Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

By now you've surely read that Andy Griffith died yesterday at the age of 86. As a sure sign we are turning into a nation of ill-informed, culturally bankrupt morons, Salon Magazine ran a story the other day entitled " Dumb Tweets of the Day ," about people tweeting "who the heck is Andy Griffith?" when news of his death broke. Who the heck is Andy Griffith indeed? Maybe it's an age thing. While certainly best known for playing Sheriff Andy Taylor in the fictitious hamlet of Mayberry, in the Andy Griffith Show , (1960 to 1968) , my introduction to him came a little earlier. Griffith had first achieved fame in the 1950's as a monologist, and my father had a copy of his recording, What It Was, Was Football . I listened to that thing endlessly as a child. I think it must be a Southern thing. He also starred in the service comedy (this was only a decade past the end of WW II) named " No Time For Sergeants, " in which he was first teamed w...

Long before Mr Rogers made the scene, Mr. Peppermint entertained (and educated) the small fry of North Texas. I note with sadness that Jerry Haynes, who created and played that character, passed away yesterday at age 84 of complications from Parkinson's disease. He started the role in 1961 on WFAA (the ABC affiliate for the area), wearing a red and white striped jacket and straw hat, and carrying a candy-striped cane. I was in first grade at the time. As was the fashion at the time, he had a collection of stock characters, mostly puppets; the one I remember best was Mr. Wiggly Worm - performed by Haynes by sticking his finger up through the hole in the bottom of the box in which Mr. Wiggly Worm lived. Simple but amusing to us, his audience. Wikipedia notes that through a quirk of fate and timing, Jerry Haynes was the first person to report the assassination of John F Kennedy on local news. Haynes was born and raised in Dallas, graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School and train...

As previously noted, I've been re-watching the entire six season run of LOST. My soul-mate has patiently watched along side of me, though I know she'd rather be watching West Wing (or What Not To Wear). In honor of my birthday last weekend we finished off the last season in a burst of weekend-consuming marathon viewing. I have to say it: Blu Ray is worth the money. Sunday we watched the 2+ hour final episode, where the writers wrap up things as much as they are ever going to be wrapped up. By the time it's over, I'm in my weepy mode, from all the emotional twists of fate. The credits roll. I wipe my eyes. "So what did you think?" I ask. Long thoughtful pause on her side. "It was good ," she says, choosing her words carefully. "There certainly was a lot of it to watch." I guess I'll be watching the special features alone.

I've convinced my long-suffering wife to watch all six seasons of LOST (I preordered the gonzo boxed set as soon as it appeared on Amazon). We are now half-way through the final season and are still married. The ABC website has the following little bonus clip they released at Comic Con this year, which will only make sense if you are a total fanboy like me and have seen the entire LOST run: If it makes no sense, go back and review at ABC.com .

The punditocracy seems to agree that although the recent take-down of Osama bin Laden has bumped President Obama's poll numbers, this bump is likely to be short-lived because of lingering concerns over the state of the economy. At the same time there has been, since the previously-mentioned take-down, a low rumbling from some quarters about the lack of photographic or video documentation - not all of it from the frothing-at-the-mouth classes. Even people I consider reasonable want to see pictures, dammit. While enjoying a mint julep with one of my Republican friends yesterday (we were watching the Kentucky Derby), the pair of us came up with what I consider a brilliant idea that addresses both of Obama's issues. Pay-per-view of the bin Laden raid! There have been hints that videos and photos do exist, but that they are gruesome -- too gruesome for the public at large. So why not let people pay to see the carnage? Use the profits to pay for the War on Terror. The adult US popul...

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, an oppressed minority decided they'd taken all the shit they were going to and rose up against their persecutors. The scene of this uprising was the Stonewall Inn, a Mafia-owned bar in Greenwich Village in New York that catered to a primarily gay clientele. The spark that ignited this was a police raid on the Stonewall Inn. The end result was 3 days of sometimes violent demonstrations against police persecution by patrons and neighborhood folk. In the words of one anonymous participant, "Tuesday night was the last night for bullshit... Predominantly, the theme (w)as, 'this shit has got to stop!'" The Stonewall Riots are often identified as the beginning of the gay rights movement in America. PBS recently aired an excellent documentary about this watershed event called Stonewall Uprising which can be viewed online (at the present) on the PBS website. It should not be missed. Watching it places current strug...

Last Sunday was the LOST-o-thon: 2 hours of recap/interviews with cast and producers, followed by the 2 1/2 hour finale.  And if you wanted to hang around long enough, another hour entirely devoted to LOST on Jimmy Kimmel Live. It was exhausting. Reactions have been mixed. Much of Slashdot-dom hated it . They wanted ANSWERS, god-dammit. And while quite a few long time mysteries were addressed, not all were. So freaking what? A lot of how I processed the finale (as well as the show as whole) is based on things I learned and taught as a once and future painter. I've learned to appreciate and celebrate the power of ambiguity. Works of great art (if television can be art) engage the viewer/audience in the creative process. The viewer essentially finishes the work by layering on their personal interpretation or meaning, based on their life and experiences.  Giving people explicit answers shuts off that dialog. In the days that followed, there has been much discussion about ...

I've warned my wife: I plan to be camped out in front of the television all evening, watching the season opener of the final season of LOST. No phone calls, no conversation: I'm here for the night. If I could pre-order the complete series boxed set tonight from Amazon.com, I'd do it at the next commercial break.

Saw in the news that Art Clokey passed from this veil of tears on Friday, Jan 8, 2010. You may be more familiar with his creation Gumby, the green clay character with the lop-sided head ( modeled on his father's distinctive hairstyle ). In addition to Gumby, Clokey created the claymation series "Davey and Goliath," which was underwritten by the Lutheran Church. I remember many a Sunday morning watching while preparing to go to church with my family. For more on Clokey (as well as some interesting clips) see articles on the Boston Globe and New York Times .

The King is dead, long live the King. This is slightly stale, but a recent TIME online survey (we all know how accurate those are) reveals Jon Stewart of the Daily Show is now the most trusted newscaster in America . TIME's handy results page lets you show the numbers state by state. NBC's Brian Williams, a frequent Daily Show guest, takes the number two position. Despite the rampant goofiness of the show, the Daily Show consistently out reports the "mainstream media," in terms of their guests and in the research and preparation for said guests. Don't believe me? Just ask Jim Cramer . And here it is, your moment of Zen .

Just saw a Reuters report that journalist Walter Cronkite , often called "the most trusted man in America," has died at the age of 92. Born in Missouri on November 4, 1916, he moved to Houston, Texas when he was ten. His broadcast career began when he was 20 and became a radio announcer in Oklahoma. During WWII he covered North Africa and Europe, and was selected to fly on bombing raids over Germany. After the war he covered the Nuremberg Trials. Edward R Murrow recruited him for the new CBS television division in 1950. He became the anchorman of the CBS Evening News on April 16, 1962. Hearing his voice crack when announcing the official confirmation of John Kennedy's death was a defining moment for a generation. My generation. He was a passionate supporter of the U.S. space program and covered most of the launches for CBS. After a Cronkite editorial that called the Viet Nam war unwinnable, Lyndon Johnson reportedly said, "If I've lost Walter Cronkite, I'...

If you've never seen it, Spin , by film-maker Brian Springer, is a brilliant essay on the art of political spin. Created over a dozen years ago it's still relevant today. It's part of the Illegal Art Exhibit , which features a number of works considered "illegal" because of various copyright encumbrances ( Spin makes use of pirated, raw unedited network satellite feeds). It's yet another example of how copyright law has been twisted to all sorts of purposes not intended by by our nation's founders. This is the brainchild of StayFree! a non-profit magazine founded by Carrie McLaren in 1992 about the politics of culture. Check the other stuff on the Illegal Art site - worth your time. Spin and other films can be downloaded from Archive.org .

It's been a rough week for celebrity deaths: first Ed McMahon, then Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Now comes the most shocking of them all: William D. Mays, Jr., better known as Billy Mays the infomercial king, has gone to that great toll-free number in the sky, dead at the age of 50 . If you watch any cable or satellite TV you've seen him hawking all manner of amazing products, including OxiClean, Orange Glo and god knows how many other household goods. Best known for his in-your-face braying delivery (" Billy Mays here! ") and take-no-prisoners style, Mays has in recent years become America's most successful product hawker. In April 2009 he was featured in Discovery Channels documentary Pitchmen . Despite the slight air of sleeziness that exudes from "as seen on television" commercials, the products we've bought (they're in stores, too) have (mostly) lived up to the pitch. If Billy promoted it, you knew it would be worth the price (" ...

For my fellow LOST addicts, an amusing post on the Onion, speculating on a possible spin-off show .