Mark Evanier's thoughts on Halloween largely parallel my own.

Geoff Duncan of Teevee.org writes a love letter to Cartoon Network's Teen Titans series:

Teen Titans' production style differs radically from other animated series derived from DC Comics, like the various Batman series, Superman, and the currently-airing Justice League: in fact, it owes as much to Pokémon as to the original comics and other WB animated superhero shows. For diehard fans of the original comics, this alone is cause to dismiss the series outright: they might concede Japanese anime can have merit, but an Americanization of Japanese anime for kids? No way. And taking major liberties with their oh-so-favorite characters? Bzzt. Two thumbs down. And I'm sure all those people have written their snotty opinions on snotty bulletin boards on (other) snotty Web sites.

Meanwhile, I'm sure kids are eating up Teen Titans faster than a box of sugar puffs. Even I think it's great, and I say that having never been much of a comic book or anime fan. Teen Titans works because it's not afraid to be silly, it's not afraid to be serious, it treats its characters with respect, and -- most importantly -- because it's not trying too hard.

What he said. As much as I enjoy the show, I wish it had been around when I was the age of its target audience.

Meanwhile, Teevee's sidebar blog has a snarky comment about FOX's Eliza Dushku vehicle Tru Calling. I caught about three minutes of that last night, and, Lordy, that girl can't act. She can't act so badly that you can tell she can't act while she's walking down a hallway. Plus, she has the stupidest actress name since Calista Flockhart.

Still, I'm not rooting for her show to fail, if only because I want her too busy to show up on Angel ever again...

Can we please, pretty please, export the Kilborn-era Daily Show staffers to somewhere far, far away? Like France?

Beth Littleford, Brian Unger, I'm looking at you. And don't try to hide, Mo Rocca -- I was going to give you a pass until that stupid Smoking Gun special -- otherwise known as Half An Hour I'll Never Get Back -- you did for Court TV.

I mean, Jebus, has there ever been a less talented and unfunny collection of snide, sneering, would-be ironicists? Just shut up and go away, God damn it.

Brilliant! Bloody well brilliant!

MONKEYS AND ROBOTS, LIVING TOGETHER!

Best headline ever:

Monkeys Control Robotic Arm With Brain Implants

The story is pretty cool, too:

Scientists in North Carolina have built a brain implant that lets monkeys control a robotic arm with their thoughts, marking the first time that mental intentions have been harnessed to move a mechanical object.



The technology could someday allow people with paralyzing spinal cord injuries to operate machines or tools with their thoughts as naturally as others today do with their hands. It might even allow some paralyzed people to move their own arms or legs again, by transmitting the brain's directions not to a machine but directly to the muscles in those latent limbs.

The brain implants could also allow scientists or soldiers to control, hands-free, small robots that could perform tasks in inhospitable environments or in war zones.

In the new experiments, monkeys with wires running from their brains to a robotic arm were able to use their thoughts to make the arm perform tasks. But before long, the scientists said, they will upgrade the implants so the monkeys can transmit their mental commands to machines wirelessly.

"It's a major advance," University of Washington neuroscientist Eberhard E. Fetz said of the monkey studies. "This bodes well for the success of brain-machine interfaces."

I wonder if Fetz will be so enthusiastic when the monkey-robot armies come for him!

It's about damn time someone has spoken out about this:

On the street, on television, even in the office, women of all ages and sizes are wearing tight, low-slung, butt-hugging jeans and pants that hit at, or often far below, the hip. The trend isn't new—it began around '95 or so—but what is new are the unlovely depths to which the pants have now, as it were, sunk. The crotch-to-waist measurement, or rise, on a standard pair of jeans (the sort we haven't seen much of since the early '90s) is somewhere between 10 and 12 inches. Early low-riders had a rise of about 7 inches. Over the past couple of years, the rise has dipped as low as 3 or 4 inches. Low-rise, it seems, has become synonymous with no-rise. Gasoline, a Brazilian company, has even created Down2There jeans, which feature a bungee cord that allows the wearer to lower her pants as she sees fit, as though adjusting a set of Venetian blinds.

...

In their way, low-rider jeans bear a creepy similarity to Chinese foot-binding—they constrict a woman's action, rendering her ornamental. And like foot-binding, the jeans can have deleterious medical consequences. In 2001, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published a doctor's report stating that low-rise jeans can cause a condition called meralgia paresthetica, characterized by numbness or tingling in the thighs, by pinching a nerve located at the hip. Left untreated, the numbness can become permanent. Forget the question of style: This is a human rights issue.

The big question...

...is, will tonight's CSI finally explain what the hell is up with Grissom's beard?

Some post-recall thoughts

1. Good luck, Governor-elect Schwarzenegger; you're going to need it. I'd really like to see him succeed -- and I can't see bringing more socially moderate and inclusive Republicans into that party as a bad thing at all.

2. Davis and Arnold both gave extremely gracious speeches. Maybe Davis will find some safe House seat to run for in a few years or something. He's going to have the same sort of martyr status among true believer Democrats Al Gore now enjoys.

3. I have a grudging respect for Tom McClintock for sticking by his guns and essentially saying, "Dammit, the people deserve the chance to vote for an authentic conservative and I'm not dropping out for a movie star."

4. I finally figured out what bugs me so much about Bustamante's speaking style. He sounds just like a fresh-out-of-the-seminary priest giving a homily at a First Friday Mass for fifth-graders.

5. I don't think this is a big Republican victory; I think this is more about free-floating, anti-status-quo anger on the part of voters.

6. With 96.4% of the vote in, more people voted for Schwarzenegger than "No" on the recall -- in other words, Schwarzenegger essentially won the head-to-head race against Davis.

7. Democracy is fun.

This is interesting:

Wed Oct 8, 3:58 AM ET



Afghani women clad in burqa walk pass a billboard in Kabul featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) on October 8, 2003. The man they know as 'Arnold, the American man, the bodybuilder', was elected as the new governor of California on Tuesday. Schwarzenegger is a hero among many in Kabul where bodybuilding is a popular sport. REUTERS/Rathavary Duong

Teenage brains

From Glenn Reynolds' interview with Neal Stephenson:

TCS: One of the themes in Quicksilver seems to involve the relationship between money and knowledge. I remember a scene in Stranger in a Strange Land in which Michael [the Man From Mars] suddenly understands money, and he's staggered -- he thinks it's the most beautiful thing humans have created. Do you remember that scene?


NS: I don't remember that. I read the book as a teenager, but I think I was more interested that he was sleeping with so many people. The money part must not have made an impression.

Final thoughts on the recall

1. How did Davis and Bustamante ever get elected to anything in the first place? Watching these guys has been like watching paint dry. Smarmy, sanctimonious, condescending paint. It's not that they have no personalities, it's that if they had no personalities they'd be better off. How come what's arguably our most interesting state produces such bland pols? California's politicians should be able to give New York's a run for their money on the sheer weirdness and entertainment scale.

2. If Schwarzenegger gets elected, he'll owe at least some thanks to Bill Clinton and his apologists, who spent years telling us personal conduct doesn't matter.

3. If Davis wins, we'll be treated to the sorry spectacle of him saying "Hasta la vista!" in his speech. We'll also probably get to hear Schwarzenegger say "I'll be back" again, maybe to make up for the fact that he didn't say it (IIRC) in TERMINATOR 3.

4. If Schwarzenegger wins he'll also, probably, say "Hasta la vista" in his speech. He'll also be able to go to Kennedy family events and make fun of all the actual Kennedys who have lost elections in the last few years.

5. This recall was fun. Can we have another one?

This, on the other hand, is just plain weird. Well-meaning, but weird.

John Edwards and his entire family designed and handpainted this one-of-a-kind clock! Show your support for this hardworking family man! The hand-painted and custom designed (by Mrs. Edwards and daughter Catharine) ceramic clock features a stylized American flag, with the custom message "Time for Change John Edwards 2004." Senator. Edward's signature is apparent in the lower right corner on the rear side of the clock. The clock features a photograph of Mr. Edwards helping to paint the clock while visiting Bedford, NH in August 2003. The clock is free standing (easel back) and requires one AA battery (sorry - not included). All proceeds from this auction go to VSA arts of New Hampshire. VSA arts brings the arts to people with disabilities. Our 501c3 number is 02-0398863. Thanks go to You're Fired of Bedford, NH and Mr. Edwards' New Hampshire campaign staff for all of their assistance. Please visit our other auctions to see clocks by other presidential candidates. All clocks - including those made by local artists and regional baseball team the Nashua Pride - may be bid upon and viewed at VSA arts annual fundraiser, Chocolate Blues, taking place at PSNH in Manchester, NH on October 3, 2003 from 6-10pm. Contact karen@vsaartsnh.org for more information about the clocks or the event.

This is so weird it just might be true:

So, yes, I do think there is a distinct possibility that we're going to wake up some time after October 7 and realize that Schwarzenegger planned this whole thing out like a Hitchcock movie (except for the LAT's unexpected last-minute demonstration of [Spanish slang for "guts"]) ... "I haven't lived my life to be a politician," he says. O.K. Would you believe the last decade? ...

Sharon Waxman of the Washington Post is back from Iraq and on the Hollywood beat with a lengthy interview with Quentin Tarantino.

About three years ago Tarantino ran into Thurman at an Oscar party, at which she mentioned: When are we going to do "Kill Bill"? The story was something they'd dreamed up together when they were working on "Pulp Fiction" years before. At the time Tarantino had written a 10-page synopsis and put it in a drawer.

With neither his nor Thurman's career flourishing, Tarantino pulled out the treatment and got to work. The writing came easily. Production had to wait for Thurman to have a baby. Then came: martial arts training in March, April and May 2002. Pre-production in China in May. Shooting in June, July, August, September. The crew moved to Los Angeles, but still shooting continued. In January they took a break, then, exhausted, shot some more. The Cannes Film Festival came and went. Editing started this summer. Finally Weinstein saw a cut and proposed a solution to what would have been a three-hour-plus martial arts epic: Slice "Kill Bill" in two, making it a two-part, R-rated epic that seems destined to entice adolescent movie fans who will have a hard time getting in to see it. Weinstein said that the violence hasn't turned off test audiences, male or female, and that the rating doesn't worry him. "There is always a sizable audience for a good film," he says. "Women get the movie just as much as men do. They get that the action is cartoonish. I think 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Reservoir Dogs' are both more violent than this film."

...

Watching him, one is reminded of what was striking about the man when he first burst onto the scene in 1992 with "Reservoir Dogs," which was his unabashed, unadulterated love for the movies, all movies. Whatever else has happened to Quentin Tarantino in the interim that, at least, remains untouched.

Four days to Kill Bill!

Why School of Rock rocks:

And part of what's so touching about School of Rock is that it's clearly from the work of shy people: It's a rock-'n'-roll anthem for the timid. It's about kids—and grown-ups—who need to rev themselves up to transcend their own self-doubt. Rock—or dreaming about rock—is how they get out of themselves and connect with the cosmic oneness.

School of Rock is totally formulaic: There are stuffy killjoy parents and a stuck-up stick insect of a principal—even though she's played with delicious fidgety self-consciousness by Joan Cusack. You've seen this Battle of the Bands climax a thousand times. But there are rare formula pictures—the bicycle movie Breaking Away (1979) was another—that seem to be arriving at the formula from the inside, with a kind of naive hopefulness that seems as much a product of movie-love as it is of a desire to reach a mass audience. For all its slickness, School of Rock has a let's-put-on-a-show quality that touches you in the most direct way a movie can. It's as if the filmmakers had said, "I'd like to teach the world to kick butt—in perfect harmony."

Hit and Run reports that Rep. Patrick Kennedy is criticizing Howard Dean for his pro-gun stance, but misses a big howler in the original report of Kennedy's statement:

"This is a personal issue with me, and I'm very disturbed at the fact that people are not paying attention to Dr. Dean's record" on guns, said Kennedy, nephew of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, both of whom were assassinated by guns.

I'm no NRA member, but I seem to remember two fellas named Oswald and Sirhan doing the assassinating in those cases. I hasten to point out that it's not Rep. Kennedy but the Washington Post's Helen Dewar making the claim that guns and, apparently, guns alone killed John and Robert Kennedy. Perhaps it's just a case of tortured-by-deadline syntax, but someone should have caught this.

Whoa:

ADAPTATION director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman are working on a top secret horror movie for their next film -- and that's all anyone really knows at this moment, except that it's happening at Columbia Pictures. Columbia is where the duo made ADAPTATION. This would be the first horror piece for either Jonze or Kaufman and both men will also produce the new film.

Neil Gaiman: Not dead yet. Just reading his journal makes me tired...

Heh.

MoveOn.org, a group that came into existence to defend Bill Clinton from impeachment, is launching an ad campaign "devoted to putting Schwarzenegger's problem with women into the public eye."

In the words of Baseball Annie, the world is made for those who are not cursed with self-awareness.

CBS's craptacular new cop show Cold Case airs its second episode tonight. It would be possible to create a detailed account of why it merits the description "craptacular," and that account would include the protagonist's really bad Kirsten Dunst impression and the pilot's use of a watered-down retelling of the Martha Moxley case, but, really, all you need to know is that it's basically the BBC's Waking the Dead only without the compelling cases and interesting middle-aged characters.

Whose idea was it to upgrade the painfully unfunny Jeff Richards from featured player to full cast member on Saturday Night Live?

Jesse Ventura's MSNBC show is now on the air, surprisingly. I say surprisingly not just because it's been in development hell for seemingly as long as the Tim Burton Superman movie that was never made, but also because we went to a test show this summer and it was, well, painfully bad. The umbrella problem, as it were, was simply that there was no reason for the show to be hosted by Jesse Ventura. They'd tried to add some vague, wrestling-ish aspects to it -- the working title was The Arena, at one point the audience voted thumbs-up or thumbs-down on which side of a debate it agreed with -- but, essentially, any guy in a suit could have been the host. There were about seven different formats crammed into the hour, and Ventura had no idea how to steer a television discussion; at one point he blithely derailed a guest by lobbing a non sequitur at him a minute or so before that segment ended.

On the other hand, it's not like anyone watches MSNBC...

Raging Jess links to an article that argues for the use of "they" as the third-person singular gender-neutral pronoun in place of "he." What I find most maddening about such suggestions is that they seem more interested in trying to score points in the gender wars that, presumably, still rage in some obscure parts of the world than in suggesting that better writing would, in almost every case, make the whole question moot.

The article in question uses as an example the ad copy, "Everyone's having the time of their lives at Mammamia's." That could simply be written as "People are having the time of their lives at Mammamia's" or "You'll have the time of your life at Mammamia's."

This seems, to me, a lot like the problem with split infinitives; proscriptive grammar aside, most sentences read better (at least to me) when infinitives are not split and the rare exceptions (ie, "To boldly go...") are precisely that: rare.