Christmas Watching

(This is a recycled post, made out of two from last year)

Christmas is probably my favorite holiday, and one of the reasons why it is my favorite holiday are the specials - the Christmas movies, the television specials, the Christmas episodes of television series', I love so many of them. Throughout the Christmas season, I watch my favs, and ignore the ones I don't love. So, just like Thanksgiving, here's my list:

1) A Muppet Family Christmas: The 1987 television special featuring all of the different muppet creations and Jim Henson is my absolute favorite Christmas special ever. We had it on tape for years and years, until my father recklessly threw out a bunch of VHS tapes and lost it forever. Now, I watch the subpar legal release, which is missing such classic scenes as Fozzie singing with his snowman and the muppet babies in movie form and part of the ending medley of songs. But even the subpar Christmas special still has memorable lines, and Doc seeing the muppets and asking Sprocket if those were anything like those Fraggles he was always talking about. The Sesame Street gang is all there, and make "small talk"; the Fraggles are in the basement, and pass around a lucky yellow pebble. And it is full of good, Christmas fun.

2) The Nightmare Before Christmas: This is both a Halloween movie and a Christmas film. It works as both, and it is brilliant. Jack visiting Christmastown is wonderful, and the very idea that a holiday would get tired of doing the same thing year after year is exciting - especially when he steals someone else's holiday. Santa Claus is wonderful, and the kids reacting to their "presents" are great too. It also manages to be both creepy and oddly heart-warming, so kudos to Tim Burton for that.

3) The Santa Clause: I like Tim Allen; and although vaguely morbid (a woman at work had to explain to her five year old that Santa doesn't really die like that and that it was just a movie), it is fun and spreads good holiday cheer. Yes, Santa can be crassly commercial; but he also inspires kids to leave out soy milk because he's lactose intolerant. And Christmas, at its best, is really about family. The way Scott Calvin reconnects with not only his son but his ex-wife and her new husband warms the cockles of my heart.

4) Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer: No list is complete without Rudolf. Bumbles that bounce, the island of misfit toys, Rudolf lighting the way and getting all of those misfit toys new homes, and the message of accepting differences in others is holiday joy. Plus, it has Yukon Cornelius, one of the best creations ever. We certainly quote him a lot in this house. Throw in a story where the mother and girlfriend set off to find the young buck even in 1964 and an extremely tall elf in sunglasses, and I'm there.

5) A Christmas Story: Jean Shepherd's childhood tales are timeless. Just today I labelled a gift "FRAGILE: It must be Italian". Electric sex, laying there like a slug to avoid bullies, not getting in trouble at school after making your friend stick his tongue to a pole, "You'll shoot your eye out", manipulative and disheartening advertising, and Chinese turkey make A Christmas Story beyond awesome. It has sweetness, but it isn't cloying. It is about Christmas, but not just about Christmas; it is about life in that particular family and community that just happened to take place in that time of year. I'm sure Ralphie and the others could have run from Scut Farkis in the spring or fall as well (and that they did), but having it in the constant snow of the Christmas season just further highlighted the juxtaposition of life.

6) Sports Night's "Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee Tech": Aaron Sorkin delivers on Christmas; not only does the logo get a little Santa hat, but I think this end scene sums it up:

Casey: That's all for tonight, but before we sign off, we felt that with Christmas only a few days off and people making up lists and checking them twice, it was as good a time as any to mention some people who are important to us here at the show. It seems that quite a few of you, for instance, like the way Dan and I dress on the air, and you should know that we're dressed by Maureen Gates and Joseph Roveto. Maureen and Joseph are assisted by a young woman named Monica Brazelton, and Monica is not to be trifled with.

Dan: Our camera operators are Ray, Wayne, Bruce, John and Jerome, who wishes we'd do more features on hockey.
Casey: Not gonna happen, Jerome. Every time I pick up a pencil or put down a coffee mug, that's Jody Mann, and her trusty aide John Frantz, and if you've ever wondered what a gaffer was, or a best boy, you should ask Keith and Mark.
Dan: We've got some people who don't get paid much, but that's okay, 'cause the hours are terrible. They're our PA's, and their names are Lauren, Victoria, Jake, Lee, Ashley and Brad.
Casey: This is a script. Dan and I write it and then two people come along and put it together so that we can also read it. Their names are Joan and Chris and they, us and everyone else here are pretty much at the mercy of the script supervisor, Carol McKechnie, who's got
a little thing for me, and I think it's time she admits it.
Dan: Keri McIntyre--
Casey: Nicole Burke--
Dan: Shawn Manley--
Casey: Jeff Wheat--
Dan: Mark Johnson--
Casey: Cajun.
Dan: Cajun.
Casey: How 'bout Skip Cook--
Dan: How 'bout Phil Heath--
Casey: How 'bout Karen, Julie and Angela in make-up--
Dan: How 'bout Brenda, Cammy and Jody in hair-- We've got film on this show. You know who cuts it?
Casey: Janet Ashikaga. You know who her assistant is?
Dan: Laura the Wonderful.
Casey: We've just named a small fraction of the people who put this show on television, which means we've left out many more and we'll try and rectify that as we head toward December 25th. But for now, I'm Casey McCall alongside Dan Rydell, wishing everyone in your home, along with everyone here at my home a very happy Christmas.

Sorkin has a tendency to get meta, to draw directly from his life; and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I know that I disliked Kristin Chenoweth before I worshipped her due to Harriet Hayes of Studio Sixty being based on her, and Harriet not containing one iota of the sparkle and poise and charm and sweetness Chenoweth herself has. But some of his best moments come from that meta-tendency as well. Isaac's stroke stemming from Robert Guillaume's own stroke; fights with the network over Sports Night; and this. Those names Dan and Casey rattle off there at the end of this episode the show within a show Sports Night are names of people who worked on the actual show Sports Night - the one that did air on ABC. That is incredibly sweet and very cool, especially coming from an atheistic Jewish man.

7) Studio Sixty on the Sunset Strip's "The Christmas Show": I've got two words for you, and those are "Nazi Santa". Seriously. It is awesome and funny. Actually, I've got a couple of more for you. An atheistic Jewish man bringing Christmas spirit to a sketch comedy show that doesn't want any, leading to fun and friction. Also, Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. And for the sweet and moving part, a storyline involving band members from various TV shows taking sick days in order to get musicians displaced by Katrina work - and a band made up of New Orleans musicians displaced by Katrina playing "O Holy Night" at the end:

It also brought attention to Tipitina's Foundation, an organization meant to foster New Orleans' continued musical heritage. Those musicians? Are from Tipitina's.

8) Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "Amends": Okay, so it's hokey. But it is BtVS, and no holiday of mine is complete without it. Plus, I'm a sucker for miracle snow and Buffy and Angel's romance. I also love Willow's Jewishness, Xander getting the Channukah spirit, and the fact that not everything is white-washed. Xander's still sleeping outside of his house in an attempt to avoid his family's drunken gatherings because his home life sucks, and the snow isn't going to change that. Angel's still guilt-ridden, and snow isn't going to change that. After all, "Strong is fighting! It's hard, and it's painful, and it's every day. It's what we have to do. And we can do it together". But Christmas, at its best, offers a respite from the fight and from the hard painfulness of life. It isn't about the presents or nog or what religion your giving and charity come from, but about the people we surround ourselves with and whom we choose to buoy up and who we are buoyed up by. And that is what Amends, even with its saptastic ways, gives me.

9) A Charlie Brown Christmas:

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men'." That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

I'm with the guy on NPR's Talk of the Nation: that sounds better being spoken with a bit of a lisp. Or maybe it just sounds better by Linus.

10) The West Wing's "In Excelsis Deo": The choir boys singing Little Drummer Boy intercut with the burial of Toby's homeless soldier is incredibly moving. And its The West Wing.

11) The West Wing's "Noel": Yo-Yo Ma and Josh dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder makes an interesting Christmas episode combination. But it works, especially with the interconnectedness of Josh and Donna, and Josh and Leo.

12) Chuck's "Chuck vs the Crown Vic": Lester cheating at dreidl makes the entire episode; but Sarah and Chuck sweetly deciding to be friends and not letting Jeff pressure them with the mistletoe is also great. Plus, it includes Casey's prized car getting blowed all up.

13) Rugrats' "The Santa Experience": I love how Angelica gets a little piece of coal in her Cynthia dream house thing.

14) Rugrats' "Chanukah": Yeah, not Christmas; but it is still in the holiday spirit, and I personally love the pop up Torah and lines like "A Maccababy's gotta do do what a Maccababy's gotta do" and "It's hard to find the meanie of Chanukah". Plus, I love Santa versus the Aliens - which is very much like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

15) The Muppet Christmas Carol: This one is from John, and he's right. No list is complete without Gonzo reciting the back of his hand, and Statler Waldorf as Marley. Michael Caine is pretty terrific as well as Scrooge. And the Spirit of Christmas Day is awesome.

16) Bones' "The Man in the Fallout Shelter": The Jeffersonian gang gets stuck in the lab due to the bio-hazard alarm going off. And Christmas is celebrated through a glass partition, and later at a Chinese restaurant. Between a solved murder and a fortune given to those left behind and Bones opening the Christmas gifts from the year her parents disappeared under Angela's holographic Christmas tree.

17) Bones' "The Santa in the Slush": Santa's dead. And apparently people have made shanks out of Christmas trees. Plus, Caroline's feeling Puckish. Also, it is not morally wrong to lie around the Christmas holidays. It is kind of wrong for the death of a Santa to be so much fun.

18) Doctor Who's "The Christmas Invasion": Another John recommendation! Now, I'm a fan of the 9th Doctor; but Rose having to deal with the newly regenerated 10th Doctor being out of commission during an invasion and homicidal Christmas trees.

19) Frosty the Snowman: A holiday classic, for a reason. Even if Frosty is a moron for going in a greenhouse.

20) Elf: My family loves this movie, but I think it is worth watching for Zooey Deschanel and some great quotes.

Thanksgiving Day Watching

[Originally Posted Last Year]

Every Thanksgiving, I watch the Macy's Day Parade, but there are a whole bunch of other turkey day specials that go hand in hand with this yearly event as well! So, here's a list of what I'll be watching and some of what I already watched yesterday (because I'm impatient).

1) A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I love how Peppermint Patty invites herself over the Charlie Brown's on Thanksgiving Day, and then brings along Marcie and Franklin. I love Charlie Brown's and Linus' exchange, when Charlie Brown says, "I can't cook a Thanksgiving dinner! All I can make is cold cereal and maybe toast", and Linus responds with, "That's right. I've seen you make toast". I always wonder how even that blockhead Charlie Brown could screw up toast. I also enjoy Linus trying to make a historical connection to the current fight between Peppermint Patty and Charlie Brown and getting shot down by Patty saying, "No, it's not like that at all". But mostly, I love Snoopy helping to make the popcorn and the toast and serving it with jellybeans and pretzel sticks when he had an actual turkey cooking in his doghouse. Aside from the disturbing part of feeding the turkey to Woodstock, the fact that the dog could make a turkey and chose not to share it with the rest of the neighborhood is just hilarious to me. Of course, Linus and Charlie Brown never asked if he could - or was - making a turkey either.

2) Sports Night's Thespis. The episode is brilliant. From the frozen turkey on the light grid to this exchange:

Dana: My whole family's coming to New York. 18 people.

Natalie: And this is your first time making the dinner by yourself.

Dana: Yes.

Natalie: It's a rite of passage into adulthood.

Dana: Yes.

Kim: It's a time for giving thanks. A time to share in the warm embrace of family.

Dana: Right.

Natalie: You don't want to take any crap from your mother.

Dana: I really don't.

Aaron Sorkin has a tendency to pontificate during pretty much every moment, but Thespis is pitch perfect between the true spirit of being thankful and whacky hijinks that routinely plague any ghostly visitation. Isaac dealing with his daughter's placenta previa, Casey and Danny's anniversary fight, and Dana's turkey woes all highlight different interpersonal relationships, and all revolve around the idea of pointing out what is important by Thespis mocking what is not.

3) WKRP in Cincinnati's Turkey's Away: A Thanksgiving turkey drop goes very, incredibly wrong for the radio station gang, leading to outright hilarity.

I highly recommend watching the whole thing; Les makes it, especially with lines like, "The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement!"

4) Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pangs. A made family celebrating a day with pie and fighting vengeful spirits. The gang's all together, and it's great. They also get into the nitty gritty of the holiday, by both aptly describing what it is:

Anya: I love a ritual sacrifice.

Buffy: It's not really a one of those.

Anya: To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie.

And its problematic nature:

Professor Gerhardt (in the background): And that's why it's appropriate that the ground-breaking for the UC Sunnydale Cultural Partnership Center is taking place so soon before Thanksgiving. Because that's what the melting pot is about - contributions from all cultures, making our culture stronger.

Willow: What a load of horse hooey.

Buffy: We have a counterpoint?

Willow: Yeah. Thanksgiving isn't about the blending of two cultures. It's about one culture wiping out another. And then they make animated specials about the part where, with the maize and the big, big belt buckles. They don't show you the next scene, where all the bison die and Squanto takes a musketball in the stomach.

The episode isn't a shining beacon of cultural sensitivity, but it does present arguments from the different factions and also incorporates my own personal philosophy of "What happened in the past is something we should work to correct and acknowledge and the original 'everyone was happy when the pilgrims came to stay' meme is a sham, but it is a sham with yams and good family moments that should be taken and celebrated for their own right". Plus, it's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and no holiday of mine is complete without the corresponding episode.

5) Chuck, Chuck vs. The Nemesis. A newbie but a goodie. I'm holding on to Chuck tight, since Ned left me, and I love this episode for both the Buy More Thanksgiving preparations and the combined Bartowski and Morgan Thanksgiving. The whole thing, between preparations for Black Friday, Chuck dealing with his ex-best friend, and the actual dinner is incredibly funny.

6) Chuck, Chuck vs. The Gravitron. An even newer newbie but a goodie. Just Morgan's face when Ellie throws out the dry-run turkey is worth watching the episode for (though between this and Sports Night, I really have to start wondering how many people actually make dry-run turkeys before the big day). Captain Awesome continues his awesome streak, and Big Mike's defense of Buy More from robbers is incredible.

7) The West Wing, Shibboleth. Between CJ having to pick a turkey to be pardoned, and President Bartlet's incredulity that a high school student would not know that it was not in his power to actually pardon a turkey, the episode is a home run.

8) The West Wing, Indians in the Lobby. Aside from the plot the episode title is taken from, President Bartlet discovering there is a Butterball hotline is wonderful. As is his pretending to be a regular citizen while calling it to discover whether or not it is safe to cook his oyster stuffing inside his turkey or if he should make it separately.

Editing to Add:

9) Friends, The One Where Ross Got High. I usually don't like Friends very much. But I love this episode from start to finish. I love Monica and Ross' mom's response to all of the friends' outbursts, from Rachel putting beef in the trifle to Phoebe being in love with Jacque Cousteau to Joey wanting to go to Ross having done drugs and every other secret the siblings launch at each other in under a minute.

Have a happy and fulfilling Thanksgiving. And watch some television.

Also, new to this post, enjoy some Natalie Dee comics!

nataliedee.com


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nataliedee.com

What I'm Watching Right Now

This scene:



This is one of my favorite scenes of any movie, ever.

Dear Keith Olbermann,

Metaphors work much better if you don't explain every intrinsic detail of them, down to what each part of said metaphor refers to in its real world application. That's the whole point of a metaphor, to obliquely reference the situation at hand. This?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Misses the point of the function of the metaphor. As does your even more detailed, possibly footnoted, explanation during Countdown's intro:

"The football is bipartisan action in the time of crisis, this time the stimulus package. The Charlie Brown character is the president. Lucy, pulling the football away - again, is the Republican Party."

Look, Keith, I know you have a tendency to err on the side of pomposity, and I even like that about you. But you know who else had a tendency to err on the side of pomposity and still managed to make a workable Charlie Brown-Football reference? Aaron Sorkin:

BARTLET: You know what you are? You are the Charlie Brown of missile defense. The Pentagon is Lucy.

It was funny, and succinct. And yes, he was able to extrapolate on the details later:

LEO: I'm not familiar with the reference.

BARTLET: Peanuts. Charlie Brown.

LEO: I've heard of them. I'm just not conversant in them.

BARTLET: Why?

LEO: I've never read the comics.

BARTLET: Leo, were you born at age 55?

LEO: I know there's a dog.

BARTLET: Charlie Brown wanted to kick a football and Lucy would hold it, except she'd pull it away at the last minute and Charlie Brown would fall on his butt.

LEO: That's funny?

BARTLET: No, but each time Lucy would find a way to convince Charlie Brown that this time she wouldn't pull the ball away. But she would and, once again, Charlie Brown would fall on his butt.

LEO: And that's funny?

BARTLET: It's satirical.

LEO: What's it satirizing?

BARTLET: The DOD bringing you to the Situation Room every time they run a new missile test so that you come to me and tell me how great it works so I'll put money in the NMD system.

because he was a talented guy with a knack for dialogue. You, Keith, you're no Aaron Sorkin. I know that must be hard for you to believe, but you're not. Nor are you writing a drama where conversation is paramount. You're hosting a liberally slanted opinion show; and you've just got to learn to trust that your audience is not made up of Leo McGarrys but of people who have not only read Peanuts but have seen at least one of the holiday specials in their lifetimes. Trust the audience, Keith. We'll do some of the work for you. And if you don't trust the audience and continue to explain your metaphors down to the most infinitesimal detail, I'm going to have to assume that you just really don't understand how metaphors work.

Television and the Gendered Narratives

Many times in television and movies, women characters exist not so much for their own edification but to facilitate the journey of the male character. It is unfortunate, but women characters are often less than fully formed. Many times, the men are the active, and the women are the reactive. In many situations, men know best; and all of these things are problems. I bring this up to answer this query:

So what's your opinion of House, M.D.? Cuddy, Cameron and Hadley (better known as Thirteen)all seem to be positive role models in terms of their professional careers, at least.

I love House, mostly the first 3 seasons. I haven't seen a lot of this current season, because everyone else in my house has given up on the guy and there are only two televisions - and I never get to use them singularly by product of being the one person in the house without a constant partner (there are some benefits to be a twin or married in the television acquisition department). House is well written; House is witty, and interesting, and doesn't try to make its characters saints or even sympathetic. Gregory House is an atheist - though as much as I love that I do wonder if characters like House are part of the PR problem, since House is also a bit of a dick. But that doesn't mean House is problem free; it has never been problem free. Cuddy may be in charge in theory, but that doesn't stop her from being, at times, as well constructed as a piece of tissue paper - or House from insulting her sexual history, her dress sense, her intelligence, and her life in general before almost always getting his way. It doesn't stop Cuddy from messing up the cases she does become involved in, like when her handyman fell off her roof. This isn't an issue unique to House, as my one of my favorite writers ever, Aaron Sorkin, has the same propensity for making men the smarter sex, and women the hapless creatures who need men's guidance:

Men Are from Mars — and Smarter: At least that’s the world according to Sorkin. A favorite plot device was to have one character explain a complicated political issue to another. It almost always was a Smart Man explaining to an Ignorant Woman: Sam explaining the census to CJ (who gushed about how smart he is); Josh explaining many, many things to Donna.

The same sort of instance has apparently reared its ugly head on House, in a more blatant and, for my money, stems from an even more privileged perspective:

The biggest issue with this whole plot development is just how much of who Hadley is and how she develops is based on a man and how he manipulates her. She made the choice not to disclose her sexuality in the workplace but the straight male had no problem with declaring that she was bisexual. Forget about her agency to choose how and to who her sexuality should become known, all that we need is a smart man to figure everyone out. When she goes on her “self-destruct” mission it is Foreman who partly comes to the rescue. He offers her placement in a drug treatment study and admonishes her on giving up. When he feels she is not participating in the study to his liking he breaks into her home and checks up on her medication. When she is having trouble dealing with a more advanced patient who brings back painful memories of her mother he forces her to deal with the situation. Finally, when the fact that she has a terminal disease makes her less willing to be in a relationship, he arranges for her to “see” how well one patient is doing on the treatment.

 That doesn't make it any less problematic for House, but it does make it more of a systemic failure than a House failure. And it doesn't stop me from watching and enjoying the show on its own merits. In many ways, House and many of the male characters are complex and are three-dimensional. The women are categorically less interesting; it feels like the writers don't know how to write women - which is a problem that Bryan Fuller also said he has, and thus writes women with guy names (like Chuck) in order to connect to the character more easily. I should mention that I was highly offended and almost gave up on Pushing Daisies and Bryan Fuller - and only didn't because I was at a screening of the show with a friend. And while I'm happy I didn't, because I love Pushing Daisies, I'm still disgruntled at that comment.

House is problematic in the way above, but also for the reason articulated by MaggieElizabeth, a poster at Television Without Pity:

Ninety percent of the time, the woman gets to be the normal one.
Sure, she's competent, she's tough, and she's strong -- but she's ordinary, and all the while she's surrounded by weird and unpredictable male characters with funny, charismatic personalities.

House is the eccentric; he's the genius, he's the mastermind, he's the guy who does not conform to society's standards and doesn't have to because he's so damn brilliant. Cuddy may have been the youngest Chief of Medicine around, but she is still nothing special when compared to Gregory House. This isn't House's problem, not really. I'm not advocating a world in which men are always the normal ones and women get to be the weird, charismatic unpredictable ones. Just like the problem with a movie isn't that it in particular can't pass the Bechdel Test, but that most don't. The problem isn't that Star Wars in particular doesn't have two women discussing something other than men; the problem is that a significant portion of the films made don't. The problem isn't that House is a surly misanthrope genius, but that there are a bevy of male characters in House's shoes and very few women. The problem with the genius man or the man with incredible gifts is that there is no counterbalance. The Pie Maker on Pushing Daisies with his power to wake the dead; Chuck from Chuck having the incredible ability to see and remember hundreds of data-encrypted pictures; House; Walter Bishop; the guy on The Mentalist; the guy on Lie to Me; the guy on The Eleventh Hour; the guy on Journeyman. The women who are on these shows are sometimes capable, sometimes not, but almost always ordinary as well.

There is the odd show, most often made by Joss Whedon, that has the opposite, where the normal character in question is a guy. Buffy the Vampire Slayer's eccentric characters or characters with phenomenal powers were mostly women; Buffy herself, obviously, but also Willow and Tara and even Dawn. Xander and Giles were the normal ones. On the spin off Angel, Angel had superhuman powers, due to being a vampire; but there was also Cordelia, who had visions, and Fred - who was not only a genius but also socially awkward from years of being sequestered in a hellish alternate dimension. Wesley remained normal throughout the show's run, and Gunn - though there was some mojo in the 5th season - also remained an average guy. Firefly had River as the extraordinary one. And some shows aren't made by Joss. Bones has Temperance Brennan as the eccentric super-genius, and Seeley Booth as the every man, the intelligent guy who is still, even without virtue of being compared to Brennan, ordinary. Battlestar Galactica has Starbuck as the best pilot, and the one having prophetic visions. But these shows (most of which are off the air) don't carry enough weight to strike a proper counterbalance to the overall spectrum of shows where the opposite is true. And that is the issue with most of these problems. On their own, a show with stronger male characters, or smarter male characters, is not inherently problematic. But when most shows employ that narrative, it becomes more so.

Christmas Watching

Christmas is probably my favorite holiday, and one of the reasons why it is my favorite holiday are the specials - the Christmas movies, the television specials, the Christmas episodes of television series', I love so many of them. Throughout the Christmas season, I watch my favs, and ignore the ones I don't love. So, just like Thanksgiving, here's my list:

1) A Muppet Family Christmas: The 1987 television special featuring all of the different muppet creations and Jim Henson is my absolute favorite Christmas special ever. We had it on tape for years and years, until my father recklessly threw out a bunch of VHS tapes and lost it forever. Now, I watch the subpar legal release, which is missing such classic scenes as Fozzie singing with his snowman and the muppet babies in movie form and part of the ending medley of songs. But even the subpar Christmas special still has memorable lines, and Doc seeing the muppets and asking Sprocket if those were anything like those Fraggles he was always talking about. The Sesame Street gang is all there, and make "small talk"; the Fraggles are in the basement, and pass around a lucky yellow pebble. And it is full of good, Christmas fun.

2) The Nightmare Before Christmas: This is both a Halloween movie and a Christmas film. It works as both, and it is brilliant. Jack visiting Christmastown is wonderful, and the very idea that a holiday would get tired of doing the same thing year after year is exciting - especially when he steals someone else's holiday. Santa Claus is wonderful, and the kids reacting to their "presents" are great too. It also manages to be both creepy and oddly heart-warming, so kudos to Tim Burton for that.

3) The Santa Clause: I like Tim Allen; and although vaguely morbid (a woman at work had to explain to her five year old that Santa doesn't really die like that and that it was just a movie), it is fun and spreads good holiday cheer. Yes, Santa can be crassly commercial; but he also inspires kids to leave out soy milk because he's lactose intolerant. And Christmas, at its best, is really about family. The way Scott Calvin reconnects with not only his son but his ex-wife and her new husband warms the cockles of my heart.

4) Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer: No list is complete without Rudolf. Bumbles that bounce, the island of misfit toys, Rudolf lighting the way and getting all of those misfit toys new homes, and the message of accepting differences in others is holiday joy. Plus, it has Yukon Cornelius, one of the best creations ever. We certainly quote him a lot in this house. Throw in a story where the mother and girlfriend set off to find the young buck even in 1964 and an extremely tall elf in sunglasses, and I'm there.

5) A Christmas Story: Jean Shepherd's childhood tales are timeless. Just today I labelled a gift "FRAGILE: It must be Italian". Electric sex, laying there like a slug to avoid bullies, not getting in trouble at school after making your friend stick his tongue to a pole, "You'll shoot your eye out", manipulative and disheartening advertising, and Chinese turkey make A Christmas Story beyond awesome. It has sweetness, but it isn't cloying. It is about Christmas, but not just about Christmas; it is about life in that particular family and community that just happened to take place in that time of year. I'm sure Ralphie and the others could have run from Scut Farkis in the spring or fall as well (and that they did), but having it in the constant snow of the Christmas season just further highlighted the juxtaposition of life.

6) Sports Night's "Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee Tech": Aaron Sorkin delivers on Christmas; not only does the logo get a little Santa hat, but I think this end scene sums it up:

Casey: That's all for tonight, but before we sign off, we felt that with Christmas only a few days off and people making up lists and checking them twice, it was as good a time as any to mention some people who are important to us here at the show. It seems that quite a few of you, for instance, like the way Dan and I dress on the air, and you should know that we're dressed by Maureen Gates and Joseph Roveto. Maureen and Joseph are assisted by a young woman named Monica Brazelton, and Monica is not to be trifled with. 

Dan: Our camera operators are Ray, Wayne, Bruce, John and Jerome, who wishes we'd do more features on hockey.
Casey: Not gonna happen, Jerome. Every time I pick up a pencil or put down a coffee mug, that's Jody Mann, and her trusty aide John Frantz, and if you've ever wondered what a gaffer was, or a best boy, you should ask Keith and Mark.
Dan: We've got some people who don't get paid much, but that's okay, 'cause the hours are terrible. They're our PA's, and their names are Lauren, Victoria, Jake, Lee, Ashley and Brad.
Casey: This is a script. Dan and I write it and then two people come along and put it together so that we can also read it. Their names are Joan and Chris and they, us and everyone else here are pretty much at the mercy of the script supervisor, Carol McKechnie, who's got
a little thing for me, and I think it's time she admits it.
Dan: Keri McIntyre--
Casey: Nicole Burke--
Dan: Shawn Manley--
Casey: Jeff Wheat--
Dan: Mark Johnson--
Casey: Cajun.
Dan: Cajun.
Casey: How 'bout Skip Cook--
Dan: How 'bout Phil Heath--
Casey: How 'bout Karen, Julie and Angela in make-up--
Dan: How 'bout Brenda, Cammy and Jody in hair-- We've got film on this show. You know who cuts it?
Casey: Janet Ashikaga. You know who her assistant is?
Dan: Laura the Wonderful.
Casey: We've just named a small fraction of the people who put this show on television, which means we've left out many more and we'll try and rectify that as we head toward December 25th. But for now, I'm Casey McCall alongside Dan Rydell, wishing everyone in your home, along with everyone here at my home a very happy Christmas.

Sorkin has a tendency to get meta, to draw directly from his life; and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I know that I disliked Kristin Chenoweth before I worshipped her due to Harriet Hayes of Studio Sixty being based on her, and Harriet not containing one iota of the sparkle and poise and charm and sweetness Chenoweth herself has. But some of his best moments come from that meta-tendency as well. Isaac's stroke stemming from Robert Guillaume's own stroke; fights with the network over Sports Night; and this. Those names Dan and Casey rattle off there at the end of this episode the show within a show Sports Night are names of people who worked on the actual show Sports Night - the one that did air on ABC. That is incredibly sweet and very cool, especially coming from an atheistic Jewish man.

7) Studio Sixty on the Sunset Strip's "The Christmas Show": I've got two words for you, and those are "Nazi Santa". Seriously. It is awesome and funny. Actually, I've got a couple of more for you. An atheistic Jewish man bringing Christmas spirit to a sketch comedy show that doesn't want any, leading to fun and friction. Also, Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. And for the sweet and moving part, a storyline involving band members from various TV shows taking sick days in order to get musicians displaced by Katrina work - and a band made up of New Orleans musicians displaced by Katrina playing "O Holy Night" at the end:

It also brought attention to Tipitina's Foundation, an organization meant to foster New Orleans' continued musical heritage. Those musicians? Are from Tipitina's.

8) Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "Amends": Okay, so it's hokey. But it is BtVS, and no holiday of mine is complete without it. Plus, I'm a sucker for miracle snow and Buffy and Angel's romance. I also love Willow's Jewishness, Xander getting the Channukah spirit, and the fact that not everything is white-washed. Xander's still sleeping outside of his house in an attempt to avoid his family's drunken gatherings because his home life sucks, and the snow isn't going to change that. Angel's still guilt-ridden, and snow isn't going to change that. After all, "Strong is fighting! It's hard, and it's painful, and it's every day. It's what we have to do. And we can do it together". But Christmas, at its best, offers a respite from the fight and from the hard painfulness of life. It isn't about the presents or nog or what religion your giving and charity come from, but about the people we surround ourselves with and whom we choose to buoy up and who we are buoyed up by. And that is what Amends, even with its saptastic ways, gives me.

9) A Charlie Brown Christmas:

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men'." That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

I'm with the guy on NPR's Talk of the Nation: that sounds better being spoken with a bit of a lisp. Or maybe it just sounds better by Linus.

10) The West Wing's "In Excelsis Deo": The choir boys singing Little Drummer Boy intercut with the burial of Toby's homeless soldier is incredibly moving. And its The West Wing.

11) The West Wing's "Noel": Yo-Yo Ma and Josh dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder makes an interesting Christmas episode combination. But it works, especially with the interconnectedness of Josh and Donna, and Josh and Leo.

There will probably be more to come.

Thanksgiving Day Watching

Every Thanksgiving, I watch the Macy's Day Parade, but there are a whole bunch of other turkey day specials that go hand in hand with this yearly event as well! So, here's a list of what I'll be watching and some of what I already watched yesterday (because I'm impatient).

1) A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I love how Peppermint Patty invites herself over the Charlie Brown's on Thanksgiving Day, and then brings along Marcie and Franklin. I love Charlie Brown's and Linus' exchange, when Charlie Brown says, "I can't cook a Thanksgiving dinner! All I can make is cold cereal and maybe toast", and Linus responds with, "That's right. I've seen you make toast". I always wonder how even that blockhead Charlie Brown could screw up toast. I also enjoy Linus trying to make a historical connection to the current fight between Peppermint Patty and Charlie Brown and getting shot down by Patty saying, "No, it's not like that at all". But mostly, I love Snoopy helping to make the popcorn and the toast and serving it with jellybeans and pretzel sticks when he had an actual turkey cooking in his doghouse. Aside from the disturbing part of feeding the turkey to Woodstock, the fact that the dog could make a turkey and chose not to share it with the rest of the neighborhood is just hilarious to me. Of course, Linus and Charlie Brown never asked if he could - or was - making a turkey either.

2) Sports Night's Thespis. The episode is brilliant. From the frozen turkey on the light grid to this exchange:

Dana: My whole family's coming to New York. 18 people.

Natalie: And this is your first time making the dinner by yourself.

Dana: Yes.

Natalie: It's a rite of passage into adulthood.

Dana: Yes.

Kim: It's a time for giving thanks. A time to share in the warm embrace of family.

Dana: Right.

Natalie: You don't want to take any crap from your mother.

Dana: I really don't.

Aaron Sorkin has a tendency to pontificate during pretty much every moment, but Thespis is pitch perfect between the true spirit of being thankful and whacky hijinks that routinely plague any ghostly visitation. Isaac dealing with his daughter's placenta previa, Casey and Danny's anniversary fight, and Dana's turkey woes all highlight different interpersonal relationships, and all revolve around the idea of pointing out what is important by Thespis mocking what is not.

3) WKRP in Cincinnati's Turkey's Away: A Thanksgiving turkey drop goes very, incredibly wrong for the radio station gang, leading to outright hilarity.

I highly recommend watching the whole thing; Les makes it, especially with lines like, "The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement!"

4) Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pangs. A made family celebrating a day with pie and fighting vengeful spirits. The gang's all together, and it's great. They also get into the nitty gritty of the holiday, by both aptly describing what it is:

Anya: I love a ritual sacrifice.

Buffy: It's not really a one of those.

Anya: To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie.

And its problematic nature:

Professor Gerhardt (in the background): And that's why it's appropriate that the ground-breaking for the UC Sunnydale Cultural Partnership Center is taking place so soon before Thanksgiving. Because that's what the melting pot is about - contributions from all cultures, making our culture stronger.

Willow: What a load of horse hooey.

Buffy: We have a counterpoint?

Willow: Yeah. Thanksgiving isn't about the blending of two cultures. It's about one culture wiping out another. And then they make animated specials about the part where, with the maize and the big, big belt buckles. They don't show you the next scene, where all the bison die and Squanto takes a musketball in the stomach

.

The episode isn't a shining beacon of cultural sensitivity, but it does present arguments from the different factions and also incorporates my own personal philosophy of "What happened in the past is something we should work to correct and acknowledge and the original 'everyone was happy when the pilgrims came to stay' meme is a sham, but it is a sham with yams and good family moments that should be taken and celebrated for their own right". Plus, it's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and no holiday of mine is complete without the corresponding episode.

5) Chuck, Chuck vs. The Nemesis. A newbie but a goodie. I'm holding on to Chuck tight, since Ned left me, and I love this episode for both the Buy More Thanksgiving preparations and the combined Bartowski and Morgan Thanksgiving. The whole thing, between preparations for Black Friday, Chuck dealing with his ex-best friend, and the actual dinner is incredibly funny.

6) Chuck, Chuck vs. The Gravitron. An even newer newbie but a goodie. Just Morgan's face when Ellie throws out the dry-run turkey is worth watching the episode for (though between this and Sports Night, I really have to start wondering how many people actually make dry-run turkeys before the big day). Captain Awesome continues his awesome streak, and Big Mike's defense of Buy More from robbers is incredible.

7) The West Wing, Shibboleth. Between CJ having to pick a turkey to be pardoned, and President Bartlet's incredulity that a high school student would not know that it was not in his power to actually pardon a turkey, the episode is a home run.

8) The West Wing, Indians in the Lobby. Aside from the plot the episode title is taken from, President Bartlet discovering there is a Butterball hotline is wonderful. As is his pretending to be a regular citizen while calling it to discover whether or not it is safe to cook his oyster stuffing inside his turkey or if he should make it separately.

Editing to Add:

9) Friends, The One Where Ross Got High. I usually don't like Friends very much. But I love this episode from start to finish. I love Monica and Ross' mom's response to all of the friends' outbursts, from Rachel putting beef in the trifle to Phoebe being in love with Jacque Cousteau to Joey wanting to go to Ross having done drugs and every other secret the siblings launch at each other in under a minute. 

Have a happy and fulfilling Thanksgiving. And watch some television.

VP Debate: For Biden

I was kind of afraid Biden and the democrats were going to lose the expectations game; like Aaron Sorkin wrote about his fictional president debate, it really felt like the only way Biden was going to unequivocally win was if Sarah Palin "accidentally lights [her] podium on fire". Because "if the whole thing is [she] can't tie [her] shoes and it turns out [she] can', then that is the ball game" (Sorkin again!). Well, Sarah Palin can tie her shoes. She didn't light her podium on fire. She spoke in complete sentences, though I wish she'd dial back that "folksy charm", because it has turned into folksy charm on steroids - or a stage performance of folksy charm instead of the real thing. But I still think Biden did a wonderful job, and I would posit that he won the debate.

Sarah Palin was on, but she still annoyed me. It wasn't anything she could really help; but it is something that has bothered me in regard to other women politicians. And that is the need to be Tour Guide Barbie. She was incredibly smiley, incredibly saccharine. She showed more of a range of emotion than many women who step up to the podium. She was allowed to be serious and let that smile drop. But she also gave me pause when she talked about John McCain, the great reformer (for everything else John McCain is, "reform" isn't exactly a word that springs to mind when he's mentioned); and she gave me more pause when, after talking about how we needed regulation, she started the old republican talking point about how government is not the solution to our problems but the source of our problems. She was not surprisingly nonspecific, and she played to the idea of McCain the Maverick - something I was happy to see Joe Biden challenge her on. There was something else that bothered me tonight about Palin, and that was her insistence of including oil and oil drilling in with alternative energy. I could be wrong, but I always thought alternative energy meant energy derived from things other than fossil fuels.

There were times when she did well, I won't deny her that. I almost feel sorry for her, having to defend a candidate who, like Biden hammered home, just 2 weeks ago said the fundamentals of our economy are strong, and who has in the past admitted to not knowing much about the economy. I felt for her when she substituted McClellan for McKiernan. I felt for her because it was an obvious screw up that had no bearing on whether or not she knew what she was talking about. It was kind of like Joe Biden's earlier remark (a remark he quickly corrected) about a six month timetable for leaving Iraq. Joe caught his mistake mid-sentence; Palin did not have that luck. And that was too bad for her, because those actual little gaffes are to be expected and the fact that mix up will (and has already) gotten some attention is unfortunate. There was a moment, and I really wish I could remember it now and what was said, when I thought she hit it straight out of the ballpark. Of course, then she repeated this:

In a few weeks, you'll have the choice of voting for a ticket that wants to create jobs, and bolster the economy and win the war...

I desperately wanted some pithy remark from Biden like, "So you'll be voting for us then?" Because Sarah Palin didn't explain John McCain's position on taxes very well. She didn't explain how her camp planned on bolstering the economy. She had nothing to come back with when Biden said that most small business owners actually make less than 250 thousand dollars a year in income and so Obama's tax plan wouldn't affect them. And I thought Joe Biden did a better job on the war in Iraq and our timetable for leaving than she did. When she told him that he was "waving a white flag of defeat", I sat up straight. I was kind of relieved to see that response garner an immediate drop in approval from CBS' instant independent poll people. The ticket Sarah Palin described in the quote above was, to me, the Obama campaign (I think the first one of those repeats had a mention of tax cuts as well).

The only real issue I had, and I'll probably come back to it at some later time, was that one of the independent women voters interviewed afterward who said Sarah Palin did well said that she thought so because Sarah Palin was like an ordinary person. That Palin made the woman being interviewed feel like she could have been up there on that stage. I froze. If there is one argument I cannot stand, it is the "She makes me feel like she's just a regular person, like me!" way of voting. I don't really want my candidates to reflect me. I don't want them to make me feel that I could be up there behind that podium. There is a reason they are behind that podium and why I am sitting on my couch watching them. They are supposed to be smarter than I am, more aware of the issues than I am, and more capable than I am. I am not qualified to be vice-president, even if it is the John Nance Garner "not worth a pitcher of warm piss" type vice-presidency. So I would really prefer it if my candidate gave me the feeling like s/he understood me and where I stood on the issues, but was more qualified and more capable of smartly deciding how to implement the necessary changes on those issues. I had hoped we were over the "like me" way of voting -at least in this sense- after 8 years of President Bush. But I guess I was wrong.

Overall, Palin's performance had little to do with Joe Biden's performance; I loved his pithy "bridge to nowhere" comment. I enjoyed his references to the pieces of legislation he had passed. Pat Buchanan may not like the facts and statistics way of Biden's style (as he said tonight on MSNBC), but I thought his specific examples of his own legislation and positions and the counts of how many times McCain voted on policies contrary to what would help the American people (and how McCain voted against the same legislation meant to fund the troops as Obama did) offered a stark contrast to Palin's lack of specifics. It made him seem more aware and more knowledgeable and more on top of things than Palin was. But perhaps my favorite moment was when Biden said that Dick Cheney's vice-presidency has been the most destructive we've ever had, and his belief that the vice-presidency somehow is a part of the legislature is "bizarre". It has been too long since I've heard the word "bizarre" come out of anyone's mouth in a serious moment. I loved how he gave specific mention of what the vice-president's duties were as dictated by the constitution. I suppose it may be hypocritical of me to enjoy the Democrats' strict interpretation of the Constitution when their usual role is to defend its position as a 'living' and changing document when I am so appalled at the Republicans' recent insistence on enjoying the latitude the Constitution offers the position of the vice-presidency and thus using a less than strict interpretation of the document when conservatives are usually about strict interpretations. When Palin said that she saw the vice-president as being able to take an active role in the Senate, I almost wanted someone to make her sit down and watch HBO's John Adams -not all of the hours, of course; just the ones in which he was ridiculed for expanding his powers of the vice-presidency too far in that regard.

But for me, the most emotional moment of the night, and the moment in which I thought Joe Biden really succeeded in removing the air from Sarah Palin's populist lungs was when he choked up discussing the deaths of his wife and daughter.

In that moment, I don't know how one person watching could not be moved, and could not believe that Joe Biden actually did know about their own fears and trials and tragedies, that he could relate to them on more than just a superficial "We're not those East Coast political people" level. It was the most moving moment of the night, because it was the most sincere. The problem with Sarah Palin's "oh shucks, I'm just an ordinary hockey mom and I am so much more like you than that guy" is that it seems like a glossy veneer, that what connects Palin to those people is more about superficial notions of the "working class" and what they are like and the prejudices they have against those who are educated and those who rattle off numbers and those who - Heaven forbid - actually had ambitions in running for office. But those similarities only skim the surface; and although she said she and McCain are interested in breaking down partisan politics, that tactic is about conflating the unimportant differences between people into a very attack on identity. What Joe Biden did there was to allow for the humanity of the moment to reach across party lines and to truly demonstrate that maybe being a Senator for 36 years does not distance a man from the rigors of every day life. That maybe getting an elite education at one of the top universities in the country does not in actuality make a person an elitist. That maybe, the test for whether or not a person is like someone else should not be confused with whether or not that person talks in the same manner or buys the same style clothing or if they grew up in a small town but the ideas and thoughts and feelings that person carries.

Biden won. Palin did well; she didn't light the podium on fire, she can tie her shoes, she didn't fall off of the stage, and she spoke in complete and cogent sentences. She was greatly helped by the specter of low expectation. Even with all of that, Biden still won.

"I Won't Lie To You, Being Fictional Was A Big Advantage"

BARTLET Well, it seems to me your problem is a lot like the problem I had twice.

OBAMA Which was?

BARTLET A huge number of Americans thought I thought I was superior to them.

OBAMA And?

BARTLET I was.

OBAMA I mean, how did you overcome that?

BARTLET I won’t lie to you, being fictional was a big advantage.

Maureen Dowd's column latest column in the Times was written by Sorkin -or someone extremely proficient in Sorkinese. Check it out. It has all of Sorkin's greatest attributes, and some of his weakest flaws as well; it gets an A+ for rhetoric, for pacing, and for being a delightful read. Sorkin's dialogue is fantastic; but his soliloquies that make my head sing. In the world of writing, Sorkin is a classical composer and it shows. Words build on words; thoughts hinge on what came before, and though it may begin with one "instrument", by the end there is a full orchestra.

I wish I could quote my favorite lines from the Dowd column. In truth, though, that would end up being the whole thing. But a few ones that got my blood pumping would be:

"As a Democrat I was surprised to learn that I don't like small towns, God, people with jobs or America."

"I've been a little out of touch but is there a mandate that the vice president be skilled at field dressing a moose... ...and selling Air Force Two on eBay?"

"Because the idea of American exceptionalism doesn't extend to Americans being exceptional."

"The people who want English to be the official language of the United States are uncomfortable with their leaders being fluent in it."

And the creme de la creme:

"Call them liars, because that's what they are. Sarah Palin didn't say 'thanks but no thanks' to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said 'Thanks'. You were raised by a single mother on food stamps - where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annopolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I'd ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you're at it, I want the word 'patriot' back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn't know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can't do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie - the truth isn't their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they've earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It's not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman, and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology, and common sense too? It's not bad enough she's forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It's not enough that a woman shouldn't have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist's baby too? I don't know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she's got the qualifications of one. And you're worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!"

There are weaknesses; I don't know if Sarah Palin has forced her daughter into a loveless marriage and neither do Aaron Sorkin or Bill Maher, even though that doesn't stop them from repeating the line. Sorkin has a troubled and complex history with women characters, and some of that comes out in how he chooses to frame Palin in the piece, though the actual language he uses in its context creates the overall effectiveness. But overall, I want Sorkin to write political speeches - I don't care for whom. I want politicians, on both sides, to be forced to watch Sorkin's politicians and especially their speeches. I want to hear about how "the streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless". I want a president to stand up and challenge the idea that the ACLU is unAmerican in some way. I want a president (or presidential nominee) to be Andrew Shepherd and say:

"America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say 'You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land is the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the 'land of the free'."

So go; read the Maureen Dowd piece. And then rent The American President; watch some episodes of The West Wing or Sports Night (both have those moments of greatness of writing). And embrace Sorkinese. It makes the world a slightly better place; and it envisions a world in which people are truly, desperately, achingly passionate about their work and their place in the world; where every day they strive, in small ways and big ways, to do the right thing and to be the best they can be. And that, along with the way Sorkin chooses to tell it, is music to my ears. So one more quote from Sorkin, about the qualities of music and writing:

"Words, when spoken out loud for the sake of performance, are music. They have rhythm, and pitch, and timbre, and volume. These are the properties of music, and music has the ability to find us and move us, and lift us up in ways that literal meanings can't."

Fuck Anti-Intellectualism

I'm becoming ever-more foul-mouthed, and it would bother me more if there weren't so many reasons to be very, almost indescribably, angry. Anti-intellectualism has become a way of life. Anti-intellectualism goes to the core of the idea that you have to be likable and someone we'd all like to grab a beer with rather than some snooty guy who actually understands the basic principles of things like economic policy, global warming, and that pesky thing called The Constitution when running for president of the United States. And I hate it. There are some intellectuals who are elitist. There are some intellectuals who are divorced from reality. But there are just as many -if not more- people who are not intellectuals (one of whom that is coming to mind being the 43rd president of the United States) who are also divorced from reality. And now we've got McDonalds ads telling us to be less intellectual (and seeming to claim that all or most intellectual are pseudo-intellectuals any). Because apparently, being dumb and eating french fries is so much more freeing than actually contemplating global ramifications of our actions and knowing where Paraguay is -or even what Paraguay is:

This commercial and this one as well:

are products of a culture for whom thinking is apparently too hard, and something that should garner resentment if tried by others. We're living in a time in which Thomas Jefferson would have probably never made it to the White House (well, he wouldn't have made it for a variety of reasons, one of them being his crippling shyness and another being possible sex scandals, but let's ignore those for a second) because apparently being an excellent writer, admiring the French, and being not only a first class mind but a true Renaissance Man is a detriment when running for the highest office in the land.

I'm tired of it. Being an intellectual, being someone who is aware of the outside world and who is studied and learned, should be something we aspire to. It should not be the realm of just liberals. Liberals should not be attacked for being of the Ivies. We should be celebrating people who are smart enough and dedicated enough and talented enough and lucky enough to get such a chance as to go to an Ivy league school. And as Aaron Sorkin says (through Sam Seaborn), as today is his day, "...can you tell me what's wrong with the Ivy League? Should we be discouraging parents from hoping their kids get into Princeton and Yale and Dartmouth?" I want a president with gravitas. I want a president who can lead both by intellect and instinct, and I don't think we should have to choose between the two. I want a public that is proud of the brilliance of our public officials. I want a country where education and getting one is not something to be mocked. I want a world similar to Aaron Sorkin's, where being the smartest person in the room is an asset. I want the world to resemble Joss Whedon's, where intellect can take many forms rather than just the pure, straight up intellectual and where all those forms are acknowledged and praised and utilized.

But what I really want is for people to stop scoffing at the idea that being smart and being learned is something to take pride in. I want people to stop assuming that because you read a couple of books on a subject, you're just as much an authority as a person who wrote one of the books. We're a country of dichotomy. We believe that every single person is created equal; we also have people who are in positions of authority, intellectual and otherwise. We have to recognize that there isn't a contradiction there. That we have to keep striving for the land where all are equal, and we have to strive for the land where wanting to better oneself through education isn't a bad. We have two learned candidates right now; Obama was president of the Harvard Law Review. McCain read For Whom The Bell Tolls at age 12. He is a consummate reader and rereader. These two should be emphasizing that aspect of their candidacy, that they are both educated, smart, capable individuals; and the fact that is a strength and not a weakness.

I also see an anti-intellectual bent in this whole idea of "not blinking". Sarah Palin brought it up in her interview with Charlie Gibson:

 I want a president who will blink. Not in the face of danger or terror, or from making the hard choices. But I want a president who will assess which path to take, and then assess how successful that path was and whether or not it would be better to change course. I want a president who will do so willingly, instead of one -like the one we have now- who will do it obstinately and under duress. I want a president who will measure his actions and consider their continued trajectory. The idea that not blinking, that not 'flip flopping', that not reevaluating situations, is the greatest measure of a presidential candidate (or in this case, vice-presidential candidate) scares the daylights out of me. All of the great presidents reevaluated their situations and their beliefs. The Louisiana Purchase went against Jefferson's core principles about the federal government (and was very probably unconstitutional besides). Lincoln was forever reevaluating and reassessing his side's tactics in the Civil War. Great presidents do that, for the good of the nation. And it is utterly depressing to see one of the greatest skills, the skill to look beyond one's own beliefs and decide what will truly be helpful, being portrayed as an act of cowardice and vulnerability.

For the record, though, that second commercial with the men is a great deal funnier than the first. For one, it allows for the idea that these guys aren't idiots but would like to discuss football. And I did like the line at the end about the glasses: "I do need mine. They're very real". I still scowl at the idea that intellectuals don't know how to get down and discuss the sports or movie-movies (I enjoy doing both), but it does less to remove every vestige of intelligence than the ad featuring the women.

I Feel Like Such A Bad Fan

Aaron Sorkin, he of West Wing and Sports Night and The American President fame, has made (made!) a Facebook group dedicated to figuring out this whole Facebook thing in preparation for writing a movie about how Facebook came about. He did it a month ago, and I'm just finding out about it now. Which makes me feel like kind of a bad fan. Like, if Joss Whedon did this, I'd have been all over it within five minutes. At the same time, I feel a little better about my lack of knowledge (down right ignorance, actually), because out of any writer anywhere, I would expect Aaron Sorkin to be the one to never touch the internet with a sixty-foot pole -again. He did it once, and it went badly for him and ever since then he's written unflattering (but funny -and somewhat true) things about the internet in general, and bloggers and fan sites and forums specifically.

Like, The West Wing had a whole episode dedicated to how message boards, and people who visit them, are havens for the unmedicated and overly hysterical called The U.S. Poet Laureate, which contained this scene:

JOSH

The Internet people have gone crazy.

DONNA
You're kidding.

JOSH
They're calling the GAO "General Josh's Standing Army", and saying I don't understand it's mandate and purpose. They're saying if I could get a review of anything I want, that I should start by reviewing the job of Deputy C.O.S. Then one guy compares me to a poor man's Clark Clifford, and a page and a half of posts, debating whether or not I was mocking Egyptians with the Sanskrit reference.

DONNA
I told you they were hysterical.

JOSH
I thought you meant they were funny.

DONNA
They're not.

JOSH
I know they're not! It's "Lord of the Flies" in there.

Sorkin has often called bloggers and people who populate the internet names, like saying that they are fat chain smokers blogging in mumus while waiting for their tv dinners to heat up. He's also made the point, time and time again, that the internet is a perilous spot to garner information because there are no credentials from people with only handles instead of names.

Says Tom Jeter of Studio 60:

I'm a fan of credentials. It's like we've all spent the last five years living in a Roger Corman film called "Revenge of the Hack".

 No culpability and no way of seeing if the person blogging is an eight year old or someone who actually knows something about the subject is a bad in Sorkin's world. Mine too, if we want to get right down to it.

All this boils down to the fact that if someone was going to be messing about on the internet, Aaron Sorkin is probably the last person on earth to be doing it. John McCain would be ahead of him. Apparently, I was wrong in that assessment...

Anyway, it's been about a month, and here's what Aaron says about it:

Welcome. I'm Aaron Sorkin. I understand there are a few other people using Facebook pages under my name--which I find more flattering than creepy--but this is me. I don't know how I can prove that but feel free to test me.

I've just agreed to write a movie for Sony and producer Scott Rudin about how Facebook was invented. I figured a good first step in my preparation would be finding out what Facebook is, so I've started this page. (Actually it was started by my researcher, Ian Reichbach, because my grandmother has more Internet savvy than I do and she's been dead for 33 years.)

Some of you might be familiar with some things I've written. I'm the author of two Broadway plays--A Few Good Men and The Farnsworth Invention, five feature films--A Few Good Men, The American President, Malice, Charlie Wilson's War and The Trial of the Chicago 7 which is in pre-production, and three television series--Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and the first four seasons of The West Wing.

I honestly don't know how this works, which is why I'm here. If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer them as best I can. If anyone has any comments I'm glad to listen. And if anyone has any Facebook stories I think they might be helpful.

That's all. I'll try to get better at this as I get more practice.

Aaron

* I feel about this introduction the way I felt about Sophie's Choice--It could have been funnier.

So go and join the group. Let's give the big lug some sort of pleasant experience in the internet world. And maybe comment in the discussion group things. I probably won't be doing that, but still. 

Writing and Whedon

I know I tend to get on kicks where I discuss the hell out of one particular subject to the detriment of reader retention and interest, so I promise that this will be my last blog entry on Joss Whedon for a while -at least a week. I would extend that further, but I'm kind of a little bit obsessed.

Anyway, due to the recent release of Dr. Horribe's Sing Along Blog, there has been a whole host of literature flooding the web devoted to analyzing and criticizing and critiquing its content. I have, due to said obsession and a little bit of boredom, read a lot of it. Several have struck my fancy. More than a couple did not. But there was one where I disagreed -profoundly- with the opening statement, that being this:

"I give my audience what they need, not what they want"? How did fandom let him off the hook for that and the one-way, almost dictatorial street of creator-fan interaction that implies?

One, I think think that quote has been forever misinterpreted. That isn't to say that Whedon gives audiences what they want, in terms of fluffy bunnies or whatever. I'm sure there are many fans (myself among them) who have wanted things along the way he has firmly denied them: Angel & Buffy 4ever, an alive Tara, a dead Dawn, etc. But he does give the audience what they want and what they need in terms of brilliant and multifaceted characters, witty and meaningful and wonderful dialogue, and a clear and interesting philosophical take on the world. But I'll get back to this in a minute because I think there is a real issue here that needs to be addressed.

Writing is a dictatorship. I am a writer, albeit not professionally. And I would be lying if I said thoughts of my audience didn't come creeping in, didn't make me rewrite sentences and rethink posting on certain subject. I had a post all written up about Katie Couric and racism versus sexism -but then there was that John Kerry thing and I've decided to wait a bit before putting that up. Because, well, parts of it need to be rewritten and also it seems kind of like intentionally throwing gasoline on an inferno right now. But don't get me wrong; when I write -fiction, nonfiction, whatever- it is my thoughts and my feelings and what I want to express that get the most play. I decide what stories I want to highlight, what issues are of greatest importance to me, and how polite/offensive I want to be. I frame the original argument, and those who read it generally have the opportunity to work within that frame -whether by agreeing with me or not.

Writing isn't a dialogue; it isn't a lateral movement. The writer and the reader are not equals on this particular scale. The fan has the right and the responsibility to critique, to point out weaknesses and latent 'isms and so forth, but the writer is the creator. The writer doesn't -or shouldn't- take requests or modify his (or her) own vision based purely on fan response. Writers aren't short-order cooks. And so whatever two-way street that does exist owes its existence to the writer allowing an up-down dialogue about ideas and structures and criticism. There are plenty of lateral discussions among fans, and those will always exist and have forever existed and have a meaning and purpose. But really being able to talk to the author, to demand explanation and change, well that's all on the author to allow or deny. Joss Whedon happens to be very fan friendly. He visits fan communities, he types under his own name, he is genuinely respectful, and he seems to really appreciate his voracious and kind of crazy fanbase. He's made some comments about fans and fan interpretation that have come under fire, but often times he takes the time to explain his vision and show an appreciation for fans, especially those on-line. Other writers don't do that. You want to see a true dictatorship, a writer who at times seems to despise his own intense, obsessive fanbase? Look to Aaron Sorkin. And he takes a lot of flak for it that is, frankly, undeserved. Because fans are allowed and expected to have an opinion, but they shouldn't expect to necessarily have their opinion matter or be valid. They have the ability to control a product only so far, and that is -like with so many other things in a capitalist culture- based mainly on what and how they choose to consume the product. If the show doesn't get the ratings, especially after good, solid ratings for years, then that is how the fans have spoken.

And Whedon generally has a pretty good feel for the pulse of his fanbase. He talks about writing a scene in the episode "Innocence" on Buffy the Vampire Slayer specifically so the audience would fall in love with a certain character. He knows what the audience needs in order to feel as deeply for his creations as he does. And he knows enough to disregard what they want in order to fulfill what he needs to do and what he wants to express. People die; lives are ruined; characters become twisted and dark and saved again. But we shouldn't -as fans- for one second believe that we have the right to a democracy. Fans -and even nonfans- seem to come to the mistaken assumption that the product is theirs. That once it leaves the author's head, it no longer belongs to its creator. And in a way, they are half right. Works authors intended to be taken in one way can and will be interpreted at times to mean the exact opposite. That is the nature of the micronarrative at work. But they aren't right in the idea that they get an actual piece of the creative pie, because they don't. At most, fans have to hope for an author who has his (or her) finger on the pulse of the thing, who understands the fans and the characters and is able to move the story forward organically while simultaneously not driving watchers or readers away in hordes. The smart author does that; the smart author understands that staying true to the work is the best way to stay true to the fans; to love the characters and to write from the characters is the best way to please fans, because fans can tell when an author's heart is no longer in his (or her) creation and fans can tell when authors are pandering to the fanbase. And it tends to make them cranky. Because most fans would probably prefer a lovingly and intricately crafted dictatorship than a haphazard mish mash of contradicting dogmas existing purely to satiate fan want.

Which brings me to the second part of this rant, that being Whedon's line of giving the audience what they need. Now, I think he is giving fans what they need from the tale instead of giving them what the wanted from it. Penny's death in Dr. Horrible, Jenny's death in BtVS, Buffy and Angel's break up, Buffy's death (twice), the arrival of Dawn, Restless, Hush, Once More with Feeling, Wash, all of these things are examples of items fans may not have particularly wanted (or even thought about) but needed -either to make the story fully work or because it was a pushing of the boundaries or what-have-you. Whedon made an allusion to Romeo and Juliet in his explanation of this philosophy once, that it works so well because we want Romeo and Juliet to get away and live as old marrieds, but Shakespeare gives us what we need -the emotional catharsis of their untimely and tragic demise- and because of that the play is a classic in a way it wouldn't have been if we'd only gotten what we'd wanted. And there's a definite truth to that. If entertainment can be more than simply about entertaining people, if really good works of art can come from entertainment, we need works that push us beyond the boundaries of what we want and into what we need. We need works that challenge our ideas, challenge our beliefs, and wake us the hell up. We need works that don't end happily; we needs works that end happily too, but I don't think Joss is our man for that.

There is a second interpretation of the line, one not based upon but supported by the line slightly rephrased by Whedon himself. The line becomes "I'd rather have a show that a hundred people need to see than a thousand people want to see". Joss wants devoted fans; he desires people needing to see what he creates; he desperately needs fans to be just as attached to and just as moved by and just as crushed by his characters and what happens to them as he is. He would rather make a show that was constantly on the verge of cancellation but meant something than made a show that was a big hit but that most people casually viewed while discussing their day. It is the difference between making a Two and a Half Men and... ...well, a Firefly. Or a Sports Night. There are times when the two shows are the same thing; The West Wing had a devoted, obsessive fanbase. Buffy the Vampire Slayer did well in the ratings for the network(s) it was on. But I think in the grand scheme of things, Joss wants fans who are like him when he is a fan: frantic, obsessed, broken-hearted when there are reruns or deaths or tragic happenstances, and overjoyed when something goes right for once. I could be wrong about that, but I think that the two-pronged interpretation of Joss' most hated statement among the fanbase is necessary to even begin getting to the heart of the matter.

I'm not wrong about the writing though.