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| Yep. This is the stuff of movie legend. |
The Avengers came out last night at midnight, and it looks set to break all kinds of records. Strong franchise, good buzz, great reviews… Joss Whedon has never exactly been one of Hollywood’s shrinking violets, but right this instant with this new success set to follow up so closely on the much smaller but no less notable success of A Cabin in the Woods, I expect Whedon will be the new King of the World here very shortly.
All of which says nothing so much as how capricious Hollywood can be. Whedon had an idea for a movie, and he got it greenlighted, but then the studios got ahold of it, and we got the original, electric pastel version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Which sucked. So Whedon takes it back, pitches it to the smallest TV network on the planet, probably has to fight like mad just to get it on the screen, but at least it gets done his way this time, and though the people scoff… Lo and behold—instant classic. Buffy runs for seven seasons.
So then Whedon’s looking to capitalize on his success. He spins Angel off of Buffy, but almost immediately the production budget starts getting trimmed, and with it, the audience starts falling off, and soon enough, the show gets the axe. No problem. Whedon goes back to the lab, comes out again with a space western called Firefly. And it is fucking unbelievably good. But. The network never really gets behind that show for reasons that no one truly understands, and after schedule change upon schedule change, the show gets axed after a mere eight episodes. Folks complain that they never knew when Firefly was on, and I believe them. I remember that I never knew when Firefly was on, and I was paying as much attention as anyone. Nerds the world over are struck dumb, and I can only imagine what Whedon himself must have thought.
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| Wait, what? Half these guys aren't even in the movie! |
After that, Whedon retreats. He puts Buffy and company back out in comic book form via Dark Horse—it’s doing fine, thank you very much—and he gets a twenty-four issue gig writing The Astonishing X-Men. Astonishing X-Men does really, really well despite being plagued by delays, and speaking personally, it’s now one of my favorite X-Men stories of all time. Somehow, Whedon then manages to get a Firefly movie called Serenity made, and while I have no idea how that did commercially, I thought it was packed a little tight in its final form. Like he took an entire season’s worth of story and tried to cram it into a two-and-a-half hour movie version of the same concept. Regardless, Whedon’s still working in comics, still working that angle with Marvel, and…
Obviously it paid off.
So here we are. Sally and I have tickets to see The Avengers tomorrow at 6:40—thank you, Fandango—and I’m more excited than I have been about a movie since I was twelve years old, and my friends and I went to see Ghostbusters. Seriously, when was the last time that an enormous Hollywood blockbuster got this much hype but looked to actually live up to it? I personally can’t remember. But as I said, Ghostbusters is the comparison that comes to mind. I guess we’ll see.
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Slate ran an article this week on what it was like to be a U.S. Military Advisor in Iraq. Bottom line, it looks like it really sucked. A lot. Still, it’s a terrific article if you have the time to read it. The guys that this story describes found themselves in such a bad situation that, frankly, it’s unbelievable. I’m amazed that anyone could do what they did for an entire year and live to tell the tale.
While we’re talking about it, I want you to know that I thank God every day that there are people out there who actually want to be in the Army. Because God knows that I myself am not one of them.
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President Obama would like for you to remember that he authorized the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. And in fairness, it was a high-risk operation carried out without permission inside the borders of a technologically advanced, ostensibly allied nation. Had it gone wrong, it would have gone really wrong, and the President would certainly have gotten the blame. So I suppose we can give him the credit for being right. Fine.
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| Jimmy Carter says, "To be great is to be misunderstood." |
What I find more interesting is Mitt Romney’s claim that “even Jimmy Carter” would have authorized that raid into Pakistan. Maybe. I mean, Carter’s signature military move was the Desert One operation to rescue the hostages at the Iranian Embassy back in 1979, and in case you’ve forgotten, that one was a fucking disaster. But at least it showed that Carter had some balls. Folks today mostly argue that Carter’s foreign policy was ineffectual—that, my friends, is an argument for another day—but we nevertheless have proof positive that he was ready to intervene militarily to protect specific American interests in a vaguely similar high risk situation. It doesn’t follow, however, that Romney would have done the same—either time. Instead, what we have is Romney on record in 2007 saying something like “it doesn’t make sense to move Heaven and Earth just to go get one guy.” And y’know what? He might’ve been right. But that’s what makes Obama’s campaign strategy relevant.
Look, I can see the argument that the raid itself was a mistake, that Bin Laden had already been marginalized, that pissing off Pakistan like that has destabilized the region and made the situation in Afghanistan untenable. Speaking as a New Yorker who was in the City on 9/11, I personally think that the motherfucker who orchestrated the attacked needed to die, but I can understand the argument for not executing the raid. It’s at best debatable that we’re better off now than we were before it. Moreover, I believe that this regional argument is the one the second Bush administration followed, which is why, I think, that Bush the Younger never seriously went after Bin Laden once he escaped Tora Bora. Bush is on record saying that the war in Afghanistan is more important than getting one marginalized guy ever was, no matter how much that one guy had it coming. All of which points out that there was considerable room for disagreement on this issue before the raid was executed—even amongst hawks. Thus Romney’s argument—that the decision to execute the raid was a no-brainer—was clever but still fucking bullshit.
Folks today think of Carter as such a failure that he’s become an easy target politically. But we have him on record executing a similar kind of action. So clearly any President would’ve made the same call, right? Since Carter did? But does that mean that Romney would’ve authorized the Desert One raid, too? Because like I said, that one didn’t go so well.
My point is that this stuff is not nearly as straightforward as the former governor would like for you to believe. Take that, in whatever context you like, for whatever it’s worth.
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While we’re on politics, CBS News.com had a somewhat helpful comparison of the candidates’ views on various issues this week. Unfortunately, the write-ups come mostly from campaign talking points, so there’s not much in the way of analysis on the costs/possibilities/effects of the various proposals listed. Reading through this, though, I was struck by two things:
1. How often it appeared that Romney had promised some kind of superficial change to the current President’s policies without explicitly stating what that change would be. Which is to say that change was promised for the sake of being different rather than because of a substantive difference on the issues in question. Examples are U.S. policies towards Iran and Syria. In both cases, the nation’s options appear to be strictly limited, and both candidates appear to know it. But it’s a problem for Romney because he can’t admit that the President’s current policy is probably the best that the country can do in a bad situation. In our current climate, Romney can’t afford to cede an inch of ground, can’t afford to agree on anything. So he has to promise change, has to promise better, and that’s a problem because in some places, better isn’t necessarily realistic.
2. How often what I’d really like to see is a mix of the both sides’ proposals. For example, the tax proposals of both have elements that I like, but I’m against any further tax reductions. You ask me, we need to end the Bush era tax cuts, pass the Buffet rule, and close a lot of the sillier incentive-deduction loopholes. It’s that last piece that I think Romney might actually have a chance to make stick if he’s elected where Obama doesn’t seem to have either a prayer of getting effective change through Congress nor much of a policy answer in place even if he did. Unfortunately, however, it looks like I can’t get most of the tax reforms I want without also getting another dose of kind of voodoo economic supply-side crap to go along with it.
Hello? Two wars? Big bill? Lots of baby boomers retiring?
Eh. Looks to me like nobody’s gonna pick up the tab. Again.
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| Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing |
Back on the Avengers, a website called Cinema Blend ran an article with Marvel’s president Kevin Feige about Iron Man 3 and the company’s future now that its long term strategy is starting to play out. Among other things, he talks a little bit about trying to reboot the Hulk as a TV show again.
No word on M.O.D.O.K., but if anybody asks, that’s who I’d like to see in Iron Man 3.
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Last thing on politics: Romney’s national security expert was forced to resign this week because he’s gay. One of the GOP’s family values groups apparently forced the resignation, and I point it out mainly because of what it—and the article itself—says about the state of the Republican party and our current lack-of-choice in public life.
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Finally, the Octomom filed for bankruptcy this week. Coverage has noted, although not in the article I linked, that she’s said she’s up for pretty much anything as long as it pays, which most people have taken to mean that she’s gonna do porn if the offers are still out there. She notes, however, that she won’t do kissing. Because I guess she thinks she’s Julia Roberts.
Personally, I’ve never understood that line of thought.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. Have a great weekend everybody!
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