(no subject)

Nestle refused several times to provide the FDA with complaint logs, pest control records, and other data.

Please, Nestle. Your past is horribly riddled with scandals, from dangerous breast milk substitutes to child slave labor. You don't have to be brazen criminals to stay in business. Come off it.

(no subject)

I have mixed feelings about my latest tribute in "Downscale." You may think it's nice and respectful -- certainly more tasteful than dissing the recently deceased -- but it conveys a little more sorrow than I actually felt last night. In truth, I was partly motivated by an excuse to make something quick and easy. I told myself not to, but it was getting late and the event was still on my mind.

Another problem is that, in the past, I've been disappointed when humor comics do something solemn, like many did on 9/11/02. We read them for laughs, not tears; they're more or less shirking their escapist duty. That attitude seems selfish and crass now, but I still feel like a hypocrite.

I do appreciate when tribute cartoons contain the ghost of a punchline, since at least it shows some clever thinking in the face of tragedy. I incorporated something of that nature into mine. Hopefully it's not too much.

I also hope that the word "former" doesn't come across as harsh. Saying just "king" seemed disingenuous, and calling him by name seemed too neutral. Like most Americans, I hadn't thought highly of him in more than a decade, when I thought of him at all. But "Black or White" used to be my favorite song, with several of his other numbers and their videos ranking high up there. Even the kitschy Captain Eo and The Wiz were fun. I'd hate to let his passing go without my comment.

Seems I'm entering what C.S. Lewis called the Re-enchanted Age. This may be a weekend for nostalgia.

So again, R.I.P.