As a journalist, you always know the quote is going to lead when it starts with "I'm not a racist, but …"

i've been silenced for a few days posting as i worked through the feelings i had about heath ledger's death. tuesday, when it happened, i had what i felt like a really personal reaction. then i spent wednesday and thursday berating myself for that.

he was, of course, my favorite actor. my infatuation with him -and even his family- is long known. i can't deny the countless times i walked gus past his house in brooklyn, hoping to catch a sight of him. it's a little embarassing, yes.

i think that real-life connection -hi, i'm admiring what you guys are doing to your backyard, hannah just saw you at fairway again- is what knocked the wind out of me so badly.

we all gape at celebrity and as a society can't seem to resist that car crash mentality of wanting to see what's going on. it's not something to be proud of, but i'd be a liar to deny i wasn't a part of it.

i'm torn between not wanting to hear anything about this tragedy and letting it absolutely consume me in the quest to know everything. i wish i could turn that off, be a bigger and BETTER person.

my heart aches for his little girl, his family, michelle williams. but i have no idea of the life any of them, the true lives, that is. so it doesn't even seem right - seems intrusive, presumptuous - to think that i do care. what right do i have?

this isn't about me.

as of today, marvel is offering a subscription model to read their comics online through their flash-based reader. they have launched with 2,500 comics and a 10 buck a month or 60 buck a year pricing model.

obviously, the kids are going back and forth over this — on the one hand, many people want to download the issues to read offline. they want to feel like they are buying something, similar to itunes music store. the flip side is that everyone is pointing out that a lack of drm on the files would cause even more rampant piracy.

i can see it both ways. really, if you are reading comics on your computer, you can prob get online as well. and only a fool would believe that there isn't already rampant comic piracy all over the net.

so, yes, this is probably a good move overall. laods of digital comics for cheap. this will be a true starter when we get better tablets. unless my screen resolution is higher and my laptop lighter, reading sequential art on it will suck.

it will be interesting to see how quickly dc follows suit. since dc is owned by time-warner (cough aol cough), it is somewhat embarrassing that marvel beat them out the gate on this. coupled with the damon lindelof piece in the nyt a couple of days ago, its becoming easier to imagine a future where all our media is nothing but streamed bits.

finally, i am amused that the response was so great to this marvel news, that their site has been failing all day, resulting now in them taking the entire marvel.com site down. they must be pleased, even if its upsetting to have to pull the entire site offline.

marvel launches online comics initiative

today was better than yesterday. i'm speaking about the daylight hours, because last night was pretty awesome and deserves its own post.

yesterday sucked. i was in a rotten mood for a variety of reasons and everything that i cam across evoked one singular response. so unrelenting was this message that i had to make a new desktop for myself to fully enjoy it.

to provide background and explain the roots of what i was muttering, watch this:

and then have at my desktop:

yes, my friends, as i explained to my manager: elvis had his tcb ("taking care of business"). i have my tfb.

klosterman tries to explain the genius and does an excellent job. i have stopped lecturing about this masterpiece, mainly because few people i know seem to appreciate it as i do (and, as it seems, rex and chuck do).

read the article, buy the dvds (or netflix them). watch the commentary. and try to wrap your mind around the genius that these things really are.

maybe ill have a screening night for all 22 episodes. though i think i might be the only person who shows up.

[the chuck link via fimioculous, who i must thank for re-awakening my passion]

So, back in September, 2003, our esteemed leaders said:

 “There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There’s leaks at the executive branch; there’s leaks in the legislative branch. There’s just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.” George W. Bush, September 2003

Apparently "taken care of" didn't mean "dealt with" or "punished" but rather, quite literally, taken care of…good care. Bush commutes Libby Prison Sentence. Suck it, legal system. If this presidency hasn't delineated the haves and have nots, the uber-elites and the rest of us, you must not have your eyes open.

 I suppose it's the utter lack of action or furor that really surprises me. Warrantless wire taps, detention without trial of US citizens, buying off media talking heads under the table, lying about the reasons for war, gutting the Clean Air Act, allowing arscenic in the water supply, torture, secret prisons. I mean, is it such a huge avalanche of shit that all we as a nation can do is bend over and hope to stop taking it up the ass sometime in the next 18 months? Seriously? I mean, Clinton got blown by an intern and $40 million was spent to impeach him. Nixon broke into an office because he was a drugged up, paranoid. These just seem almost laughable in comparison.

 When did we become the bad guys?

An interesting interview with Juan Williams, journalist for NPR.