Monday, December 12, 2005
Saturday Morning Memories
One of my favorite Saturday morning cartoon shows in the 60s was George of the Jungle. Hated the movies (except for Cleese's voice for the gorilla suit guy). One of the best things about the cartoon was the Tookie Tookie bird, a reference, I believe, to the near omnipresence, on the sound tracks of black and white, B jungle movies, of a bird call that, as it ended, sounded something like tookie tookie. Perhaps my memory is failing.
So, it's been hard to take Tookie Williams seriously. I keep hearing George of the Jungle theme music in my head at the mention of his name. It's especially hard when you learn that Tookie is the guy's real middle name (one his father had too) and not a nickname.
As I emailed a friend a few days ago, he's toast.
Could do without the countdown though.
UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg writes this funny and clear-eyed analysis of Hollywood's campaign for the mass murderer:
The film "Redemption," starring Jamie Foxx, was little more than a spiritualized hagiography in which the murders that landed Williams on death row are glossed over so as to avoid confusing the viewer with the emotionally distracting fact that Williams executed four unarmed people with a shotgun. Williams' apostles prefer to describe his past as "poor choices," a nicely sanitized euphemism everyone can relate to, as if Williams was put to death for choosing to go to San Francisco State instead of UCLA.
So, it's been hard to take Tookie Williams seriously. I keep hearing George of the Jungle theme music in my head at the mention of his name. It's especially hard when you learn that Tookie is the guy's real middle name (one his father had too) and not a nickname.
As I emailed a friend a few days ago, he's toast.
Could do without the countdown though.
UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg writes this funny and clear-eyed analysis of Hollywood's campaign for the mass murderer:
The film "Redemption," starring Jamie Foxx, was little more than a spiritualized hagiography in which the murders that landed Williams on death row are glossed over so as to avoid confusing the viewer with the emotionally distracting fact that Williams executed four unarmed people with a shotgun. Williams' apostles prefer to describe his past as "poor choices," a nicely sanitized euphemism everyone can relate to, as if Williams was put to death for choosing to go to San Francisco State instead of UCLA.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:13 PM 
