Urban Dictionary

Urban Dictionary is awesome. Awesome!

So I'll be here, sitting around in my Vurple sloth-cloth, typing on my Magic Toaster, unless I decide to go primitive.

But no finger guns. Brown chicken brown cow!

Thanks! And a new post!

Dear all:

Thanks for all the good wishes and compliments on the premiere of "Fly Boy!"! I was really touched to hear from so many people, and please know that it was a real thrill to get to share this episode with all of you. I wrote it so long ago that the gratification was long-delayed... and perhaps all the sweeter for that.

In the meantime, I have a NEW POST up at Extra Criticum, in which I write about the O'Neill Theater Festival of Puppetry (which I attended in June). This was an amazing experience for me - a real personal and artistic breakthrough - and I look forward to writing about puppetry a lot more in the future. Enjoy!

And thanks again.

RED ALERT!!! My first solo episode airs on Fairly OddParents Friday!

Hey, all! Some exciting news: my very first "Fairly OddParents" episode, "Fly Boy," premieres this week! It's showing on Nickelodeon Friday night (August 14). Nickelodeon's broadcasting it in L.A. at 6 PM, but please check your local listings to find out when it's showing in your area.

"Fly Boy" was sneak-previewed to a large and wildly appreciative audience at Comic-Con this year, and I'm now delighted to have the chance to share it with you. I'm really proud of the episode, so I hope you can tune in and check out my TV writing debut.

A Note on Mob Rule

Last hour on MSNBC's Morning Meeting, I heard Contessa Brewer state that "loud, angry mobs" were present at the conventions in which our founders declared independence and wrote the Constitution. (The implication being, I suppose, that, hey, shouting down your Democratic congressperson is just business as usual in America! The mobs did it in 1776, and that turned out fine, so no biggie.)

As a former history teacher, I have to cry foul! The founders were terrified of mob rule; that’s why they held secret, exclusive conventions in 1776 and 1789. Who attended? Not the general populace, but a select few representatives from each colony. To keep word from leaking out, they kept the doors, windows, and shutters closed, even in the brutal heat of Philadelphia summers.

These meetings were far from "mob rule;” they were organized to prevent yahoos with signs from disrupting and derailing the deliberations.

I wonder: if the founders HAD endured disruptions like the ones we see today, would they have ever taken the radical and (at the time) rather UNpopular steps of declaring independence from England, or of giving up some local colonial power to a centralized federal government?

Having your say is a deeply American value. Not allowing people with a different opinion to speak at a town meeting? Not polite... not helpful... and not a American value.

UPDATE: Check out the Democratic response. And yes, call the RNC and leave a message telling them enough is enough. (Phone number is 202-863-8500. Press 2 on the automated line, not 1, or you'll never get through.)