Russ!

So I'm walking out of the restaurant in DOLGEVILLE, NEW YORK--population of about thirty--and there's a gaggle of crazed evangelical bastards waving placards, and a video camera, and shouting about fornication outside of one the two local bars.

Really?  A small town with two bars and about three dozen people to hear you?  That's how you're going to win the hearts and minds over to Christ, is by terrorizing Dolgeville?

Jesus wept.

I cribbed the meat of this from a Nader mailing, but I removed all the pro-Nader context from it and left only what's pertinent to the point I'm trying to make.

Which is that Barack Obama has sold out and joined into the DLC system that made the Clintons so repugnant.  This is what happens when a young firebrand is offered the option of selling out and becoming the Big Man on Campus.  Either he rejects the chance on principle...or it looks like the following:

The old Obama said that he thought NAFTA was a "big mistake."

The new Obama isn't so sure.

The old Obama said he would abide by public spending limits in this election.

The new Obama he says he won't.

The old Obama said he was for a change in foreign policy and surrounded himself with innovative thinkers with a chance to make a difference.

The new Obama has surrounded himself with veterans of the military industrial complex status quo.

The old Obama talked economic populism.

The new Obama talks corporate-speak and surrounds himself with economists from the Chicago School.

Nice to see someone at the Nation finally pulled their head out of their ass in re: Ralph Nader.  Check out John Nichols' new column here.

To See Or Not To See, Part One: Indiana Jones and the Comedy of Errors

by Russell Burlingame

One of the most bittersweet aspects of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is its musical cues. There are moments in the picture where, no matter what you may feel about it, as a viewer it's hard not to get choked up. By and large, truth be told, the score is pedestrian and a little dull...but when Indy puts a hat on and the trumpets play that old theme...! Visually, with Henry Jones Junior (he is rarely called "Indiana" or "Indy" in this film) swimming in his baggy grandpa pants and shocks of grey-white hair peeking out under an ever-crisp, rarely-dirty brown fedora, you really don't get the feeling that you're watching anything historic--but a few of the old John Williams refrains drive something primal bubbling to the surface of those of us who grew up idolizing Indy.

The reason that the music is the first thing to be examined here, is that it's one of very few things that evoked that sort of reaction in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. A movie frought with missteps and an obvious misunderstanding of its own audience, it's exactly the type of summer blockbuster developed to make money at all costs: things blow up; there's aliens and Nazis--well, not Nazis so much as Russians with grey shirts and jackboots; an unnecessary youthful sidekick (to bring in the teenagers, you see); and a little something extra borrowed from Bryan Singer's abominable Superman Returns. To ascertain that you know it's a Spielberg picture, the Russians are never subtitled (see also: every Arab in Munich or about 90% of all Germans in any film except Schindler's List); this way, the "evil" characters can be thoroughly and literally dehumanized.

The film oozes 1950s--Russian spies, nuclear testing, a screening of Howdy Doody and Dr. Jones on a sort of academic blacklist all take place in the first ten-or-so minutes of the picture (as does—sad to say the high point of the film for me—a cameo appearance by Neil Flynn, a friend of Ford's from The Fugitive who is best known for his portrayal of The Janitor on ABC sitcom Scrubs). The filmmakers have discussed at length how, while the earlier Jones films were an attempt to capture the magic of '30s and '40s adventure films with a contemporary feel, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be a '50s-style action romp with some science-fiction sensibility thrown in for good measure (a questionable choice to start, as many of those films eventually ended up as Mystery Science Theater 3000 fodder). In an attempt to capture that feel, you have some campy dialogue, some stock characters and Shia LaBoeuf as Arthur Fonzerelli. There's a fairly generic soda fountain brawl, initiated by LaBoeuf and set to the tune of Shake, Rattle & Roll, which solidly plants this film in its era. This is an interesting artistic choice because in the previous Indy films, even with their date stamps, the adventures that took place were largely relatively timeless.

The other aspect of the film that is bound to turn some heads--it already has, both in pre-screenings and on the Internet as eagle-eyed fans dissected the trailers--is the role that extra-terrestrials play in the picture. As in Spielberg's classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind, there is no dialogue, as such, shared between man and his visitors...but their presence is strong and pervasive, particularly in the second half of the film. Using Roswell as a jumping-off point, it is revealed that the good Dr. Jones has been used as a government agent in a variety of capacities since we last caught up with him--he is a Colonel in the Army, apparently, and also has worked with the CIA, MI6 and as a spy against the Russians in the time since Hitler autographed his father's diary for him in the early '40s.

How this film and its continuity jives with The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles is an interesting question--not much was revealed about Indy's post-Last Crusade life in that show, but the implication is clear that he continued adventuring well into his old age. Born in 1900, Indy was revealed in Chronicles to have lived at least into the Clinton Administration, as a 92-year-old, one-eyed Indiana Jones narrated. Here, the implication seems to be that he's ready to settle down a bit at the end and--if comments by Spielberg are to be taken at face value--leave the adventuring to young Mutt Williams (LaBoeuf's greaser character who, while Indiana Jones is habitually rescuing his hat from danger, spends a good portion of the film combing his hair).

The adventure sequences in the picture are hit-or-miss; while some of the car chases and fight sequences are good, and a lot of the side jokes are on the mark, there are times (Marion is injured while driving, but mysteriously gets better) that it's hard to follow visually what's going on as they try to pack too many characters and subplots into a fast-moving sequence. Many of Harrison Ford's comic moments are on-target, but other diversions—such a CGI-rendered prairie dogs and LaBoeuf's own private army of monkeys—bring to mind some of the more artistically-questionable moments of Return of the Jedi and detract from the seriousness of consequences faced by our protagonists.

Dr. Jones also doesn't get very much solo screen time. Henry himself has also become a little more cautious in his old age, while everyone around him seems to have become more like Indiana Jones. Mutt and Marion are decisive and powerful figures, while Indy often finds himself sitting on the back of a motorcycle or behind them in the car, shouting, “No, don't do that! It's dangerous!” As action heroes go, Indy has been turned into a great family man. In case a CIA agent of dubious allegiances, a kidnapped ex-girlfriend and her tagalong son weren't baggage enough, Indy spends most of the film carting around an octogenarian in a semi-catatonic state, who may be the “key” to finding the Lost City of Gold in the same way that his father was key to the recovery of the Holy Grail.

Which, of course, brings us to his father. Considering that screen legend Sean Connery had offered to come out of retirement to play the role, it's a damned shame that they felt compelled to write him out of the picture. In a story where “family” is a recurring theme, the artless and arbitrary way that Henry Jones Senior was removed from the adventure screams “We didn't want to pay Connery” more than anything else. I guess that's what he gets for portraying an aging Allan Quatermain—Indiana Jones's literary forebear—in Fox's box-office fiasco League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The passing in 1992 of character actor Denholm Elliott is nicely acknowledged, though, as his Marcus Brody character (from Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade) is memorialized in both a painting on campus and in the form of a statue, which is unfortunately (and comically) damaged in one of the film's many vehicle chases.

Ultimately, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a film that, while not entirely bad, is nowhere near worthy of its lofty pedigree. As generic action films go, it may have provided some level of entertainment in the vein of National Treasure....It's the attachment of “Indiana Jones” to the title and the involvement of Harrison Ford, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg that raised expectations and standards to a level that none of those individuals—each a shadow of his former self—can meet any longer. It will doubtlessly open at #1 and secure the kind of critical and financial success that guarantee it a sequel if all involved want to make one—the question, really, is whether or not they should.

I have, Moses-like, decided to come down from my mountain of hatred and cynicism, and make a declaration.  The mad glint in my eye should convince all ye fuckers who stand before me that you should run--run away fast and far--but I know that you won't, and so I begin:

FUCK video games.

Ridiculously high development costs, low profit margins and ridiculously inflated retail costs will keep them from ever being a viable medium for legitimate expression in my lifetime.  Further, their supporters have thus far proven to me that they are whiny and self-righteous fuckwits who think they're going overtake the rest of the world by sheer force of will or something, even though anyone who can afford a console (and many people who really can't) already have one and the potential for growth in most areas is pretty limited.

More later.  I must return to my mountain for another stone tablet on which to spew my bile.

From WENN: New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, claiming that 50 percent of all pirated movies are sold in New York, has chastised judges for being too lenient with those caught taping movies in theaters with camcorders. Cuomo told a New York news conference on Monday that first-time offenders should be fined as much as $1,000 and up to a year in jail and that repeat offenders should be charged with committing a felony. (Currently movie piracy is treated as a misdemeanor.) "We need a new law on the books of the state that punishes this act like the crime it is," Cuomo said. Also attending Cuomo's news conference were MPAA chief Dan Glickman, writer-comedienne Tina Fey, and NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker.

I guess this should be no surprise to me.  Fucking Democrats and their big money donors.  But I really resent the fact that the Attorney General of my state has nothing better to do than to spend his time on nonsense like this.

For everyone asking me what I think of/if I've seen the Iron Man movie...The Case Against Tony Stark!

The bad news:

Zach and I have had technical problems ranging from my computer to our home Internet, and it came during the Con, of course, which is the worst possible time becuase we don't have time to both stop to fix things AND cover our events. So we've covered the events and now things are trickling in slowly.

The good news:

We've got a LOT of great video footage coming up soon. Conscientious Sequentials and the Hot Shot of the Week should be up in special video format tonight/early tomorrow morning (before you wake up anyway) and they're a doozy--CS features an interview with Neal Adams about his weird science, and HS features Todd DeZago and Craig Rousseau, the creative team behind the wonderful Image title The Perhapanauts. BUY THEIR BOOK!

I've been getting a spot of work over at Newsarama, too. You can see the stories (the ones that are up so far) at:
The Grant Morrison Spotlight Panel
The Bryan Hitch Spotlight Panel

There will be stories based on both of those here soon; I promised Matt Brady that I wouldn't just take stuff he's paying for and spread it around the Internet, so I need to edit down, change around and stuff like that.

Probably my favorite comment of the day: "If I weren't here, you'd be shirtless!"

That was told to me by Kevin Maguire, longtime penciller on the Giffen-DeMatteis Justice League titles, upon noticing that I was wearing a JLI t-shirt he had done the artwork for.

Yeah, out of context the quote is funnier.

My YouTube channel is also picking right up. We've got stuff from the X-Files panel, stuff from Grant Morrison, plus the CS and HS stuff going up there tonight. Maybe more; a lot will depend on our editing timeframe. But check out the channel, and Chuck will be updating as long as we're sending him content on the front page.

A little taste.

I'll be delivering a video podcast tomorrow morning, along with a write-up of the Jeff Smith/CBLDF Rasl launch party.  Under ordinary circumstances, I would be excitedly editing together a package with Zach tonight, but the reality of the situation is our microphone completely shit the bed tonight and the Smith interview is basically unsalvageable.  I'm going to be able to assemble a story for print, using the footage, my notes and memory...but not now.  Now, I need sleep.

Damn it.

Go here.  Me, on camera and everything.

 

 

DC's Booster Gold has consistently been one of the best comics in print since its relaunch last year.  Rather than seeing it dominate the Hot Shot of the Week feature, The Gold Exchange will be a monthly column, released within about a week of the release of a new issue of Booster Gold, and featuring conversations with Jeff Katz and Dan Jurgens.  Katz is the series's co-writer with Geoff Johns, and Jurgens pencils the title, and was the creator of the character.  This will provide a more in-depth discussion and analysis than the standard ten questions in the Hot Shots column.

 

Comic Related: So, first of all let me say that the preview pages DC releases to sites like Newsarama and CBR do nothing at all to honor the art in this book; that first page looked just awful online, and this book has been consistently some of your strongest stuff in years.

 

Dan Jurgens: Thanks. I was very happy with the way this issue came out. It started with the first few pages. You can't go wrong with OMACS and walls made from skulls.

 

CR: I'm not a huge Hawkman guy--is this a version of the character we've seen before? The black reminds me of the version that came out of Zero Hour, although obviously part of that could just be your art tickling at the back of my brain.

 

DJ: Geoff and Jeff actually said I should base him a bit on the version I did for a four-part Doctor Destiny story I did when I was writing and drawing Justice League. Hawkman is actually a very interesting character, visually speaking, and I've always enjoyed drawing him. He makes a great counterpoint with Green Arrow.

 

Jeff Katz: This Hawkman was designed to be a bit of an amalgamation of Carter and Katar in terms of look, in order to show just how messed up time and history had become. My personal view is that it's Carter, but it was an intentional decision to mess with everyone.

 

CR: What are we supposed to understand about the idea that "everything in the past is set in stone," and yet to Booster, we would be the past? If the "solidified time" concept is to be carried to its logical conclusion, nothing Booster does in the past can possibly make any lasting, long-term difference to the universe he inhabited before he left.

 

DJ: I think Booster is inherently capable of messing up time but understands not doing so is priority one. He realizes everything in the past SHOULD be set in stone but doesn't HAVE to be set in stone, in my opinion. The real question is, if something is changed, what is the cost?

 

CR: Is this just one of those things where, like Earth being the center of the Multiverse, we just have to kind of take it on faith that the moments our characters are living in, are inherently "special?"

 

DJ: That's a good way of looking at it. On the other hand, I think it's fair to make it a bit more than that too.

 

CR: You know, you find The Simpsons references in the strangest places! Besides this issue, I recently found one uttered by Barry Allen in Marv Wolfman's Crisis on Infinite Earths novelization. Which was interesting because I'm reasonably sure that Barry died before The Simpsons ever premiered.

 

DJ: Just goes to show that time travel is real and that Marv Wolfman has mastered it!

 

JK: Barry caught old reruns during the brief period he lived in the future with Iris!

 

CR: Good call! I wonder if they were co-existing with Dr. Zoidberg, who appeared in Geoff's recent issue of Action Comics.

 

JK: We had Kent Brockman getting killed in Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash but had to cut him for space.

 

CR: Who's Booster talking to in these dialogue boxes? The first-person narration lends itself to "talking at the reader," but in Booster's case that can't really work as a device because he can't just be telling folks about all this without "blowing his cover," right?

 

DJ: Could be that it's Skeets, but I think it's more of an inner dialogue kind of thing. It's more "conversational" in tone to make it more interesting-- a fair writing device.

 

JK: He's talking to the voices in his head. Booster is clearly schizophrenic. Side effect of time travel. Quite sad really....

 

CR: The first thing I said to myself when I saw the Freedom Fighters was, "Will anyone tell Pantha that a world without Infinite Crisis is probably not so bad for her personally?" After what happened with Risk, though, I knew that Geoff is always up for a repeat performance...!

 

JK: You are correct, sir. I'm actually a big Pantha fan. Love Titans Hunt. We need Phantasm back in a big way!

 

DJ: Yeah... Geoff has a way of making life tough for some characters, doesn't he? I think I might have to buy him dinner to get him to leave Risk alone.

 

CR: The second thing I thought was, "Seriously? Wild Dog?" I remember ads for his series saturating the pages of the first Booster Gold monthly back in the '80s, but I don't know anything else about him since. What made you guys decide he would have survived Max's onslaught?

 

DJ: You gotta go to Geoff and Jeff for that one. I kind of enjoyed it. Took me back to those Action Comics Weekly days!

 

JK: Simple answer: We love Wild Dog. I think he was one of the first characters Geoff and I made a point to bring back. We knew we wanted to do it but were waiting for the right moment. Even though we mess with him here, we both have a lot of love for that character. I think he'd be really interesting to explore in the DCU proper, especially in a post 9/11 world.

 

CR: I'd love to see that. I would see him fitting in (or actually NOT fitting in, but you know what I mean) with the SHADE crowd in Palmiotti and Gray's Freedom Fighters, or the folks over at Checkmate.

 

JK: That could make sense. I'd actually love to see him take on Checkmate. Like he finds them un-American or something. Play him as "The Man Who Knew Too Much." I think there's something to be said for a character that lives outside the lines of polite society in the DCU. Do "Three Days of the Condor" in the DCU with him as the lead. Regardless, I'd love to play with the character again in a serious way.

 

CR: And Anthro! There's been a lot of speculation online that those characters were being made fun of in Booster Gold because they had made fun of Geoff and 52 in their little mini. What IS the cave boy doing here, and will we ever learn how he got into that room?

 

DJ: Once again, I'm going to refer you to the writers. They appear to have a level of interest in Anthro that would seem to dwarf mine... and many others' as well.

 

JK: Anthro's just continuing his lifelong ambition for fame and glory. Plus, the Freedom Fighters offered him a limitless supply of those jackets if he joined.

 

CR: Jeff said last month that Rik Sunn was a secret Time Stealer. Is a character like Anthro potentially "out of time" because he's working for one side or the other?

 

DJ: Not necessarily. When we get into an "adjusted time" situation things can get a lot more elastic, which means they aren't necessarily out of place.

 

JK: Jeff was JOKING!

 

CR: So, here Max is voicing his frustration and desire to get even with people who refused his invitations to join the JLI? I thought he was supposed to have kept it ineffectual on purpose. Is this a hint, a gaffe or is Max just so nutty that his perception of the world is shifting to rationalize his own behavior?

 

DJ: I've always theorized that Max had to go through quite a change in order to get to the place he did. Yeah, he might have been ineffectual on purpose, but he went much farther in that direction as the years rolled by, perhaps frustrated by his own act. So he may be a bit nutty.

 

CR: Most readers I know think that the conclusion here is obvious, and some of the way Booster talks in the beginning of #8 makes me feel like even he's come to the conclusion that saving Ted wasn't right. "Breaking his own rule," or something. But then--can Rip be fully trusted either? It seems like what he's telling Rose can't be good for the timestream!

 

JK: We'll just have to wait and see, won't we? I'm not ruining the end but I'm hoping people will feel strong emotion and surprise.

 

DJ: Eventually, Booster is going to have to ask himself if trusting Rip is the right thing. How can you trust anyone when it comes to the time travel stuff? Is Rip really the authority he claims to be? (Though it's worth noting their friendship goes back a LONG way.)

 

CR: So Vanishing Point is at the end of time now? Didn't it used to be outside the timestream? Are we going to see aspects of Zero Hour revisited again?

 

JK: No comment.

 

DJ: No plans for Zero Hour at present. The terminology "outside the timestream" has always bugged some people. Kind of one of those, "what the hell does that mean?" types of problems.

 

CR: Rip looks different in just about every series he appears in. Do you guys have a mental timeline from blonde Rip to cyborg Rip to this one? Or is that part of his mystery even to the creators?

 

JK: No comment.

 

DJ: That was a switch we decide to make because Rip, Booster and Daniel looked so much like. So we decided to darken Rip's hair a bit. We probably made it a bit too abrupt.

 

CR: On that note, do you guys have a solid idea of who Rip "really" is? Or are message board pundits wasting their time combing over Booster Gold and JSA issues for clues?

 

DJ: We know exactly who he is. The answer is coming soon.

 

CR: Is that Kyle getting his ring on the monitors while the Time Stealers talk? Apparently on New Earth, Ganthet didn't get his hippie hair until after Emerald Twilight had already happened?

 

DJ: Yes, that's Kyle. Whether I forgot to draw it or Norm forgot to ink it, I can't say.

 

CR: "We don't do that by ending his life" is an interesting and informative line. Can we assume, then, that Booster's not generally in mortal harm, because for the most part if he's killed, his "influence" will still be felt and ultimately someone will sneak back through time to save him at the last second?

 

JK: I think it's safe to say that breaking Booster's spirit and resolve is more important than breaking Booster physically. Keep reading for the answers.

 

DJ: On the surface, yes. But Booster's presence will have longer-lasting implications than are currently known.

 

CR: Beetle's plan to take down Max makes sense--maybe too much sense. How is it possible that nobody on this earth ever thought of, "Let's take Superman off the board" before? Apparently every villain Grant Morrison ever wrote in JLA was killed really early on?

 

DJ: Well... maybe it's the advantage of hindsight? It's kinda like Popeye always had to get the crap kicked out of him for a few minutes BEFORE he ate his spinach, right?

 

CR: Does Booster now have some kind of connection to the time sphere and/or the timestream? His headache is interesting...the beginnings of powers? Or maybe he's going to have a "connection" to his home time, a la what Wally West has with his wife? Or am I overanalyzing?

 

DJ: I think Booster will always need the time sphere or some device. Could it be that he's actually more "connected" to the timestream as it SHOULD be?

 

CR: Regardless of the situation on earth, shouldn't the Guardians of the Universe be able to recover those Green Lantern rings floating in the armory? I would think they'd be eager to get those away from Max.

 

DJ: Who says the Guardians are still able to do so?

 

CR: Where have the JLI members been, that they were alive but not already working with the Freedom Fighters?

 

DJ: Stay tuned! Much will be revealed in the next issue!

 

JK: Man you're itching for spoilers. Keep reading!!!

Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the online petition:

  "Stop Dr. Uwe Boll"

hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition
service, at:

  http://www.PetitionOnline.com/RRH53888/

Boll says that if it reaches one million signatures, he'll actually quit.  It MUST happen.

Iraq's Future Through The Camera Lens:
Talking Shooting War With Dan Goldman and Anthony Lappé

 

More has been said or written about Anthony Lappé and Dan Goldman's Shooting War than about perhaps any other political comic of the last ten years.  Starting as a free webcomic at Smithmag, the popularity of the series exploded and it was recently republished in a hardcover edition by Warner Books, and optioned as a film last month.  The graphic novel, which follows the exploits of a liberal blogger who becomes a famous-if-somewhat-inept war correspondent in 2011 (yes, we're still in Iraq).

Lappé, one of the founders of the Guerilla News Network and one of the key players in the documentary film BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge, says that he had never produced a work of fiction before (his background is in journalism), when the idea for Shooting War struck him: "A friend of mine late at night, inebriated at my apartment at 3 a.m., I was telling him the story and he said, 'Man, that would make a great comic!'," Lappé explains.  "I thought, I'd never really even read a comic—how would I write a comic, let alone get an artist and sell it?"

The answer came with a call to Larry Smith, who runs SmithMag.  A friend of Lappé's, Smith was looking for a serial webcomic to run on the site around the same time that Lappé had used a Craigslist post to find himself an artist—Dan Goldman, one of the founders of ACT-I-VATE and writer/artist of Everyman, a graphic novel about elections.  Goldman's mix of traditional art and digital photography, which gave a surreal edge to Shooting War, has been dissected and admired by critical outlets from the Internet to the New York Times.

"All the pieces just kind of fit perfectly," Lappé says, "and then I found Dan Goldman via CraigsList and his work was exactly what I was envisioning in my head in terms of combining photo sources and original drawings; his twisted kind of vibe just fit perfectly."

"I've been experimenting with this stuff," Goldman says of his style.  "I went digital five or six years ago—meaning there's no pens or paper involved.  I've been strictly digital for five years, maybe six, and as I learn things, the style keeps mutating.  Shooting War has its own look.  I like playing with collage and mixing different media—I think that's a lot of fun—but every project's different, and ultimately the art serves the story."

There was no clear indication at the start that Shooting War was going to be such a runaway success, but according to Lappé it didn't take long: "We launched as a serialized webcomic, and in the third week we got a full-page write-up in The Village Voice and it just kind of blew up from there."

While they may not have always known where the book was going to land, or the kind of acclaim it would receive, the process had taken into account from the start the process of moving from the Internet to print.  "We created the artwork for the website, knowing we were going to go to a book so I worked at triple-size at 300 resolution dpi," Goldman (pictured left) explains. "The idea was from the beginning to create the art in these widescreen format tiers and then arrange the tiers into the book, so the book wound up being roughly two tiers high and whether it was two tiers or three tiers that was largely up to what we could get away with from the publisher.  When we sat down for the first time, they were great about letting me bring unusual frame sizes to the table."

In spite of the activism that defines so much of its central character, Shooting War is at its heart not a "liberal" or "conservative" story, but is driven more by the issues.  Lappé says, "One of the lessons I learned from Battleground was really a break of doing something that's non-ideological—not trying to hit someone over the head. In trying to do something that has a total agenda and is willing to try and call people out on all sides.  I'm kind of trying to get beyond the partisan media and trying to tell just good stories.  That's the most interesting thing for me and if you do that, I think people really respond, too."

Adding to this, Lappé says that he doesn't see a lot of difference in the foreign policy of the major Presidential candidates.  "No major candidate is going to get us out of Iraq," Lappé says.  "I think it's going to be a rude wake-up call for a lot of lefties when Obama gets elected and then come 2011—which is when Shooting War is set, really—we're still bogged down.  It means one thing on the ground, but it represents something else totally—which is that it's the world's greatest jihadist training tool.  I really don't see anything different in Obama's foreign policy substantively other than a rebranding of it."

As much as it's easy to see Shooting War as an anti-war graphic novel, though, it's more than anything else about the state of the media—and particularly the "citizen journalists" that populate the Internet.

"I'm trying to do something a little bit different, and that's just the function of my own take, which is that I'm a lot more critical, as I'm getting older, of everyone," Lappé says.  "Maybe I'm getting carmudgeony, but one of the things I'm trying to do is point out the failures and the perils of the blogosphere in this book.  Sitting around on your sofa or in Starbucks and thinking you've got the whole world figured out when you haven't gone out and really experienced it, is not journalism."

Lappé (pictured right in Bagdad), who has been extensively published for more than a decade and who studied journalism himself, stresses that many people who don't have that kind of background don't have the necessary knowledge to write well.  "So much is missing for a lot of people--they don't learn to tell a story or report.  That's what journalism is about, not just having an opinion and doing Web searches.  It involves incredibly complicated ethical tapdancing.  There's a lot of tricky ethical decisions and that's what Shooting War is all about.  It's about this kid who thinks he's got it all figured out, and he ends up getting thrown into this situation that he's totally ill-equipped for and he turns out unable to do it not just from not having the education and the ethical framework.  Do you tell the whole truth in the particular to protect your access and your job for the long term or do you tell the truth about this person you're embedded with even when that person may or may not have saved your life?  Someone sitting at home on their couch are never going to understand how difficult that is."

In spite of a general reputation as a liberal, Lappé has, as a result of the success of Shooting War, become a regular contributor on a conservative television network owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch.  "One of the funniest ironies of the whole Shooting War thing is that I got invited onto Sky News to be a guest and talk about Shooting War and ironically we were also on Channel 5 News while we were there," Lappé says.  "But that turned into basically a guest spot since I was over there.  Every couple of weeks on Sky News, so it's literally like Shooting War come to life.  It's hilarious and totally appropriate, you know, brought into the Borg, so that's been hilarious.  There are interesting ironies about how the book has kind of propelled me to a different stage--ironies that I'm aware of actually."

After the film was optioned by Power, a British production house that specializes in TV miniseries like the recent Sci-Fi Channel production Tin Man.  Currently, while Goldman is working on a nonfiction graphic novel about the 2008 Presidential race (Diary of the Campaign Trail, being co-written with Mike Crowley of The New Republic), Lappé is working dilligently on a screenplay for Shooting War: the TV show.  He also says that he's not at all opposed to returning to the universe created for the story.  "We are thinking about doing a sequel to Shooting War," Lappé confirms. "Maybe even something like a paperback series that would come out around and be tied in with the TV show but I'm not focused on it."

I'm in Manassas today and, at least for most of the day, was out running errands and raising funds. I am currently incommunicado, but will have "minutes" on my prepaid phone again by the end of the day. Anyone who wants to call to wish me happy birthday or to talk about the general shabbiness that has been my life lately, can do so at (917) 568-3209. Theoretically even if the minutes that we already purchased do not take immediate effect, I should regain the ability to make and receive calls at 7pm and have it all weekend.

Thanks very much to anyone and everyone who has sent me Facebook and MySpace messages to "keep my head up" or to have a happy birthday. I promise that I'll get back to all of you in time. At the moment I have no access save that which I can get my going to the K-Mart Internet cafe or the public library. That will be resolved soon.

Zach sent this along this morning. It's wonderful!

Apparently Howard Zinn's brilliant "A People's History of the United States" has been adapted to stage and, upcoming, to TV. Read about it (with a little Bruce goodness thrown in for good measure) here.

This is what happens when I let myself get sucked into trusting the Democrats.

Dumbass.

Responding to claims by a Guardian critic that Beethoven's music is inherently superior to that produced by pop culture and that it somehow ennobles the soul of the listener, "High Fidelity" author Nick Hornby had the following to say on his blog:

"It’s always the Nazis who put the mockers on this sort of stuff; Goebbels and Hitler loved Beethoven, and it seems uncontroversial to claim that whatever power Beethoven’s music has to improve us as human beings somehow didn’t work on them. I would like to propose a counter argument: that nobody who owns a bootleg copy of Bruce Springsteen’s show at the Main Point, Bryn Mawr in 1975 has ever ordered the bombing of a country. If this turns out to be true, then I have more evidence for the ameliorating effects of early live Springsteen on the soul than Martin Kettle can ever muster on Beethoven’s behalf."

I wholeheartedly agree.

I interviewed political cartoonist and graphic novelist Ted Rall this week.  Ostensibly it's about his book Silk Road to Ruin but really it's more of an overview/profile, and it's up at ComicRelated now!

“I’ve waited so long to do this,” Hickman says, “I’m not going to throw stuff against the wall.”