You-tubery: Barbara Walters TMNT Interview

Like many of you, I grew up with the Ninja Turtles. I also respect Barbara Walters... mostly. I do find the woman to be partially responsible for the death of serious journalism but more on that later. Occasionally she does things that make me kinda want to ignore her or think less of her. This is one of those.



First off, the woman is a professional. She is interviewing a bunch of men in foam costumes that look like giant turtles with a somewhat straight face. This is a woman who cares about her job. That said, what passes for comedy here is rather... iffy. At one point, Donatello does a visible face palm at something Barbara says about at 1:04. The guy in the foam rubber turtle costume thinks you're doing a bad job. That says something. For that matter, keep an eye on him throughout the video. He's the one who is thinking, "I went to Julliard for this? Dear god!"

Now, I know this is something I shouldn't be taking seriously but at the same time, you can actually feel journalism die during the video. Watch this then watch Frost/Nixon and try to tell me that we still have journalism like that? I don't care what Miley is up to and this is where the root of the problem began: The Barbara Walters Special. Soft lighting, easy questions, nothing that might catch the subject off guard, a smacking of everything being rehearsed. The subject of the interview knows that they will come out of everything looking like gold, not a scumbag or like they did anything wrong in their life with a few faked tears put in for good measure. That isn't even the worst thing abut this video though.

Here's my favorite part: Barbara is evil. She makes the turtles cry and she cackles like a super-villain. Dear god, it's kinda messed up. Here's a woman, a professional, and she delights in making these creatures cry. She does something Shredder never could: She defeats the Ninja Turtles. It's all kinda pathetic and terrible. She's laughing because they don't have parents. She's reveling in the misery of others. It's like she thought to herself, "Well, this'll make up for giving everyone else softballs."

You-Tube. You can find anything there. Even evil journalistic sell-outs.

Unsung Treasures: Smooth Criminal

I'm going to say something blasphemous: "Thriller" was not the late Michael Jackson's best music Video. "Thriller" may have defined the music video but it did not, by any stretch of the imagination, become the greatest at the same time. I will give that honor to the "Smooth Criminal" video from Jackson's 1988 film, Moonwalker.

For those of you that don't remember, Moonwalker was pretty much nothing but a really long collection of music videos, some of them coming off slightly like ego trips but I digress. It also may have featured the King of Pop becoming a transformer. Seriously, he turns into a car and, later, a giant robot. I cannot make this stuff up. Anyway, at one point after turning into a car, Michael goes into a night club and the most awesome thing ever happens: Something so awesome that I just have to show you the video. Well, I was going to link to it anyway but describing it will just lower the value of it's awesomeness all that much more.



Yeah, that. That is awesome. The lighting. The costumes. The dancing. Sure, zombies dancing is kinda cool but it's nothing compared to 30's gangsters dancing and Michael doesn't get out a tommy gun at any point in "Thriller". That alone makes "Smooth Criminal" the clear winner. If anyone has any arguments for otherwise, let me know.