Man And Superman

Jesse Walker over at Reason has a fun piece on the Superman mythos, and all the efforts over the years (not all of them successful) to keep "Big Blue" interesting. Coupla thoughts of my own:

John Byrne made a good point when he "rebooted" Supes in the eighties: "We need to take him down a notch or two; he should have to sweat a bit to get the job done."

I also think something was lost when Lois and Clark married in the comics. As Jules Pfeiffer noted many moons ago, the rather curious menage a trois involving Clark/Lois/Superman was always the most interesting thing about the character: Clark loves Lois; Lois can't stand Clark; Lois loves Superman; Superman thinks Lois is a nusiance.

Christ, someone could probably get a PhD exploring the psychological ramifications. Then there's that whole Jungian duality thing...

Truth, Justice, and Whatever

Have you ever heard a radio show where they interview a psychic? Usually when you do, you'll hear a lot of folks calling in (in my opinion, they're being scammed, but that's another issue).

You will, however, almost never hear a show that does psychic stuff exclusively, every day. The reason is though such a show would no doubt get a lot of folks calling in, very few people would actually continue to listen.

Most broadcasters know this; they take it as common sense. Yet hundreds of my fellow travelers in the radio biz are, in their own way, doing exactly that.

I thought about it while watching the tube tonight; ABC News ran a short segment about how, in a nod to the overseas market, the producers of new Superman flick have stricken the line about the "American Way." Specifically, they won't use that phrase anymore (he'll still stand for "truth and justice").

No big deal to most people - though you can be sure that by tomorrow radio squawk hosts across the fruited plain will jump on this, all high and mighty, as yet another "attack against America."

And why will they do this? Is it because mainstream Americans really give a wet slap? No.

They'll do it because they know it will generate a ton of phone calls from the fraction-of-one percent of listeners who do care: the extremely old, extremely conservative hard-cores who have nothing better to do with their time, than call their local radio station all day.

In other words, the hosts are lazy; they'd rather get the easy calls and delude themselves into thinking "more means better," than do the hard work of actually developing topics and opinions of interest to people in the "real world."

Meanwhile, the format continues to sink in the ratings as the audience literally passes on to that great American Legion Hall in the sky - and no one is replacing them, because your average middle-class, middle-age American has other issues on his mind, like the price of gas, getting his kids into college, why the deli down the street from the office can't make a decent outgoing sandwich...

Ya know, real-world stuff.

I'm not saying you couldn't have a little fun with a topic like the Superman thing - just lighten up, OK? Treat it like what it is: a pop culture event. Leave the lunatic fringe stuff out of it.

So all you talk hosts, stop taling the easy way out and start thinking about how you can really entertain and serve your target demo. Talk about real-world issues.

Like how much they're charging at my local movie complex for tickets to see Superman Returns.

Now that's un-American...

(Update: You da man, Jeremy...)

Achtung, Kitty!

Best. Blog. Ever.

Death Of A Schlockmeister

We've all heard the old joke about how nobody ever went broke underestimating the intellegence of the American public...


This asshole made a fortune producing some of the most godawful dreck ever...


He also gave the world the atrocity that is Torie...


I'm glad he's gone. The world is better for his departure.

Offended? Deal with it...

Something's full of gas, and it's ain't my car...

Here's a blurb from USA Today on summer gas prices that, among other things, takes a less-than-idealistic view of the ethanol hype.

I live in corn-rich North Dakota, where ethanol is generally touted as the Great Savior Of Western Civilization.

It's always refreshing to get a more realistic assessment of the subject.

Suffering Fools Not Gladly, Part XLIV

Open letter to Jenny McCarthy...

You're not cute.

You're not funny.

You're not amusing at all.

There is nothing about you that someone who isn't a horny fourteen year-old male with a double-digit I.Q. would find in the least attractive.

Just shut up and go away.

And take this idiot with you...

What ever happened to ol' what's-her-name...

(Note: the name of a certain well-known author/commentator/living skeleton has been deleted so as not to give the person in question any more unmerited publicity than she already has)...

From time to time, people ask me questions such as, "what do you think of *** *******?"

My response, a la Ayn Rand, "I don't think of her."

Really.

Ultimately, the best way to deal with clowns like you-know-who is to ignore them. She, Michael Moore and their ilk will all pass onto the dust heap of history soon enough (remember Wally George? Morton Downey? Lou Gordon? Lou who? Exactly my point)…

See what you miss when you don't read the papers for a day or two?

Just got back from vacation - more on that later. Right now I direct your attention to this EARTH-SHATTERING BULLETIN...