Joss Whedon's Save The Day: Vote Brings the Celebs Out

Joss Whedon has been my hero for many, many years. And my attitude toward him has gone up further after this fantastic video, bringing together many of the Avengers, and other Whedon stars and friends. Very funny, and well done.

President Bartlett Stumps for President Obama

As a huge fan of both The West Wing and Martin Sheen, I was happy to see this.

In Case You Missed It: President Bartlett's Advice to President Obama

A long time ago, when Rahm Emanuel was still working for President Obama, I wrote a post saying that Emanuel should be fired, and Aaron Sorkin hired in his place. If you ever watched The West Wing or The American President, you'll know why I say that. Now, maybe you can't compare fictional White Houses to the real one. But what if one of the characters from the fictional TV White House could converse with the real Obama? What might Obama learn? 

The article is immensely well written, and I of course read the Bartlett parts in Martin Sheen's voice. How could you not?

[Excerpt]

Two Presidents, Smoking and Scheming

The lights from the presidential motorcade illuminate a New Hampshire farmhouse at night in the sprawling New England landscape. JED BARTLET steps out onto his porch as the motorcade slows to a stop.

BARTLET (calling out) Don’t even get out of the car!

BARACK OBAMA (opening the door of his limo) Five minutes, that’s all I want.

BARTLET Were you sleepy?

OBAMA Jed —

BARTLET Was that the problem? Had you just taken allergy medication? General anesthesia?. . .

Read the rest (it's terrific), here: New York Times

Hat tip to Zaki's Corner for the reminder to post this.

In Case You Missed It: The Political Ad by The West Wing Cast

Bridget Mary McCormack is running for Supreme Court Justice in the state of Michigan. We wouldn't know about that, except that her sister was an actress on The West Wing, who got together with much of that cast (including Martin Sheen!), and filmed an ad for her. Such a thing could come off cheap, tacky and embarrassingly. . .except for the fact that it is brilliant! I now am sad that I bailed on TWW after season five or so. Maybe I need to go watch them on Netflix. If you ever liked the show, watch the ad. And maybe you should also look into the non-partisan part of the ballot. . .

In Case You Missed It: 8

Dustin Lance Black's play, 8, the dramatization of the California Proposition 8 trial. If you don't know, Prop. 8 was the amendment to the state constitution that struck down same-sex marriage rights, which had been in existence for several months. The play was performed this past weekend, and stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Christine Lahti, George Takei, Yeardly Smith, Matt Bomer, Matthew Morrison, Jane Lynch, Martin Sheen and many more. It's worth your time. Oh, and Kevin Bacon! Which makes your 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon game even easier.

Incidentally, having now watched the entire show, it occurs to me to tell you something. I followed this case with great interest, through The Courage Campaign. You might think that the comedic moments (best embodied by John C. Reilly and George Takei) were dramatic license. The characterizations might have been, but this is the way it really went down. Those were their words. When Kevin Bacon as the defense lawyer said, "we don't need evidence" and "I don't know," the lawyer really did say that. This is why the pro-marriage equality side is so confident in Judge Walker's decision. Ted Olson and David Bois quite simply demolished the defense. They were so good, but might not have had to be, given the weekness of the other side!