I Know Ruinous sir, and you are no...Oh, Wait you ARE!!

So, Dick "Wadd" Cheney says that leaving Iraq would be "ruinous" to our county's security. Well Wadd, it isn't going to fly this time you pustulant fuck-face.

What has been "ruinous" to our security was going to Iraq for no reason whatsoever. What has been "ruinous" to our security was your constant spewing of one bogus reason after another for why we invaded Iraq. What has been "ruinous" to our security was to show ourselves to the world as a country hell-bent on dominating and bullying the rest of the world. What has been "ruinous" to our security was squandering all the goodwill around the world directed toward us after 9/11. What has been "ruinous" to our security is the Bush administration and this cretinous thug Cheney. What has been "ruinous" to our security is anyone who still supports these evangelists for fear, these lying cowards, these despicable loathsome swine.

These shit bags like to say, every time they bogus up another "terrorist plot" against us, that the terrorists are after us because they "hate freedom." Well, if they hated freedom so much they would attack Canada and Mexico and Germany and Sweden and Switzerland and Iceland and any of the other "free" countries around the globe. But they don't because it isn't freedom they hate it's fat fucks like Dick Wadd here sticking their noses into the business of the middle east countires. They don't attack anyone who stays out of their countries. They don't hate freedom, they hate the warmongers and war profiteers that have been in charge here for far too long. Come November, I see some indictments and some impeachments just around the corner.

Now your mileage on this scum may vary, but if it does it simply means you have not been paying attention.

This is What's Happening!

I have been a fan of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar from almost the first time I heard it so many, many moons ago. I've seen the film a number of times (most recently in a stunning letterboxed version on the Sundance Channel) and on the stage four or five times as well (once with Carl Anderson as Judas and once in an absolutely brilliant outdoor production at the Universal Amphitheater.

The Universal show was produced by Tom O’Horgan who did the Broadway production, and the stage set consisted of three stone outcroppings backed by an 80-foot tall cross draped in cloth. On closer examination, the two small stone groups near the sides of the stage were gigantic hands, palm up with fingers reaching for the sky and the large stone structure in the middle was Jesus's face screaming. When Judas dieed, he stood in Jesus's mouth, which flamed bright red and descended into hell screaming "You have murdered me! Murdered me!"

Pilot reigned from a throne of human skulls that was frantically whipped around the stage while he laughed manically. Herod was wheeled onto the stage in a contraption made out of nude alabaster manikins, whose arms raised on que to allow the white-suited Herod his entrance.

For the crucifixion Jesus and his disciples climbed the uncloaked cross and, as Jesus got into position, the disciples made a halo out of their open hands surrounding his head that glowed in the spotlights. As they played John 19:41 the cross began to slowly move back from the stage until by the end of the song it had disappeared in the darkness.

A spectacular production (O’Horgan is the guy who originally wanted to crucify Jesus on the handlebars of a Harley, but was talked out of it) of a spectacular opera. As much as I enjoyed the "spectacle" of that show, I think I would have loved this one even more...

Last week, August 13 to be exact, there was a one-time only benefit production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Los Angeles. Oh, how I wanted to go. Here was the cast:

Jesus - Ted Neeley (the Jesus from the film, now 62 and beginning his farewell tour of JCS)
Judas - Ben Vereen (who played Judas in the original Broadway production [Carl Anderson who played Judas in the film died in 2004])
Mary Magdalene - Yvonne Elliman (who played Mary on the Original London Cast album, in the original Broadway production and in the film)
Pontius Pilate - Barry Dennen (who played Pilot on the Original London Cast album, in the original Broadway production and in the film)
King Herod - Jack Black (star of School of Rock, King Kong, etc.)
Simon Zealotes - Clint Holmes

Oh how I wanted to go, but the tickets were a little steep.

What's the Fuzz, Tell Me What's Happening!

I have an article coming out in the December issue of Back Issue magazine. The article is on the late, great comic book artist Don Newton, a man who I have been a fan of for almost 40 years (Don died in 1984). Anyway, I emailed my article in mid-July and talked to the editor at the San Diego Comic-Con and everything was OK. I had till August 15 to get him copies of the tons of Newton artwork I own or have copies of.

Well, some of the stuff is small and can be scanned, but some of it needs to be photographed, uploaded to my PC and massaged before sending in. I own a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P92 digital camera which I was going to use to take the pictures. But when I tried it recently, the viewfinder only shows blackness or blackness with fuzzy white streaks through it.

Running out of time I borrowed a Cyber-Shot DCS-P72 from a friend at work, but when I started to use it, before I got a single shot, the viewfinder went black! Am I bad with cameras or what?

I got an extention on getting the artwork in, but have no idea how I am going to get it done. I know that I won't be borrowing anyones Sony camera though. When I went to the Sony site to find out about repairing the camera I was sent to a page about a class action settlement regarding just the problem both cameras are experiencing. If you own a Sony digital camera or camcorder and are also experiencing the same sort of issue, the link above can bring you relief. Sony will fix your camera for free.

This isn't a problem with one or two products, here is the full list:

Camcorders

CCD-TRV118; CCD-TRV128; CCD-TRV318; CCD-TRV328; DCR-DVD100; DCR-DVD101; DCR-DVD200; DCR-DVD300; DCR-HC20; DCR-HC20 M; DCR-HC30/S; DCR-IP5; DCR-IP55; DCR-PC101; DCR-PC105; DCR-PC120BT; DCR-TRV18; DCR-TRV19; DCR-TRV19M; DCR-TRV22; DCR-TRV240; DCR-TRV25; DCR-TRV250; DCR-TRV260; DCR-TRV27; DCR-TRV33; DCR-TRV340; DCR-TRV38; DCR-TRV39; DCR-TRV460; DCR-TRV50; DCR-TRV740; DCR-TRV840; DCR-TRV950; DCR-VX2000; DCR-VX2100; DSR-250; DSR-250/1; DSR-PD150; DSR-PD170; and DSR-PDX10.

Digital Still Cameras

DSC-F717; DSC-P10/S; DSC-P2/S; DSC-P31; DSC-P31M; DSC-P32; DSC-P32M; DSC-P51; DSC-P51M; DSC-P52; DSC-P52 M; DSC-P7; DSC-P71; DSC-P71M; DSC-P72; DSC-P72M; DSC-P8/L; DSC-P8/R; DSC-P8/S; DSC-P92; DSC-P92M; DSC-U10/S; DSC-U20/B; DSC-U20/LJ; DSC-U20/S; DSC-U30/H; DSC-U30/LJ; DSC-U30/S; DSC-U60; DSC-V1; MVC-CD250; MVC-CD250 M; MVC-CD400; MVC-CD500; MVC-FD100; MVC-FD100 M; MVC-FD200; and MVC-FD200 M.

Love has everything to do with it

Last week, Arthur Lee, frontman of '60s psychedelic legends Love, died of acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of 61.

I had heard on Sirius recently of a New York benefit concert having been put together by Robert Plant, Yo La Tengo, Ryan Adams, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah to raise money for Lee's medical expenses, so I was aware that he was ill. I just didn't know how bad it was.

Love's 1967 album Forever Changes is widely considered one of the greatest of its era, and remains hugely influential nearly 40 years later.

I remember Love because my brother Jack had their first three albums: Love, Da Capo and Forever Changes and we would listen to them from time to time.

The Da Capo album contains a song with some of my favorite lyrics of all time: Seven and Seven Is:

Seven and Seven Is
by (Arthur Lee) Love

When I was a boy I thought about the times I'd be a man
I'd sit inside a bottle and pretend that I was in a can
In my lonely room I'd sit my mind in an ice cream cone
You can throw me if you wanna 'cause I'm a bone and I go
Oop-ip-ip oop-ip-ip, yeah!

If I don't start cryin' it's because that I have got no eyes
My father's in the fireplace and my dog lies hypnotized
Through a crack of light I was unable to find my way
Trapped inside a night but I'm a day and I go
Oop-ip-ip oop-ip-ip, yeah!

One... Two... Three... Four!


I listened to their Greatest Hits album this week and some of Love's music is still ahead of its time. I for one, will miss Arthur.