Forever Bad For Ya

To air during the Super Bowl:

I've long since stopped getting upset when seeing Bob's songs used in ads, for a multitude of reasons.

But I do have a couple of quibbles about the ad itself: I don't like Bob being made into a historical artifact, like he's dead or something. He's still around, still making records, still filling concert halls. Hell, his last album (2006's Modern Times) debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts!

Second, the shot of the two girls at the end--the girl on left (meant to represent Bob's era) looks like she's from 1955, not exactly the swinging hipster girl that typically grooved to "Like A Rolling Stone" or "I Want You".

But since I bet the average Pepsi ad exec is about twenty-five, they look at anything pre-Star Wars as ancient history, so they have no idea what someone in the 60s might have looked like. Little Mary Jane there would've been grounded by her parents for owning a Bob Dylan record!

Funny Because It Could Be True

From The Onion...

Adventures with Johnny, Part 84

Johnny accompanies President Obama during his visit to Capitol Hill, to talk with Republicans over the stimulus package.

Obama and Johnny played Good Cop/Bad Cop with the Republicans. Really Bad Barking and Growling Cop.

Welcome Colby!

This is Colby, an almost-6-year old Bichon Frise who is the latest dog to be adopted by my parents, making Colby The Luckiest Dog in the World. He went from having essentially no home to one with a big warm bed, a big back yard, chicken dinners, and lots and lots of attention.

Colby met his crazy niece Johnny today, and I was dreading what might happen all weekend. She's not a very friendly dog, and I was afraid that she wouldn't take well to having a new dog in her Grammy and Grandpop's house, which she most definitely considers her turf.

Luckily, after a couple of initial rough patches, Johnny and Colby got along very well, running outside in the yard together, not eating each other's food, and even laying on the bed at the same time. I'm proud of my little girl, since this was a big challenge for her.

But she stepped up to the plate, and put her shnoot to the grindstone, if I may mix my metaphors.

Welcome Colby!

The Curious Case of Bob Button

One of the more entertaining features of the Wii Fit is the Body Test, which measures your daily balance, weight, and overall fitness, based on a couple of tests Wii Fit has you take.

You're supposed to take the Body Test every day, and it tracks your weigh day to day, that way you can have an idea of where you're going, fit-wise. It also gives you an approximate "Fit Age" for the day, based on the results of the tests.

I usually score in the upper 20s, which means (for that day at least) I have the fitness of someone 7 to 8 years younger than I--cool.

Some days I don't do as well, but other days I surprise even myself--like yesterday, where Wii Fit said my Fit Age was 21--a full 16 years younger than my actual age (see pic for proof)! I'm de-aging, right before my very eyes!

Wow, will I start getting carded again?

Let's Put A Smile On That Oscar

Yesterday, the late Heath Ledger was nominated for an Oscar for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight (on the exact one-year anniversary of his death...how creepy is that?).

Now, I admit, there's no way for me to be fair about this--not only have I not seen the other nominated performances (Josh Brolin, Milk, Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt, Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road) but I was simply astounded at the level of commitment Ledger brought to the part of the Joker.

The charming, approachable leading man that was Heath Ledger was completely gone in The Dark Knight--instead we got a genuinely chilling portrait of Chaos Personified. I'm not sure how much of this was in the script, but whatever the percentages, it was an amazing synthesis of conception and execution in bringing the character to life.

When I saw the film in the theater, there's a scene where The Joker basically walks in to a meeting of mobsters, and performs an act of murderous cruelty while also delivering a joke.

Its a truly surprising scene, and what was even more surprising was the audience's reaction--applause.

Yes, applause--and I think that's because the people in the audience (for the first midnight showing) were die-hard Batman and/or comic fans, and in that one moment, we all knew that the people who made this film completely got the Joker character--what makes him frightening yet totally compelling.

He wasn't the murderous yet still kinda goofy clown we saw in the 1989 Batman--no, this was a grenade thrown into the movie at occasional intervals, busting the movie wide open and creating chaos, despite the best efforts of the stalwart Batman (once again well played by Christian Bale).

I can't imagine Ledger won't win this, based on just the sympathy factor alone. But even without that, he deserves it.

Adventures with Johnny, Part 83

Johnny, wrapped around the shoulder of President Obama, is on hand as he signs an Executive Order closing Guantanamo Bay.

Good on ya, Mr. President.

Adventures with Johnny, Part 82

Johnny is, of course, on hand for the swearing in of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

Congratulations, President Obama!

From The Office of Blunt Symbolism

Apparently Dick Cheney's first job after being VP will be starring in a remake of Dr. Strangelove...good for him!

Wow, It Really Happened

The new front page on www.whitehouse.gov:

Adventures with Johnny, Part 81

Johnny joins U2 on stage on Sunday for part of President-Elect Barack Obama's Inauguration celebration.

(Her favorite U2 song is "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For")

Look Back In Anger

Tomorrow we will all be celebrating Barack Obama's official ascension to the Presidency, but I thought it was worth a look back at what we've all endured for the past eight years.

Here's the group of criminals, incompetents, bullies, and partisan hacks that were running our government during the tragedy that was The Bush Administration:

Dick Cheney

Don Rumsfeld

Karl Rove


Condoleeza Rice


Scooter Libby

Alberto Gonzales


Doug Feith

Stephen Hadley


Michael Chertoff


David Addington


John Bolton

Brownie


Monica Goodling

George Tenet


John Ashcroft

John Yoo


Jerry Bremer

Paul Wolfowitz

This is a group of people who don't know one God damn thing about what it means to be an American. How Bush managed to find them all and put them in government at the same time is something that exceeds even the farthest reaches of my imagination. Tomorrow can't get here soon enough.

I sure as hell hope, at the end of my life, I can say that George W. Bush was the worst president of my lifetime. Because I don't think the United States could survive anyone worse.

Git Mo Savings

On last night's SNL:

As a tax-paying, voting citizen of the United States, I laugh at this sketch. Its pretty funny.

But as someone who has a relative with direct responsibility over Gitmo, I laugh a little harder.

Adventures with Johnny, Part 80

Daddy had to go into Philadelphia yesterday to meet with a client, so Johnny came along to enjoy the nightmarishly frigid weather (and to get a genuine Philadelphia soft pretzel).

"Is That Bill Shakespeare I See Over There?"

Yesterday I got my first ever check for something I've written, not drawn.

Sure, its a measly ten bucks, for a tiny, 500-word piece I wrote for the magazine Back Issue! (it will appear in this issue, on sale in March), but I had an overwhelming feeling of pride as I opened the envelope.

I'm a gol-durn writer!

Adventures with Johnny, Part 79

Johnny accompanies President-Elect Barack Obama as he has dinner at George Will's house, with other prominent conservatives like Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol, and David Brooks.

Johnny came along as Obama's Official Food Taster, because who knows what kind of stuff Bill "Wrong 100% of The Time" Kristol and Charles "Coo-Coo For Cocoa-Puffs" Krauthammer might have put in Obama's food?

(No worries; Johnny was never in harm's way--she can sniff out something fishy without ever having to taste it)

R.I.P. Ricardo Montalban 1920-2008

Ricardo Montalban has passed away, at age 88.

Montalban is probably best known for his role as Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island, but geeks like me know him best from his role as the villainous Khan Noonien Singh on the episode of Star Trek named "Space Seed."

He then memorably reprised the role, fifteen years later, in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I saw Khan in the theaters at the time, and man did I love that movie (still do)--and Montalban's wonderfully ballsy performance as an aged, hungry-for-revenge-to-the-point-of-madness Khan helped make Star Trek movies fun again.

He also appeared as the genial Armando, friend to the apes, in Escape From The Planet of the Apes and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. His geek cred credentials are stellar.

My friend Mark Evanier has a great story about working with Mr. Montalban over on his blog, I suggest you read it. From what Mark says, it sounds like Mr. Montalban was a really nice, classy, fun guy.

Rest in peace.

Adventures with Johnny, Part 78

Johnny wishes her Grandpop a Happy Birthday! She wants him to now how special he is to her, and how he's the only she allows to hold her like this.

Adventures with Johnny, Part 77

Johnny is in attendance during Sen. Hillary Clinton's confirmation hearings to be Secretary of State.

Adventures with Johnny, Part 76

Johnny wanted her first Adventure of 2009 to be special, and this is pretty special--she snuck herself into the meeting of all the living former Presidents at the White House today.

She sat closest to President-Elect Obama and former President Carter.

Genius At Work...Er, Play

One of the blogs I frequent is called Occasional Superheroine, mostly about the world of comics (and other parts of pop culture) from the perspective of a former employee of DC and writer of and about comics, Valerie D'Orazio. Its very well written, passionately so, and even when I don't agree with Valerie I enjoy reading what she writes.

Anyway, she wrote this post about an interview Clint Eastwood did recently with Esquire, where he bemoans what he calls "The Pussy Generation"--of which presumably I am a part--which to him means the kinds of guys in touch with their feelings, blah blah blah. Here's a sample quote: "We live in more of a pussy generation now, where everybody's become used to saying, 'Well, how do we handle it psychologically?' In those days, you just punched the bully back and duked it out."

Ok, whatever, I'm not here to debate The Man With No Name on the subject of toughness. But I did feel compelled to leave this comment:

Which later prompted another commenter to leave this:

See? I'm a genius! The internets say so!