Matt Drudge Proves Obama Is Evil

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My Favorite Michael Thing

I remember having people over one night in 1983. I remember telling them I had to turn the TV on and watch Michael Jackson on the Motown 25th Anniversary Special. And I remember them looking at me like I was the funniest idiot in the world.

But I had read about the taping in that week's Village Voice. The reporter said that Michael lip-synched Billie Jean and the crowd went absolutely nuts. I had never before seen lip-synching described in anything like a flattering light. So I turned the TV on and waited for this:



I know, right?

Sixteen years later, The Stranger ran a piece called 10 Things That've Made Us Say "Wow" Since the Dawn of Time, and one of the 10 was My Favorite Michael Thing.

For those of us who witnessed it, this moment is indelible. On May 16, 1983, mid-way through a lip-synched performance of Billie Jean, Michael Jackson, a hyper-talented little Nellie boy whose album Thriller was about to change pop music forever, unveiled a new dance move -- and blew the world's mind. Known as the Moonwalk, the move saw Michael taking a simple step forward, then gliding effortlessly backward across the stage and into the pop culture stratosphere. Never mind that Michael's earthshaking move had been swiped from inner-city break dancers, or that, in later years, this cute and charming black guy would be replaced by a pasty-white child molester. Michael Jackson's Moonwalk achieved what all great art aspires to -- bonding his audience in awe, propelling its maker to new heights, and simultaneously making and improving upon history. Can Neil Armstrong's boring, actual moon walk of a decade and a half earlier even compare with Michael's dazzling artistic reinterpretation? No.

Exactly right, Stranger. Suck it, Neil Armstrong.

The Ghost Of The News Gives Me The Creeps

When I was on the West Coast, I subscribed to a daily email news update from Syracuse's WTVH-Channel 5, just in case something hugely important happened back home. After awhile I hardly ever looked at it, and when I returned last fall it never crossed my mind to cancel it.

A couple of months ago WTVH fired 40 staffers, basically closed its news operation, and started running local newscasts assembled by a competitor. People in and out of the business were sad and angry; this was the oldest TV news operation in town, and it was awful to see so many media jobs vanish all at once.

Anyway, with only a couple of on-air front-people left on staff, Channel 5 stopped updating its email news thing...

...But its robot keeps sending it. The same one. Every day at 4:30, it appears in my inbox like a fading, elderly relative who repeats the same phrases over and over again.

How creepy is this? Remember, I opened it less than an hour ago...


...and I'll get the same email tomorrow. Br-r-rr!

No Headline Could Suffice

Superman for Atari 2600 (1979), found in this Metafilter thread

The Poetry Of Glenn Beck

By Hart Seely & Me: Link

Eleven Years From Now, Let's Do This On TV.

BATMAN #96, December, 1955

Commissioner Gordon, Pervert

From BATMAN #71, June-July 1952.

"It was a mistake, a gaffe, an error..."

Roget In Love, by Seely, @ Slate

Star Trek: Voyager Was Good For Something

A comment from Sproing on io9 reminds us (and I forgot):

Fun fact: [Voyager actress] Jeri Ryan dumped her husband to be with [Voyager producer Brannon] Braga, which led to the divorce filing that destroyed her husband's Illinois senate candidacy -- paving the way for Obama to become a senator, and then president. Thanks, Brannon Braga!

The Revenge of Bob Haney

I haven't posted here in YEARS. But this was such a SuperFrankenstein moment, I had to share.

This is the most astounding thing I've come across on the internet in a long time.

Are you ready?



There are 117 copies of Bob Haney's Super-Sons trade paperback in the New York City library system.

Two in the Aguilar branch. Four in the Bronx Library Center. Two in Eastchester, two in Edenwald, two more in the appropriately-named Epiphany Branch. Three at 96th Street and two each at 115th and 125th. Riverside, Seward Park, and Spuyten Duyvil. Eight pages of listings in all, right up to Woodlawn Heights and Yorkville (one and two copies, respectively). But strangely, not a single one in the main, Mid-Manhattan Library.

How do I know this? Because I went looking for the first Jeph Loeb/Ed McGuinness Superman/Batman book as research for a project. And there isn't a single copy in the system.

Haney wins in the end!

"Excerpts From Dick Cheney's Forthcoming Memoir" by Hart Seely @ Slate.

I Feel Like I've Died And Gone To Fifth Grade

So, with encouragement from Seattle's @Svengali_Lad, I put the call out to my Twitter followers:

Assignment: Full name of superspy agency whose acronym spells a bad word.

Within seconds, the shadows of imaginary espionage were hiding agents of C.L.I.T., of F.U.C.K., of B.A.L.L.S., of A.S.S.P.L.A.Y., and more. Excerpts from that top secret list, and the agents responsible:

@MattSpringer:
Covert Undercover Ninja Team

Tactical Insertion Technology Service

Covert Handlers Of Airborne Directives

Advanced Surgical Strike - Post Lateral Army - Yemen

@BrianReed:
Combat Operation Cyborgs -- *K* Series (Underwater Combat, Killing, Exploration, and Rescue Squad)

Warren Ellis' Tactical Commando Unit Number Two

@Svengali_Lad:
Bureau Overseeing Licensed Laser Operating Commie Killing Spies

Temporal Universe Research Department Syracuse

People Eating Yetis European Reserve

Federated Underground Commando Knights

@thatoneyoyoguy
Platoon Uncovering Nondisclosures And Nabbing Intelligence

@seanjackson:
Biological Alien Lifeform and Logistic Systems

The Wicked Organization Granting Infernal Revenge and Libelous Slander On Nerds Expecting Calamity Under Pressure

@Obi1thejedi:
Covert Unknown Machiavellian Spies Hunters Of Terrorist Squads

Special Ordnance Defensive Overseer Multiple Intelligence Tactical Expert

@raycornwall:
Forensic Undersecretaries Contemplating Killing French Annoyances Completely Ensuring Security

@jessnevins:
Joint Operation Headquarters Nexus, Battling Yemenese Racial and Nationalist Extremists.

@Brownout_Girl:
Terrestrial Investigation Termination Society

@OriginalSpunky
Systematic Hits In Territorial Situations Tactically Orchestrated Random Ministrations.

@Big_Tiger:
Contraband Liberating Information Technician

Biologists' Unified Knowledge Against Kindergarten Education

@adamwitt:
Yearly Engineered Attack and Search Team In Nefariously Fearsome, Exceptionally Caustic Times In Ontario and Nicaragua

@stealthmunchkin:
Commando Ultra Marine Squad - Hostile Organisation Takedown

@OriginalSpunky:
Association Systematic Smart Machines Under No CHair

Hidden Agenda IRefuttable Proof Interpersonal Erogenous Situations

Tri Unified Reactive Defence Biological Underground Reagent Grouping Lower Abdominal Repository

Phallic Insufferable Sluicegate Secreted Harbored Artery Rigid Defence Overt Nethers

I Joined SarahPAC For Free Just To Get The Emails & The First One Arrived Today

It starts:
...then goes on to say what a week it has been, truly touched by your notes of support, look forward to working with you, shared ideas and goals, serious challenges ahead, America's best days are ahead of us, accomplish together through SarahPAC, blah-blah-fucking-blah. Then it goes, I swear:

And of course:


You can sign up for Sarah's bullshit PAC here and her bullshit Facebook group here.

CRAPPY ECONOMY vs. PLANET OF BEER! (re-post)

well, it's been over 1 (one) hole week sence my last blog! but here's a little sumething from one of my my myspace freinds, Brian (Sendelbach). it's a re-post! so ENJOIY!

yrs,

superfrankenstein

As just about everyone in the world doesn't know, I have a book coming out in March. It's called PLANET OF BEER: A SMELL OF STEVE TREASURY, and it's the distillation of many years' worth my weekly comic strip, Smell of Steve.

I'm pretty excited about the book. It's big, it's in full color, and it's the first time all these comic strips will be appearing in one place.

Only one wrinkle: Because of the usual Crappy Economy factors everyone's so familiar with now, PLANET OF BEER might not get published at all. The publisher, Dark Horse, claims that unless orders go up somewhat, they're going to pull the book.

Beyond the economy thing, it's been a challenge to market PLANET OF BEER. How do you describe comic strips that feature celebrities such as Nick Nolte and Sammy Hagar (as well as pop culture figures like Fonzie) in starring roles? How do you describe characters like President Carter & Kenny, Black Aquaman, and Bougle Gluce in a way that doesn't sound wacky and contrived? And how do you explain that Smell of Steve started off as a kind of conceptual art project, and ended up as, well...a different kind of conceptual art project?

Anyway, I'm a crappy salesman, and it's a crappy time to be selling anything. So this is no PLANET OF BEER hard-sell. I'm just letting you know that the book is available for pre-order here:

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Beer-Brian-Sendelbach/dp/1595822569/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231177975&sr=8-1

(Price is a little over 10 bucks. Plus shipping.)

Also, my smellofsteve.com site mysteriously went up in smoke a couple months back. But, if you want, you can check out more of my work here on the myspace thing:

http://www.myspace.com/smellofsteve

Feel free to be my "friend"! Same with the facebook deal:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brian-Sendelbach/110622095113?ref=mf


One last thing. If you're with the "media" -- or if you write one of those new-fangled "blurgs" or "blags" that everyone seems to be talking about -- I wouldn't completely HATE you if you saw fit to mention PLANET OF BEER in some way, shape or form. Y'know: "Save the Whales", "Save the Rainforest", "Save the PLANET OF BEER." Something like that.

I'm also available for interviews, hula dances, and -- with the right amount of orders -- completely inappropriate back rubs.

(Kidding! I'm married.)

Yours, Yours, and Forever Yours,

-Brian (Sendelbach)


P.S. If you have nothing better to do right now, here are some of the quotes for PLANET OF BEER's back cover:


"Smell of Steve, Inc." is to cartooning what the dada movement was to art -- a brilliantly absurd self-parody, better read than imitated.
-Ted Rall, ATTITUDE 2: The New Subversive Alternative Cartoonists

"Smell of Steve, Inc." is a printed page tuned to an alien frequency -- as if the very paper you hold is receiving coded transmissions from an alien space brain....[Sendelbach's] work is hysterically funny, and he is one of the most original cartoonists working today.
-Chris Reilly, THE PULSE

If Philip K Dick loved pop-culture and drew comics, this might be the result.
-Shannon Wheeler, Too Much Coffee Man creator

I have seen the PLANET OF BEER, and it is beautiful. I urge you to sign
on for this journey, and when you reach it, you
will weep tears of joy. Tears of BEER.
-- Joe MacLeod, "Mr. Wrong" columnist, Alcoholic