Baldwin
A reporter accused Alec Baldwin’s wife of tweeting at James Gandolfini’s funeral. Baldwin’s response is arguably homophobic. Andrew Sullivan is upset about it.
I’m conflicted. Even the Mail says the reporter was wrong, so Baldwin has a right to upset. The Daily Mail sometimes seems to be a bunch of trolls with a print publication.
Some on the right seem to be agitating on this because they want a liberal to get in trouble with the media, and think Baldwin’s getting a free pass. If Bill O’Reilly, another Irish guy from Long Island with a temper, had made similar comments, the response would likely have been different. I’m unaware of Baldwin being particularly vocal when celebrities say something offensive, so he can’t personally be accused of hypocrisy.
Sullivan may be looking at this from a violence against gays standpoint, because that’s something he’s familiar with as an openly gay commentator who speaks out about these things. He may filter these kinds of stories through that lens even when it doesn’t apply.
That said, Baldwin’s comments are pretty nasty. Calling someone a toxic little queen, and saying that you’re afraid they may enjoy your foot up their ass is generally considered homophobic. It does leave the impression that he thinks there’s something wrong with those who don’t adhere to certain standards of masculine behavior.
Foxtrot made me laugh. I think an animated adaptation could be the next Simpsons and Family Guy. It’s been some time since one of those took off.
My attempt to do this with a two liter bottle of coke primarily resulted in cold flat soda.
Atheists and religious people act differently on twitter.
Comic Book Resources posters made a list of the Top 50 Avengers stories. A search for a scan of the Avengers #277 cover led me to a blog arguing for Roger Stern as the best superhero writer.
See, people like Alan Moore have made it a point in their superhero work to take the established conventions and turn them on their heads. People like Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Grant Morrison (and even Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, if you think about it) relied on the overturning of genre conventions, and such an approach would not have worked if these conventions were not firmly established to begin with. Although this approach definitely gets more acclaim and draws more attention to the writer, I think it is also quite a feat to actually be able to adhere to the conventions and to tell the best story you possibly can.
That’s what Bronze Age writers did, and that’s exactly what Roger Stern did. He did push some of the boundaries of superhero comics and ventured into territory that hadn’t been done before, but he never went so far as to give superheroes complex psychological issues, have them meet their creators in a metaphysical tale, or stoop to rape or decapitation as plot points. What he did was to tell a superhero story in comic book form to the utmost capability of his talents. And his talents were considerable.
The Republicans are more of a concerted effort to field female candidates. There was an interesting argument that women are at a disadvantage seeking political office. It has nothing to do with the talents of female candidates relative to talents of male candidates. Essentially because women are more likely to take time off to raise children, they’re less able to make the connections necessary to run for political office. There is also sexism in how the media and the political establishment responds to female candidates.
Some women do succeed and get elected to statewide office, and hold leadership positions in legislatures, but it does happen more often with men. So it’s not a bad idea for the Republican party to try to offset that. It helps appeal to an important demographic (which happens to include a slight majority of the voters, although fathers of daughters also have a vested interest in having more women in elected office) and to find candidates who would otherwise slip through the cracks.
A new website gives locations for events in books. The literal names of states was my favorite geeky map this weekend.
What Would Spidey Do? 