Gone fishin'

Ice fishing, that is. Posting will be light well lighter than usual for the next two weeks, as we depart for two weeks of frigid fun in the ancestral homeland.

Filed under: cats

Two takes

Ogged and Juan Cole say the two things that need to be said about the capture of Saddam:

Juan Cole on why this is a great day and a frightening day:

A nightmare has ended. He will be tried, and two nations’ dirty laundry will be exposed, the only basis on which all can go forward towards a new Persian Gulf and a new relationship with the West.

What is the significance of the capture of Saddam for contemporary Iraqi politics? He was probably already irrelevant.

The Sunni Arab resisters to US occupation in the country’s heartland had long since jettisoned Saddam and the Baath as symbols. (See “Sunnis gear up” below.) They are fighting for local reasons. Some are Sunni fundamentalists, who despised the Baath. Others are Arab nationalists who weep at the idea of their country being occupied. Some had relatives killed or humiliated by US troops and are pursuing a clan vendetta. Some fear a Shiite and Kurdish-dominated Iraq will reduce them to second class citizens. They will fight on, as Mr. Bush admitted today.

My wife, Shahin Cole, suggested to me an ironic possibility with regard to the Shiites. She said that many Shiites in East Baghdad, Basra, and elsewhere may have been timid about opposing the US presence, because they feared the return of Saddam. Saddam was in their nightmares, and the reprisals of the Fedayee Saddam are still a factor in Iraqi politics. Now that it is perfectly clear that he is finished, she suggested, the Shiites may be emboldened. Those who dislike US policies or who are opposed to the idea of occupation no longer need be apprehensive that the US will suddenly leave and allow Saddam to come back to power. They may therefore now gradually throw off their political timidity, and come out more forcefully into the streets when they disagree with the US. As with many of her insights, this one seems to me likely correct.

And Ogged on the need for anti-jerking knee clamps for all of us on the Left:

But here we are in America, with half of us feeling at least a little uneasy because this is good news for George Bush. Get over it. We don’t want to become the caricatured left: actively wishing the country ill for the sake of putting our own people in power (and not for the sake of a greater good, so don’t comfort yourself with that thought: no matter how convinced you are of your political beliefs, you have to admit that you might be wrong, the other side might have the right idea, and the proof will be in the results).

Good advice.

Filed under: politics/war

No kidding

Beware: total lack of usual hilarious cat comedy antics ahead. I haven’t got much humor in me today. For one thing, the extremely sad news that Evolution developer Ettore Perazzoli has died “unexpectedly”—the second Ximian developer to die suddenly in as many months. I can only imagine what their friends, co-workers, and family are feeling right now.

Thing two, the latest comment on the ever-growing Hartz Flea treatment can kill your cat thread:

I used hartz flea medicine on our 7 month old cat. She appeared fine afterwards with the exception that she may have been a little tired, three days later she started seizuring. We rushed her to the veternarian. They could not get her siezures under control and our beloved pet cat died that evening. All because Hartz has no heart and markets this product!

Not much I can add to that, except please, tell your friends not to buy this crap.

Filed under: cats

Just goes to show you

Even a little hell raiser like Linus can be nice, sometimes, when he feels like it.

Honesty compels me to admit that this photo does not reflect his behavior tonight, which has included the usual range of plant, curtain, and coaxial cable assaults, wall climbing, and attempted kitchen suicides (he likes to get up on the cabinets over the stove, and never more than when there is a pan full of hot oil on the burner)—as well as some novel biting of a little plastic fez that is usually kept out of his range.

Ok, ok. I was trying to make him wear the fez so I could take his picture in it. You caught me.

Filed under: cats

What went wrong

For a little over seven years, The Simpsons was the best show on TV. More than that: the best show that had ever been on TV. Now—not so much. Last season was barely watchable, and this year is worse. The Simpsons is now so far from funny that light leaving Homer today will not hit funny until well after the heat death of the universe.

So what went wrong?

I used to date the decline of The Simpsons from “Homer’s Enemy,” the season 8 episode in which Homer torments the inoffensive Frank Grimes until (and after!) Grimes accidentally electrocutes himself. Ha ha!

“Homer’s Enemy” is as humorless as anything since, and certainly marks the full monty debut of the robotic characterization and random-walk plotting that have made the last 5 or so seasons so bad. But “Homer’s Enemy” is a symptom of decline, not evidence of the cause. Watching the repeats tonight, the message finally got through my think skull. It’s all Poochie’s fault.

Unlike “Homer’s Enemy,” “The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show” (also from season 8) is a great episode. It’s hilarious, and includes one of my favorite lines of all time. But its underside drips with whining arrogance. The message of Poochie is: we are above criticism. You’re lucky we’re still making this show. Take what we give you and like it. This is not subtly delivered: Bart’s “winning” argument in his debate with the Comic Book Guy over the lousiness of Poochie is: ”[We’ve] given you hundreds of hours of entertainment for free. If anything, you owe [us]!” Oh really?

Granted that there are smelly internet nerds who think, wrongly, that Matt Groening personally owes them a funny show every week. These people are idiots. They could not be more wrong. And taking whacks at them could not be more beside the point.

The rest of us don’t think anybody owes us anything. Indeed we are quite grateful for and appreciative of the hundreds of hours of entertainment that we once got for free and are now paying for on DVD. But we don’t therefore owe the creators of The Simpsons—or any other creators of anything—our unconditional approval of their creations. My gratitude for the good years does not require me to shut off my mind and pretend to enjoy a show that has lost its heart and its sense of humor.

Creativity is something like reproduction. When you believe, as the creators of The Simpsons seem to, that all criticism is invalid—more than invalid, that criticism is evidence of bad character and ingratitude in the critic—the result is inbreeding. Created without external input of any kind, each generation is weaker than the last. In the royal families of Europe, that once meant giant chins and haemophilia. In this case, it has caused steadily declining quality, as exemplified by decreasing empathy for the show’s characters, increasing focus on the nonsense gag over real humor, and ever crazier plotting.

Maybe someday The Simpsons will get the injection of new blood that it needs. Maybe Ian Maxtone-Graham, who has run the show through most of the bad years, will quit. Maybe young writers now coming up who were raised on Homer the pleasant buffoon will find their way to the show and put Homer the psychotic non-sequitur hose in the cold, cold ground. I doubt it will happen soon. But I’ll keep watching, because I live in hope.

Filed under: culture/tv/simpsons

26 things november 2003

Tracey of sh1ft.org had a very cool idea this past summer: hold a photographic scavenger hunt for 26 things, to be completed in one month. She opened the game to entries from around the world, and called it 26 things.

I found out about the previous round too late to play, but not so round 2, which ended yesterday. Here are the photos. Most were taken during a trip over to the Sculpture Walk in nearby Skokie, IL. You will be able to tell which ones weren’t. (Hint: there is not a giant statue of Bender in Skokie.) (2nd hint: we stopped at the grocery store on the way home.)

F took most of the photos, and really most of the good ones. Given that, amazingly enough, there is only one photo of cats.

Filed under: photos