Presidential campaign insta-filk

On the way home from registering at Dragon*Con, I caught the last half of You-Know-Who's acceptance speech on radio. Then this one wrote itself on me after a song I've been liking on my iTunes:
( Election Snooze )

Great speech, Sen. Obama. But where's the props for your elders?

Well, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, finally the official Democratic nominee for President, gave his acceptance speech last night, after the convention moved its venue for the last day from Pepsi Center out to the local shiny new corporate-named football stadium so more ordinary folks without party credentials could attend.

To his credit, he gave as detailed a response as anyone given only 44 minutes to make their case could have to all the critics who say his campaign is long on soaring rhetoric and short on substance, using words like "change" and "hope" like mantras without explaining exactly what sort of change he wants and how he'd make it happen. He laid out a couple dozen ideas, and will probably flesh them out more in the weeks ahead. And he also countered those who've said he hasn't been aggressive enough by laying into the Bush Regime and John McCain, his GOP counterpart, at every opportunity.

Most seem to think he "hit it out of the park" when called to give the biggest speech of his life. But for such a historic moment, why only the barest acknowledgment of the fact that his ethnicity and skin color are what made it so historic? And why hardly any mention of the other great African-American leaders who paved his way to this moment? Only one—Dr. Martin Luther King, whose most famous speech was given 40 years ago that day, by what may be only partly coincidence—merited an actual mention in his speech.

But this nation has had black and brown people involved in its shaping from the very beginning, with Crispus Attucks, the first martyr of the American Revolution. And what about Frederick Douglass, the first African-American to have a major party place his name in nomination for this office? What about abolitionists such as John Brown and Nat Turner, legislators from Adam Clayton Powell to Shirley Chisholm to Jesse Jackson Jr., jurists such as Thurgood Marshall, mayors like Tom Bradley of L.A., Atlanta's own Maynard Jackson and Shirley Franklin, and New York's David Dinkins? Or L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, still the only two black governors? (Democrats all, by the way.) Or does he think letting John L. Lewis and King's son open for him is all the acknowedgment needed?

If he can stand on such a mile-high platform today, it's only because he is standing on their shoulders. It would have been nice to see him recognize that in his own speech more than he did.

Dragon*Con '08 Report, Day 1: Mooooooooooo

The convention is now in full swing and there is even more to do—and more people looking to do it—than ever. The usual Dragon*Con troika of hotels, the Hyatt, the Hilton and the Marriott Marquis (the one with the retro-futuristic, stunningly tall atrium that served as main hotel for 1986's World Science Fiction Convention, ConFederation, which was Your Humble Correspondent's very first Worldcon), has this year added a fourth, the Sheraton; and it is here that British media SF/fantasy and the Joss Whedon oeuvre have their program tracks.

Once again, I was confronted with an out-the-door-and-around-the-block line, this time for the live performance of the latest Whedonverse creation (at least until Dollhouse premieres next month), Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I must here confess that I alone, of all my fannish friends, had not actually seen the silly thing until now, despite the fact that a copy has been resting in my laptop's iTunes jukebox for at least a solid month.

The song-and-dance and irony-filled, three-part satire is well worth seeing all on its own; if you haven't, but have seen the now notorious musical episode of the show that made Whedon's fame, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which is also being live-performed here, BTW, with lukeski opening), this is more of the same, only better. Add a live, costumed stage cast, as is so often done at screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and a ginormous audience enthusiastically clapping and shouting and heckling and singing along, and you have a whole experience. Kudos to the emcee (who also played Doc H in civvy guise) and the staff for helping absolutely everyone find a seat and keeping things calm and smooth. Definitely the most productive use of time on their hands I've seen from anyone who was involved in the late writer's strike in Hollywood.

Checked out the filk program in the International Tower, an "Eclectic Filk" concert with (allegedly) several performers, none of which the program book identifies. The Bedlam Bards were singing when I passed by, and I stayed for a couple of songs. But alas, I felt my daylong lack of Net abuse eating at me and sought out a spot to hook into the WiFi. (Free this year, after paying for each day's use last couple of times. Yay!) Open filk is scheduled for the Atrium Tower basement later; tomorrow, Paul & Storm and Emerald Rose both have concerts.

Costume count: (A daily feature of the D*C Report wherein I note all the recognizable outfits I see on hall costumers)
- At least two Captain Hammers and no less than five Dr. Horribles, in both white and red costumes;
- At least one each of Superman and the X-Men's Rogue (don't ask me which era)
- Two full squads of Ghostbusters, one armed with proton packs (nice to see the Atlanta franchise is still going...)
- A platoon of Spartans from the film/graphic novel 300, clad far more barely than any real soldier who has to deal with dodging swords and spears and axes would find practical
- One Leeloo from The Fifth Element (Milla Jovovich's orange-haired, kick-butt femme character)
- A Darth Vader and a Ben Kenobi
- A Ms. Marvel (from the Marvel Universe, not to be confused with DC's Mary Marvel)
- A full squad of G.I. Joe Cobra Commandos, complete with Cobra Commander and Lady Viper
- A Dr. Frank N. Furter from the aforementioned RHPS
- A Gingerbread Man from the Shrek films
- A couple of female droogs from A Clockwork Orange
- Lt. Dangle and the blonde gal from Reno 911!
And those are just the ones I can identify... More to come.

Well, I was going to post about the McCain VP pick, BUT...

...it seems most of my f-list beat me to the punch. (That's what I get for waiting until late in the evening to finally get on the net.) Most of you have covered anything I might have had to type about the choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. (For the one or two who might be going "Whuh?!", see any number of news websites.) Lessee now...

• She's the first woman ever on a Republican Prez/Veep ticket (we Dems beat 'em by a couple decades, of course...)
• She's not necessarily self-hating, stupid or venal; thank you, osewalrus. Frankly, I'm one of those you mention who tend to believe that, because I can't see how anyone's operating system can allow for both intelligence and education coupled with such selfishness and contempt for one's own identity group; but I'm willing to be proven wrong...and I must admit, you have far more direct experience with the breed.
• Thank you with cherries on top, Senator McCain, for torpedoing once and for all the "not enough experience" argument for your side. And for making this suddenly an even more historic and interesting election. And for making an Obama victory that much more likely (as Hal so eloquently put it, "God grant me stupid enemies!"). And props to you for showing class and congratulating Obama in an ad today.
• Thank you, redaxe , for pointing out that the PUMAs are "astroturf"—Blue Dog Dems at best, GOP moles at worst. The more I listen to them (check out David Shuster's evisceration of the two leaders on MSNBC's Hardball at the website), the harder I find it to buy the notion that Attilary was somehow unfairly screwed out of a legit victory by DNC leadership.
• Thank you, Sen. Obama, for reminding Americans—especially those on the right who like to paint us Dems and libs as soft on defense—that we are the party of FDR and JFK (not to mention Truman and LBJ). And thank you, Howard Dean, for finally getting rid of the DLC Clintonistas and giving our party back its principles and its passion.

Does that about cover everything?

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it. —Voltaire