THE NOT SO PROS OF PROSE. SOUTH PARK. ALEXANDER HAMILTON. AND WORDS NOT TO LIVE BY.

I am a writer in a visual medium. In film and on television, the word defers to the image to varying degrees but the image always takes precedence. James L. Brooks who worked in television news before moving on to film (Broadcast News) and television (The Simpsons) once said that on TV, “News is whatever they have footage of.”

McLuhan was right, though according to him, misunderstood. The medium is not only the message (one story has it that when the book was printed, they mistakenly spelled message: massage, and when McLuhan saw that, he said “leave it alone, it’s great.”) it’s the mess-age—or is it mass-age?

Point is…the word is no longer The Word….and really hasn’t been since the birth of film and rise of TV. (Although on Radio, the word still reigns except where supplanted by music) And it has occurred to me that the internet may be the last great hope for literacy. If Kindles and iPads reinvigorate reading then that may make it easier for me to get used to watching the whole world staring endlessly at their glowing rectangles.

Checked out “The Making of South Park”. Fascinating documentary that illustrates how complex (and labor intensive) the visual process can be, and ironically, South Park is animation in its most primitive form. The Simpsons requires the labor of hundreds of skilled digital craftsmen working round the clock for 8-10 months for a single episode. The South Park guys crank out an episode weekly.

Another fascination in the film is the way that Parker and Stone have been able to push the “offensiveness” envelope further than anyone else because the medium they work in is considered by most to be frivolous and unworthy of serious attention or scrutiny. And because the show makes the network so much money, you don’t see any network suits (though in the film you do see the woman responsible for dealing with standards and practices having to negotiate with the censors) standing over their shoulder or messing with their stuff.

Been meaning to get around to reading Ron Chernow’s biography of G. Washington, which Ellen gave me as a gift last year but it’s over 900 pages and I do most of my home reading in bed and I don’t think my stomach can handle the weight. Guess it’s time for a Kindle. But I will get around to it someday since I liked his Hamilton Biography (which I read when my stomach was harder and flatter) and I think about Hamilton often these days as I watch the Wall Street Occupiers try to shape and reshape their message for public consumption. Hamilton was a Realpolitik operator and unlike his founding father compatriots, not to the manor (sic) born, so he didn’t mask his baser instincts in the aristocratic jargon of Noblese Oblige like Jefferson and the other early American trust fund boys. And he would make a great subject for a Hollywood Bio-pic since sex-scandal and political mud-slinging played such important roles in his glorious career and dramatic demise.


And Alex was a stickler for details too. In a letter to a friend he pointed out that the constitution contained a ticklish loophole: if the Vice President is impeached and tried by the Senate, then, as President of the Senate, he presides over his own trial. The document contains an exception for the trial of the President, where the Chief Justice presides instead. But the framers inexplicably forgot to extend this exception to the trial of the Vice President. No wonder Joe Biden looks so relaxed all the time.

And if you’re still reading then you deserve a break from any more along these lines—so I’ll switch to something potentially more engaging—like pet peeves about words and language.

I could care less
I couldn’t care less

Everyone uses them interchangeably. But they’re opposites. Aren’t they?

Irregardless means nothing. It’s not a word.

Nonplussed. Means unworried, calm and collected, right? Wrong.
If this confuses you, then you are now nonplussed.

I’m nauseous actually means: I make others nauseous.
If you’re feeling sick…you’re nauseated.
But this one is pretty benign as bothersome usage goes.

PIN number? The N stands for number. Why repeat it?

ATM machine? The M stands for machine. Ditto

And the one that bugs me the most is: Simplistic. Only because I hear it at least once a day from someone (usually with a marketing degree) use it as a synonym for “Simple”.
As in, “ Richard, can you just make the spot simplistic so people can follow it better?” To which I usually reply after a long pause to reflect and consider my options—“ Sure.”

AND WE DO NOT HAVE:

...less whales in the ocean or less books in the library or less intelligent GOP presidential candidates or less good blogs on the internet …we have FEWER of all the above.

Class dismissed.