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September 29, 2009 18:27New World Extradition Order
So they've finally brought that criminal mastermind, Roman Polanski, to justice. Well sort of. I'm sure that justice will totally happen once they go through a lengthy extradition appeals process in Switzerland followed by motions to dismiss back in the States. He's like the Hannibal Lecter of horny French-Poles who shagged some jailbait back in the '70s. For decades he's brilliantly evaded police by hiding in plain sight in Europe and cleverly not returning to America, even when they tried to bait him with an Oscar. They only managed to nab him after more than thirty years by baiting him with a lifetime-achievment award in Switzerland. This will, no doubt, go down in history as the greatest law enforcement take-down since Frank Hamer and his men pumped 130 rounds into Bonnie and Clyde by employing subtle Machiavellian techniques such as not offering a fair warning before opening fire.
The fact that Polanski, a holocaust survivor, got busted in Switzerland, the favourite bank for the Nazis and long-time repository for heaping piles of loot stolen from Jews on their way to the gas chambers, shows exactly where the Swiss priorities for justice lie. Murder six million civilians and they'll happily hold your cash for you and pay interest, no questions asked. Dope up an underage model and fuck her at Jack Nicholson's house and they will cut your throat the first chance they get.
Of course, it never mattered that Polanski's victim was paid a cash settlement years ago and has begged, on numerous occasions, for the authorities to drop the issue. Nor has it mattered that the only reason Polanski skipped town was to avoid a hefty sentence after judge Rittenband renegged on the plea bargain agreed upon by the prosecution and defence because he through it might tarnish his carefully crafted image. And, of course, no one particularly cares that the prosecutor himself still thinks Polanski did the right thing by leaving the country rather than stay and get his throat cut by an incompetent and corrupt media-whore judge.
Personally, I'm all for letting some of the genius-level artists among us get away with shit from time to time. Their petty, self-indulgent crimes are eventually lost to history, but the work remains. I know I, for one, can forgive Polanski for something he did so long ago, because hey, it's not like he raped MY daughter.
For a better perspective on the Polanski rape trial and aftermath, I highly recommend ignoring the commentator hyperbole poluting the airwaves and internet and watching the documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired instead.
September 05, 2009 18:53Jam And Preserves
It was a productive comic jam at Rick's last night. Since so many of the usual suspects couldn't make the last official jam, a supplemental evening was scheduled a week later by certain key members. After bailing on a bunch of past gatherings, I made sure to attend this one before everybody took a vote and decided to hate me. Besides, unlike the usual pub venue, Rick's condo has cats to play with.
I was able to reacquaint myself with some of the comics that had been in circulation for months. The increasingly legendary "Fucking Raccoon" page resurfaced after a failed attempt to have it inked resulted in it going missing since last summer. Adding some rudimentary scribblings to a few of the other pages-in-progress, I was able to fill in the blanks and bridge missing panels on several stories. A long-stalled Michael Jackson page, in particular, suddenly presented itself with a new and unexpected punchline to make it relevant in this post-Jacko world. I was even able to rough out the whole story for my Inglourious Basterds parody, Inkongroois Fukheds. Now that it's in the hands of much more talented illustrators, it should end up looking very pretty and be ready to print in time for the 10th anniversary HD-DVD special edition release of the movie it pokes fun at.
On the home office front, I'm back to work on a new season of Kid vs Kat. The renewal came out of left field for me. I didn't even know a second round of episodes was pending until my agent called around noon one day and told me to expect an urgent email. I was writing new material for the show within a few hours.
At the same time, eight drafts in and counting, I was wrapping up work on an animated short called Les Enfants Libres. This project has been in the mill for about a year now. We narrowly missed getting financing last time at bat when the government funding agency decided to back Ryan Larkin's final film instead. It's hard to compete with those posthumous projects. I promised to drop dead unexpectedly as part of our submission if the producers thought it would help our chances any. I'm still waiting to hear back on the offer.
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