to. Of course, we'll never know until we get there, and even if I finished the first book TODAY and sold it tomorrow, that eighth book could be ten years away. Which is kind of why I want it on record now, that I came up with the new ending today. For... some reason. Posterity, I guess.

>> For some reason, this really makes me laugh. I might have even posted it before, who knows:

Linkspam:

The Sun Sets On Famed Female Bullfighter Conchita Cintron.

New Yorkers to boycott NY Post over "racist" cartoon. "Hundreds of demonstrators rallied to boycott the New York Post on Thursday, branding the newspaper as racist for publishing a cartoon that appeared to compare President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee." A chimpanzee that had been shot, no less. Update: Post Apologizes For Monkey Cartoon: "The tabloid is basically sorry you all took its innocent drawing wrong."

Drudge Report Showcases the Least Sympathetic Populist Rage Ever. "How the hell did we come a point where a former financial executive speaking from a trading floor pretends to be a raging populist little man fighting against the powers-that-be? ... It is not at all a crazy mob of the least sympathetic people in the country."

Revolution Strikes the NYU Food Court! Apparently there was a lot of civil unrest today.

Vanity Fair whitewashes Freida Pinto.

From dduane: Arise, Sir Pterry!

My Little Pony Blue Collector Pony: Electric blue on black and no eyes. Charming! Let it be noted, while we're here, that I finally remembered that I had an old Entertainment Earth affiliates account, so you can order from EE as well as from Amazon if you want to throw me a couple of pennies on the dollar. Alice Dollen isn't available yet, for example, but a surprising number of y'all expressed interest, and apparently you can buy both the Twilight dolls and action figures through Entertainment Earth. Well, not right now, because they may not officially be shipping yet, but you see what I'm saying.

Exclusive: U2's new album 'No Line on the Horizon' will premiere on MySpace Music on Friday.

Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket and more reimagined as Penguin Classics. Very nice. Goblet of Fire and The Bad Beginning are probably my favorite covers; make sure you look at the hi-res versions to see the texture and detail.

Sci Fi Channel Wants To Return To Oz With 'Tin Man' Ongoing [Exclusive].

'Lost' reverses the season's ratings slide ... for now.

Where to see the final episodes of ABC's 'Pushing Daisies.'

'Entertainment Weekly' Hates Directors Who Are Good, Foreign, Or Female [Lists].

Anne Hathaway To Open Oscars With Hugh Jackman; Beyoncé, Zac Efron to perform with Hugh Jackman at the Oscars; Scoop: Oscar’s secret weapon? M.I.A.; 2009 Oscars Party List; ‘Slumdog,’ ‘Duchess’ and ‘Dark Knight’ Take Costume Kudos; Watch This: 'Oscar Spoilers in 5 Minutes'; Heath Ledger's hypothetical Oscar would go to daughter Matilda (Orphaned Oscars end up back with Academy); Celebs to be denied their usual Oscar swag. WAHHHH, MY DIAMOND SHOES ARE TOO TIGHT.

Images: First Seven Pictures from ‘Fame’ Arrive; Franklyn's Alternate-History Superhero Tale Has A Satisfying Payoff; Amy Adams and Emily Blunt in 'Sunshine Cleaning'; Clive Owen in 'Duplicity'; 'Great Buck Howard' Pics; 'American Violet' Stills; Two New 'Outlander' Int'l Posters; New (hideous) Poster for Steve Coogan and Hilary Duff's 'Safety Glass'; Plug Into The New 'Sleep Dealer' Poster; Check This Out: Teaser Poster for 'The Crazies' Remake.

Trailers and clips: Teaser Trailer for Almodovar’s ‘Broken Embraces’; Must Watch: New Trailer for 'The Boat That Rocked'!; 'I Love You, Beth Cooper' trailer: Ready for a saucy Hayden Panettiere?; International 'Night at the Museum' Trailer; Exclusive 'Angel' Trailer (wait, I thought this came out forever ago?); Trailer for Animated ‘Battle for Terra.’

trailer_spot: Boat That Rocked, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Gigantic, Phoebe in Wonderland, Everlasting Moments.

'Watchmen'! Six EW covers! Well, at least it's not Twilight no, that was last week. Note: I'm trying to watch as little as I can before I see the movie itself, so if there are duplicates in the following clips, I wouldn't know it. New Clip From Watchmen Featuring Rorschach; Nine Clips from ‘Watchmen’; What Will Watchmen Really Look Like? [Special Effects]; Watchmen behind the scenes footage; Interview: Watchmen's Comedian - Jeffrey Dean Morgan; 'Watchmen' Screenwriter David Hayter Insists Fox More Satanic Than Most Studios; What had to be cut at the last minute to keep Watchmen watchable (big spoilers); Early Watchmen Review: "2nd Rate Comic Book Melodrama." Also: 'Watchmen' Director's Cut to Hit Theaters in July?!; Watchmen will come in long, extra-long and really extra long; Zack Snyder Promises Giant, 'Hardcore' Blue Wang In Uncut 'Watchmen' [Watchmen]; "We're society's only protection": blue Dr. Manhattan condoms.

Related: Watchmen writer reveals how he's adapting 'The Illustrated Man'; Jeffrey Dean Morgan Continues with Comic Adaptations in ‘The Losers.’

Warner Bros Wants Seven Batman Movies. THAT'S ENOUGH, ZACK SNYDER.

First Look: Set for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Under Construction at Pinewood Studios; MTV Reveals Two New Pics from Half-Blood Prince Sneak Peek; Filming Begins Today on Deathly Hallows for Emma Watson.

New Moon Logo Artwork on ET; ‘New Moon’ Exclusive Coming At 10PM EST Tonight! (what, another logo? ETA: THEY REALLY DID POST ANOTHER LOGO. I KIND OF LAUGHED REALLY LOUD); Pattinson Refuses To Make Music For Twilight Sequel (check out the accompanying picture. No, look closer); Catherine Hardwicke Tells All to Forbes; OK Magazine’s New Moon Insight: Jared and Heidi Cast? (Wait, who's Jared? Also: Ben Barnes has officially escaped the franchise's dread lure).

(Related: Joan Jett Gives Kristen Stewart Her Seal of Approval.)

(AS IF YOU COULD OUTRUN ME!)

'Pride and Predator': OLD MEME.

Exactly How Many Kinds Of Terminators Are There In Terminator 4? [Morning Spoilers]; Linda Hamilton in talks to reprise Sarah Connor in 'Terminator Salvation.'

Wachowski Brothers Superman Rumor Debunked!

'500 Days of Summer' Moved Up One Week in July.

Studio Wants ‘Billy Elliot’ To Dance Again On Big-Screen, So Why Is Stephen Daldry Reluctant?

Sandra Bullock to Star in 'Blindside.'

Koepp Boards 'Vinegar' and 'Article II.'

Stiller, De Niro and Wilson Returning for 'Little Fockers.'

Vanessa Hudgens is 'Dead @ 17'?

Who Got Punked By Bruno? [Hoaxes]

Let's Talk About 'S. Darko.'

Wes Craven Talks More Remakes, Including 'Shocker.'

Let 'Species 4' Teach You Mad-Science Best Practices [NSFW] [Found Footage]. "First of all, when administering an injection, it's very important to wear fingerless goth-girl gloves, for safety reasons."

Comments

[stinky-horowitz.livejournal.com]

I think the cartoon is supposed to get a sarcastic "heh" out of people who think the stimulus package is as jumbled and incomprehensible as though it were written by a rabid monkey.

The main problem of the cartoon is that it conflates a well-known, bloody story (the chimp run amok, then shot) with a less-powerful political message. The innocent message of "the stimulus bill looks like it was written by a monkey" is completely overpowered by the bloody mess of the chimp story. It makes people logically look around for a nasty message to match the nasty story, and it was pretty easy to find a nasty message. The artist's actual point would be better served by say, an image of some broke zookeepers turning their monkey house into ghostwriters for Congress because the monkeys would do a better job AND the zoo would finally get some money. Something benign like that wouldn't have overshadowed the cartoon's point.

It's like the artist hitched two horses to one cart, and one was a lot stronger than the other. So, instead of both horses pulling the cart straight ahead to Humor Square, the big, bloody horse dragged the cart off-course to Racist Ghetto.

That's why you don't pick gruesome stories like the chimp to conflate with political observations. Because you can't mix a lot of tragedy with your point and expect the mixture to be funny. You just get more tragedy and your point is lost. You need a big point and a little tragedy to get some spicy funny.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

who think the stimulus package is as jumbled and incomprehensible as though it were written by a rabid monkey...The innocent message of "the stimulus bill looks like it was written by a monkey"

Okay, if that's what they were going for, I see why the cartoon itself seems incomprehensible. Because that's a jump of logic you're hoping the viewer makes all by herself, and in my opinion that's not going to happen. The monkey story is about a chimp that attacked another person and was shot to death for it. We don't know the monkey's rabid, or illogical, or foolish, or anything except that the chimp attacked and was killed. That's all that story holds. So linking the two doesn't work, IMHO. If the cartoonist had shown a monkey house of goofy monkeys and captioned it "Writers of the stimulus bill," that would still have the unfortunate racist connotation but I would understand when they said, "What--no, I was just showing goofy monkeys! You know, like the thing about monkeys on typewriters writing Shakespeare!" Then I'd say, "Baaaaaaad coincidence. I see where you were going for the funny, though." As it stands now, all I can say is, "Incomprehensible cartoon unless you assume it's a racist slur. Your premise was never funny."

[stinky-horowitz.livejournal.com]

As it stands now, all I can say is, "Incomprehensible cartoon unless you assume it's a racist slur. Your premise was never funny."

Oh, so much WORD. Which is why I blame the editor. Because a cartoonist who thought that was funny should have LOTS of oversight. And maybe a different job.