Signal Watch President's Day Profile: Calvin Coolidge

Most of you know that when it comes to Presidents, I find Theodore Roosevelt to be up one of the most fascinating (somewhere next to the "now-slipped-into-the-territory-of-mythos", like Abe Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson, I guess).  But 'ol TR gets a lot of coverage, so I won't do that here until I actually read that third volume by Morris. 

The 20th Century saw a wide array of men (well, a wide array of moneyed white men) land in the White House. From Reagan to Kennedy to FDR to Nixon to "Wild" Bill Clinton, it was a wild ride, indeed.

But who talks about Calvin Coolidge? Nobody.

Coolidge was fortunate to land in the White House between World War I , and that little political hot potato we call The Great Depression.*  Coolidge managed a Bush-43 maneuver, saying good-bye to the White House just as the economy was going to holy hell and leaving Hoover in office to make a series of increasingly bad decisions, and shrug off responsibility.  Coolidge was part of a chain of Republican presidents that is mostly dull when history isn't making you want to slap both Harding and Hoover.  Somehow, Coolidge never feels very slappable.  But he doesn't seem much of anything, when you do a little Googling.

It may explain much that Coolidge took the Presidency only after the death of President Harding, who was on a "Tour of Understanding" or some such, which was not entirely unlike Superman walking across America to "get back to the people".  Coolidge served without much in the way of scandal or notoriety, and if you think about our record since Truman, that's kind of AMAZING.

Coolidge served from 1923-29 as President, and somehow William Henry Harrison gets more ink for managing to catch a cold during his inauguration and immediately die in office (which: hubris, people).

This guy.  6 years.

Why do we not write songs about Coolidge, insist on naming airports after him, and why have conservatives not lauded Coolidge as they do Reagan? From the White House's own website:

The political genius of President Coolidge, Walter Lippmann pointed out in 1926, was his talent for effectively doing nothing

Well, to his credit, the 1920's were a pretty good time in America, if you ignore Prohibition and how much that would have put a cramp in you getting your party started. We had movies by the 1920's, phonographs, a lack of war, gangsters livening stuff up with bathtub gin, and flappers were making wearing slinky dresses and dancing and drinking a welcome idea.

The White House also says:

But no President was kinder in permitting himself to be photographed in Indian war bonnets or cowboy dress, and in greeting a variety of delegations to the White House.

So, you know: he was screwing around with disguise kits for 6 years.  Was he the Jimmy Olsen of presidents?

Now largely forgotten, the raves in the Coolidge White House were, according to Eleanor Roosevelt, "Off the hook".

Even the White House seems to struggle to figure out what this guy was actually doing 40 hours per week other than hanging about, or even to have something positive to say about the dude, but its hard to say much negative either. The reason: Coolidge is most famous for not just doing nothing, but for basically refusing to talk during his Presidency. Including (or especially) at social functions and dinner parties. He was pretty keen on just answering with a simple "yes" or "no", leading this website to postulate that Coolidge was likely an early cyborg presidential replacement.

Clearly, this lack of "shooting one's mouth off when given the slightest provocation and when nobody can stop you" is where Coolidge and I would diverge, but I kind of like the idea of the person who runs their life and presidency by remembering the old adage about "better to remain silent and let them think you a fool than to speak and remove all doubt".

In some ways, he's the ideal Tea Party guy, in that his lack of desire to see the government (ie: himself) actually do anything fits in neatly with the "less government" idea.  He was no TR when it came to using the Presidency and, by extension, the entire US, as a blunt instrument.  Coolidge, sought not to rock the boat and to do what he could to promote Capitalist ideals.  After all, he was the guy who coined the idea that "the business of America is business". He may be the Ron Swanson of Presidents.

Without trying to throw too many political grenades, I'll mention that the Democrats of the Southern States during the 1920's were not always the most interested in concepts of social justice based upon racial, ethnic and other barriers.  Republican Coolidge was of the Abraham Lincoln school of 19th Century and early-20th Century Republicans and recognized the gallant participation of African-Americans in the first World War, and acted in support of black citizens, Catholics and others who had to put up with the bigoted nonsense Americans tend to cultivate (see:  Woodrow Wilson).

On a  final note:

I read somewhere long ago, and cannot find the source, that Coolidge also liked to sneak off and hide in the bushes from his security crew, then hop out and scare them when they came looking for him. If true, then Coolidge was exactly my kind of guy.

Hmmm.  You know, I probably should have covered Taft.  That guy was probably more interesting.

More reading on Coolidge:

Wikipedia is oddly complete
Calvin Coolidge's web site (Yup)

Well, that sort of covers it.  He's not exactly John Adams, people.


*If anyone wants a name for the Depression we're sinking into now, may I recommend "Great Depression 2:  Depression Forever!"

The League's old life in the footlights comes back to haunt him

I've mentioned before that I was not a jock in high school, although I was 2nd string for the 9th grade Westwood Warriors basketball team - where I came up with entirely new lyrics to "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay" and changed it to the more appropriate "Sittin' on the Bench at the Game". Big and strong I may have been for my age, but athletically inclined? Not so much.

So in 10th Grade, I'd moved (back) to Spring, Texas, where I quit the basketball team after the fifth game of the season (and the 2nd in which I'd traveled with the team and not gotten 1 minute of playing time). Not having obligations on the team made the decision fairly easy, and the two guys on the team I was friendly with weren't pals with me because of my basketball prowess, so, you know... riding pine every game in what turned out to be a 1-21 season for the KOHS Junior Varsity team was not a thrilling prospect.

I was a fan of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and they were having auditions. I didn't get a roll, but I did get to understudy. There, I re-connected with the Jim Parsons, with whom, I was told, I had attended a TRS-80 camp years before (the idea of having a camp to interest kids in computers now seems so.... bizarre). Jim is now an Emmy-winning actor for his portrayal of Dr. Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory.

Entertainment Tonight ran a bit this week where they interviewed Jim's mom (who I think is a pretty great lady), Julie (Jim's sister - who I knew much better than I knew Jim), and our shared former director/ teacher, Margaret Locher (who we all knew by her maiden name and just called her "V" back then). Its odd to see my old high school auditorium where I spent hundreds of hours over the years prepping for plays, building sets, hanging lights, painting, whatever... on TV. Although they have gotten rid of the absolutely horrendous "orange on orange" color scheme that once dominated the entire school.*

Locher, by the way, was college chums with Marcia Gay Harden. Howzabout that?

It certainly says something about Jim's stature in LA these days that they're now going back and doing these bits with his family and teachers. And I'm very pleased to see JulieP and V get a chance in front of the cameras.


Watch the video here. (Sorry, the embedded video starts automatically, and that's a pain.)

The photos of plays you see there are Noises Off!, which I did not see as it was done the year before I arrived, and from the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, referred to above. Yes, I knew all those people. And its weird to see pictures you haven't seen since 1993 (but which were in the hallway of the auditorium, so you saw them every day) pop up online.

* No, nobody knew why.

Have a Friday

I'm doing other things. Have a good one.

As my birthday approaches, I am thinking I'd like to get my hands on a real typewriter. Its been at least since high school since I used one, but I'd just kind of like one for the shelf. Underwood? Corona? What do you think?

Hall of Inaccurate Presidents

this struck me as particularly great (and reminded me of Steven G. Harms)



found on twitter @Kevin_Church

Adrianne Palicki is TV's Wonder Woman

Well, there you go.

ladies and germs, your Amazon Princess

NathanC sent along an article from Variety stating that Adrianne Palicki has been cast as Wonder Woman for the upcoming weekly drama on NBC. 

Late edit:  JimD sends along this article that echoes many of the thoughts you will see below.

It could be far worse.  In addition to being a fairly tall woman  (IMDB says she's an Amazon-appropriate 5'11"), if you've seen Friday Night Lights, she's actually a remarkably talented actor.  Her character (season 2 aside) had one of the more interesting story arcs, and you really did get to see a range there.  So, well done, TV people.

This also isn't her first run at a show based on a DC Property.  Way back in the day, she played a bad-guy in the never-aired pilot for an Aquaman TV show.  Yes, I've seen it.  Bought it on iTunes.  The show was just really poorly conceived and I'm not crying that it didn't make it.

She also appeared in a Smallville episode in 2004. 

Here's a picture from her days on Friday Night Lights (and that is what trees look like in Central Texas).

While hiring Palicki is a step in the right direction, you still have to worry a bit about the script reports that are coming out. They aren't very promising.

In fact, it sounds kind of terrible and as if David E. Kelley kind of missed the point/never bothered to read any actual Wonder Woman books, watch an episode of Justice League, etc... It just sounds like he took Ally McBeal and said "oh...  now she's a superhero!". 

At Comics Alliance
At iFanboy (this makes me want to sit in the dark and cry)

This is a new look at Wonder Woman that, while ringing familiar, will probably put off a lot of Wonder Woman traditionalists and, I’m assuming, most comic book fans. This is a Diana that likes to sing along -- loudly -- to the radio when she’s driving into work and eat a bunch of ice cream in her pajamas because she ran into her ex-boyfriend. Some people are going to find that endearing and some people will find it annoying.

I am kind of expecting nerd rage, but that the masses who don't know anything about the character will think this is really neat, which will, of course, drive me insane.  Which is something.  Its better than the pilot for Bionic Woman that couldn't fire a single neuron of any emotion, anger or sadness or joy or...  Or Nikita, which had me cracking up at its audacious, unironic awfulness.

I just really can't believe this is what DC is going with.  Not a great start for the Diane Nelson-era of DC Entertainment.  I suspect Ms. Nelson will take a while before she realizes what she actually has on her hands.

Signal Watch Post Blitz Round-Up

Sometimes I post a lot. Too much for mortal man, really.

So here's a quick round-up of posts:

Friday

• I document my final days (and those afterward) as posted to Facebook

Saturday

• I discuss why I will not read the upcoming Static Shock series, despite liking the character

Sunday

• I discuss my displeasure with Marvel's new mandate for killing characters
• I am surprised to learn that the world is ending (photos included)

Monday

• In order to help you out, I explain LOVE
• I ponder Arcade Fire's Grammy win and the fact that people seem to not know who they are
• Review of Superman issue #708

Tuesday

• Joanne Siegel passes
• We salute Egyptian democracy

Other Items of Note

• Mad Men cartoons
• Crowd Sourcing coming amazingly close to funding a Robocop statue in Detroit

Yes to Egyptian Democracy!

I really liked this video linked by Kanye West off his Twitter account.

Its footage from Egypt cut to a Kanye West track.



I haven't talked all that much about Egypt or the calls for democracy and fair representation occurring right now in the Middle East, but as we at Signal Watch stand for Truth and Justice, we can only hope for the best for the citizens of nations signaling peacefully and reasonably for change to a government for the people and by the people.

Joanne Siegel, original Lois Lane model and wife of Jerry Siegel, Passes

I'm sad to share the news that Joanne Siegel, one of the few living people with connections to the first days of Superman, has passed. Ms. Siegel was the original model for Superman's originating artist, Joe Shuster, when he was designing Lois Lane. Years later, she would marry Superman's first writer, Jerry Siegel.

Joe Shuster would pass, leaving only one heir, who subsequently passed. Ms. Siegel and her daughter were the sole heirs to Jerry Siegel.

In recent years, Ms. Siegel was famous both for appearing at events commemorating the creation of Superman and for participating in a law suit against Warner Bros., who now own the rights to the Superman character (more or less. Siegel won back some rights in recent years).

Ms. Siegel's efforts both prior to and subsequent to the passing of Jerry Siegel have ensured that the names Siegel and Shuster will always be associated with The Man of Steel.

Ms. Siegel was 93.

Signal Watch Reads: Superman #708

Superman #708
 Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI & CHRIS ROBERSON
Art by EDDY BARROWS & J.P. MAYER
Cover by JOHN CASSADAY
1:10 Variant Cover by TREVOR HAIRSINE

Superman 708

I'll be doing reviews of Superman comics while Chris Roberson is writing the title.  I hope that's okay.

If last month's issue signaled a tonal shift in the Grounded storyline started by J. Michael Straczynski, then this issue seems to begin the separation from either a plodding Act 1 of JMS's invention or Roberson figuring out how to best extricate The Man of Steel from the plot outline handed him by DC Comics for JMS's story.  While many aspects of the comic production process are transparent in this day and age, and the line between fans and creators near-invisible in superhero comics has seemingly disappeared, DC has managed to keep the departure of JMS, and what that means, under wraps.

Issue 708 picks up one panel after the surprise conclusion to last month's introduction of the Superman Squad, the time-traversing legions of heroes who wear the shield and carry the mantle of Superman into the far-flung, distant future (way further than most Sci-Fi dares to tread).  The Squad is a concept Grant Morrison introduced (if only in passing) over a decade ago in DC One Million, bringing DC characters from the 853rd Century to the modern day, and suggesting that a constant string of heroes had filled the space between today and then, all wearing the shield.

What's great is that Roberson doesn't blink at the ideas Morrison has been dropping like Johnny Appleseed across the DCU, and which so many other writers seem to fumble.  For those trying to keep up at home, Roberson manages to un-self-consciously weave in the Squad, drop some exposition along with his own mad ideas (SuperEgo broughta  smile to my face), tinge the tale with a dose of nostalgia for the Superman fan (I about cheered out loud when I saw the keyhole on the outside of the Fortress of Solidarity.  Also:  Fortress of Solidarity.  If you think I haven't found a new name for League HQ, you are wrong.), and propel the story forward in a single bound.

Its a lovely notion that Roberson could be trying to tell his stories while introducing a few new ideas into the Superman mythos in each issue, something that seemed to be a staple of Mort Weisinger's editorial policy during the hey-day of Silver Age Superman. Its also clear that Roberson isn't just a fan of Superman from any single era (a fact which may have hamstrung JMS and other Superman writers), but that he's comfortable with many eras of The Man of Steel.  Moreover, he's been paying attention.  He knows why All Star Superman worked (and, likely, Morrison and Waid's Superman in JLA), he's demonstrated a feel for Bronze-Age Superman in the previous issue, and he seems to be working toward the vision of the new-era Superman that seems to have been hinted at in bits and spurts the past several years - and what that Superman is...  I think that's a discussion for a few issues from now.

The Superman Squad arrives like a bit of a Greek Chorus, commenting upon our story to date and forewarning what could go wrong for The Man of Steel and all else if he doesn't win the day.  The scene certainly pushes the story forward, but it also gives juice to a tale that became unwieldy with the first issue.  The intervention of the Squad acts as a clever way to comment upon the why's and wherefore's of Superman's mental state (especially in the wake of New Krypton), which may have been not overtly commented upon enough in preceding issues.

Too often as writers come and go, the emotional impact of a storyline is left forgotten within a few issues as the new writer wishes to just get on with their own tale.  However, Roberson manages to call back well to New Krypton and plumb the story for depth that may have been lacking even when the Robinson-penned issues were telling the actual story.  Rather than just sweep it under the rug, its good to see a writer go back and squeeze the unused juice from the story.

The second half of the issue becomes more problematic as it ties in loosely with the ongoing Wonder Woman tale, also penned by JMS, but which I have not read at all as the first collection will not arrive in stores for some time.  Wonder Woman does feel shoe-horned in, especially in her current storyline wherein she's unknown in the existing timeline.  A meeting with Diana as the WW we all know and love could have had significantly greater impact as Wonder Woman and Superman have a rich history.

Its not that the rest of the issue isn't enjoyable, but a cross-over in which editorial assumes you're keeping up - and you aren't - certainly slows the reading experience.  I'm inclined to believe that Roberson did his best with a mandated cameo by Wonder Woman, and I can almost buy the fan-girl conversation Diana has with Superman, but I am guessing it will take a while before I see dividends from the conversation as a reader.  

On a more cynical note, I'm not positive that either Wonder Woman or Superman can afford to be less than highly recognizable and at their iconic most in their comics at the moment*, and I'm wondering if less of the re-designed Wonder Woman is more until Diana returns to the status quo.

Frankly, as positive as I am that Roberson gets and understands Superman and could be THE guy to steward the character for a while, given Wonder Woman's history, I wish another page or two had been devoted to Diana making the leap from warrior to superhero, and why she felt as she did seeing Superman leap to the rescue. Interrupting the scene of discovering heroism to interject our mysterious villain felt forced and drained what-could-have-been from making maximum impact.

There is something interesting about an indecisive Superman puzzling out the Sophie's Choice issues of responding to an emergency, even when we've just been told some of that lack of resolve may be coming from an external source.  For all the talk of "Superman can do everything", its always been the struggle to decide upon the right thing that keeps the character interesting, what I felt was the inherent gem of interest in the Grounded storyline.  I'm glad to see Roberson polishing that gem a bit, as when Superman freezes momentarily looking at rising flood waters versus a growing tornado.

By the way, Eddy Barrows was a welcome return this issue on pencils.  The Barrows illustrative art style works so well with Superman and other DC characters that its a welcome sight to have his style back in the pages of Superman after a few months of fill-ins as the story bounced from writer to writer.  You don't appreciate what you have until its gone, I suppose.

As I believe I said last review, Superman is now Roberson's to make or break.  I'm currently very much on board with what it seems like Roberson would like to do, but I do have to recognize that he's hemmed in by editorial and seeing JMS's story through to completion.  I choose to have faith in Roberson, and I'm now looking forward to next issue with a zeal I don't think I've had on this title since before Robinson put Mon-El in the spotlight.




*and I really am not sure how onboard I am with any long-term reimagining of Wonder Woman.

Confusion over Arcade Fire Grammy Win is Nothing Short of Magical

Firstly, you have to go to the tumblr site accumulating the Twitter-Rage over Arcade Fire winning whatever Grammy they won.

Secondly, who over the age of 15, thinks the Grammies have any particular value?  I can remember my moment of "oh, ha ha, seriously?  I give up" when it came to the Grammies, and it came in the form of Sheryl Crow winning album of the year* back around 1994 or 1995. 

I don't know if Arcade Fire had the album of the year.  I certainly didn't listen to all of them.  Or even some of them.  The complaint was that nobody had heard of Arcade Fire.

Full disclosure: I've only seen Lady Antebellum's name in print, so I can sort of understand how you can have a question mark over your head when someone you don't know is nominated.  But of three of the top nods, Gaga, Perry and Eminem are better known for their personal lives and antics than their actual music (sorry, Marshall), and its arguable that Gaga and Perry's albums are forgettable pop, secondary to the merchandising and performance aspect of the music industry (and I am not bagging on Perry or Gaga for being very good at what they do, but when you don't include the visual, Gaga's music is pretty standard issue disco stuff and Perry sounds like any pick-of-the-week female pop artist of the past 20 years).

If you give a damn about music, at some point I can see getting tired of throwing in votes for boring records because its "good for the industry".   It isn't. 

But, if the public hasn't heard of Arcade Fire, its kind of refreshing to see that's the case.  It likely means two things.
1)  The mix of Arcade Fire's refusal to do ad spots, perform on Nickelodeon awards shows, stay out of jail, etc... has meant that they lack celebrity, which has nothing to do with quality of an album
2)  The music industry is amazingly and hopelessly splintered.  That isn't alarming, that's more or less always the state of the industry.  I don't expect for people to have ever heard of the bands I listen to  if they don't actively seek out music (ie: they wait and see what gets dropped in their laps).  A lot of people do seek out music, but as enough people do not, clever marketing has a significant effect.

Is it good for the Grammy to go to a more-Pitchfork friendly album than, say, Taylor Swift?  I doubt it helps the TV ratings much and most certainly will turn off mainstream radio listeners, but maybe its good.  American rock has been about turning to something new and different, and while Arcade Fire are establishment favorites by alt-rock standards, its a kick in the pants of another auto-tuned Lady Gaga performance with a disco beat or Eminem (who is good) winning for doing what he's been doing since I was an undergrad.

I'm always amazed by the narrow view of the listening public, but its something I got over very quickly working behind the counter of a mall record shop.  People come to music for different reasons, and none of them are bad reasons, even if it means that you wind up making regrettable purchases.  But most people generally believe that what they and their friends listen to is what everybody listens to, and that, of course, is kind of dumb.

Its wrong-headed to think that Perry or Gaga fans will be inspired to check out Arcade Fire (a band that supports concert hall shows, for those who say they've never heard of them).  But you can sit back and enjoy the confusion and remember what it was like to be sixteen and see your folks get bunged up when a band you liked made it onto TV.

It would have been far more hilarious had someone the likes of Dan Deacon won album of the year.  That would have been TV gold.


*I would apologize to Sheryl Crow fans, but somebody has to tell you.  Yes, my taste in music better than your own.**

**not really***

***well, maybe.  I mean, Sheryl Crow?  Put down the Dave Matthews and back slowly away.