#Norm McCabe

[dailylooneys]

Happy 112th Birthday Norm McCabe

Another one of the least known cartoon directors at Warner Bros’ Termite Terrace.

Starting at WB, he was hired as an in-between during the Harman and Ising days in 1932. McCabe even went with both Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones to assist Ub Iwerks to complete two of Iwerks WB shorts, which was Porky and Gabby and Porky’s Super Service. 

McCabe later became an animator for Frank Tashlin, then Bob Clampett, animating some of the most famous shorts of all-time, such as Clampett’s beloved, overtly surreal Porky in Wackyland. 

He would later take over Clampett’s old unit. 

His first directors credit: The Timid Toreador (1940) co-director Bob Clampett

His solo directional debut: Robinson Crusoe, Jr. (1941)

In a similar manner of Robert McKimson and Arthur Davis, McCabe gets the short end of the rope. He directed nothing but black-and-white Looney Tunes shorts, never the later color Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies. Much like Clampett and Tex Avery, McCabe would have a habit for the use dated topical humor relating to the world of the early 1940s like WWII, and his notoriously politically incorrect shorts, such as “Tokio Jokio” (his final short) and even the best ones like “The Ducktators” and “The Daffy Duckaroo”, was probably what set him back in his status.

Regardless, McCabe still did some great shorts. His directional style, I would say, was a mix between Freleng and Tashlin, razor-sharp timing, topical satire and insane wacky gags. He had quite easily THE shortest-lived directing job at WB, with only Tashlin and Arthur Davis out beating McCabe who directed only 12 short films.

The reason for McCabe’s short-lived directional career at WB was due to being drafted. When he returned, he would try to get his job back as a director, but Eddie Selzer wasn’t so easy on let him back in.

McCabe was the longest-living WB cartoon directors up until his death in 2006. He worked in commercial illustration for Bozo the Clown such as children’s book and educational films. He later continued his animation career, animated on Disney’s Bambi, revisited WB once again in the 1960s, went to Filmation, then DePatie-Freleng Enterprise, was an animator on Ralph Baskih’s Fritz the Cat, and did his second revisiting to WB again in the 1980s and 90s, as an animator on The Night of the Living, The Duxorist among other things, was a sheet timer and timing director on Tom Rugger’s Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Freakazoid! and Taz-Mania, and The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, and even was an animator on the infamous 1993 Pink Panther TV series at MGM, a director on Bobby’s World for Fox Kids, a sequence director on 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show. Surprisingly, McCabe admitted to hating his work at Termite Terrace once he met up with animator Mark Kausler, screening his shorts. According to Kausler himself, McCabe was “incredibly modest about his Looney Tunes, he hated them all!”, once had a screening in North Hollywood, pleading to everyone “oh turn those off, I can’t stand looking at them”. Well, whatever the case was, your cartoons were the best Norm!

#Norm McCabe #looney tunes #merrie melodies #warner bros. #birthday #wb directors #the ducktators #the daffy duckaroo #world war 2 #wwii #1940s #short films #film directors #animators #animation director #animation #tom rugger

[adonaire2005]

Looney Tunes - The Ducktators (MLP version)!!!

#WW2 propanganda #germans #south germany #looney tunes #1942 #ww2 #austrian painter #facist salute #meme #the ducktators #norm mccabe #eddy #eddy (ed edd n' eddy) #ed edd n eddy #twilight sparkle #aryanne #mlp #german ponies #black and white #black and white cartoon #1940s #WW2 #world war 2

[ducktracy]

the award for best title card goes to The Impatient Patient not only because they're in pseudo-doctor's cursive, but are each individually signed in their own handwriting

#you would think the differentiation in font would be the giveaway. no. i just recognized Norm McCabe's signature from a drawing of #Porky he did #lt #mccabe #the impatient patient #Don Christensen likewise gets the award for most doctor-y signature of them all #Don Chmntmnnmnn

[mysunshinetemptress]

You see me

Leah Williamson x McCabe!Reader

Warnings: angst, feeling invisible, Leah’s ACL. Also I decided to split it into two parts this is a little background in part one part two is more your relationship development and then the downfall.

Leah wasn’t a mean person, she had never been mean to anyone in her life, until she met you the Arsenal signing who hadn’t had the opportunity to play for them in her first few seasons sent out on loan instead, Katie’s little sister, she was so mean to you though all because of a stupid bet your sister had made. Leah was doing the meanest thing she could possibly think of to you, you the quite and shy defender who only seemed to speak on the pitch, you who shied away from every fight on the pitch brought your way, you who was currently standing in front of her with tear stained cheeks as your eyes pricked with more fresh tears threatening to spill over, you who’s hands shook as you held on desperately to her present your signed Thierry Henry Arsenal jersey you had gotten as a kid. You whose eyes broke from their stare to look at Katie as she laugh “i mean come on pal hardly you actually thought that.” You who as Katie began laughing again surrounded by the Arsenal girls shoved the framed jersey into her hand quietly saying happy birthday as you turned to race out of the room. Leah was mean so mean to you a girl who didn’t deserve any of this. Amanda came pushing through the Arsenal girls before reaching her daughter “where is she off to then we are about to do the cake.” Leah turned to look at her mum cheeks blotchy and tears in her eyes “mum….i.”

6 MONTHS EARLIER

You grew up one of the youngest of 11 kids, the younger sister of international footballer Katie McCabe and so the title of “Mini Mac.” Had been bestowed upon you when you first signed for Shelbourne FC. Only you where the complete opposite to your older sister quite, reserved and always ready to shy away from a fight on or off the pitch you could easily get lost in a crowd and often times that was the case. You knew growing up in a house with so many kids whether everyone was there or not you had to be loud to be seen but after so many years of trying as a little kid you got used to being quite and invisible and unsurprisingly that transferred into your football career and adult life.

You had made your senior debut for Ireland at 16 just three weeks before your 17th birthday and shortly after your older sister’s team Arsenal had come knocking looking to sign you in the summer transfer window. How could you pass on the opportunity to play for your childhood club, a top team in the WSL and better yet along side your ideal, your older sister.

But your career seemed to get stuck at Arsenal, getting loaned out after your first season of sitting on the bench wasn’t ideal and when you finally thought you would get to step out on to the pitch for your dream team you got loaned out again this time to Manchester United.

Manchester wasn’t always the best Marc Skinner ran a tight ship that often led to you feeling worse than before hiding away from his constant grief about the team not being good enough in your cubby became a norm, but at least you got to play a couple of games right ?. what you hadn’t expected was to be called back to your parent club. With news of Leah’s ACL tear hitting the media a few days later and her inevitable exit from the team so she can focus on recovery you some how still hadn’t expected to get a phone call from Jonas Eidevall informing you that Arsenal had requested your return to take Leah’s spot on the back line plus this time would be different you would get to play along side Katie for both club and country you would have someone who wouldn’t mind sitting with you just talking about random things.

Boy where you wrong, arriving at London Colony you where greeted with the medical staff who wanted to do a check before they let you in to train with the girls agreeing quickly as to get it over and done with you couldn’t help but tap your foot excitedly the thought of pairing up with your older sister in training and just laughing like you used to. Arriving into the changing room you turned looking for your sisters cubby spotting the shamrocks decor you smiled at the little sense of home no matter how cliche it was before setting your things into empty space beside her looking in at the photos that dawned the inside smiling at the family photo of all 11 of you before it waved as you spotted your face half cropped out of it only you knew it was you otherwise you wouldn’t have a clue who it was. You jumped slightly at the loud noise smiling at the familiar accent Turing to spot your older sister “Y/n.” You looked at all the other Arsenal girls smiling “hi.” Katie walked towards you eyebrows pinched together in confusion “wha ya doin here.” You looked at her confused this time “ I got called off loan I’m covering the centre back position.” The team looked at you confused “we don’t need another Centre Back Y/n we have Rafa, Lotte, Jen and Teyah.” You looked at Katie a little hurt at she brushed your position off of course you knew that Arsenal didn’t have a shortage of players that’s why you where sent on loan in the first place but now you where here to play for their senior squad for the first time at the age of 22 along side Katie and you couldn’t help but feel like she didn’t want you there “I know, but Jonas called me and he said that I would be taking over for Leah for the time being.” You were cut off by Jen “he said that to me and Lotte as well mate.” You felt delusional now of course you wouldn’t be the first choice not against Jens experience and Lottes longevity at Arsenal from being an academy player you where just Katie’s little sister the name on your back the reason you had gotten so far that’s what you had been told since your older brother Gary had you out playing in the road “oh yeah I’m probably just here to back up you guys then or maybe Steph I can play on the left.” Jen nodded moving to her cubby as the rest of the team dispersed “I’m really excited.” Katie looked at you eyebrows forward “why.” You smiled “I get to play along side you here, you know my dream club with my big sister I was actually wondering if you might want to….” Victoria made her way over jumping on to Katie’s back “partners for training.” You looked at the way Katie’s face lit up for the younger girl “who else would I be partners with.” Katie turned and began talking with the younger girl as you felt your heart sink you wanted to partner with Katie but just like at home when she would rather play with Lauryn or international duty and you could never drag her away from Rue or Louise.

You sighed walking back into the changing room taking off your boots before heading to the gym where you watched the girls separate into their groups as you headed over to the balance ball looking to start like you normally did at United. You couldn’t help look around at all the little cliques within the team and wonder if you would ever fit in, shaking your head you decided to try and stick with Katie you could at least count on her she was a built in buddy for crying out loud.

This happened for the first couple of weeks back at the Arsenal you following Katie and her friends around as you tried to fit into conversations or into training exercises but they never seemed to notice you often getting cut off or left to run a drill solo, match days were one of the worst getting dressed into your Arsenal shirt adrenaline kicking in as you hoped today would be the day you started or even got to come off the bench only to be met with a full 90 minutes of siting alone on the end of the bench freezing legs bouncing up and down.

Team nights weren’t any better often sitting alone just watching your teammates laugh trying to get in on the jokes and have a laugh but ultimately getting talked over again. You would often find yourself slipping out before food arrived.

Leah had been watching you over the past few weeks heartbreaking at the sight of your depleted emotions as you were either denied a conversation or training partner or the opportunity to represent Arsenal. Walking into the changing room Leah looked around smiling at you softly as you looked up catching her eyes as you tied your boots getting ready to head out for training “hey, we are having a team session at mine this weekend I was wondering what you eat from the Chinese to have it all ready.” You looked quite shocked at the older girl not once had someone approached you, you always had to put in the effort and asking what you wanted to eat at hers was even more shocking you knew you wouldn’t even last that long but the look on Leah’s face told you she wasn’t taking no for an answer “eh just some version of spicy noodles please.” Leah nodded smiling “cool it starts at 7 but come over whenever yeah.” You nodded smiling “thank you.” Leah squeezed your arm heading to the physio as you head out to train.

Arriving at Leah’s you texted Katie who you knew had already arrived telling her you were outside and asking her to get the door as the anxiety built at the thought of ringing the doorbell but after 20 minutes you decided you where just going to have to push it aside and knock. Instantly the door opened as Leah smiled at you happily “hey you made it.” You smiled sheepishly at her “yeah sorry I…. Is Katie here.” Leah looked at you worriedly as you picked at your hand “yeah over there.” You turned spotting your older sister before walking over “hi.” You felt stupid as no one not even your sister seemed to acknowledge you as you looked around for an empty seat before opting to stand in the doorway to the hall. Hours ticked by as you watched your teammates once again laugh and enjoy each others company as you stood awkwardly away moving whenever someone had to get past, sighing you set your drink on the table before heading to the door before you felt someone grab your hand “where you off to then.” You turned eyes landing on Leah as she smiled at you “me..oh..I…well I was going to head home.” Leah looked at you carefully “how about one drink with me and if you still want to leave after it then you can and I’ll see you on Sunday.” Looking at her quizzically “ok.” You were shocked at how quickly you agreed but followed the older girl as she laced her fingers with yours pulling you into the kitchen “right pretty girl what would you like to drink.” You looked at the drinks spread out in front of you before agreeing to a bottle of Heineken as Leah popped off the top handing it to you “you know for a McCabe you’re awfully quiet.” You smiled halfheartedly “I know, I….its just the way I am I guess” you paused “I tried to be..but when you get left out no matter how hard you try you sort of just I don’t know adapt to it ya know.” Leah smiled at you softly “well I think it’s rather refreshing I mean I know she’s your sister but Jesus Christ Katie’s worse then Tooney and that girls loud.” You let out a laugh as Leah’s eyes lit up she had never heard you laugh before and to make you laugh caused something to stir within her.

You both didn’t seem to notice the time as the girls crowded into the kitchen to say goodnight to their host as you looked at your phone looking back up you realised Leah had been swept away by your teammates as you put the empty bottle you had been nursing for the last four hours and slipped out the front door before heading home.

Team nights continued on like this, the girls sat laughing in each other’s sitting rooms while you and Leah talked about anything and everything in the kitchen laughing amongst yourselves. You couldn’t help but smile at the blonde the fluttering feeling in your stomach worsening the more you both did this at team bonding nights so much so it had spilled over to getting the fluttering feeling every time you saw the older girl.

Playing at Arsenal was improving too, you had been pushing your self harder than ever hoping for Jonas to notice and give you some minutes and finally it payed off.

You guys were set to play United and you couldn’t wait to see some of your old teammates especially Mary who had taken you under her wing when you joined on your loan.

Walking out for warm ups you began lightly running before being pulled into a rondo and then taking shots at Manu. You began to make your way inside when you heard your name being called before looking to the family and friend section seeing Leah smiling you waved sheepishly making your way back to the changing room. Jonas had barged in ten minutes before kick off stating a change to the line up “Y/n you’re starting on the left Steph is out she has a problem with her hamstring.” You looked at the older man surprised as you nodded standing to make your way to the tunnel.

After a tough match that ended in a draw you turned looking at your teammates breaking into groups as they began making their way to the away stand to thank the travelling fans before you felt someone jump on your back “Maca.” You laughed trying to shove her off “Maza get off me.” Laughing Mary jumped off your back pulling you into a bear hug. You sunk into her embrace as you squeezed her tight “I miss you.” You hummed “I miss you too.” Mary pulled away “you seem happy, definitely happier what’s going on your new team absolutely adore you then.” You smiled halfheartedly as Mary felt her smile drop “hey you can tell me.” You shrugged “I don’t know I just thought this time would be different, getting to play at my favourite club with Katie is a dream I mean it’s all I’ve ever wanted but I just can’t seem to click.” You dropped your head feeling disappointed “oh y/n they’ll come around your amazing, quiet and shy yes but amazing nonetheless.” You looked up “I think I made a friend though Mary.” Mary felt her heart swell at the hope in your eyes “oh yeah who.” You smiled thinking of Leah just as she wrapped her arm around your shoulder greeting Mary who seemed to immediately notice your red cheeks “ready to head to then.” Mary grabbed your arm pulling you towards her “did she not tell you Williamson she’s staying at mine tonight then heading back to London.” Leah looked at you eyebrows raised as she poked her tongue into her cheek trying to not get annoyed at the way Mary’s arm wrapped around your waist and you leaned into the older girl “but it’s Katie’s night for team bonding.” Mary shrugged “we have had this planned for weeks Williamson I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait.” You smiled sheepishly at the blonde “sorry Lee, I’ll see you tomorrow though.” Leah sighed pulling you into a hug “alright but you text me as soon as you hit London.” You smiled nodding “Will do.”

You spent the night talking about Leah to Mary and the older girl couldn’t help but smile you looked so in love just talking about her and so happy that you had made a friend on the Arsenal squad that not once did she try stop you from talking instead smiling and nodding along and asking questions when she thought of them.

Leah spent the night feeling miserable sat on the couch beside Lia and Beth, your kitchen chats had become her favourite part of team nights and with you still in Manchester Leah felt slightly lost, that was until Katie announced a game idea “let’s play truth or dare.” Sighing Leah joined the rest of the girls sat in a circle laughing every now and again as she watched her teammates take turns choosing truth or dare and carrying out each task that was until Katie decided to ask her “right then Williamson truth or dare.” Leah smiled never one to back out “Dare McCabe.” Katie smiled wide “I dare you to ask my sister out and see how long you can string her along for.” Leah felt her smile drop “what.” Lia piped up “Katie that’s a bit far.” Katie shook her head “nah it’s not, it’s just a joke she’ll understand come on I’ll even make it a bet.” Leah looked around at her teammates, before dropping her eyes to the ground. She liked you more than a friend but you had never given any indication that you liked her back, maybe she could use this to see and then if you did you guys would end up dating anyway right. Looking up Leah smiled slightly “how much.”

#woso #awfc #woso fanfics #woso one shot #woso imagine #leah williamson #leah williamson x y/n #leah williamson imagine #leah williamson x reader #leah williamson x you

[termiteterraceclub]

Termite Terrace Club - February 14th

Happy Valentine's Day!

1942 - Who's Who in the Zoo - Dir. Norm McCabe

1948 - What Makes Daffy Duck - Dir. Arthur Davis

1953 - Forward March Hare - Dir. Chuck Jones

1959 - China Jones - Dir. Robert McKimson (65th anniversary)

1979 - Bugs Bunny’s Valentine / Bugs Bunny’s Cupid Capers

TV

1991 - Tiny Toon Adventures Season 1: “Pollution Solution" (“No Deposit, No Return of the Trash Bag Despenser" / "Jungle Bungle" / "Waste Deep in Wackyland"

1994 - Animaniacs Season 1: "Drive-Insane" / "Girlfeathers" / "I'm Cute"

1995 - Taz-Mania: "Heartbreak Taz" / "Just Be Cuz"

1998 - The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries Season 3: “Spooker of the House" / "Furgo".

1998 - Pinky & the Brain Season 3: “Inherit the Wheeze". This episode won a PRISM Award for its anti-smoking message. Pinky convinces Brain to stop selling cigarettes to children.

#looney tunes #looneytwt #wb #warner bros #bugs bunny #porky pig #daffy duck #elmer fudd

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

We’re expecting a snow and sleet event this morning. As I was composing this post it started raining around 6:30AM and it’s below freezing. Here’s hoping we don’t lose power and have frozen roads later. 🥶

I hope you enjoy the links.

Colleen Long • The Associated Press

President Joe Biden will stress democracy is still a ‘sacred cause’ in a speech near Valley Forge

If TFG wins we may become an authoritarian nation. Kiss freedoms we’ve come to expect — like the horrible reversal of Roe v. Wade — to become the norm. I’d expect to see jailed political rivals and journalists. The Justice Department and Military will become law enforcement. With the law being his Orangeness.

No thank you.

Brynn Tannehill • The New Republic

The Polls Prove It: Many Republicans Love Fascism

So, yeah, fascism is the new GOP policy and Republicans across the nation love it.

That’s sickening.

Slashdot

Niklaus Wirth, Inventor of Pascal, Dies At 89

I never learned Pascal but know plenty of developers who made their career using it. 🪦

Casey Newton • Platformer

On Tuesday, I told subscribers that we are considering leaving the platform based on the company’s recent statement that it would not demonetize or remove openly Nazi accounts.

Bravo Casey! I wasn’t planning on linking to any Substack content but I had to break that rule for this piece. Casey is planning on doing something about Substack’s horrible position by, potentially, taking his publication and subscribers elsewhere. That’s very brave given it’s how he makes his living! ❤️

Now, if we can get other writers to follow that would be amazing.

BBC

Japan earthquake: Nearly 250 missing as hope for survivors fades

Our world has become such a mess the tragedy unfolding in Japan doesn’t even register as big news, at least that’s how it feels to me.

Kyle Orland • Ars Technica

34 years later, a 13-year-old hits the NES Tetris “kill screen”

Great explainer video of how the true Tetris Kill Screen was finally reached.

Also, I had no idea Tetris was still such a big deal. Silly me, of course it is! 🧱

Ashur Cabrera

I thought I’d be sharing photos of pintxos and more Basque lettering from Donostia-San Sebastián, and diving into our early experiences of living abroad.

My friend Ashur had planned a big adventure that didn’t quite work out as planned. It’s a worthwhile read and proves things don’t always go as planned.

David McCabe and Tripp Mickle • The New York Times

The Justice Department is in the late stages of an investigation into Apple and could file a sweeping antitrust case taking aim at the company’s strategies to protect the dominance of the iPhone as soon as the first half of this year, said three people with knowledge of the matter.

Some of the things the Justice Department are interested in seen really strange to me. Like allowing access to the Messages Service. Why should Google, or whoever else, be given the keys to access Messages backend services? Apple created and runs that service. It’s not built on a free to use, government backed, open-to-the-public utility. It’s paid for and maintained by Apple.

Now, if by access the government means Apple has to open it up as a paid service, I could see that. Perhaps Google agrees to take on some of the cost burden, based on usage, or pay Apple some huge fee so Android users have full access to Messages with a native messaging app built by Google. That wouldn’t be so bad. Another alternative is for Apple to build a Messages app for Android and sell access to the service as a monthly subscription. Hey, Apple, that means more service revenue! 😁

The whole App Store payment kerfuffle is something a lot of developers would like to see changed. I think most developers don’t want to pay Apple 15-30% of their potential revenue. That can be a lot of cheese for many Indie developers. There are some things Apple could change to help the situation, like allowing developers to actually tell users to visit their website to sign up or subscribe to their service. E.G. Amazon and Netflix cannot tell new users, through their app UI, to visit their website to get started. For a company who prides themselves on simplicity and great user experience sure do make it difficult for third-party apps to be easy to use.

Anywho, I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for the Justice Department taking action against Apple and fallout from it.

Dave Winer • Scripting News

So at the beginning of a new year, I’m going to remind myself that I’m too old and not paid well enough (I’m not paid at all, heh) to do another year of this kind of work. I should be making writing and reading tools work better on the web. That’s my mission.

Dave has been an innovator all his adult life. Whether it was scripting on the Mac and Windows or creating widely used technology like RSS and podcasting. Since he sold weblogs.com and left UserLand he’s continued to build writing tools of various kinds. His latest venture is FeedLand. It’s a feed reader and more. I can personally see it as a mechanism to follow and find excellent podcasts for a podcast player. Yes, it has an API that could be used for such things and it has full search capability. Bet you didn’t see that use case coming!

Anywho, I hope you get some rest, Dave, and have a wonderful 2024 making the web a better place for writers.

Keep digging!

Tim Kellogg

Back in the ’00s you would download a feed reader and subscribe to feeds. This felt a lot like an early version of social media. Google Reader was killed in 2013, which was largely seen as the death of RSS. I think social media generally replaced RSS because it took far fewer technical skills to setup a Facebook account versus an RSS-enabled blog.

This is interesting because it uses Mastodon as a feed reader. That’s not a bad idea, really. It’s such a good idea to have a timeline based reader I made one! 😁

All the stuff Tim says about Facebook and other social media platforms is 100% accurate. Those platforms stood in for blogs because of their low barrier to entry. Quite honestly I’m surprised Facebook never embraced blogging as a true feature of its platform, complete with all the expected bells and whistles, and that includes RSS and posts that don’t require a Facebook login to read them.

Anil Dash

Well, things changed a little bit in tech of late. Often, the power shifts in the tech world because of a dramatic new invention that solves an old problem a whole lot better. But in the current era, when most of what’s getting funded and hyped up are just various attempts to undermine workers and control consumers, we’re instead seeing lots of major players lose power because their signature offerings have gotten so much worse.

There was a time, not that long ago, folks said things like “RSS is dead” or asked “Is RSS dead?” First off, it’s just a technology, so it can’t actually die. Second, its web fabric and has been since its inception. It’s boring stuff — this is not a dig or insult, it’s a compliment. It’s as boring as HTML or CSS. I’d imagine it’s been used for all sorts of stuff beyond blogs over its history and it’ll probably be around for as long as we have a web to browse.

Sure social media, or microblogging, took center stage for a while. My own blogging slowed for a long period of time because I started posting little blurbs of text to Twitter instead of my blog.

Now I do that with a combination of Mastodon and Micro.blog. Short posts go to Mastodon and Micro.blog and long posts, like this one, go to my blog with a link on many services including Mastodon, Micro.blog, Blue Sky, and Tumblr.

My blog is at the center. It’s my content, I own it.

Matt Birchler

Here’s an uncomfortable question: when do I stop blogging?

I always find this question odd. I figure I’ll stop when, or if, I just stop one day. I suppose folks who do it professionally have to think about stuff like this, especially if they have subscribers and/or advertisers.

Maybe when the day comes that you’d like to stop doing it for a living you just let folks know you’re going to blog about whatever you’d like and do it for fun?

I’ve been blogging since February 2001 and still love it.

Rain Noe • Core77

A Handsome Aluminum and Ultem Smartphone Case

I want one of these. Guess I need to buy an iPhone 14 or 15 Pro? Having an updated iPhone would also open the door to a whole lot of cases I love at Cotton Bureau. 😃

Chance Miller, Benjamin Mayo, Ben Lovejoy, and Ben Schoon • 9to5Mac

The iPhone is the device that pushed the mobile industry away from physical keyboards, but nothing can truly replace that tactile experience. Launching next month, “Clicks” aims to add a physical keyboard to your iPhone with support for keyboard shortcuts and backlighting too.

In 2013 Ryan Seacrest was part of an effort to bring a physical keyboard to the iPhone. It was called Typo and I never heard much about it beyond the initial announcement. I could’ve sworn it was earlier than 2013, but my memory sometimes fails me.

Anyway, I hope these folks are wildly successful. Good luck y’all!

Richard Devine • Windows Central

The best holiday gift was Mac losing out to Windows, at least according to these stats

It’s obvious some Windows users and pundits still have an inferiority complex when it comes to the Mac. It’s surprising.

I’m an old, long time, Windows developer and I owe a lot to the platform. I spent around 20 years writing code for Windows and I still believe it to be an amazing platform for users and developers. But I switched to the Mac full time in 2006 and have grown to enjoy it every bit as much as Windows.

It’s perfectly fine to love using a different operating system or prefer coding for one over the other. Let people have fun and enjoy what they love doing. ❤️

Here’s hoping 2024 isn’t a complete shit show. 🤣

[news24fr]

Russo et McCabe offrent des plumes à volantsL'offre tardive d'Arsenal pour l'attaquant de Manchester United Alessia Russo et l'intérêt signalé de Chelsea pour Katie McCabe d'Arsenal ont remué le pot. Les joueurs se déplaçant entre des clubs rivaux sont beaucoup plus fréquents dans le football féminin que dans le football masculin. Les contrats à court terme ont été la norme, et les gros transferts d'argent sont un phénomène relativement nouveau. Dans le passé, les offres courtes des joueurs expiraient souvent et ils se déplaçaient gratuitement. Avec des contrats d'un an et un manque d'avantages la norme dans les jeux semi-professionnels et amateurs, il était difficile de reprocher aux joueurs de saisir toute opportunité qui se présentait à eux.Au fur et à mesure que le jeu s'est professionnalisé et que les joueurs ont eu plus de valeur en tant qu'actifs, cela a commencé à changer. La décision d'Alex Greenwood de quitter Manchester United pour Lyon puis de rejoindre Manchester City n'a pas été bien accueillie par les fans de United, et le fait qu'Emma Mitchell ait rejoint Tottenham depuis Arsenal à la recherche de temps de jeu a semé la confusion dans la base de fans plus large, moins familière avec à quel point c'est plus difficile pour footballeuses de déplacer leur vie et celle de leur famille à travers le pays. La courtisation de McCabe par Chelsea et l'offre d'Arsenal pour Russo, qui n'a plus de contrat cet été, ont fait monter le mécontentement d'un niveau. Que cela se soit produit en janvier et ait impliqué les trois équipes en lice pour le titre, a laissé les fans furieux. Si United ou Arsenal avaient capitulé et vendu des joueurs précieux et précieux pour de l'argent, les motivations des hiérarchies du club auraient été à l'honneur.Déplacer les poteaux de but | Les retombées de l'échec de l'offre d'Alessia Russo pourraient façonner l'avenir d'Arsenal et de UnitedLire la suiteLes espoirs anglais se battent pour les places en Coupe du mondeLes décisions de Beth England d'échanger Chelsea contre Tottenham et de Jordan Nobbs et Lucy Staniforth de rejoindre Aston Villa depuis Arsenal et Manchester United respectivement ont été courageuses. Les signatures des internationaux anglais ont également été astucieuses. Toutes trois sont en marge de l'effectif de Sarina Wiegman. Seule l'Angleterre était dans l'équipe de l'Euro 2022, mais elle n'a pas joué une minute.Avec la Coupe du monde en Australie et en Nouvelle-Zélande à l'horizon, réchauffer le banc des équipes au sommet qui offrent certains des meilleurs environnements et salaires de la ligue était peu susceptible d'améliorer leurs chances de revenir sur le radar de Wiegman – en particulier avec un nombre de jeunes joueurs impressionnants et obtenant des matchs réguliers cette saison. Tous les trois se sont intégrés de manière assez transparente dans leurs clubs et la confiance au sein du groupe se renforce. Si tous, certains ou l'un d'entre eux prennent l'avion pour la Coupe du monde 2023, alors la probabilité que des espoirs internationaux regardent en dessous des équipes empilées des quatre premiers à la recherche d'un football régulier augmentera et profitera à la compétitivité de la ligue.Méfiez-vous des prêteursLe marché des transferts était chargé. Vingt-quatre joueurs ont effectué des mouvements permanents, mais le marché des prêts est peut-être plus intéressant, avec 15 joueurs prêtés par des équipes WSL, six sur des inscriptions doubles et 39 envoyés aux équipes WSL et au-delà – toutes ces transactions n'ont pas été conclues en janvier. Il existe plusieurs contradictions dans le WSL. Il y a 22 matchs dans la saison de la ligue et les clubs peuvent avoir jusqu'à 25 joueurs dans leurs équipes. Pour trois clubs, il y a plus de matchs avec la Ligue des champions et ils ont tendance à aller plus loin dans les compétitions de coupe nationales. Cela permet une plus grande rotation, mais les meilleurs clubs ont de plus en plus de mal à satisfaire une équipe de 25 joueurs d'élite.

Avec de plus grandes ressources, de plus en plus les quatre premiers d'Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City et Manchester United ont pu accumuler certains des meilleurs jeunes talents. Ces joueurs veulent les environnements, les contrats et le niveau de professionnalisme offerts par ces clubs, mais ils ont souvent du mal à obtenir un temps de jeu significatif avec la pression du succès plus grande que jamais. En conséquence, ces joueurs sont envoyés en prêt.ignorer la promotion de la newsletterInscrivez-vous pour Déplacer les poteaux de butNewsletter hebdomadaire gratuiteInformatif, passionné, divertissant. Inscrivez-vous dès maintenant à notre tour d'horizon hebdomadaire du football féminin.

[rawnion]

The Pink Phink (1964)

https://youtu.be/59lKdaXX6Eo

-Lead animator/Director/Studio

The cartoon was directed by Friz Freleng, and co-directed by Hawley Pratt; produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises production company; and animated by Don Williams, Bob Matz, Norm McCabe, and LaVerne Harding.

-Outline of the story

The story is about a pink panther, who observes a man painting the interior of a house blue. Pink Panther intervenes, and sneakily paints the house pink while the painter is not looking. Each time the painter paints a surface blue, he turns back to see that it has mysteriously been painted over with pink paint right after he looks away. This makes him believe that he is going crazy. That is until he finds a clue from Pink Panther’s paw prints, that he realizes there is a culprit behind this phenomenon. The painter spots Pink Panther and determines to shoot him with a shotgun, but Pink Panther tricks the painter into shooting at the house with the paint-filled gun, which turns the whole house pink. In anger, the painter buries all the pink paint he can find beneath the ground, which later makes all the plants surrounding the house sprout as pink coloured plants. Pink Panther is excited by the outcome of the all-pink estate; he shakes the painter’s hand and moves in, leaving the painter to bang his head on a pink mailbox out of frustration and exasperation. The Pink Panther gets his happy ending.

-The Technique, or new Technology used in the creation of the short?

The technique they used to make this short was traditional, hand-drawn animation. People loved that it featured a pantomime-style of animation, and loved the character; a sophisticated, cunning, and pink cartoon panther. The short was “backed by variations on Henry Mancini’s slithery, saxophone-y Pink Panther theme.” The silent little altercations that he gets into with the antagonist is comedic and entertaining to watch, and the story is universally understood despite the cartoon’s lack of dialogue.

-The Reception (How did people of the time feel about it)

This short was so successful that it won the 1964 Oscar for Best Animated Short. It was the first time that a studio won an academy award with its first animated short. But its immediate success was not beginner's luck, as David DePatie was the son of one of the Warner Bros, and a winner of an earlier Academy Award for sound editing for another work before producing this short. And Friz Freleng also directed no less than five Oscar winners, including Bugs Bunny and Speedy Gonzales. The two collaborated to produce this cartoon, which later on acquired its own slot as a Sunday morning T.V. show.

-Sources used:

Freleng, Hope, et al. Meet the Pink Panther. United Kingdom, Universe Publishing, 2005.

“Put a Panther in Your Tank.” TIME Magazine, vol. 86, no. 14, Oct. 1965, pp. 9–90. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.langara.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=54031748&site=eds-live&scope=site.

https://web.archive.org/web/20160309085124/http://dfe.goldenagecartoons.com/filmography/1964-65.htm#

https://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/history-of-pink-panther-8672.html

[fridaythe13ththeseries]

The Sweetest Sting

Episode Recap #37: The Sweetest Sting Original Airdate: January 21, 1989

Starring: John D. LeMay as Ryan Dallion Louise Robey as Micki Foster Chris Wiggins as Jack Marshak

Guest cast: Art Hindle as McCabe David Palffy as Fred Marr Tim Webber as Bob Tucker Elva Mai Hoover as Joanne Hendricks Victor Sutton as Ben Landis Gerry Pearson as Purdy J. Winston Carroll as Norman Hendricks Tedde Moore as Dr. Meade Ilse von Glatz as Diane

Written by Rick Butler, Roy Sallows Directed by David Winning

~~~~~

Late Autumn on a sort of rundown farm. Guy in a truck pulls up to a man on the side of the road selling honey cheap. The man wants to buy some and the guy offers him taste, spilling some on the man as he does. The bee seller puts on his suit to the confusion of the other dude, says his bees are ornery. He then proceeds to let the bees free, and they attack the man, stinging him to death before returning to the hive box.

Cut to a night scene at the bee keeper's place. He leads an older man to a chair and puts honey on his hands, then places his hands in wooden contraption, and the man cannot get them free. He asks if his family will be looked after, and the bee keeper, McCabe, says they will believe he died in a car crash. McCabe appears in the other room where man's honey covered hands are, and dons his bee suit again, letting the bees sting this man's hands until he dies. McCabe goes into the room and the old man has been transformed into the younger man from the road. McCabe says he'll have to come back weekly for a "pick me up". The man is elated.

Another day, Micki arrives at a house looking for Mr. Purdy. A man with a shotgun and a barking dog appears at the door, saying he is Purdy's brother. Micki tries to explain she is looking for a hive his brother bought from the store. He tells Micki his brother is dead and wants her to leave, saying people aren't safe there at nightfall.

In an office, a Mr. Hendricks is getting bad news: his tumor will kill him in six to twelve months. She tries to comfort him that death is inevitable. He leaves, replaying the conversation, then sees the younger transformed man staring at him. Hendricks walks off.

Micki is at a phone booth telling Jack about her brief run in with Purdy's brother. Jack says Ryan can look up Purdy's death certificate, he'll do more research, and she says she'll love for more bee apiaries. Jack tells Ryan the hive is a one of a kind piece and that he is clueless as to how the curse will operate with it.

At his office, Hendricks is called in to the boss's office. The younger boss said he is phasing out the older man's division and he's being fired and losing his pension, to boot. Hendricks tries to reason with him but gets nowhere.

Ryan returns to Curious Goods with the death certificate for Purdy. He was stung by bees countless times after he bought the hive, so whoever has it now has been in possession of it for over a year. Ryan says there haven't been any other deaths by bee stinging, all deaths in that area have been normal. Jack wants to get to the place and goes to borrow Rashid's car.

Hendricks walks replaying his day in his head. The younger man from the bee transformation approaches him and Hendricks thinks he's being mugged. The man calls him Norm and tells him he is really Ben Landis. Hendricks says Ben died weeks ago in a crash, but the man tries to convince him it is true and eventually says enough to prove it. He asks how long his friend has to live, then tells him there is another option. Hendricks is unsure, but Ben is convincing enough. He leaves him a note with the name of the Apiary.

That night, Hendricks shows up at McCabe's apiary. He says if he signs over his life insurance to McCabe, how can he be sure his wife will be taken care of? McCabe reminds him how happy Ben is now. He offers to find someone that will be a good fit for his skill set.

At home, Hendricks tries to prepare his wife "just in case" something happens to him. But she is looking forward to their retired life together, unaware of all that has happene to her husband. He placates her.

Later, his boss is getting into an elevator and McCabe, acting like a janitor, joins him. He pulls out a jar of honey and puts a glob on the man's coat. He then lets his bees free to attack while covering himself.

Back at the apiary at night, Ben and Hendricks arrive. McCabe sends the older man inside, then tells Ben he needs to find an older man to substitute for his friend when he "dies". Ben is reluctant to kill, but McCabe threatens him with the need for a fresh dose of honey, pointing out how the man's hand is looking aged already. He leaves Ben to ponder the deal with the devil he has made. Inside, he has the bees sting Hendricks with the curse turning him

Driving, Ben spies a hitchhiker and picks him up, hiding a hook behind him. At the apiary, Hendricks body has transformed into that of his boss, young and healthy. Ben drags the now unconscious hitchhiker to a tractor and then turns the machine on, killing him. Ryan and Micki try and convince Purdy's brother to help them find the cursed hive box. He keeps his gun aimed at them an won't talk more than saying the area is cursed and he is protecting himself from someone.

Jack is talking to McCabe, but the man says no one would want an old antique bee hive. Ben arrives, his face looking aged, asking McCabe for "that honey". McCabe calls him Bob and says his order is all boxed up. Jack is suspicious.

McCabe is not happy with Ben and they argue, McCabe threatening Ben, who promises to keep his mouth shut. He then swallows up the honey.

In a field, Micki, Ryan and Jack try and figure out what is going on, Jack saying the man who approached McCabe looked "prematurely old". Micki remembers something from school about Egyptians using bees to restore youth. Jack says many cultures hold similar beliefs. He heads back to the store to do more research while they head back to try and spy on McCabe.

Hendricks in his new body and role as boss calls his wife, who is distraught over husband's death. He offers condolences, and offers any help he can.

Micki and Ryan snoop around McCabe's barn and set off a sensor that alerts him. Ryan finds the room with the chair and hand holds. Micki searches elsewhere and finds the stash of honey. They can't figure out what the chair is for and Ryan goes to search the loft. Micki tastes some of the honey. Ryan finds the bees and hive and McCabe approaches, covered in his suit. He lets the bees free and Ryan calls to Micki to flee. She is attacked before she can make it to the car and Ryan gets the fire extinguisher from the trunk and sprays her free of bees. They jump in and drive off, to McCabe's dismay.

Jack studies a bee under a microscope. It is full of blood, Ryan calls them vampire bees. Jack said they usually die after stinging, but these only died after Ryan sprayed them. They work out the honey keeping people young part, but can't figure out why there have been any bodies found with bee stings. They agree to confront Purdy's brother a third time.

Mrs. Hendricks calls her husband's boss, unknowing it is really him. She's concerned about the low pension, and that her husband changed his policy to a different person. He says he will look into it an take care of it for her. Then McCabe bursts into the office. He wants to know why the man hasn't answered his calls. "Hendricks" says he is unhappy, but McCabe says he owes him everything, happiness isn't his concern. He's there to collect on his debt. He needs more bodies, and that "Hendricks" will do whatever McCabe wants, which is to use this job to contact even richer, more powerful clients for his honey. McCabe again threatens his continued youth. He gives the man the Curious Goods business card and says he wants all three from the store dead.

Purdy is seen walking his property with his rifle, which Ryan wrests away from him suddenly. Jack and Micki appear and want to know where the hive is hidden. Purdy says the hive is from hell. He's reluctant to help and they push him until he admits McCabe IS his brother, having used the hive on himself first, killing the original McCabe and turning himself into the younger man. Micki wonders about why no bee-stung bodies, and Purdy says he makes the deaths look like normal farm accidents. They leave.

"Hendricks" is having coffee with his widow, trying to tell him how much her husband loved her. But she knows Marr fired her husband and calls him out on it. She begins to cry and wants him to leave. He again offers help. When he's gone, McCabe appears behind her and chloroforms the woman.

At the apiary at night, an aging "Hendricks" says they need to talk. He says he is not a killer. But McCabe shows Mrs. Hendricks stuck with her hands in the box. McCabe tells him if he refuses to do as told, she'll die.

The Curious Goods trio are watching the apiary from their car and see McCabe with "Marr", unsure who he is. They leave the car to find the cursed hive box. Mrs. Hendricks is still stuck and gagged. "Hendricks" stops driving away, looking at his aged face in the mirror.

Micki and Ryan decide to box all the honey and put it in the vault. McCabe sees the light on in the barn. "Hendricks" turns around and drives back to the farm.

Ryan brings one box of honey to the car as Micki packs another. They see McCabe heading toward the barn. Inside, Micki finds Mrs. Hendricks and ungags and frees her hands as McCabe walks in, gun drawn. He then puts Micki's hands in the bee box holes. He goes to get honey for her hands, but an even more aged "Hendricks" arrives, with the rifle. McCabe is able to knock the gun out of the man's hands when Ryan and Jack burst in to save Micki. They go to free Micki and the other woman while McCabe and "Hendricks" struggle.

McCabe sets his bees free on them, but they flee the barn. He is confident they can't run, but then "Hendricks shoots the jars of honey, which explode all over McCabe, causing the bee to attack him. Outside, "Hendricks" calls to his JoJo, who is very confused. She goes to the dying man who asks for forgiveness. He transforms back into his old body after he dies.

Ryan puts the bee box in the vault. Micki asks Jack if it was okay to let the bees go, and Jack says the hive was cursed, not the bees. Micki wonders if they'll ever know how many died from this item, Ryan says Purdy's brother should have spoken up sooner. Jack says sometimes all that's needed for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing. Ryan shuts the vault.

~~

My thoughts:

The bee hive box is a convoluted antique, using honey and multiple people to work its curse. It makes you wonder how the first guy, Purdy before he became McCabe, figured it all out.

This curse is a demanding one, too. Not only does it transform the people, but they need to rely on weekly doses of honey to remain young in their new forms. McCabe should be making lots of money with this scheme - and lots of enemies.

Loved the Autumn settings around the farm country. Some of the barns had seen better days, but the scenes were very pretty. And loved the little look at Rashid's unique car!

Overall, and interesting story. Loved Jack's comment at the end about evil triumphing if good men do nothing. And when Ryan comments about Hendricks changing his mind at the end, and Micki says its good to know they are not alone in their pursuit of justice. Nice end.

Next week: The Playhouse

#episode recap #season two #the sweetest sting #micki foster #ryan dallion #friday the 13th: the series #80s tv #louise robey #john d. lemay #jack marshak #robey #chris wiggins #curious goods #bees #bee hive

[classicanimationart]

Model sheet.

Gopher Goofy (WB, 1942)

#Warner bros #norm mccabe #animation art #animation drawing #model sheet #cartoons

[dailylooneys]

Top 5 Underrated WB directors

1. Arthur Davis

2. Norm McCabe

3. Frank Tashlin

4. Ben Hardaway & Cal Dalton  

5. Alex Lovy

#wb directors #underrated #arthur davis #norm mccabe #frank tashlin #ben hardaway #cal dalton #alex lovy #looney tunes #merrie melodies

[ducktracy]

!!!NEW REVIEW!!!

for the first time since early 1938 (that isn’t a returnee, as is the case with Friz Freleng) Warner’s invites a new director to the stand: Norm McCabe. in spite of such a short career—drafted into the military in late 1942 and the studio reaching capacity upon his 1946 return–he proved to have one of the longest careers out of any of the directors (and being the last to pass away in 2006), even working for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment in the ‘90s on such shows as Tiny Toons and Animaniacs to name a few.

having gotten his feet wet co-directing with a Bob Clampett out on sick leave, Robinson Crusoe, Jr. is the first short to truly put his skills to the test: a burlesque of the ever popular Daniel Defoe novel (whose lack of lampooning now is pretty apparent) with Porky as the titular castaway.

#anything involving Robinson Crusoe is ripe with racist stereotypes and this is no exception! tread with caution #lt #looney tunes #robinson crusoe jr #mccabe #reviews #..when is the last time i posted about a Norm McCabe short?? gotta be at least 2 years oof #that changes now! #okay not counting the two reviews prior: Jan 2022 and the post before that Jan 2021 WHOOOOS #*WHOOPS but that too

[spaceintruderdetector]

10 great acid westerns

A list of ten lysegic westerns -

https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-great-acid-westerns

The term ‘acid western’ is an elusive one. First coined by Pauline Kael in her New Yorker review of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo (1970), it wasn’t until 2000 and the publication of his monograph on Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man (1995) for the BFI Modern Classics series that critic Jonathan Rosenbaum would expand upon the terminology more specifically.

“What I partly mean by acid westerns,” wrote Rosenbaum, “are revisionist westerns in which American history is reinterpreted to make room for peyote visions and related hallucinogenic experiences, LSD trips in particular.” He distinguishes these from the “less radical… upheaval of generic norms” that colour “the influence of marijuana on the drifting, nonlinear aspects of the style of McCabe and Mrs Miller (1971),” setting the ‘acid western’ apart from what he calls the ‘pot western’.

#western #cinema #acid western

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

President Trump’s firing of Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney in charge of investigating major crimes in the influential Southern District of New York, which includes Manhattan, is another move by the Trump administration that, though likely legal and not totally unprecedented, appears to violate core democratic values.

The firing was dramatic, with Attorney General William Barr announcing late on Friday night Berman’s resignation and a replacement. Berman issued a statement roughly an hour later saying that he had not resigned and that Barr personally did not have the right to fire him due to the nature of his appointment.1 So on Saturday afternoon, Trump himself fired Berman, and Barr designated a different person to replace Berman than the one he had named on Friday. The firing was also somewhat surprising given that Berman is a longtime Republican who not only donated to Trump’s first presidential campaign but also served on his transition team.

Yet underlying all the drama is something we’ve gotten used to in the Trump era: the breaking of democratic norms and values, which are two distinct concepts. As we’ve written about before, values are fundamental principles (e.g., free speech), whereas norms are the unwritten rules we abide by (don’t cut in line) that sometimes reinforce those values (Supreme Court justices don’t endorse political candidates, thereby bolstering the independence of the judicial and executive branches) but also sometimes don’t. So let’s look at Trump’s firing of Berman in the context of some of those values.2

Equal justice under the law

Under Berman’s leadership, the Southern District was reportedly investigating Trump lawyer and ally Rudy Giuliani, including Giuliani’s dealings with Ukranian officials that were scrutinized as part of the impeachment inquiry against Trump. We don’t know the status of that investigation, whether Giuliani was likely to face criminal charges or even whether that investigation was a factor in the decision to oust Berman. There is some logic to the idea that Department of Justice prosecutors should avoid making decisions close to the election that might influence its outcome — indicting the president’s attorney is arguably such an example. In fact, Democrats in 2016 criticized then-FBI Director James Comey on these grounds, when he announced less than two weeks before Election Day that he was reviewing new evidence involving Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

That said, if Trump and Barr were trying to protect Giuliani (and therefore Trump), it fits a pattern of Barr’s Justice Department seeming to extend special treatment to Trump allies. In February, DOJ officials overruled career prosecutors and asked for a significantly lighter sentence for longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone, who was convicted of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction of justice. All four prosecutors withdrew from the case — and one resigned — in protest of the decision. Even more unusual was the decision in May by a Barr-appointed U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., to drop charges against Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, even though Flynn had already pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Not only did a career prosecutor quit that case as well, but federal appeals judges are considering not allowing the Justice Department to drop the charges.

The democratic value at play here is equal justice under the law — a person should not get unusually lenient treatment by the Justice Department if he or she is an ally of the president’s. Arguably, previous presidents have violated this value — for example, as he was leaving office, Bill Clinton pardoned the ex-husband of a major Democratic Party donor.

Independence of law enforcement

The most alarming potential explanation of what happened to Berman is that Barr tried to fire him specifically for investigating Giuliani. A milder version may be that the Southern District, under Berman’s leadership, demonstrated that it did not care about Trump’s preferences and would investigate whichever crimes it deemed important, no matter the potential ramifications for Trump. Two years ago, the Southern District persuaded onetime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to plead guilty to a number of crimes, including violating campaign finance law, with Cohen suggesting his illegal behavior came at Trump’s behest. (It’s worth noting that Berman recused himself from that case.)

So Barr and Trump may consider Berman insufficiently loyal to their interests and fear he would bring charges that would reflect badly on Trump or Republicans, even if Berman didn’t bring forward a case clearly linked to the president.

Indeed, the Trump administration has a long record of demoting, reassigning, firing or otherwise sidelining law enforcement officials who show independence from the White House: Comey, former FBI general counsel James Baker, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Trump or his allies often hinted that Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller would be fired during their tenures as FBI deputy director and DOJ special counsel, respectively, in a manner seemingly designed to intimidate them. Trump has also recently complained about current FBI Director Christopher Wray and hinted that he could be fired.

And Barr has implied that the Justice Department will seek to bring charges against those involved with initiating the investigations of the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia — in effect, criminalizing efforts that bring scrutiny to the president.

Again, it is not unprecedented for presidents to replace law enforcement officials. Presidents in both parties traditionally replace with their own choices all the U.S. attorneys appointed by the previous administration, which often results in a wide partisan swap. As president, Clinton fired the FBI director, and most notably, in what came to be known as the “Saturday Night Massacre,” then-President Richard Nixon purged the senior leadership of the Justice Department for refusing to quash an investigation of him — he was impeached and forced to resign in part because of these moves.

The democratic value at stake here is the independence of law enforcement. That ideal, that their decisions should be divorced from politics, is hard to maintain if key law enforcement officials are constantly worried about being fired by the president, attorney general or anyone else for political reasons.

Accountability and oversight

It’s worth thinking about the initial bid to fire Berman on Friday night, because that is in part what made this move so problematic at first glance. It appeared to be an attempt by Barr and Trump to install at the top of an important law enforcement agency (the Southern District of New York) someone more likely to be friendly to their interests. Generally, when a political appointee like a U.S. attorney leaves, he or she is replaced by the No. 2 person in that office, usually a career civil service employee not formally aligned with either party. But on Friday Barr announced that Berman would be temporarily replaced by Craig Carpenito, a U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, a close ally of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another Trump loyalist.

This is a pattern for Trump: removing the leaders of various government agencies or departments, ignoring normal succession procedures and passing over the people who would normally step in, and instead replacing them with Trump allies. The temporary replacement’s role is essentially to do Trump’s bidding in a way that the removed person would not. The most prominent example of this was when, after the 2018 midterm elections, Trump replaced Sessions with his chief of staff at the time, Matt Whitaker. Often, as in the case of Berman, Trump has removed someone appointed in a process he did not totally control (usually Senate confirmation — in Berman’s case, he was installed by the judges of the Southern District) with someone chosen solely by Trump for that particular role.

Trump’s controlling the executive branch in this way — minimizing the oversight of other branches — weakens checks on his executive power. In this instance, however, Berman’s own chief deputy, Audrey Strauss, stepped into the role.

That said, that Carpenito never actually made it into Berman’s former position doesn’t mean the move wasn’t still problematic in terms of oversight. In indicting one Trump lawyer (Cohen) and investigating another (Giuliani), the Southern District under Berman’s leadership was effectively conducting oversight of the president, since Giuliani in particular was basically executing Trump’s policy goals with Ukraine (pressuring Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden). Berman’s firing suggests Trump was unhappy with that oversight and wants to limit it.

Trump’s attempts to stop oversight of his policy moves is also part of a pattern. He has essentially refused to comply with any congressional investigations into his administration. And over the past few months, he has fired a number of the inspectors general at federal agencies, the people formally charged with scrutinizing the executive branch. The intelligence community inspector general played a key role in bringing forward the whistleblower’s complaints about the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine, leading to the president’s impeachment. Trump seems to now view all inspectors general as threats to his administration.

The democratic value at play here is oversight of the executive branch. The Senate’s role in confirming executive branch appointees and the presence of inspectors general are ways in which a president in theory is not able to do whatever he wants with the executive branch. Trump seems unwilling to abide by these constraints. Having his personal lawyer conduct foreign policy puts that person out of the purview of the Senate or inspectors general. Firing the U.S. attorney whose office was investigating the president’s lawyer signals that the president’s lawyer and the sphere of policy he is implementing is off limits.

Media and public scrutiny

The Berman firing, like the removals of several inspectors general, was done on a Friday night. This is not the most important of these violations of democratic values. Previous presidents — and plenty of other people outside of politics, for that matter — “dump” bad news on Friday nights, hoping it will get less media coverage as journalists take off for the weekend.

That said, these firings are important for the reasons I have laid out above. Trump’s seeming desire to obscure them suggests he wants to avoid careful examination of decisions that he no doubt is aware will be controversial.

Media and public scrutiny of presidential decisions is a core democratic value as well, even if other presidents have also neglected to maintain it.

And, again, this is a pattern for Trump. In the past few weeks, he and his aides have sought to get CNN to retract — and apologize for — a poll showing Trump trailing Biden and to block the publication of former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s book, which is critical of Trump. Presidents often complain about polls and dislike books critical of them but Trump’s actions go beyond those more traditional objections.

We recently wrote about how the administration’s decision to use chemical agents and rubber bullets on protesters outside the White House violated several democratic values. Key officials involved in that incident now seem to regret it. The firing of Berman may also backfire on Trump. It could embolden more people, including some Republicans, to start criticizing the president for politicizing law enforcement decisions.

Berman’s decision to resist his firing and administration officials’ distancing themselves from the White House protest incident suggest something else that should worry Trump: People in his administration may be reading and believing polls showing him trailing Biden, thinking Trump is likely to lose reelection in November and becoming more unwilling to do questionable things to stay in good standing with a man who may not be president come January.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #Perry Bacon Jr.

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 20 - CHI- Dach’ed Two Points

4-1 Regulation Loss

We’ve now reached the twenty-game mark and the question remains: what are the 2019-2020 Buffalo Sabres? It’s safe to say 95% the same thing the 2018-2019 Sabres were but that answer is pessimistic and uncreative at best. Optimists like me have tended toward a whole new, transformed club, but most of the second ten games so far this season has made that conclusion seem foolish. So what is it then? Twenty games is still a little early to tell but let’s make a guess educated by a sample size that constitutes about a fourth of the season. They’re… ugh… you know what fuck it. How am I burning through this many rants and we’re not even to American Thanksgiving yet? I said you guys got to wrack up some points in the standings against lesser competition and its like you immediately started writing out a gorgeously scripted Fuck You like SpongeBob the night before his paper is due! AT LEAST LAST SEASON YOU HAD THE COURTESY AND GOOD SENSE TO WAIT UNTIL CHRISTMAS TO SHIT IN MY MOUTH! Like, I want to blame it on the Chicago Blackhawks somehow having Buffalo’s number or some shit but that would be a special kind of bullshit cop out! You know how I know this is now really bad? Like really, we’re going to be in for a nightmare in the press kinda bad? No, not the grilling of the GM and the Coach or even the benching of Dahlin and Miller for ever shittier versions of Jake McCabe and Rasmus Ristolainen; no, I knew it was bad when fucking dog moms on twitter who watch the Sabres in their free time started saying “GEE, I HOPE DYLAN COZENS TURNS OUT TO BE GOOD!” Build through the Draft. Yeah, I know how a rebuild works but I think we should be getting to the point when we do the thing that comes after building… uh… WINNING? WE ALREADY HIT RESTART ON THE REBUILD! WHEN YOU REBOOT THE MATRIX FOR THE THIRD TIME WHAT DO YOU GET!? HUH!? MATRIX REVOLUTIONS! THAT WAS SHITTIEST ONE! I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL WE CHASE ANOTHER REGIME OUT OF TOWN AND SEE WHAT NEW INSULTS WE CAN LOB AT TERRY AND KIM WHILE THEY BRING IN THE NEXT DUMBASS FOSSIL TO BENCH DAHLIN! WHAT IN THE EVER-LIVING FUCK!

*Deep Breath* So here are our positives: they came out strong in the first again but weren’t rewarded. Casey Mittelstadt had a great game he wasn’t rewarded for. I nearly fainted in a Bath and Body Works this afternoon. Oh wait, I ran out of positives. OH THAT’S RIGHT! YOU DON’T GET ANY WHEN THE ONLY WIN THIS MONTH IS AGAINST THE MOTHER FUCKING OTTAWA SENATORS! EVEN IN THAT GAME YOU WERE TIED TWICE AND BENCHED DAHLIN! Fuck me! Can I just be a Buffalo Bills blog for the next 4-6 weeks before they get pounded by Baltimore in the Wild Card Round? At least that way I wouldn’t have to deal with certain losses against the Leafs later this month: the most jaded, self-absorbed fanbase in hockey fresh off signing the last of their big four in disregard for all the salary cap norms that are supposed to prevent super-teams in this sport! I made a deal with myself that I was going to rein in my Hockey hatreds. How rich! I had a long hierarchy of clubs and players I hated as if I was the clown from “It” feeding off of little twitter babies’ fear and hatred. Fuck the Canes! “Oh YoU’rE a BuNcH oF jErKs! We’Re MaKiNg HoCkEy FuN lIke BaSkEtBaLl WhErE tHe SaMe 5 tEaMs AlWaYs WiN eXcEpT wHeN iT’s ToRoNtO!” FUCK THIS TRASH SPORT! The Soccer world burned me out on being an unbridled hate machine… well that and my acid reflux getting bad at *checks calendar* the age of 25. I narrowed the teams I honest-to-God hate down to Toronto, Boston and the Montreal Max Domi’s in that order! WHY THE FUCK AM I TALKING ABOUT THE LEAFS!? Oh YoU bUfFaLo FaNs, AlL yOu Do Is WoRrY aBoUt ThE LeAfS, dOn’T yOu WiSh YoU wErE uS!? FUCK OUT OF MY LIFE IF I COULD IGNORE YOU I WOULD! Isn’t a sad day in this City when the fucking Buffalo wide right Bills are making me happier than the Sabres!? Josh Allen is running and jumping into John Brown’s arms like its fucking dirty dancing down there while I have to talk myself into believing this club will beat anywhere near enough teams to make the fucking playoffs this year! HARDER MORE, I NEED TO LIE TO MYSELF INTO BELIEVING THE FRONT OFFICE EVEN WANTS TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS! LET’S GO AHEAD AND WATCH BOTTERILL SIT ON HIS HANDS AGAIN AND ACT LIKE THE WHOLE FUCKING ORGANIZATION ISN’T BURNING DOWN AROUND HIM!

Oh, I guess I should actually try to talk about the game. Are you still reading? Is this a little much to go with your morning coffee? Is this a little rough? Hey, if the coffee doesn’t work you still got some angsty hockey fan yelling at you in all caps. Geez Louise. Should I talk about Tage Thompson finally getting his callup we were somehow excited for this season only to get his arm torn off by a pack of deep-dish eating heathens in the United Center? Should I talk about Jack Eichel scoring the Sabres lone goal in the third period after his club was already down 4-0 looking into the great big oblivion that his career has turned into? Should I talk about how that’s seven goals this month for a Captain who is one of only three goal scorers to have more than one goal this month!? NO GOAL NOVEMBER EVERYONE! I am so out of steam with this team. They could beat Minnesota by double digits tomorrow night, and I will still be certain Boston will ground them down into paste on Thursday like they’re playing a friendly against an AHL team! Sorry, back to this game that darkened our lives last night. Kirby Dach scored the Hawks first two goals: the only two goals in the first two periods of the fucking game! KIRBY DACH! Yes, that guy who was literally just drafted! He was the guy whose tallies reigned supreme while nobody in a white uniform could convert on a chance. CHANCES THEY FUCKING GOT! THESE MOTHER FUCKING SABRES DID THINGS TO THE HAWKS THAT TEAMS WHO BEAT THE BUFFALO NORMALLY DO TO BUFFALO!! They tied them up in the neutral zone, they got ample O-Zone time, they played together or whatever the fuck that actually is other than motivational bullshit! All that and they get to be down 2-0 going into the third. You want proof God hates the Sabres? South Buffalo’s own Patrick Kane scored on the powerplay to make it 3-0! UNASSISTED! Just for shit and giggles let’s pretend its 2013: Jonathan Toews gets a goal assisted by Brendan Saad and Brent Seabrook because fuck it! Time is a flat, circular dinner plate used to bash over the heads of starving hockey fans from upstate New York!

I guess I better end on some good notes. That early rush on points in the standings has been exhausted so we’re already in a hole before Thanksgiving again like the old days. Shoot, sorry that wasn’t a good note. All endless vats of eternally replenishing pessimism aside, Brandon Montour had a decent night. I don’t know guys, I had so much fun writing the Senators postgame it was like there was finally a release. I finally got to enjoy this thing I do for fun in my free time! I have to write a Masters Thesis this coming Winter and Spring. Should I really spare the mental energy to suffer for a team that might be just as bad as they always are again? I might lose that argument with myself sooner than I had hoped this year. Last night’s game has not been fun to write up. Am I fool for thinking this team ever be good? Eight losses in Nine games in November? I am too engaged to ever really be out but it’s not really fun to be in on these guys right now. At least the Bills won. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. Like this post if you don’t want me to stop writing these. If you read this far each postgame you care about this blog. The Sabres are so bad right now I honestly don’t know if I want to keep doing this. Yikes.

#buffalo sabres #hockey #blog #NHL #chicago blackhawks

[dweemeister]

Sons of the Desert (1933)

Not many movie comedians survived the transition from silent film to synchronized sound. And though the team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy began their careers just before the introduction of talkies in 1927, they were one of the few silent film comedians to survive that transition. Their sense of humor remained visual but, unlike the many silent film comedians attempting to reinvent themselves to the ever-shifting demands of moviegoers, they placed little emphasis on the sound of their own voices. This also meant altering their on-screen personas before linking up as a comedic duo. Stan Laurel, Charlie Chaplin’s former understudy, began his career with characters that were smiling mischief-makers; for Hardy, he mostly played background characters or pompous comedic villains. As they began to work together, they refined their roles. Laurel became a quiet, wide-eyed fellow always reacting to what terrible things happen to him where Hardy tackles the problems head-on, rolling his eyes at the wise guys who make fun of him and his partner.

Laurel and Hardy’s partnership with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) producer Hal Roach – who specialized on comedic short films – extended into creating feature-length films. Roach realized that he could muster just enough comedic material from a Laurel and Hardy film’s main concept to last just over an hour. Any longer and the film would become wearisome. Directed by William A. Seiter and as Laurel and Hardy’s fourth feature-length film, Sons of the Desert represents a pinnacle of comedic filmmaking. It is the only time Seiter and the duo worked together. An ideal entry into 1920s and ‘30s Hollywood comedy, Sons of the Desert is a testament to Laurel and Hardy’s hilarity – combining silent-era slapstick with situational humor made even more hilarious thanks to the relationship they have perfected between their characters.

Stanley (Laurel) and Oliver (Hardy) are members of a fraternity named Sons of the Desert. The Sons of the Desert wear fezzes, take oaths, eat and drink, play pranks on each other, and little else from what yours truly can ascertain. Stan and Oliver belong to a California branch of Sons of the Desert, and the upcoming annual convention will be held in Chicago. All members take an oath that they will attend (to which Oliver forces a hesitant Stan to do so). The reason for Stan’s hesitance is his well-founded belief that his wife, Betty (Dorothy Christy), is certain to say that he cannot attend the convention. Oliver rolls his eyes, saying that Stan has taken, “a sacred oath”, and that sacred oaths must be upheld. To no one except Oliver’s surprise, Lottie refuses to allow Stan to attend the convention. And to everyone’s surprise, Oliver’s wife Lottie (Mae Busch) also disallows her husband to attend the Sons of the Desert convention. So Stan and Oliver hatch a scheme that includes a doctor (Lucien Littlefield), a fake ailment, and a Honolulu cruise.

None of this, as you are correctly thinking, goes according to plan.

Shot over twenty-one days and running barely over an hour, Sons of the Desert balances the slapstick perfected in the silent era with Frank Craven and Byron Morgan’s incredible wit (the film’s screenplay takes an idea from Laurel and Hardy’s 1928 short We Faw Down). Yet the brilliant comedic timing and the situation presented would not nearly be as funny as it is without the long-running characterizations of Laurel and Hardy’s on-screen personas. Laurel, so eager to land on his wife’s good side, cannot possibly tell her the truth for fear that a marital inconvenience might spiral out of control. Hardy, with confidence not entirely earned and a penchant for smack-talking anyone, cannot possibly see any reason for anybody denying what he wants. These are two adults acting like children – in real life, so-called “man children” are anything but funny. But the absurd plot developments found in Sons of the Desert and incredible depths of spousal disapproval – look how Mae Busch and Dorothy Christy can modulate from distress to outrage towards their husbands in a split-second – keep the hilarity rolling. Any scene involving the Sons of the Desert – from the fraternal outfits, pledges, complete absence of female members (one figures that, given the attitude Hardy shows towards to his wife, most of the members are attempting to escape from their home lives anyways), and that ridiculous sheik outfit worn by the fraternity’s leader (the “Exhausted Ruler”, Laurel calls him) giving any silent film fan vibes of a 1921 film starring Rudolph Valentino that happens to be incredibly racist, romantic, and hilarious.

Sons of the Desert is a pre-Code comedy and it takes full advantage of the absence of content standards that would be enforced by the Hays Code by 1934. Women showing skin, veiled sexual innuendo, and boorish behavior one expects from a fraternity are everywhere. Without further observation, Sons of the Desert would easily be dismissed by those expecting men to act respectfully. But perfect people are usually not funny, and Laurel and Hardy and their fellow Sons of the Desert are always framed as the ones acting inappropriately.

The “nagging wife” stereotype has been overused in Hollywood. Yet if you’re Mae Busch and Dorothy Christy – two actresses whose respective performances have been unfairly overshadowed by the central duo of Sons of the Desert – what can you possibly do but walk out or raise your voice? Busch and Christy are outstanding comedic foils. The film, through its screenplay and how it portrays the Sons of the Deserts, tries not to take sides. Thus, viewers might find themselves rooting for the husbands in one scene and then pulling for the wives in another. The dynamic between the husbands and the wives is summed in just two sentences:

OLIVER: Do you have to ask your wife everything? STAN: If I didn’t ask her, I wouldn’t know what she wanted me to do.

Everyone’s comedic timing is excellent. Hardy’s, “well, this is another fine mess you’ve gotten me into,” has entered cinematic lore. Less noticed but perhaps just as critical as anything else, Sons of the Desert – under Seiter’s direction – uses its gags with purpose, extracting from each joke just enough so that it does not become tired. There is no comedic deadweight in Sons of the Desert, no scene that could be cut without weakening the film (the runtime certainly helps). One of Seiter’s and Hal Roach’s greatest regrets for Sons of the Desert was that the most memorable moments during production had to be cut in the editing room. Whether it would be one of the cast members deviating wildly from the screenplay or a mistake, the cast frequently put those behind the camera bursting with laughter. Says Roach: “I was never upset that [the reshoots were] costing me money. I was upset that we couldn’t use some of the funniest scenes we saw every day.”

In 1964 with the blessing of an ailing Stan Laurel (Hardy has passed away several years prior), Shakespearean scholar John McCabe – who had published a Laurel and Hardy biography in 1963 – founded the Sons of the Desert, a Laurel and Hardy fan club. The Sons of the Desert, whose constitution (itself a humorous satire on fraternal constitutions) was co-written by Laurel, has numerous “tents” worldwide; most tents are found in the United States. Yes, I wrote that sentence in the present tense. You can find your nearest Sons of the Desert tent online. Actors, technicians, and other individuals who worked with Laurel and/or Hardy are sometimes guests at Sons of the Desert meetings. The respective tents remain active, with an international convention being held regularly since 1978 (and yes, that convention was held in Chicago).

Laurel and Hardy’s professional association with MGM’s Hal Roach yielded some of their best films. This partnership would last for rest of the 1930s, until the duo signed for 20th Century Fox in 1941 (which relegated the duo to their “B”-movie units) and MGM in 1942. Now contracted to these studios, Laurel and Hardy were no longer allowed as much artistic freedom as they had enjoyed under Roach during the silent era and the first decade of talkies. Their films remained financially successful, and 20th Century Fox stopped production on all other B-movies because of the windfalls from their Laurel and Hardy films. Nothing in these following decades ever reached the heights of Sons of the Desert, but the goodwill within Hollywood and international audiences always remained. The release of biopic Stan & Ollie (2018) – which this reviewer has not seen – is a reminder that, even with the passage of time and the changing norms in comedic films, Laurel and Hardy’s greatest films are hysterical and accessible to those who do not know of or could not imagine how revered they were in Hollywood’s early decades. 

My rating: 10/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Sons of the Desert is the one hundred and fifty-second feature-length or short film I have rated a ten on imdb.

#Sons of the Desert #William A. Seiter #Laurel and Hardy #Stan Laurel #Oliver Hardy #Charley Chase #Mae Busch #Dorothy Christy #Frank Craven #Byron Morgan #Hal Roach #TCM #My Movie Odyssey