Dreams Of Noise

All right here. I highly recommend the lovely (and surprisingly controversial) Coca-Cola spot "America the Beautiful", the Budweiser one with the puppy, the SodaStream one for sheer prurience, the Jaguar one for your British bad guy fix, and the faux ad for Monsanto.

Which are your favorites?

Dunno why everybody's so shocked, shocked! that a 67-year-old duck call maker from the backwoods spouts racism and homophobia.

Nor am I surprised that Rush Limbaugh defends him on the grounds of FREEDOM OF SPEECH!

I'm not even piqued by the stance of the rest of his clan, that their fatigues-and-whittlin' Simple Country Honesty™ cannot possibly move forward without their patriarch.

However, I am slightly annoyed that Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) is jumping on the FREEDOM OF SPEECH! bandwagon. But then, he's only supposed to be one of the new breed of conservative intellectuals (which I'm sure we all remember from his Mr. Rogers-style SOTU rebuttal in 2009).

And I'm rather annoyed, and simultaneously bemused, at the FREEDOM OF SPEECH! outcry from the same people who boycotted the Dixie Chicks for saying they were embarrassed to be from the same state as Pres. Bush, the same folks who followed Ari Fleischer's despicable lead in warning people to "watch what you say".

Let's remind everyone, especially Jindal and Rushbo, of a little basic law: The First Amendment, guaranteeing freedom of speech, does indeed guarantee anyone the right to say anything (within the obvious limits of "fire" in a crowded theater, etc. Let's not cloud the argument with bullshit). This even extends to outright lies -- goodness knows enough of them have gone unchallenged.

And it guarantees that the government cannot legally suppress your speech.

It does not guarantee you an audience.

And, if you are a representative of a private company -- in this case, the A&E Network -- it does not guarantee you a job if you say shit that said company thinks is damaging to their image.

You'd think that someone who started from nothing and built his hand-carved duck calls into a fairly big corporation and a reality TV show would have people to mention these things to him. At least someone in his immediate family.

Ah well. I'm gonna continue to stay off his lawn.

Go wild. For what it's worth, I thought it was excellent -- a natural progression from both Avengers and Iron Man 3. Clark Gregg is simply splendid. And did you notice the Special Thanks in the credits to Jim Steranko? That's from where we got Lola.

"... Gramsie...?"

Great sadness -- one of the legends has fallen. Richard Matheson has passed away at the age of 87.

It isn't really possible to overstate Matheson's influence on the genres of fantasy and science fiction. His works include:

• I Am Legend (adapted to film at least three times, starring the minor, unimportant actors Vincent Price, Charlton Heston, and Will Smith)
• The Shrinking Man (also adapted to film, another minor, unimportant Effing Classic of horror)
• Bid Time Return (you might have seen the film adaptation of this -- Somewhere In Time with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour)
• Hell House (adapted to film as The Legend of Hell House)
• a bunch of classic Twilight Zone episodes (and when I say classic, I mean "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" classic).

He wrote the short story "Duel", which Spielberg adapted to film, and the screenplays for The Night Stalker, The Martian Chronicles, and the excellent Jack Palance TV adaptation of Dracula. His short story "Button, Button" was adapted (not to his liking) on The New Twilight Zone, and also into the movie The Box.

He wrote the screenplays for three of Corman's Poe movies, including The Pit and the Pendulum and The Raven, fer cryin' out loud.

I will never forget one of his Night Gallery scripts (from his own short story), "Big Surprise". You can watch it here. Such a simple story, such a great payoff.

The upshot of which is: Go down his list of works, and you will find a lot of things you know and love.

Rest well, sir, and thank you so much.

Sadness. Actress Jean Stapleton, best known for playing Archie Bunker's wife Edith on All In The Family, has passed away at the age of 90. She had a long, award-winning career on stage, screen, and television, and was pretty much universally beloved.

Rest well, Ms. Stapleton, and thanks. We'll miss ya, ya dingbat.

Game Of Thrones, Doctor Who, Once Upon A Time, Iron Man 3, The Great Gatsby, whatever -- have at it.

Sadness. Actor Richard LeParmentier has passed away at the age of 66.

For those of you who don't recognize him, here's a little reminder:



Yep, good ol' loudmouth Admiral Motti was the first guy we ever saw get Force-choked.

LeParmentier worked in a number of other movies and TV shows (most notably Who Framed Roger Rabbit?), but without doubt that scene will always be his most famous, and most iconic. Rest well, sir, and may the Force be with you.

Disney Legend Annette Funicello has passed away at the age of 70.

Why? Because we love you.

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Who's your favorite Disney cartoon character from the 1950s or earlier? Mine's Professor Ludwig Von Drake, voiced by Paul Frees.

Sadness. Actor Richard Griffiths, best known to our part of the universe for playing the execreble Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films, has passed away at the age of 65. He had a long and distinguished (as in Tony- and other-award-winning) career on state, screen, radio, and television, and was even up for the part of The Doctor a couple of times.

Rarely has someone become so beloved for portraying such a rotter. Rest well, sir, and thanks.