Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Allah & Costello Meet Frankenstein!

This is one of the oddest clips I've seen in a while.

A really amazing Egyptian pastiche of Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. A lot of the gags and even filmic touches are taken right out of the A&C original. Some of the changes include calling the Frankenstein monster character a "mummy" (at least that's what is he is in the subtitles) and letting the Wolfman character live.

I guess it shows just how "universal" these characters are!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Captain America Killed

The Onion

Captain America Killed

Captain America, the comic book character created during World War II as a patriotic opponent of the Nazis, was killed by sniper bullets in a recent...

Saturday, March 10, 2007

So Who is David Rhodes?

So I wondered, who's this David Rhodes guy who made Fox's first (and so far only) official response to being dumped as a debate host by the Nevada Democratic part?

Apparently his official title is not just "Vice President" but "Vice President for News" according to TVNewser, which went on to quote this cheery praise:

"I am tired of trying to think up new superlatives to describe David," John Moody wrote in a memo today. "Let me just say his keen mind, tireless efforts and strategic vision are not often seen in someone of his years. David now has the authority to make any news decisions in my absence (or, come to think of it, in my presence)."

Yeah, this John Moody.

("Leadership Directories" give his title as Director of News Gathering, New York News Staff, FOX News Channel.)

Here's an excerpt from Democracy Now! interview with British Lieutenant Commander Steve Tatham, the former head of the British Royal Navy's Media Operations in the Northern Arabian Gulf:

I recall speaking to David Rhodes, who was head of, I think, news gathering at FOX at a previous Al Jazeera conference, and I remember him saying to me, "Sure, we did go this particular way, but we only went that way because we felt the rest of the media was much too liberal and much too left-minded, so we took a more right-minded course."

Speaking of the Gulf, here's a Rhodes quote from an online article about the graphic coverage of Saddam Hussein's hanging:

"Everyone was anticipating we would have a difficult decision to make," said David Rhodes, Fox vice president of news. "But when you consider what we and everyone else saw coming in, the pictures were fairly dramatic, but there was nothing we had to do" before televising it, he said.

Networks took differing approaches to showing Saddam's body.

Fox ran side-by-side pictures of Saddam, one a file photo labeled "Alive" and the other a blurry still photo after the execution marked "Dead."

Finally, another quote, this one from Transnational Broadcasting Studies, "Covering Satellite Television in the Arab and Islamic Worlds":

Rhodes observed that all media have their biases--a position remarkably similar to one taken by an Al Jazeera spokesman during the invasion of Iraq, and recorded in the documentary Control Room. However, according to Rhodes, it was their journalistic responsibility to subdue those biases on a daily basis, a critically important afterthought which the Al Jazeera spokesman significantly did not make.


Fox News Rolls Snake Eyes in Nevada

Well, it's official: The Nevada Democrats have dumped the Fox news debate.

What's really funny, however, is Fox News' coverage of said dumping. So far, all they've published is a tiny item waaaaay down here:

The Nevada Democratic Party has canceled an August debate that was to be co-hosted by Fox News Channel, citing comments by the network's president rather than an online protest launched by activists and bloggers who believe the channel is biased.

The last 'graph is the only official response Fox News would post on its own site:

Fox News vice president David Rhodes said the party's decision Friday showed the online group [Moveon.org] owns the Democratic Party in Nevada.

Clearly, they're burying the story as much as possible, or at least waiting for Big Daddy Roger to come up with the official spin.

Of course, to find Mr. Rhodes' complete statement, you had to go elsewhere:

Here is FNC's official statement, from VP David Rhodes: "News organizations will want to think twice before getting involved in the Nevada Democratic Caucus which appears to be controlled by radical fringe out-of-state interest groups, not the Nevada Democratic Party. In the past, Moveon.org has said they 'own' the Democratic party -- while most Democrats don't agree with that, it's clearly the case in Nevada."

Well, what do you know, Fox News responds to criticism by attacking their critics instead of defending themselves apologizing. Gee, what a shame the Nevada Democratic Party didn't play ball with such a fair and balanced organization.

The best roundup of what happened can be found here (Daily Kos, of course):

And here is the official response of John Edwards, the candidate who really got the ball rolling when he turned down the debate:


The truth is, Fox News can "report" whatever they want. And when it works for us, we'll deal with them on our terms. But this campaign is about responsibility and accountability, and we need to send the message to Fox that if they want to be the corporate mouthpiece of the Republican Party more than they want to be an impartial news outlet, they shouldn't expect Democrats to play along.