Somebody

 

 

 

It's said Martin Luther King Jr was a bit leery of the man and hesitated some before finally bringing him into the fold. Jesse was a bit of a showboat, a bit of an attention hog. And so he was. I mean, he was everywhere, and in the thick of everything for a while, one of the most public of public figures of his time. And like anybody, no matter how smart or how serious or how well-meaning, who spends too much time in the public eye, he could seem buffoonish at times. For all of that, I'm glad he was around for all these years. As the country turned to the right...and more to the right,,,and more to the right still, Jackson reminded us that there was still such a thing as a Left. And not just the African American Left either. By the end of the 1988 Democratic primaries, Jackson had won 11 primaries or caucuses and had received 6.9 million votes. At least some of those 6.9 million voters must have been white! Michael Dukakis eventually prevailed, but that eventuality took a lot longer than any pundit expected. It would be another 20 years before a black man running for president made that strong of a showing again (in fact, that later black man did even better.) Jackson never ran for president again, and seemed satisfied in role as a gadfly, a political provocateur. Well, I'll take Jackson's brand of political provoking over God-knows-what we got now. 

And wouldn't you know it? Jackson was a bit of a poet! I leave you with some of his more memorable rhymes

Hope for the brains instead of dope in the veins.

It doesn't matter if you're black or white, only if you're wrong or right.

If my mind can conceive it, my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it.

1941-2026

 

Origin of Speciousness

 

OK, OK, let's all try to keep an open mind about this.

Hmm...They don't look like apes to me. Do they look like apes to you?

Not that there aren't apes in our future. After all, this remains a distinct possibility:

The Obamas just won't be the ones who bring it about.

Under the Radar: Thurl Ravenscroft

 

Actor and singer Thurl Ravenscroft was born on this day in 1914 (he died in 2005.) What, you never heard of him?

How 'bout this guy?

Yes, that's Ravenscroft's voice coming out of Tony's mouth. As for his vocals being "augmented", well, watch, and especially listen to, him in 1980s interview:

I sense not all that augmentation was needed.

One notable credit was oddly missing in that interview (perhaps because for years it went, again oddly, uncredited), so I'll include it here. First, some background: 

You see, when Chuck Jones (right) set out to turn a book by Dr. Suess (left) into a TV Christmas special, he wasn't content merely to have top-notch animation. He wanted it to be musically top-notch too, and so to that end hired Thurl to sing this now iconic song:

Sounds like he's describing an ICE agent.

Graphic Grandeur (Inalienable Wrongs Edition)

 

There's a new sheriff in town, so to speak. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino having been sent into exile, it's now Tom Homan's job to rid Minnesota of undesirables. But where to find them?

Cartoonist Mike Luckovich suggests he start here:

Lost in Frost

 

Almost looks like fog, doesn't it?  

Graphic Grandeur (Star Force One Edition)

 

 

You can fret about what went on at Davos all you want. As for myself, I worry more that...

...Earth may soon be paid an unwelcome visit by otherworldly beings!

Cartoon by Matt Reuter

Vital Viewing (Another Nice Mise-en-scène You've Gotten Me Into Edition)

 

Comedian Oliver Hardy was born on this day in 1892 (he died in 1957.) Here's a 1950 TV interview he did right as he was about to set sail for France: 

The interviewer makes mention of Hardy being part of a famous comedy team, so without further ado, let's see that comedy team in action:

Uh...That's not the comedy team I had in mind.

That's more like it, pilgrim!

In 1956, two of the funniest men who ever lived got together one last time to have their picture taken, though you'd be forgiven if you didn't immediately recognize the one on the right. So what accounts for Oliver Hardy's gaunt appearance? It seems the comedian, spooked by a mild heart attack he had suffered in 1954, went on a crash diet, shedding a whole 150 pounds. However, in a letter to an acquaintance, Stan Laurel speculated his longtime comedy partner had cancer. We do know that a series of strokes felled Hardy about a year after this photo was taken. At least the master of the comic reaction was able to give us one final feat of foolery for the camera.