The work truck I saw this morning was different. It was a little too far away to get a cameraphone snap, but it was a white truck with a green stripe down the length of the side. In fact, it looked exactly like a US Border Patrol vehicle.

Towards the back, instead of saying Border Patrol in the stripe it said “Pest Prevention”. Now, I don’t want to be part of the alarmist left-wing blogger media, but I found that fairly offensive. Just being here for the short time that I have, I’m pretty aware of the uneasy menage a trois between Arizona residents, illegal immigrants slipping over the border to work and live, and the Border Patrol agents. Witness the recent flap over the Minutemen Project, which was quite a large story in this part of the country. So it’s hard for me to think of this particular paint scheme as anything but a xenophobic view of Mexican immigrants as pests or lower creatures. Not cool.

Walter Sobchak: You want a [finger]? I can get you a [finger], believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don’t wanna know about it, believe me.
The Dude: Yeah, but Walter…
Walter Sobchak: Hell, I can get you a [finger] by 3 o’clock this afternoon… with nail polish.

Walter Sobchak: That’s not her [finger], Dude.
The Dude: Then whose [finger] is it, Walter?
Walter Sobchak: How the fuck should I know?

Walter Sobchak: No, without a hostage, there is no ransom. That’s what ransom is. Those are the fucking rules.
Nihilist #2: His girlfriend gave up her [finger]!
Nihilist #3: She though we’d be getting million dollars!
Nihilist #2: Iss not fair!
Walter Sobchak: Fair! WHO’S THE FUCKING NIHILIST HERE! WHAT ARE YOU, A BUNCH OF FUCKING CRYBABIES?

Walter Sobchak: Fucking dipshit with a nine [finger]ed woman.

Pope at Buca di Beppo, originally uploaded by feralboy.

Word today is that Buca di Beppo is going to take back all their PJPII busts.

The minimum hasn’t been raised since 1997, and according to this site the “actual” value in constant dollars today is only $4.42/hr. I don’t know how anyone reasonably expects that a person could actually have this be a living wage, especially not if they have dependants. If you happened to read Nickel and Dimed then you have an idea as to what a struggle it is to make a living on low-wage jobs.

The Republican argument against the wage increase is a good one; they claim that this will price workers out of jobs. Um, I didn’t think that slinging burgers at McDonalds was something you could outsource overseas (although you can outsource the drive-through, weird). Of course Congress has voted 6 pay raises for themselves in the last 8 years. Good thing they haven’t priced themselves out of their jobs.

The terror alert level is now at Pink.

I’d love to think that Rick James is up in Heaven, smoking the stickiest of the icky.

Here, have a Rick James soundboard.

I’m not really a huge fan of Stern’s. I think he got very dull after his movie came out. I was briefly interested again when his divorce happened, and he spoke very openly about it, but the show content got pretty predictable again. Now with the FCC crackdown, he seems to be revitalized; a man recharged. While I still probably won’t listen very often, I think it’s really important for free speech that he’s back on, and I’m hoping he can at least avoid fines until after the election.

• The next issue of The Medium contained an apology. The issue is archived here.

• According to the emails I’m still getting between some former editors, Professor Jeff Buechner, who was faculty advisor to The Medium, has resigned. Below is the text of the email that was sent to him by one of the editors:

  Dear Professor Beuchner,

  I just received your voicemail indicating that you have resigned from your position as Faculty Advisor for The Medium because of your outrage over the publication of the holocaust cartoon. And while I certainly share your feelings about the content of the cartoon, I’d very much like to urge you to reconsider your resignation. But before going any further, I want to make very clear how I felt about the cartoon. It was utterly DREADFUL and I am very certain I would have opposed its publication with all of my ability had it landed on my front page when I was The Medium’s Managing Editor. I sent the current editors a letter saying I believed it was a “supremely dumb idea” and I am glad to see they’ve issued an apology for printing it. That being said, I urge you to put your personal anger at the cartoon (and perhaps the current editors) aside and recognize The Medium as a unique educational laboratory. It may not seem immediately self-evident that publishing “101 Uses For A Dead Liberace” or “Stupid Jew Baking Tricks” would instill an appreciation for the balance between First Amendment rights and journalistic responsibility. But it turns out getting hate mail, death threats, universal condemnation and being forced to stand up and explain one’s actions before the whithering attacks of a rabid public are uniquely effective at focusing the mind on matters of ethics and responsibility.

  I have no idea what the current staff is like. It may well be the current Medium is just a pathetic attempt to recreate something that the editors have never seen. Maybe they are just going through the motions and have never thought seriously about what they were doing. I don’t know. However, I believe deeply that the Medium needs to be cherished and yes, defended, as a place where students can and should explore the limits of free speech, screw up spectacularly, and feel the heat from their mistakes. I believe they should be encouraged to explore the ragged edges of good taste and required to defend themselves when they cross the line. I know the experience taught me more than I ever learned in “Expository Writing 101”. And more importantly, I know other alums from the past 20 years of the Medium experience who believe as passionately as I do. They are cc’d on this email and their numbers and convictions are not trivial.

  Of course, if you are not a tenured faculty member, then I’d have to say, “Good luck in your future endeavers” because I have seen first hand the Univerity’s willingness to harrass and fire Medium Faculty Advisors. But if you are tenured, then I’d ask you sincerely to please reconsider.

  Thanks,

  -Janus Cole LC 1988
  Medium Managing Editor 1986-1987

• Two former editors (and the cutest little couple you ever did see), Robin and Joshua, have also opined.

Last week they hit a new kind of problem. They put a cartoon on the front page (archived here for posterity) depicting a Jew in a carnival dunk tank-like setting, but over a kitchen oven instead of a water tank, and the tagline “Knock a Jew in the oven! Three throws for one dollar! Really! No, REALLY!” Understandably, this set off a firestorm of protests, from the ADL on down to the school administration. People want to know how they’re going to get rid of this dastardly evil publication, which is partially funded by (gasp) student tuition and fees!

The first I even heard about this was I checked my webmaster account for this domain over the weekend and had about 40 new messages from various former editors and writers, talking about what happened and what the response should be. Sounds like there’s going to be an ad run in the Targum explaining the Medium’s position (some wiseasses insisted that the ad include “buttfuck” in it). The general gist of the email discussions is summed up fairly well here, and I’m also going to include a poignant email from one of the former editors below:

bq.. It may or may not be that current editors write and publish the things they do for the same reasons we did. But let’s not miss the gist of the message, Nancy makes a good point. It has folks, been (oh shit) more than 15 years since we let the Medium be just that – a true medium for anyone to be able to publish what they wanted, often to perhaps test out whether freedom of speech and _expression really existed for us, and if so to what extent it existed. We ran news, ran garbage, had fun, and tested limits in order to determine if we really did have the freedom to publish what we wanted to, even if some found the content offensive.

I learned something, and I think we all did, about a concept that is intrinsically American to it’s core. It’s one thing to be told you have “free speech”, and another to try and find out if it’s true. Hell, I recall us running things WE disagreed with that were sent in by students, the point being that we were not going to be censored, nor would we censor others.

In the years since, America has changed. America in 2004 reminds me an awful lot of what America may have looked like in 1955. Ashcroft looks and sounds like they just dusted him off and wound him back up.

When Nancy says “Making waves reminds people we live in an ocean” she is right. And at this point in our history I really think that people not only don’t want to make waves, their fears drive them to beat wave-makers into silence.
The great, great irony about all of this, is that of all the Medium alum I know, none are people I would call racist, homophobic, or any other sort of bigot. My guess is that the current Medium staff did not truly find the cartoon funny or clever, but probably repugnant. I have no reason to believe that junior KKK members suddenly decided to join their school paper. That is not the way such groups have ever operated. The judgement call to run the piece was a bad call, but not because it might arouse ire, or {shudder} cause some people to actually think. It was a bad call because it was probably not given a whole hell of a lot of consideration before being run. As I recall, making decisions, and sometimes not-the-best choices, was how we learned and grew as students and individuals. We were in a place that functioned on many levels as a SCHOOL.

This is the best thing to happen in years – the issue is out there, it’s publicized and it’s real. One of the basic tenets of out wonderful constitution being tested in the real world. and this test is a biggie. I want to see The Medium survive, and for the right reasons. BUT if the paper gets canned THAT says something too, about RU, the reflected values of our current governance, and about the depth of the action(s) we may need to undertake in order to reclaim our freedoms. Maybe it’s time for a loud wake-up call, and maybe this issue is it.
There is certainly no ignoring that the current administration includes people SO conservative, I believe they are radical (think “Ashcroft”). Their presence may really reflect not only the Supreme court’s hubris, but actually what huge numbers of Americans hold as core values and beliefs. To believe that such would not extend through the fabric of our system, right through the BOG and RU would be silly.

In a similar vein, I wonder how much cash RU is afraid of losing if the Medium is NOT yanked? Cash comes from many places, and one of them is alumni donations and gifts. There are likely an awful lot of pissed off alum out there with closed checkbooks. Maybe some checks sent directly to Old Queens in support of the the University continuing the tradition of a free and independent paper (hell, call it The Medium) would help.

The last point I want to hit, is that any letter or ad run in the Target, um, Targum be signed off on by as many of us as possible, including our degrees and accomplishments. Among the crop of Medium alum I know, I count at least one lawyer (yes, Jay I do mean you), a couple doctorates, at least one person who completed the Livingston College Honors Program, a Paul Robeson Honors Scholar, and without exception a group of people who has been quite successful in their rather mainstream careers and in contributing to society. How odd for what seems to be portrayed as a bunch of burn-out miscreants.

As someone with Jewish grandparents, I think the cartoon was pretty stupid to run, but I’m way more concerned with free speech being recognized and protected in this country. Heck, when I was an editor we did plenty of stupid shit too… and it got us into trouble in our own way. One issue we published a picture of ahem “someone’s” cock wrapped up in Christmas decorations right next to a Pizza Hut ad. Needless to say, they dropped us from future advertising, costing us about $3k for that semester. Our funding from the school was a pittance; most of the money to print each week came from advertising.

My long rambling point is that free speech is under fire in this country from the Religious Right. Issues ranging from Howard Stern to teaching evolution in schools to the right to make porn movies have gradually been coming under attack from Ashcroft and his cronies. The whole point of free speech (especially in the case of humor/satire) is that it’s protected, and you can’t throw that out the window in case you don’t happen to agree with the message! If The Medium does somehow get shut down, it’s a dangerous precedent to be set, as we’ve already seen what happens when you close down media outlets that don’t fit into your ideological scope.

In addition to putting my name on the Targum/Star Ledger/whatever ads, I think I’ll try and write some letters to the editor, too. My writing isn’t the best, but hopefully I can convey what needs to be said.

Update: Hmm.. maybe I shouldn’t sign on. Here’s a well-reasoned argument from someone else on the CC’d email list:

bq.. Although I am clearly out of sync with most of the contributors to this thread, I still feel it may be useful for me to explain not only why I cannot sign onto this letter, but why I am offended by its tone.

As I have previously stated, I would be happy to join in an expression of support for the Medium in opposition to any threat to its right of free expression. However, I believe that this letter, rather then express support, attempts to rationalize something that should not be rationalized.

Had the Medium printed an article from a Holocaust denier, or even a piece from an outright not seek synthesizer, it would no doubt have had the same reaction from Hillel [ed. the campus Jewish organization] and the Administration. If that had happened, I would still believe that the Medium had a 1st Amendment right to print such an article, and would have felt that the issue was clear..

In this case, the Medium has printed a cartoon which is blatantly offensive. The letter, rather than acknowledge the offensive content, attempts to claim that the offense was not meant because it was “satirical” and an attempt to discuss an otherwise taboo subject. This changes the discussion from defending the First Amendment right to publish something offensive to an attempt to justify the offensive utterance.

From the perspective of the readership, publication of this cartoon is the equivalent to printing an endorsement of anti-Semitism. If the Medium had published a cartoon showing “little Sambo” or had published a cartoon showing elephant dung on an image of the Virgin Mary, it would have been equally offensive. Such publication is still protected, but I would not rationalize it why saying that it was an attempt to address an otherwise taboo subject.

Some opinions should not be raised in the context of a newspaper. Gratuitous insults to religious or ethnic groups, pornography “without redeeming social significance”, and glorification of genocide are inappropriate. Even though a newspaper has an absolute right to express such opinions, it is, to put it mildly, a violation of community standards of decency to do so. I ask the signers of this letter if they would make the same defense of a cartoon that advocated mass rape, or the reinstitution of slavery. These are also taboo subjects. Serious political discussion is or should be always permitted. However, an attempt to justify a plainly offensive utterance on the grounds that it is seeking to break a taboo on discussion is, at best, a cop-out rationalization.

Quite bluntly, I think the publication of the cartoon raises a serious question as to whether or not the Medium does harbor anti-Semitism. To be certain, the question would be raised as to whether or not the Medium was racist if it had published a cartoon endorsing slavery of African-Americans, and the question would be valid. If I was a member of Hillel, I would respond exactly as they are responding, and I believe it to be an appropriate response.

Well, there you have it.

Update #2: Per request, here a reply from Nancy Loughlin to the above email. Fucking hilarious.

bq.. Okay.

I could not disagree with Mr. Henner more on this subject and here it is…

I don’t care what the Medium’s intent was in publishing the cartoon. And you know what, it doesn’t matter a damn. The cartoon isn’t the show here, folks. It’s the audience. A serpent has just slithered into the garden. Some grab the hoe and start swinging. Others, embrace the serpent (and are banished from Eden). But then, there is Mr. Henner.

Forgive me, but I don’t know you apart from your e-mail so you may want to put on a rain slicker.

Mr. Henner is the ACLU intellectual turned Indiana Jones. He will embrace the turd du jour but simultaneously hold his nose and crack the whip. Now THAT is the cop out.

Regardless of the Medium’s intent, they have inadvertently lobbed a spear at the heart of the inconsistent, hypocitical, board-up-its-ass sensibility that enforces a hieracrchy of historic abominations. The most amusing paradox is that Mr. Henner’s arguments effectively shut down discourse via intimidation. “Look, I’ll defend you but call you an asshole in the process.” Gee. Supporting speech while simultaneously stomping it. Do you think anyone will notice?

Folks, if the letter is revised to denounce the “judgment” of the Medium (a supreme duck for cover) while claiming to stand for some ivory tower higher virtue of free speech, count me out. I have signed enough ACLU petitions to last me a lifetime and frankly, this Skokie bumper sticker peeled off the VW bus long ago. If we take out the discussion on taboo, Mark’s beautiful letter (the SAT words could be toned down) loses its art, it loses its edge, and it loses its significance… Therefore, why bother? As for me, when it comes to the standard liberal argument “I don’t agree with what you said but I will fight like hell to defend your right to say it,” I’m going to buttfuck that rainbow until it craps Skittles.

This is where I stand.

Nancy

”..buttfuck that rainbow until it craps Skittles”? Priceless.

Update #3: Robin (former editor) also weighs in.

Update #4: The next issue (which includes an apology to the Rutgers community) is out, and archived here

A Washington, D.C.-based Muslim civil rights group complained about the photo and urged the Marines to punish the soldier.

Investigators have not determined if the photo showing feralboy.com was altered, said Capt. Jeffrey Pool, a spokesman for Marine Reserves in New Orleans.

Results of the investigation and possible punishment were expected Wednesday, Pool said.

“How the military reacts to this case I think will send a message to Muslims in the Middle East and worldwide as to how seriously the United States takes these issues,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Feralboy.com is with the Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines; the company was deployed in Iraq from last May to September. Pool said he did not know exactly when feralboy.com was in Iraq.

No phone number for the soldier could be obtained Tuesday.

The woman who took my call was rather shocked, and quickly said “I can’t debate this with you” before switching me to her supervisor. I wasn’t even debating, I swear… just explaining why I was closing my account. I don’t feel like a vote matters all that much when corporations have such a strong hand in what happens in politics, but I can at least vote with my dollars.

First off is the new “zero-tolerence” policies of Clear Channel and Viacom. This is all due of course to boobie-gate, and the new moral standard that politicians are clamoring for in the absence of doing something useful, like maybe finding out about Iraq pre-war intelligence, or investigating the Valerie Plame matter. I have said it before, and I’ll say it again: it is not the media’s job to raise your kids, people… it’s yours. Quit trying to pawn them off on everyone else, take some responsibility for monitoring what your kids watch and listen to, and be active in their lives. Sure, when you got knocked up you didn’t think that it would actually require work on your end, but sorry; it does.

The second thing, and bear with me on this one, is the relationship between Clear Channel and President bush (note the upper-case “P” and lower-case “b”... respect the office, not the man). There is absolutely no question about the seedy relationship between CC and bush. In recent weeks, I’ve noticed Stern shifting from his previously unwavering support of bush; probably in no small part due to the FCC’s stringent and vague new definitions of obscenity. He recently reviewed Al Franken’s book on the air, and even just yesterday in talking about bush was saying ”...it’s time for him to go. You’ll be a one-term loser like your father.” We already know that this is an amazingly vindictive administration, outing CIA operatives and already-out gay journalists left and right as payback for anything less than unquestioning support of policies, so it’s not much of a stretch to think that CC, either because of a phonecall or maybe even just trying to be a go-getter political lackey decided to pull the plug on Stern.

However it came about, I still have ways to hear what he has to say about it this morning. My feeling is he’ll be out of his job at Viacom and on to satellite radio within 6 months.

Update: Apparently I’m not the only person with this same wild theory. Check out this Salon piece which draws pretty much the same conclusion that I did.

All praises due.

I don’t really care at all if he didn’t want to go to war; that shouldn’t be what defines someone’s character. In fact, I’d be happier with someone at the helm who was less eager to do so. I guess it’s easy when you send kids over there instead of yourself, and your Veep’s former company makes an assload of money from it, to boot! Score!

In any case, why not release all the records? It wasn’t really an issue until you made it one. My guess it has something to do with his mysterious grounding… fail the pee test, maybe?

(Image from Kevin Drum at CalPundit)

A quick Google search turned up a page about the Plantiff’s attorney, and I couldn’t resist sending him an email.

bq.. Dear Mr. Ritchie,

You are kidding, right? You absolutely have to be
kidding me, right? You can’t honestly expect that
your frivolous suit filed against JJ, Viacom, etc.
(http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/janetsuit1.html)
is going to go anywhere, can you?

You, sir, are what’s wrong with this country. Some
bank employee who hates her life so much that she
thinks making a quick buck she didn’t earn is going to
make it all better comes to you, and all you can see
are dollar signs. Have you always been morally
bankrupt, or did law school suck any last semblance of
humanity and/or common decency right out of you?

I’m sure the only thing in an email that would get a
response would be something along the lines of “I done
hurted myself on a sidewalk and I likes to sue so’s I
kin watch Jerry Springer all day long”, but I wanted
to tell you that I truly hope there’s a special room
in hell for the likes of you, Jack Thompson
(http://www.loonyboi.com/blog/archives/000328.php),
and that woman who claimed a Wal-Mart DVD player ran
her over (I’ll bet you wished you could have gotten in
on that action, eh Wayne?). Maybe you’ll be serenaded
by Yoko Ono until your ears fall off.

If there’s any justice in this world, not only will
your suit get laughed out, but you’ll be required to
pay the legal fees for the defendant, as well.

Yours very sincerely,

Matthew Comroe

P.S. Tort reform is going to come sooner rather than
later, and you better brush up on your other skills
for when that day comes. You can probably get a head
start by standing in front of a mirror and saying
“Would you like fries with that?”, slowly and clearly.

His email address is war@rfdlaw.com if you care to drop him a little love note. After all, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.

We were informed last evening by the Department of Justice that it has opened an investigation into possible unauthorized disclosures concerning the identity of an undercover CIA employee. We have been directed to aid in the investigation, and the president wants to wholly cooperate with this shift in policy, and help the investigation in any way possible. This is a reminder to retain all potential records; do not shred any documents, do not delete any emails. Above all, we expect you to fully cooperate with the investigation, and you will get to return to some sense of normalcy once the firestorm has died down.

Sincerely,
Associate Counsel Ted Ullyot

I got distracted when I saw this headline and photo on the homepage:

GOP Adds Muscle to Arnold’s Campaign

Have a closer look at that picture. Notice what a horrible Photoshop hack job that is? Clearly those three men never actually stood on a stage together. However, I don’t doubt that Ah-nold was probably getting a plo-job at the time.

This is not nearly as bad as suggesting visual links with story graphics like CNN might do. This isn’t even nearly as bad as the LA Times photographer that was fired for subtly altering a photo. This is using a visual image that simply did not happen in order to further your own agenda.

“Fair and balanced”? Fuck you.

“Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin emerged from hiding and denounced President Bush’s speech to the United Nations as a declaration of war on Islam. Yassin also said that if he gets his hands on The One Ring, Israel is really gonna get it.”

So, they’re looking for an “overweight white male” driving a Ford F150 pickup. Maybe they can throw in that the guy likes NASCAR and narrow their search to only 1/2 the population of West Virginia instead of 3/4.

I own a lot of CDs. A LOT. I went on a bit of a buying spree at some point, so I now have a decent sized collection to show for it. Consider that they each cost a minimum of $14, and I probably have purchased at least 500 total, and that’s around $7,000 that I’ve spent on CDs alone (I won’t even bother to think about tapes). How much of that music did the actual artists get? Not much, apparently. Nevermind the fact that CDs cost about $1 to make en masse and the price for CDs is outrageous. So, at this point I don’t feel bad at all about downloading music to see if I’m interested in it. If I like it, I’ll go see the artist on tour (or buy CDs directly from them, if possible), in order to support them as much as possible, since they are truly exploited by major labels for in many cases doing what they love.

I don’t like the idea of supporting labels that are forcing their musical tastes on people. Just because it’s on MTV doesn’t mean it’s good. Find music you like, avoid the RIAA if possible, and support the artists as best you can.

Speaking of war news, Gawker has a good post about where to get up-to-the-minute war updates, if you care.

I happened to catch the tail end of the march. It’s nice to see some level of activism in such a blue-collar town, but I decided yesterday that regardless of my ambivalence about the war on Iraq, that I really don’t like people that are irrationally deep on either side; from pro-war rallies by ClearChannel (need a war to help your ratings, perhaps?), to pacifists that would be content to do nothing until it was already far too late. I just think of Lili Taylor’s fantastic character on Six Feet Under sitting on the floor of her kitchen, pleading with the ants that have invaded her home to “please leave.” Just a little bit of moderation and understanding on both sides, people… is that so hard?

Looks like we’ll be doing the same thing all over again, for good or ill. I think that if the “decapitation strike” from last night had actually worked, everyone would be awfully happy today, but now we’re left to see just how crazy Saddam is, and how willing he will be to use Baghdad’s citizens and his 50,000 or so loyal soldiers to stand between himself and the incoming storm. I hate to draw parallels between Saddam and Hitler, but it would be quite helpful if there was an assasination attempt that actually worked. Might save many thousands of innocent lives.

bonus from that article is this great deflator for all the annoying forwards that people continue to send to me.

i heart arianna huffington.

see the ads here.

Homer: Woo-hoo! A perfect day. Zero bears and one big fat hairy paycheck.
[opens it up]
Hey! How come my pay is so low? ... Bear patrol tax! This is an outrage! It’s the biggest tax increase in history!
Lisa: Actually, Dad, it’s the smallest tax increase in history.
Homer: Let the bears pay the bear tax. I pay the Homer tax.
Lisa: That’s home-_owner_ tax.
Homer: Well, anyway, I’m still outraged.—“much apu about nothing”

Todd: Daddy, what do taxes pay for?
Ned: Oh, why, everything! Policemen, trees, sunshine! And lets not forget the folks who just don’t feel like working, God bless ‘em!

i got to watch the first episode of “joe millionaire” last night on tivo. i don’t watch any reality shows (as he says with a trace of smug self-righteousness), but this one seemed so base, so horrible, so “downfall-of-modern-society” that i just had to check it out.

it did not dissapoint. i don’t like how good looking the guy is; it would have been much more entertaining for him to be just an average-looking guy, and to hear the golddiggers rationalize how “interesting” or “striking” he was. oh well, i guess the fact that he’s flat-broke will suffice. nothing too exciting happened in the first episode, but you could tell they were already setting up the stronger personalities to scratch and claw like bums fighting over a baloney sandwich. they kicked off 8 of the 20 girls almost right away, and i was sort of upset to see that they didn’t tell them as they were leaving about his lack o’ cash. it would have been interesting to see the reactions, as a few of them got all weepy when they were dismissed, even though they had only known him for a few hours.

thanks to pat for the picture above, which was inspired by me sending him the accompanying pictures for this article on wired.

but, in happier news… it’s the return of ren and stimpy! the show completely took a dump when they booted kricfalusi after the original episodes. the show certainly is his magnum opus, so i’m hoping he can bring that creativity that’s been missing back.