Rest in peace, Joe Alaskey

I, like many fans of animation, was sad to hear of the passing of the amazing vocal artist Joe Alaskey.  The world has lost a motherload of talent with this man's passing.  In my opinion, of all the people who attempted being the voice of Bugs Bunny and/or Daffy Duck but still falling short of Mel Blanc's mastery, Joe did their voices the best.  He did a tremendous job of those characters in Looney Tunes Back in Action.  But besides his ability to voice cartoon characters, either classics like Bugs & Daffy or his own like Plucky Duck, he also possessed the subtlety to be the voice of Richard Nixon in Forrest Gump.  The film industry, be it animation or otherwise, needs more talent like his.

Speaking of the Looney Tunes movie, back in 2004 I sent an email to Mr. Joe Alaskey asking him to clarify a few nerdley theories I had about the script.  Here's the response he gave me:

Dear David, 

    Whether any or all of your interesting theories could be proven is mosty moot. 
    I can tell you firsthand that the script went through so many hands that the original story only marginally resembled the original draft. There were definitely over a dozen writers. Everything from gags to major scenes were scrapped, rewritten and rehashed daily for months. 
    This is not to say that arguments can't be made for your corporate-personage interpretations; you do a pretty good job of it. Although I should add that I've never heard your suggestions anywhere else. 
    And I can tell you firsthand that a cohesive satirical subtext for LT:BIA was by no means foremost in all those writers' minds. It certainly wasn't passed along like a secret handshake. Many of them don't even know each other. But they were all hired, piecemeal, to make sense of the multi-layered plot while keeping LT-style laughs rolling along the rickety track of what many of them considered to be an overdeveloped storyline. 
    A better case can be made for your identifiying moments of director-homage throughout the film. I'm sure that was all pretty much intentional. Then again, it's easy to answer that McKimson animation was always a principal model. Just as easy to say everyone can recognize the Clampett touch. And who doesn't acknowledge that Sam was essentially Friz? 
    So, 6 of 1, half a dozen of the other. Interesting thoughts. Maybe you should check out film criticism as a career. 
    It helps to know a film's production history too, of course. Well, writing to me was research, you could say. So now you know my perspective. 

Thanks for Writing, 
- jfa

Such a lovely approachable man.  He will and should be missed.

And that's the way it is August 9, 2006.

August 9, 2006 is quite a significant day. "Why?" you may ask. Well, it is the 32nd anniversary of the day one Richard Milhouse Nixon 'cut and ran' from his own presidential post as a result of his low approval rating. "But how is that significant for today?" you're probably asking. Well, let's compare Mr. Nixon with Mr. Coo-Coo Bananas in charge right now and see for ourselves.

A: Nixon was re-elected for a second term amid many protests and had low approval ratings in the middle of that second term.
George W. Bush was also re-elected (well, actually just elected for the first time) for a second term amid huge protests and has very low approval ratings within the middle of this his second term.

B: Nixon kept America in an unjust war inwhich atrocious war crimes were carried out and that divided the country down the middle all just to support some hidden political agenda.
George W. Bush STARTED an unjust war inwhich atrocious war crimes are carried out and that has divided the country down the middle once again all just to support a hidden political agenda.

C: Many damning scandals were uncovered within Nixon's administration such as the Watergate break-in, the recorded tapes of Nixon making anti-semetic remarks, and his using tax payers money to "silence" those who opposed him like Jane Fonda or John Lennon all lead to a low approval rating.
Many of George Bush's scandals are in plain view such as the Abu Grahb prison atrocities, the torture done at the Guantanamo Bay prison, a huge enough anti-Latino stance that the building of a wall along the U.S./Mexican border is deemed necessary for some reason (and don't say "to stop illegal immigration" because we all know that's bullshit), the start of a massive war in Iraq (despite no evidence of any destructive weapons) which has escalated into a situation in the Middle East many journalists are dubbing as World War III, etc......... etc........... all have lead to the president's low approval rating.

And yet, there is a fundamental difference between these two men that should disturb everyone. By August 9th, 1974 of the second term Nixon was gone. However, here it is today August 9th, 2006 of Bush's second term and HE'S STILL IN OFFICE!!!!! Surely if there was the equivalent of Woodward, Bernstein, or Deepthroat around today, George Bush would be resigning in disgrace right now. But, nope, that hasn't happened. In fact, he'll probably be still around August 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, even as far as January 20, 2009. Who knows what crazy or annoying or downright criminal scandals will occur between now and then because Dubya is as hard to get rid of as the worst form of cancer.

How is he managing to stay in office???



Oh. I guess that answers that.

I'd like to end this post with a favourite comic strip of mine. Sure it was made a whole 20 years ago and the George Bush it mentions is George Bush senior who was only Vice President at the time. But, I think this particular strip applies as much to the present day Bush as it did to the old Bush. Enjoy!



Have fun in the coming apocolypse everyone.